Who: Kiley [Narrative] When: Late Afternoon Where: Town and the Hospital
After spending a few hours with Chase, Kiley began to feel restless and irritable. She left his room shortly after that, not wanting to take her downtrodden mood out on one of the few people she considered a friend in Zenith. She thought about knocking on Noah, or Lennon's, doors, but ultimately, Kiley grabbed one of the zip up hoodies she'd taken from her room and left the house all together, heading for town as she pulled the hoodie up over her wild hair to cut some of the chill of the day from her face.
She wasn't sure where she was going. A morbid part of her wanted to return to Cassi's, to see if they replaced the shirts she'd taken in a fit of anger the day before. But Kiley wasn't entirely sure she wanted to look upon that flannel again. At least not today.
Listening to the birds above, she was thankful for the noise. The town was creepy enough, but it was decidedly more creepy when there was complete silence surrounding it. Kiley walked at a leisurely place, in no real hurry to get anywhere. Instinct led her into the police station. Kiley had walked past it several times, but had never gone inside. There was nothing of interest there. Some open cells, and no weapons. She did find a sheriff's badge on a desk, and quickly pocketed it. Obviously it's owner was nowhere to be found, and it was pretty cool. And so now it was hers.
Kiley ignored Pavo's on her way out. That was where she had been handcuffed with Reginald for nearly an entire day. Thinking of Reginald hurt her stomach, so she quickened her pace to get the restaurant behind her and out of sight. Her next stop was the pharmacy. Kiley yanked a plastic bag from the front and filled it with cosmetics. Eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow. Red lipstick. She had gone make-upless since arriving in Zenith, but now it was time to try feeling normal again.
Over the next hour, Kiley went into every open building on the street, even the gallery, which housed some ugly-ass art. Art she wanted to take back to the mansion to hang up, but she didn't think she could carry it all on her own. She decided to maybe grab one of the smaller paintings on her way back to the mansion. Something light. The uglier, the better.
At the end of the street was the hospital. Kiley had no intention of going inside, considering her past experiences with the place. But... the red spray paint on the front doors caught her attention. Her dark brows drew together in curiosity, and Kiley crossed the street toward the hospital to read the words.
six for the parents and the children they sold. Like the creepy poem from the day before. The dumbest thing would be to go into the hospital, and Kiley knew that. And yet, there she was, opening the doors and stepping inside. The halls were dark. Empty. Kiley wasn't sure what had drawn her inside, or why. Maybe the spray paint was a clue. Maybe there was something inside, waiting to be found that would help her. Something that would give her a clue about why she was there. Did the spray painted quote have some meaning? Was that poem meant to be more than just a scare tactic?
She began to walk cautiously down the hall, her sneakers on the linoleum floors the only sound but for her breathing. She had only been walking for about five minutes when the laughter startled her. Kiley paused, sucking in a sharp breath as the sound echoed in the hallway behind her. But when she turned around, nothing was there. No one was there.
"Hello," Kiley called out, listening to her own voice echo and then fade. Silence. Exhaling softly, Kiley gripped the make-up bag in her hand tightly, her free hand fingering the sheriff's badge in her hoodie pocket. She took three steps and the laughter started again. It was farther away, followed by what sounded like crying. Kiley began to walk more quickly, and then she was jogging toward the noise, wanting to find someone. Anyone. But the longer she ran, the farther away the crying sounded, like it was moving away from her the closer she got. After awhile, Kiley had to stop and catch her breath. And she realized she was lost. She hadn't paid much attention to where she was going and now there was nothing but dark halls and empty rooms around her.
"This is fucking stupid," Kiley murmured out loud, more just to hear her own voice, something more than laughter, or crying. Something more than eerie silence. If they could produce a voice in her bedroom, they could produce noises in this place with no real source, right? That was all it was. There was nobody else in this place with her. Feeling unnerved and uneasy, Kiley started back down the hall to try and find her way out. She'd had enough exploring for one day.