Suddenly, she was struck with memory, flashing through her mind of sitting at a piano, straight backed, playing for a solemn silent crowd, in a stiff white blouse. And then the flash was gone.
She stood again and backed away, shining the light back at the curtains. Just get out Tess. She walked over and pushed the curtains aside to reveal more heavy boards on these windows as well.
She pounded on the boards, scratching at the edges, desperately hoping something would give; would get her out.
�Tess.� A sudden hollow echo sounded behind her. She stopped. Had she imagined it? Was the place calling her now? As desperate to keep her in as she was to get out? �Tess� A half hissed sound, drifting down from above.
Backing away from the window she moved back into the hall, head whipping around to figure out where the call was coming from. Ignoring the return of the headache and dizzying black spots she ran towards the large open main area and the front doors.
�Theresa Cavanaugh!� Echoed from above her as she grabbed the rail of the staircase and began bolting up. She wanted to call out that she was there, she was alright, but she was having enough trouble just concentrating on making it up the stairs.
Suddenly her feet slipped out from beneath her and she fell HARD on the stairs, slamming her knee and elbow against the very solid wood. A small cry escaped her and through the dizzy fog of pain and confusion as she slid back down a few stairs she could have sworn she heard a soft sigh again and an echoed, wistful call. �Theresa Cavanaugh.�
How long she lay there, dazed on the stairs, is impossible to say. The fall had torn the flashlight from her hands and wherever it had landed it had turned off so again, the only light she had came in dust filled streams of blue tinged moonlight from the stained glass window.
She felt around for it a little as she finally stirred again; carefully crawling up for the top of the stairs, but it was pointless. The light was gone. This was all beginning to be too much for her. She just wanted to lie down, to just curl up somewhere and go to sleep. Someone would find her. They were calling for her. And even if it was this place calling her, that wouldn�t be so bad, to just stay here? When it was light she could find the way out. Once it was light again.
Her knee bumped against the top stair and a jolt of pain cleared her mind. No. No she couldn�t stay here. It was too cold, and what if she was hearing things?
The building wanted her to stay. It was all alone and she belonged here. That must be what the necklace and the picture meant. She was supposed to be here. And the building wanted her to stay. �But it�s just a building. How can a building want?� she whispered softly to herself as she carefully pushed back to her feet.
A door slammed below her.
�Hello?� She called out and nothing but silence answered her. Shaking with fright and exhaustion now she began limping her way to the back hallway of the second floor.
Another door slammed.
She shuddered with the sound but didn�t call out again. It was the building. It was mad that she kept trying to leave. The hallway to the left should have been the hall she woke up in originally she thought.
She turned away from that side and began walking slowly down the dark passage. Small amounts of light trickled in through the open doorways, barely enough to light her way. She glanced in each room but the sparse illumination didn�t show her much.
A loud and violent thudding came from below her, closer, like some rabid thing trying to get through a barrier of some kind. She needed to hide. Whatever it was would come upstairs next, she just knew it.
Turning to face a room near the end of the hall she paused. A large amount of light shone through the window of this room, showing her there still was a world outside. She had begun to forget. Walking right up to the window she pressed her hands against the glass and looked out over the eerie landscape before her.
Snow covered everything she could see, from the large trees to the small stone cottage off to the side. Everything was overgrown and the light of the moon, combined with the thick blanket of snow made it all look like some barren wasteland, forgotten by everyone.
The snow wasn�t falling now, it simply sat there, heavy and encompassing. Not a footprint or a tire track marred the whiteness. There was no one there. There hadn�t been for years. It might as well have been a tomb.
Turning from the window which had sucked any remaining hope of understanding or rescue from her she stepped numbly back into the hall and across to the next room she came to.
