It was dark. The mansion gave off an ominous feeling.

*Drip*

*Drip*

*Drip*

The sound of my blood dropping on to the cold, hard floor rang in my ears as it dribbled down my arms while we ventured deeper into the mansion. I squinted my eyes as I look into the abyss; I could not see anything.

Sam pulled out his phone and turned on the front flashlight. He shone around and then aimed it straight into my eyes.

I blocked the light, with my free hand, and said, "Hey, stop that."

"Get your phone out and turn on the flash as well," he demanded arrogantly.

"Move the light first!"

He shifted it away. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and turned on the flashlight while aiming it towards the ground. I slowly adjusted the angle of my phone as the bright light danced around. The checker-styled, black, and white marble slabs covered the entire floor. It expanded out and towards the hallways on either side.

"Hey Sam," I began to say. "What's your battery level of your phone at right now?"

"10 percent."

"Hmm… mines at 15 percent. Shouldn't we converse it?"

"I guess so…"

"Let's use your phone first." I turned off the flashlight and placed it back into my pockets. Reaching out my hand I said, "I'll hold it. Give me it."

"No."

"Why?"

"I'll hold it. Now let's go."

"…fine."

Sam hovered the light in front of us as we looked in surprise. There were two staircases on either side of the big space we were standing in. It curved outwards and up towards the second floor with white, stylish railings on the edge of it. In the centre, a white, porcelain statue was portrayed. The flashlight reflected off the smooth surface of it and blinded me slightly.

"Wow… this must have been… expensive…" I muttered.

Sam continued to change the direction of the light. "Let's go and get your arms wrapped first."

"Yes…" I thought for a moment and then said, "Let's go right."

We headed down the right hallway as we treaded on the red carpet. The golden patterns on the edges reflected the nobleness of the mansion.

Sam halted and turned his head up looking at the walls. "Painting…"

I looked in the same direction as him. "I'm not even surprised anymore. Statues. Painting. Who built this place?" I asked rhetorically.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Some rich kid, probably."

I looked down at Sam. He said that sentence as if he was not a kid himself.

The blood continued to drop from my arm and blended into the carpet.

"We should hurry, Sam."

"…"

"Let's check the rooms."

Walking up to the door, Sam passed me his phone and he unlocked the first room.

* * *

Beyond the door there were wooden tables and furniture placed neatly as the light, from the artificial sky outside, shone on it. The bookshelves were stacked with books of different sizes, like a staircase. The smooth, wide table sparkled a little; there was a bottle of ink and quill placed elegantly on it. The drawers on the sides of the table gave off a yellow glow as Sam's flashlight hit it.

Sam approached the table and opened the drawer.

I walked closer to him and looked over his small shoulders. There was nothing inside.

He closed it and opened the next one. Nothing was inside the drawer again.

After giving a sigh, Sam gave up and walked away towards the bookshelves.

I placed my hand on the golden knob and pulled it.

"Paper..." I said.

"What?" Sam turned around while holding a book in his hands.

I looked over at him as the cover of the book was revealed.

—————

World War Two: The collapse of the Imperial Empire.

—————

"Sam there's torn strips of paper here," I told him. "Doesn't seem like the first aid stuff is here. Let's get going."

Sam placed the book back to the shelf and we headed off into the next room.

* * *

It was very quiet.

We headed down the hallway towards the last room.

"Come on... this must be it!" Sam murmured angrily. "We searched through so many rooms, most of them are empty! Why is there no first aid stuff???"

"Ha... well it doesn't matter anyway," I said. I looked down at my arm. "It's already stopped bleeding."

"Right." Sam pushed the door open and walked into the last room on the ground floor. "A kitchen..."

Walking up behind him I said, "A kitchen?"

The place was noticeably empty. There were a few cooking utensils hanging off the walls but there were no food or anything that looked edible.

I turned my head around a little looking at the empty kitchen with Sam's phone's flashlight on. "There's not even a fridge?"

"Well, no one lives here so it's kinda obvious there wouldn't be any food," Sam said. He turned around and began to walk out of the room. "Let's go to the next floor. The kitchen isn't what we're looking for. Or are you hungry...? Forget it. Let's go."

"Wait, Sam."

"What now?"

"You see... chefs cook."

"Yeah, and?"

"There must be a first aid kit in here."

"And why would there be?" He said frustratedly. Sam was getting impatient.

"Well... when they cook, there might be accidents especially when they use the tools like knifes."

"..." Sam's eyes stared towards me. "Look right, there's probably a room upstairs dedicated for this kinda stuff. Now let's go."

"Just a moment, let's just search for bit. It won't hurt to try."

"Come on! Are you even worried about Rose? She's god damn missing and you want to 'slowly' search this kitchen???"

I ignored him and began to look around the walls and shelves.

Sam rolled his eyes and said, "Give me your god damn phone."

I smiled a little and passed him his phone instead of mine. He took it and began searching as well.

"Not here. Not here. Not here. Oh, first aid kit, where the hell are you hiding? Come show your little face to us or else I'll give you hell," Sam sung.

"Oi Sam, calm down," I said turning around looking at him; he was crouched down. I looked a little bit past his head and saw a green reflection. "It's the med kit!"

* * *

Sam wrapped the last bandage and clipped it tightly. I moved slightly to test the dexterity and mobility of my arm; he did a great job.

"Thanks, Sam."

"You're one hell of a guy."

"I guess so..."

"Man, I didn't see it before but when Rose told me about your injury, I thought it was only a little cut."

"Sam... you saw me bleeding and dripping blood. How can it only be a little cut?"

"Whatever, don't mind the little details, alright?"

I was still sat on the ground as Sam packed everything away.

"Let's keep some of these bandages and cotton pads so you can change them later," Sam said taking off Rose's bag from his back. He unzipped it and then paused. "What the..."

"What is it? Sam?"

"..."

A brief moment of silence later, he hovered the flashlight shining into the bag.

"There's bandages in here."

Though I was surprised, I should of known that we had bandages. After all, they were the ones we took from Sevco.

"Oh my god..." I began to say. I facepalmed and started to sniff. "What have I done...?"