Leave
When I was younger, I lived in downtown Atlanta. The neighborhood I lived in wasn't considered exactly the safest place, but I guess when you grow up in that kind of area none of the violence really spooks you. The real thing that kept me afraid outside was this building that was unused and never really gone near.
At the time, the building represented the last hub of adventure for me. I had secret paths all over my neighborhood, and I knew where everything was. But this building stood out, and kept me wary.
My neighborhood was built over the first ever project home in United States "Techwood". It was built for housing Georgia Tech students back then. It eventually ended up being one of the most dangerous places in the United States, and when the 1994 Olympics rolled around the buildings were demolished to begin sprucing up Atlanta's image for the large influx of people that would arrive. However, since they were the first ever project homes, some of the non-residential buildings were kept behind as historic landmarks for the city of Atlanta.
A friend of mine at the time had a mother who lived in Techwood and returned to the newly built apartments. I used a visit to their apartment one day as chance to ask her about the building that was left. She looked puzzled, glared at me, and then had a light chuckle to herself. She told me to sit down and she would tell me about the building. I was a little uneasy because of her reaction, but she spoke calmly and I got a little less nervous as she went on. The building was basically the services center for Techwood. You know, the place where they accept checks and what-not. She told me about how it would also serve as a little place for kids to sit around and get away from the violence in the neighborhood. There was nothing for them really to do, but they were safer there.
Then it got creepy again. She reflected on the memories at the building she had, but then she looked a little saddened and told me about how the building got slightly abandoned. She was there for when a little girl started throwing up violently and blacked out. No one was sure what was happening, and by the time the ambulance arrived she was dead. I was almost in tears, in a mix of sadness for the little girl and fear. After a few more minutes of talking, me and my friend left out to go outside and tried to enjoy the day.
He was listening to the conversation, and there was a striking feel of un-easyness between us. We didn't talk about that building until about a month later. We were walking about a block away from it, and I noticed from a distance that the building's front door was open. There didn't seem to be anyone around it, so I gazed at it for a moment and completely forgot about my surroundings. My friend patted me on the back after he noticed I was out of my head, and pondered what caught my attention. He looked toward the building and saw the door open too. I could feel myself shaking in my feet. This was it. Our chance to explore the last piece of the neighborhood we hadn't touched. It seemed too good to be true.
We stood there for about 3 minutes, thinking about if we should go in. It all seemed so surreal. On one ordinary day, this building that was causing us so much anxiety suddenly opened itself up to us, with no real explanation we could think of. My friend put his arm on my shoulder and with a shaken voice muttered "We're probably never gonna get this chance again". I nodded. We were going in the Techwood center.
The walk there felt like it lasted much longer than a simple walk down the street. Halfway there, I realized I had to face this thing with courage. I couldn't be scared. And so, we arrived at the front of the building. Just looking at the entrance was frightening. There was no light in there, save for the sunlight beaming through the windows. My friend ended up taking the first steps, and I followed. When we got a few steps into the building, there was none of the sound from outside, even with the entrance left open. We weren't going to do something stupid and split up, so we went together side-by-side. From what we could see there was an upstairs, a storage room, and hallways leading to both sides of the building upstairs and our floor. We decided to go upstairs and to the left of the building, where there were a few rooms with desks. This is where things got out of hand.
We went in the last door down the hallway, and this one in particular was a more complete looking office than the other ones. It felt more... touched. I walked in and got a good look at everything. There was an aura I guess. I didn't feel like me and my friend were the only ones in there. I saw there were drawers on the desk, and opened one up out of curiosity. To my surprise, there was a note. The note didn't have but one word on it. It sent chills up my spine and made me realize we weren't supposed to be there. "Leave." Almost immediately afterwards, the window behind my back started shaking. I yelled at my friend to run, and we sprinted downstairs and towards the door. It almost looked like it was starting to close as we approached it. With adrenaline pumping, me and my friend got to the door and out of there in what felt like less than 30 seconds. We didn't stop running until we were on the exact opposite side of the neighborhood.
To this day, I wonder if it was all coincidental. It hasn't really affected me outside of just a few dreams. Maybe I'll go back some day. I still have the note. I think I should give it back.
Credited to Dufont
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