Arrival

"Hate to break it to you Russ," a gravely voice came from behind me. "Lunch breaks over. We caught a break in the case. One of the supposed missing people were spotted at the old hospital off 25th."

I put my burger back on the plate in front of me and rubbed my face. I looked at the clock placed a few feet from me on a nearby table. 8 pm.

"Are we sure? I just started eating." I looked back at my burger and down to my stomach.

"Positive," he said, slowly shaking his head. "Been following this case for 2 months now and finally caught a lead. Had a call earlier about a girl that matched the fliers."

I looked down to the floor before standing up, "Let's go check it out."

I unlocked the car before sliding in and starting the car. My long time partner, David, slid into the passenger seat.

"So give me a recap of everything that we have so far. It's been a long day." I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes before slowly pushing the gas.

"Damn Russell, just one of those days?"

"Just one of those days."

David took his hat off and sat it in his lap. "Well, you know about the two sisters that went missing a couple months back, Sarah and Jacey. Nobody's seen or heard anything from them since they dissappeared."

"Still nothing?" I said with slight disappointment. This whole case had been a headache of paper work. Originally, it was thought they had just ran away. Had been arguing with their parents the previous days before they vanished. However when they were gone for more than two days, the police got involved. Ended up finding previous abuse charges against Sarah's boyfriend Justin, who had apparently had some kind of problem with Jacey. He became of the prime suspects in the case but nobody's been able to find him either.

Davids voice cut into my thoughts, "-and earlier we got the anonymous call about one of the missing sisters being spotted here."

He flicked his head up towards the windshield, "speaking of, we're here."

I looked out of my driver side window at the haunting hospital surrounded by cold darkness. Time had not been nice to this place in the fifteen years it'd been abandoned. The top two floors had collapsed on itself, most of the windows were shattered, the front door was half gone and fixed with cheap plywood. The entire place looked ready to fall in.

"Are we sure it's safe to even go inside?" I asked, eyeing the collapsed floors.

"Not sure honestly. I just know this is where we were told to go." He glanced at me and back to the hospital.

"Well, fuck it. We aren't making any progress just sitting in the car. If one, or both, are in there and need help, we should." I tried to pump myself up because honestly I was nervous to enter. I didn't trust the structural integrity of it considering the top floors.

I opened my door and climbed out, the cool night breeze rushing my face. I looked around for a second to figure out the layout. David walked up beside me and gave me a half-assed smile before walking past me toward the door. I walked up beside him. We stared at the door for a moment before opening it.

It opened with a creak, darkness surrounding everything inside. A breeze fluttered through the building, brushing past us while carrying a rancid smell. We both pulled our shirts over our nose.

"That stench is horrible," David said. "It smells vaguely familiar though."

Our shirts dropped from our faces at the same time. We both grabbed our guns and flashlights. We only said one more word before stepping inside, "body."