Nick paced back and forth in the hallway. The whole situation had just become more confusing than before. The creature handed them a key, but for what, and why? Was it trying to help them? Or was it trying to lead them astray? All these questions, but no answers. Nick stopped, placing his arms at his sides, and sighed.

"I'm stuck. None of this makes sense. Why would a something trying to kill us, try to help us at the same time? Do either of you have any ideas?" Nick asked, restarting his pacing.

Judy stared at the floor in thought, and placed her paw on her chin. Nothing came up.

"No, sorry Nick..." she replied.

Finnick was thinking as well. He leaned against the wall, placing his paws into his pockets. He felt the folded up notes as well as the key in there. His eyes widened.

These notes, and the key, have to be connected somehow, but there isn't enough information yet. He thought. The guilt was chipping away at him. He had to tell Nick about the notes. Finnick opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Judy.

"Hey, Nick, how long did it take for that monster to come back after the first time we killed it.?" she asked.

"Well, it took about an hour, if you ask me, but my guess is about as good as anyone else's." Nick replied, interested in Judy's thought.

"If we set some sort of timer, we could be prepared for the next time the monster comes back, that way it won't be a gamble." Judy said.

Nick began to think again. A few minutes passed before he answered.

"I guess it's worth a shot. At this point, anything helps." he said.

Nick reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He unlocked it, and tapped the clock icon. He messed around with it for a couple seconds, and he turned the phone toward Finnick and Judy, the screen displaying a timer counting down from sixty minutes. He locked the device, and placed it back into his pocket.

"So in one hour, the alarm will sound. When you hear it, prepare yourself. Now we know when the creature's coming, but not from where. Stay aware of your surroundings." Nick said.

The other two nodded, signalling that they understood Nick's statement.

"Good, let's resume our search of this floor, look for anything that seems either helpful, or out of place. We'll meet back up at the end of the hallway, before we head up to the third floor."

The three walked a few paces down the hallway, and each disappeared into a room.

They searched each room on the floor, all three turned up nothing. The whole search took about twenty-five minutes. Finnick and Judy were already waiting at the stairwell when Nick showed up. Neither of them said a word, and they began walking up the stairs. The third floor, somehow, looked even worse than the one below it. The holes in the wall and peeling paint were much, much worse, and accompanying that, were piles of broken glass, from the windows of doors being shattered by vandals. There was also one more, potentially deadly, element added as well. Mold. It coated what remained of the walls, creeping downward toward the baseboards. Considering how old the structure was, and how long it had been abandoned for, the roof began to leak at some point, and allowed mold to run rampant.

The awful scent of molding drywall hit the group like a tube train travelling at top speed. They all recoiled, taking a few steps back.

"Oh, this is just fucking awful." Nick said, covering his nose with his paws.

"I could understand why such a disgusting creature would live here." Finnick added.

Judy remained silent, shining her camera's light around the decaying hallway. The mold looked a lot worse in the light. It was as if a soggy, squishy, darkness was enveloping the structure. The spores glistened in the light, evidencing how damp the space truly was. The floor wasn't as bad as the walls. Yellow, waterlogged pieces of paper covered parts of the floor, creating bright spots on the blackened, rotting wood. A few metres ahead, was a spot brighter than the rest. This caught Judy's eye, and began walking toward it.

"Judy, wait up, that's black mold, it could kill you if you inhale it!" Nick warned.

Judy scoffed, and continued forward.

"If you think I'm worried about mold after being attacked by an ungodly monster, you are out of your mind." Judy replied.

Finnick chuckled at Judy's answer

"Y'know, she has a point." Finnick said to Nick.

"Shut it, you." he replied.

"Judy, what'd you find?"

Judy walked up to the object, and shone her light on it. It was a piece of note paper. It looked newer than the rest, since it wasn't a crumbling ball of mush. She picked up the paper, and unfolded it. The handwriting was sloppy, but still legible.

"It's a note!" Judy cried.

"Bring it over here, so we can read what it says." Nick yelled back.

Judy ran back to where Nick and Finnick were standing. She had placed the note in her pocket, so she would lose hold of it on the way back. She reached into her pocket, and produced the note she had found. She unfolded it, and began reading it aloud.

He ran down this hallway, knocking things down as he passed them, in an attempt to slow me down. Unfortunately for him, I was much more nimble than I appeared. I knew where he was heading, the roof. I chased him up that hallway as well, gaining on him with every step. There was nothing for him to throw at me up here. He ran out onto the roof of the structure, closing the door, but in his frantic attempt to escape, he forgot to lock it. I will never understand why he ran here, In hindsight, running out the front entrance would have most likely save his life. Perhaps whatever had taken control of his mind had directed him up here, or perhaps he realized the sins he had committed here, and wanted an end to his life. That, is something I have never been able to figure out.

Nick and Judy were visibly confused by the note's content. Finnick, however, realized the note was the third note in the series of notes he had found. Nick swiped the note from Judy, reading it over himself. He looked up from the paper, more confused still.

"This note doesn't make a lick of sense." Nick stated.

"It could just be a prank left by some kid to scare other kids." Judy added.

"Yeah, otherwise, why would someone confess to commit first degree murder. If that were the case, we would have definitely heard about it." Nick continued.

A thought popped into Finnick's head.

"Maybe the creature wrote it, trying to lure us into a trap." he joked.

Nick rolled his eyes.

"Finn, I doubt the creature can write, even though the handwriting on this thing is atrocious. The most logical explanation for it is some kid was trying to play a prank on his friends while they were dicking around in a condemned building." Nick concluded.

Nick tossed the note onto the floor, and raised his camera. He turned on the light and started walking down the hall, careful to avoid shards of glass. Finnick picked up the note when they weren't looking, folding it and shoving it into his pocket with the others. He ran to catch up with the other two.

They had stopped at a solid wooden door, which was closed. It was the only door on the floor that was closed, which was sketchy. Finnick stood in between them.

"Why are y'all staring at a door?" Finnick asked, confused.

"We're trying to get into the room, and found that it was locked. Judy here said she could kick it down." Nick replied.

Judy, who was against the wall opposite the door, was preparing to charge the door at full speed.

"Wouldn't it make more sense for you to do it? You're the biggest of all of us here." Finnick observed

Nick shrugged.

"She insisted."

Finnick rolled his eyes.

"Alright, watch out guys, 'cause this door is coming down!" Judy said.

Nick and Finnick moved out from in front of the door. Finnick observed that the door frame was incredibly rotten, and that the wood holding the hinges of the door was barely holding. Judy had pushed off the wall for an extra boost to her run speed, and she ran into the door at full speed, using her shoulder as a battering ram. The door flew off its hinges and landed on the floor with a loud thud, with Judy on top of it.

"Nice one, Judy." Finnick said.

Judy got up from the door, and took a few steps back into the hallway. The three looked back into the room, but it was too dark to see anything. Nick pointed his camera into the room, so the light would make it easier to see. Slowly, he panned the light across the darkened room. Inside, on the left side, was nothing but a patient bed. As he approached the middle of the room, the window had a sheet of plywood covering it, eliminating the chance of any light coming in. On the right side, another patient bed, with what looked like a large ball of ashes on top of it. Nick held the light on the object, trying to figure out what it was. Nick took a few steps into the room, trying to get a closer look. He was only a few metres away. In an instant, the supposed ball of ashes began emanating an bright orange glow. This startled Nick, and he hastily stepped back into the hallway. The object shifted and shimmered, lighting up the entire room. It rolled itself off of the bed, and onto the floor below. It sprouted legs, and and arms, covered in barbs, and sharp claws. It turned round revealing its horrible looking face. Four, lifeless orange eyes stared at the trio. The creature let out a loud hiss, and swiped at them with it's claws.

"Oh shit! Book it!" Finnick yelled.

The other two were happy to oblige, and they all ran down the hallway, the creature not far behind.

Nick reached into his pocket to check the timer on his phone. Thirty minutes remained on the timer.

"It hasn't even been an hour yet, why are you here?" Nick yelled toward the creature.

The creature offered no answer, and instead picked up it's pace after them. Judy produced her weapon from her bag. She loaded a full magazine into the gun, and cocked the hammer. Still running, she fired all of her rounds into the creature. She was shocked to find that the creature was not only still standing, but still chasing them at full speed, seemingly immune to the gunshots. She frantically reached into her bag, in search for another magazine. Nick, who had been running beside her, suddenly fell to the floor.

"Nick!" she cried.

"I stepped on a shard of glass!" Nick yelled back, clutching his paw.

The creature shifted it's focus from the group, to Nick alone. Since he was already on the floor, it made him an easy target, and took advantage of his injury. The creature pounced toward Nick, who braced for the incoming attack. Finnick and Judy stopped running, and ran back to help Nick. The creature had grabbed Nick's injured leg, and it sunk it's sharp fangs into Nick's flesh. Nick cried out in agony. In the heat of the moment, Nick had grabbed a large shard of glass from the floor, and shoved it deep into the creature's head. The creature's grip on Nick's leg loosened, and it collapsed in front of him. With his good leg, he kicked the creature in the jaw, knocking it backward. Finnick and Judy ran up to Nick, who was slowly crawling away from the corpse. The body disappeared, the same way as it did before, and the same voice called to them

"This will never be over..."

The trio was too busy either tending to Nick, or writhing in pain of his injuries to pay any attention however. Judy had produced a large ACE bandage from her bag, and began unrolling it. Nick was losing a lot of blood, his pants had absorbed a majority of it, and there were large bite marks straight through them. Judy rolled up Nick's pant leg, revealing Nick's injury in it's entirety. His fur from where the creature bit him, continuing all the way down his leg, was matted from the blood. Judy began wrapping his leg with the bandage, Nick winced in pain. Finnick was watching from afar, saddened from the fact that Nick could have died only a few moments ago.

"Finnick..." a voice said, quietly.

Finnick's ears perked up.

"You guys say something?" he asked.

"I didn't say anything." Judy replied.

Nick simply shook his head, he was in too much pain to be able to speak for the time being.

"Finnick..." the voice said once again, louder this time.

Finnick turned his head. The voice was coming from a nearby room. He began walking toward it, but he thought he should tell the others, just so they wouldn't worry about him.

"I'm gonna go check this room over here, I thought I saw something that could be useful." Finnick said.

Judy nodded in his direction, confirming she heard him. Finnick stepped into the room, holding his light in front of him. The room he entered seemed in better condition than the rest of the rooms in the whole building. The mold hadn't gotten to it yet, and all the books and binders were still on the shelves. Even all the stuff on the desk looks like it had never been touched.

This is fucking strange. I swear I heard a voice coming from in here. I must be going crazy. He thought.

"Indeed you did, Finnick, you're not going crazy." the voice said. This time, from behind him.

Finnick turned around, looking for the source. There, floating a good metre off the ground, a ghostly apparition. Finnick covered his mouth, so he wouldn't scream. He didn't want to put additional stress on Judy and Nick at the moment. Finnick was frozen in fear. The apparition resembled a badger, wearing your typical doctor garb. The apparition descended to Finnick's eye level.

"I have been watching you and your friends go about the place, trying to solve the puzzle on how to escape. I would have waited until you found the last note, but I noticed you really struggling, and nobody has ever made it this far, so I figured I would offer my help." the apparition said.

Finnick was shocked.

"What. The fuck. Are you?" he asked.

The apparition raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what the fuck does it look like? I'm a ghost. A spirit, if you prefer, and I require you and your friend's assistance. You see, spoilers by the way, I chased my accomplice up to the roof, where I stabbed him in the neck, killing him. Burdened by guilt, I jumped from the roof, taking my own life. I was never a religious mammal, but, surprise, there's an afterlife. I found myself in my office downstairs, and I realized I couldn't leave. I had been cursed. Cursed to stay here for all eternity as punishment for my sins."

Finnick was even more confused.

"Wait. What the fuck are you even talking about? Is thi-" Finnick began

The apparition interrupted him.

"Let me finish" it said.

"Anyways, my accomplice is trapped here as well. You know him as 'the creature.' I like to call him 'The Fury.' The only way to escape this place, is to kill him in the same way he killed that patient that night, with an icepick to the head. I wrote those notes to guide whoever dared enter this place. Unfortunately for most, they were too stupid to find the first note, and they all perished in the clutches of the Fury. After about the fifth or sixth time, people began developing common sense, and staying away. Nobody showed up for thirty whole years. During that time, I constructed a device that would allow me to contact the living, so when I got it working, I did the first thing that any sensible mammal would do; call the police. I made up a story about kids vandalizing this place, so they would send a couple mammals out to check. They, too perished. Then you guys showed up afterwards, and began making progress."

"So let me get this straight. You were the one who called the station, and by association, you got those two officers killed. Also, is this a fucking game to you?"

The apparition took offence to Finnick's statement.

"What? No! This isn't a game, you dolt. I'm trying to help you! It isn't my fault that they were too stupid to find my notes. I was extra careful to make them as clear as possible. Now that I'm here, it should be easier than ever! I pretty much just explained how to defeat him. All you have to do is carry on the plan." The apparition said.

Finnick furrowed his brow.

"If you know how to do it, why don't you just do it yourself?" he asked.

The apparition sighed.

"I'm the one who killed him before, that wouldn't do anything to help. Also, I've already tried that, it didn't do anything." it replied.

"Alright then, why didn't you show yourself before now?"

"I tried, but your friends apparently blind and deaf. They can't see or hear me. One more question, your lives are at stake here."

Finnick thought for a moment.

"Who even are you?"

The apparition's features dropped.

"Oh, fuck. I totally forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? My name is Kevin Graham."

Finnick nodded, feeling stupid.

"Ohh, right. I mean, you did mention you wrote the notes..." he said.

"Right. Anyways, pass on my message to your deaf friends over there. I'll be around, it's not like I can go anywhere..." Kevin said, before disappearing from view.

"Wait-" he began, but Kevin was already gone. Finnick sighed.

Finnick walked back into the hallway, slightly peeved that Kevin just bailed on him like that. He saw that Nick was back on his paws, so he wasn't down for the count, which was good. Judy had wrapped up his leg real good, and also fed him painkillers, so that he would be able to at least walk. Finnick was greeted by Judy halfway between where he was, and where Nick was.

"Was there anything in there?" Judy asked.

Finnick remained silent until they reached Nick, who was leaning against a wall. Finnick re-told what had just happened to him in that room. He told them about Kevin, and how he wanted them to set him free. At this point, Nick chimed in, stating that he was at least right about setting the soul free. Then, he told them about the notes. Nick asked why Finnick hadn't told him about the first note when he found it. Finnick had no real answer to that, so he just shrugged his shoulders. Nick sighed, and stood up straight. He winced, still feeling a little pain in his leg.

"It looks like we have a goal to work towards now, guys. First, we need to find the icepick he used, so we absolutely have to keep searching, and second, we need to wait for the creature to come back. He seems to be more powerful every time he comes back, it is imperative that we find that pick before he comes back. I say we stop wasting time just sitting around, and we start looking." Nick said.

Nick started walking down the hall, his limp was very noticeable. Finnick couldn't help but feel bad for Nick. He didn't deserve what happened to him. None of them deserved any of what happened to them. But the fact was, the only way to escape, was to free the spirits. So they had to carry on. Judy and Finnick followed Nick down the hallway. They had a sense of direction now, so they weren't just searching around aimlessly. The only think Finnick was worried about at that moment, was if Kevin was really telling them the truth, or if he was trying to lure them to their doom.