"You're shaking," I commented as Jordan fidgeted with her jacket's pockets, lips pressed together as sweat beaded her face. "You sure you want to do this?"

She blew air from her nose, grabbing onto my arm tightly, "I can do it!"

Flustered for a moment, I sighed, "Why are you so determined to find a ghost?"

She closed her eyes for a moment before looking up at me with puppy dog eyes, "I want to prove someone wrong!"

"Of what?"

"Believing ghosts."

"So you don't believe in ghosts, yet you're scared of them?"

She took a deep breath and exhaled, looking over to the dilapidated building in front of us with determination, "I'm scared that they might be real, cannot be too careful."

"Who're you proving wrong?"

"My brother."

"Uh..."

"I don't want to say anything more than that." She used the tips of her nails to pinch a bit of my skin before quickly moving on, pulling me to the entrance of the building before quickly cowering behind me, still holding onto my arm.

'It's one of those late pains...' I think to myself, commenting on the pinch she had did not too long ago as it was a delayed pain, which is the most annoying to deal with. I let out a long sigh before rubbing my arm to dull the pain, continuing into the building as Jordan stuck to my back like glue.

"Don't think anything weird of-"

I quickly cut her off before she continued, "I'm not, calm down."

She made an uncomfortable expression before the sound of the building settling made her jump behind me as if I was cover.

"Quite energetic huh? Did something good happen?" She quickly jabbed my back as we entered the building, footsteps echoing across empty decrepit walls, cracked and worn due to time. Mold sits in corners as vines overtake room walls, pieces of furniture scattered about, shattered windows. "This seems to be an old school building..." I commented while scanning school desks and the like, hand hovering across walls as they are slowly enveloped by an unwavering blackness as the sun slowly disappears under the horizon line. Blue clouds overtaking the red glow of the sun.

I pulled out a flashlight as I continued through the first floor of the building, clicking a button on the back of it to turn it on, lighting the path in front of us. After the incident earlier today, of course, I was also on edge. It wasn't just the expectation that I might see something that I really didn't want to see or encounter in my daily life... no, not just that. It was the calm stillness of the building as it creaked and moaned as if it was an old man complaining about having too many visitors as if they were going to fall apart at any moment through the slightest bit of excitement.

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After fully wandering through the first floor, we decided to steel ourselves for the second. "Okay!" Jordan yelled, interrupting me mid-thought, "Let's take a quick break!" She pulled me to the side of the staircase and sat me down, sitting right beside me not too long after, huddling close to my arm as she took long breaths before exhaling.

"Shit... now I'm getting nervous."

Jordan visibly cringed, "Don't say that, you're going to make me even more scared!" Her shaking hands grasped the sleeve of my shirt desperately, keeping her head low. As I think about it at that time, I remember distinctly, though I didn't notice it then... I remember seeing a sign. Down the hallway in front of us, the sign lurked. "Do Not Touch, Do Not Pass." The sign was facing the wall of a hallway we had just passed. If I were aware of what that meant then, maybe I would've noticed it sooner and prevented Jordan from getting involved.

I thought I was just going crazy but... this was real. No... this is real. We made it up the stairs, Jordan still staying close to my side. The second floor was no different than the last, other than...

A man, body looking as if it was sucked dry, skin looking as if made of charcoal. I figured she wouldn't see, which she didn't as it blended in with the darkness. I took a deep breath and moved closer, making sure as to not make it seem I recognize its existence. I got close enough to maybe have it recognize my existence but it does not flinch, fetal position, stuck in the corner of the room. I let out a long sigh before continuing.

The second floor, clear.

Jordan and I then make it up to the third floor, I expected nothing extreme to be in this building due to the last encounter, and just like I had predicted, nothing.

The fourth floor - The fourth and fifth floor were connected to another half of the building through long bridge-like hallways, the other building barely having any doors, and where there was one, they were locked - almost impossible to find a way in. We looked through each room, finding nothing each time until reaching the hallway of the fourth floor. I stopped at the start of the hallway, stopping Jordan with one arm as I leaned in to look farther into the blackened hallway, pointing my flashlight into the darkness to see if there was anything. In a whisper, Jordan asked, "Why did you stop?"

I took a deep breath before taking one more step into the hallway before halting completely as a small faint glitter of the light was caught at the end of the hallway. I could see as Jordan's heart dropped to her stomach, eyes widening as she took a step back behind me. 'What the fuck... she saw that?' I thought to myself, double-checking the end of the light-emitting from the flashlight, slightly panicked. I waved the flashlight around sporadically, looking for a reaction until getting another faint glitter at the end of the hallway. I blew air through gritted teeth, shaken up by what I saw, 'Is that a real person?' I asked myself, taking some steps back.

Out from within the darkness, a face peaked in... a face with a head larger than it should be, a face wrinkled due to age. It smacked its lips as it brought all of its body into the light. I could see its jaw tighten as it looked over at us, neck stretched out like an ostrich's, arms and legs far apart like a bat's, crawling like a dog. A faint howling sound emitted from its neck, watching its neck expand sent shivers down my spine. "What... what is th-"

I whipped my head over to Jordan, quickly covering her mouth before bringing her close to my body, "Shut the fuck up... don't-"

"Can... you... see...?" It spoke... slow - as if barely understanding the words coming out from its own mouth.

I could feel tears running down my hand, tears coming from Jordan, her entire body shaking. I swallowed spit through a dry throat and get close to Jordan, "I don't see anything there... right?" I affirmed with her, trying to be as obvious to her about my intentions as possible.

Jordan nodded slowly as I take my hand away from her mouth, "I don't see... anything..."

"Okay..." I spun Jordan around, heading back to where we came. She noticed the burned man on the third floor, getting closer to me because of it.

The instant we made it to the first floor, we bolted.