Before the hunt began, you sent Kyle (who was the more reliable of the two) to go grab some flood lights and extra flashlights to help light up the building more while you and Eric began cleaning up the building. While he was out, you made sure to have him grab some lock-picking tools just in case any of the locks wouldn't open for any of the keys, as well as a box opener to open up anymore storage boxes the two of you may find while exploring.
Upon closer inspection of the windows, you thought it be in the best judgment to keep them boarded up. Not only because several of the windows were cracked or broken, but you mentioned it might also deter possible vandals or thieves who would try to sneak into the building after seeing the wooden boards taken down. Eric quickly agreed with you after mentioning that possibility, so the three of you would have to deal with being in the dark for a little while longer.
Kyle returned with the supplies shortly after you and Eric finished uprighting all of the tables and sweeping the glass out of the immediate walkway, and after a few minutes of unloading and setting up, the atmosphere was a little less scary, but more dreary now that the detail of decay was more visible. Kyle mentioned something about replacing the posters with copies not quite so run-down, but possibly sprayed with water to give them the old and color-bled appearance.
Eric found a table with a broken stand and proposed using the stand for one of the animatronic props. He was already envisioning which prop would go where and what walls would be busted down to make room for corridors and jumpscare spots, making broad, sweeping gestures as he chattered.
You were in the other part of the building, having already taken a snapshot of the map and following the paths. Eric relinquished the keys to you so you could write down the number of the key and the lock it corresponded to (after pouting for a bit until he realized he could start working on the new map layout while he helped Kyle).
You were just passing by the arcade room that Eric had been in earlier, when you stopped and zoomed in on your map. According to the map, there should have been another room between the arcade room and the security office. You looked up and around, but didn't see any open or closed doorways that indicated another room.
You walked back to the security office, looking at the map and making sure there wasn't an error, but according to the schematic, there was supposed to be another room. Could you have just missed it?
You counted the steps from the security office to the arcade room. Then you recounted your steps as you returned from the arcade room to the security office, staring intently at the walls for any give that may have indicated a secret room. That would make Eric freak out, you thought, but the humor was stifled with frustration. Where was this room?
You counted your steps one more time, and halfway down the hall, you stopped and stared at the wall where the room was supposed to be. After a moment, you took a few steps forward, holding your gloved hand out towards the wall and gently touching it, feeling the uneven paint drag against your fingers. Then you started walking to the left, towards the arcade.
One step, two steps, three steps.
You dragged your fingers along the wall, feeling the paint flake and the dust wipe off as you walked.
Four steps. Five steps. Your fingers dragged until they encountered a smoother patch.
You immediately stopped and face the wall, passing your palm over it. Yes, there was definitely a difference in the texture of the wall here.
While the rest of the wall was aged and flaking, this area was a little smoother, and appeared slightly less aged than the rest of it. You stared for a moment, then raised your hand and knocked on the rough wall.
A hard, rapping knock sound. Your knuckles were scraped lightly from the roughness of the wall, but there was definitely brick behind it.
You did it again, then slid your hand over to the smoother part of the wall and knocked.
Knock knock.
Hollow. Or at least, more hollow. It didn't sound like brick was behind this wall.
Part of you knew that you should probably call for Eric and Kyle, but you knew if you did one of them would probably forcibly break down the wall with a running charge, or hack at it with the box cutter until it came apart. This required an intelligent approach, not a neanderthal one. And if there was anything valuable behind this, all the more reason to be careful. You didn't want to break anything that was lying behind the wall.
You put the keys and the notepad into your pocket, and pulled out the box cutter. With the flashlight in one hand and the box cutter in the other, you felt along the wall again until you felt the rough wall give way to the smoother one. You placed the flat edge of the box cutter blade along the imagined rift, and after placing the flashlight in the crook of your neck and tilting your head to keep it in place, you jammed your open palm against the plastic end.
No give. You heard the clack of metal striking against brick, and knew you were too far to the right. Moving it a little more to the left, you tried again.
Chfk. This time the blade went through, and as you pulled it out, you saw the telltale signs of a false wall as the old spackling crumbled away from the thin hole. Now we're getting somewhere, you thought.
You placed the blade inside of the crack and dragged downwards. You met resistance, but it crumbled away as you pressed on, and soon the lower half of the wall had given way to your blade. Standing on your very tippy toes and using both hands while holding the flashlight in your teeth, you were able to clear the top half of the side , and as the wall began crumbling, it opened a small gap in between the false wall and whatever was behind it. Determined, you dug in with your fingers and began pulling sections off.
It was hard, and your fingers were worn and cut by the splinters and sections of the wall you pried off, but eventually your efforts were rewarded with a quarter of the middle removed, revealing an empty hole. Judging by the height and location of the hole, it would be where a doorknob should have been, but was removed. Shining your flashlight in the hole didn't reveal anything of what was inside.
Now was a good time to get Eric and Kyle, but when you opened your mouth to holler for them, you heard a shout and the sound of something crashing to the ground and glass shattering. One of them was laughing. It sounded like one of the stage lights fell and shattered. Or one of them bumped into something and knocked it over. Maybe it was better if you made this discovery yourself.
Seeing as you had nothing to jab into the hole, like a crowbar or something to help lever it open, you put your flashlight under your arm and stuck two fingers into the hole and gave an experimental tug. No give. You stuck a third finger from your other hand in and pulled harder. Still no give. The false wall was weak enough for it to have given way had the door be meant to swing outward, you thought.
Curious, and hoping your theory was correct, you pressed your shoulder up against the door and gave a gentle shove. You heard a soft crack as more of the wall came loose, and you were showered with spackling dust, giving you a small halo of dust and debris around your hair. You were right - the door opened inward. Lucky for you, you weren't sure if you'd be able to open it on your own if you had to pull it outwards.
You gave another shove, a little harder, and flinched as a bunch of the wall suddenly came crashing down on you. Fortunately it had as much weight as wet cardboard, but it was still hard, so it still hurt when it hit your head and shoulders on the way down, covering you in an even thicker white dust. You coughed and removed your gloves to wipe your eyes and get rid of the dust. While you chided yourself for not predicting that the wall would crumble on you, you were more curious as to why it was here in the first place. Taking the flashlight out from under the crook of your arm, you shone it into the room-
and nearly jumped out of your skin when you saw what was inside.
The first thing that assaulted your senses was a god-awful stench, like something had died in this room. It was wet and nauseating, and you had to fight the urge to wretch behind your dust mask. Looking inside, there was a table with strange stains on it, and the telltale checkerboard linoleum on the floor.
The second thing you noticed was the weird spatter streaks on the far wall, originating from the right side of the room, like something had exploded or someone had thrown a bucket of...something...at the wall, and whatever it was obscured much of the white tile on the right corner of the room. It was a sickly brown color, like dried pizza sauce or...
The story of the children that were stuffed into the animatronic suits came back, but you stamped it down. There's no way this was blood. Blood wouldn't have lasted for this long, it would have coagulated and rotted away.
The third thing that startled you, and nearly made you shriek in fright, was a pair of eyes staring at you from the corner of the room, at the epicenter of the spatter.
When you shined your flashlight onto it, the eyes belonged to a very old, worn, golden bunny suit.
