Oath chapter 7

"Hi are you the manager I talked to last night?" Jay was on the phone in his room after coming home from dinner.

"Are you that same kid who asked about the Still Line shirt? What do you want now?"

"Where was the shirt manufactured?"

"What shirt?" The man asked this impatiently, Jay could tell he was eating a snack and he heard a television in the background.

"The one with the star."

"There were three major factories in the U.S. One was in Massachusetts but it burnt down. Hundreds of people died and the company was sued big time. Still Line lost a lot of business because of that, and started a whole new line of product. We done here?"

"Where in Massachusetts?"

"In Hillton."

"Where in Hillton?"

"Geez kid, how the hell am I suppose to know? Somewhere on Chestnut street."

Jay thanked him and hung up. He started dialing someone else.

"Hello?" A girl picked up.

"Is this Heather?"

"Oh, hey Jay. Yeah."

"Want go for a ride? I don't have a car right now." Jay asked this as he was finding directions on the internet to Hillton from his house.

The car quietly pulled up to the abandoned building; its headlights the only source of sight. It was dark and cold. The snow was falling fast and sticking to the ground. There was no color around them and the sounds of the bustling town they were driving through had now faded. Leaving the car in the lonely lot, they traveled to the entrance. The door was bolted shut and windows were sealed with wood. Heather shivered and her arms hugged her body as Jay unzipped his backpack and got out a crowbar. Leaving the backpack on the ground he began to work on the window. From behind he saw a beam of light and quickly cocked his head in fear the police had followed them. This had been on his mind the whole time. Paralyzed with anxiety he discovered Heather had taken a flashlight from his bag.

"Turn that off! The cops could see us!"

"Open the window Jay, I'm freezing here."

With the sound of splitting wood left behind, they entered. Turning on their lights when they stepped in, their feet sank in about two inches of ash. They stood at the doorway for a while, looking around for signs of life. Jay felt shivers of fear run through his body as he looked through the sullen room. Everything was black like death itself. It was almost as if hell ate the building and this was the remnants, the crumbs left from a blaze. No one tried to revive this place, it was left to rot, to decay and fade into nothingness. Jay knew he was entering an unsanctioned cemetery.

Poor bastards that died. And what was left of them? Nothing. They were to be forgotten. Jay was terrified he would stumble upon a corpse in his search. His stomach dropped just thinking about it.

Why were they here? There had to be a clue somewhere but Jay was afraid to take his first step, almost afraid the darkness would consume him, or worse.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea Jay." Heather said this after perusing the room with her flashlight.

"We need to at least...look around." Jay's voice was shaky, there was no foundation to it.

Heather waited, looking at Jay. He was examining the room with his flashlight, searching, probably making sure he would be safe if he continued. But he did not move. And Heather, was petrified as well. What bothered her most was the silence. She knew people were killed in a storm of fire here. And she didn't want to hear the whispers of the dead, she wanted to make noise, and feel safe. She wanted to scream into the darkness, but she figured no one would hear. Anxiety ate at her insides and her breaths were shallow. The silence was a piercing knife. A stab where no one could see; no one could feel, except her. The blood of silence ran through the room. She tried to imagine the room alive as it was in the past but images of fire burned into her mind. As she looked ahead she caught a glimpse of someone in the fire itself. She shivered as her mind played tricks; as her imagination through a tantrum.

"Well?" Her voice echoed through the room. Then it was silent again. She was too scared of this silence. "The ghosts don't come to us Jay, we go to them."

Jay took a step forward. His heart raced. He felt as though he just jumped from one side of a cliff to another and just barely made it. The ashes irrationally consumed his sneakers as they were compressed under his feet.

"How big is this building?" Heather asked, trying to break the silence again.

"Who knows. All I know is its 3 or 4 stories high." He said this looking at the black charred walls and columns. It reminded him of the Black Death. He felt the plague itself would wisp off of a wall and cover him in an airy acid. His body twitched at the thought of these walls coming to life, yet it didn't seem so unbelievable.

"What are we looking for Jay?" She crept up behind him, almost on her tiptoes so as not to disturb the shadows. Jay heard her question but was silent as he continued along the wall. The flashlights illuminated the room but the light bounced with every step, dancing on and off walls, giving Jay glimpses of figures that just as quickly were snatched by darkness as shadows shifted.

Jay raised his light to the ceiling and found a gap, a hole on the far end of the room, the fire collapsed a part of the 2nd floor. He moved his light to the ground directly below the whole and found a pile of wooden and metal rubble. His breaths were short and abrupt, in sync with his footsteps.

He raised his head and pointed in the darkness, but Heather was not watching.

"Let's advance to that room up ahead, ok?" Jay said this silently so as not to cause more eerie echoes.

Heather quietly nodded and discovered she had difficulty swallowing; her palms were sweaty and clammy.

The door the next room was open; the wood was split and cracked, hanging just by the top hinge. Jay's shoulder brushed along it as he entered the next room. The door squealed like a pig as its throat was being slit.

They stood in the doorway in wait. Close enough to feel each other's breath, they searched the room with their eyes.

Old scorches clothing patterns were hanging on clothesline passively accepting the fate of hanging eternally in this stiff room. Metal machines covered in soot were seen as far as the eye could see, which was not very far. Metal tools such as wrenches stuck out of the debris in the floor. Breathe.

Jay started walking but a sudden draft ambushed him from the front, howling and screaming as it traversed the room and struck him. It penetrated his clothing and skin, sending him into submission as he shielded his unprotected face with his forearms. He felt betrayed by the walls as the wind continued to slash away at his flash., roaring like a tsunami. The cold struck him and his sweaty hands became numb with pain. He dropped his flashlight and it sunk into the dirt. Heather and he quickly retreated into the other room behind a wall. Jay's fallen flashlight shined through the doorway. Dust stirred up from the grave of this building and threw itself across the machine room. A wave of it passed through the room Jay and Heather had ran back into and passed by them. The wall shielded them from the storm.

"We should go, Jay!" She cried out, her voice was muffled by the crying wind.

"Go ahead! I'll keep going. I can't leave yet. I swear I'll find him! I can't give up, Heather!"

"I can't leave without you, Jay!" She screamed louder so he could hear her.

"Wait by the car. I'll be out in sixty minutes!"

Heather hesitated for a minute, staring at Jay with concern. The howling grew louder, and it caused her head to pound.

"Promise!" She yelled at him.

"I'll be out. Don't worry!"

Jay found himself alone now in the dark entrance room. His light was in the howling room.

"I swear..."

"I swear I'll find you, Adam..."

Hiding behind the shielding wall, he was hesitating, contemplating his strategy. He knew he had to go find Adam.

This feeling, it was consuming him. He knew that Adam existed, and he knew Adam had come into his life in the past. This wasn't just a feeling, it was a mystery. The clues were here but Jay had not found them yet. Fear ran through his veins mixing with his blood. But he was called here. Maybe God called him, or maybe it was Adam. He didn't know but he knew this mystery had to be solved and he needed to discover the truth. All his life he had lived quietly and contently but now it was time to search. Jay made an oath. He swore to find Adam but he was also searching for meaning. He believed in destiny and knew it was his calling to rescue himself from his old life. He knew there was someone out there who made him feel different. And that..was Adam.

His heart raced. The sand and soot blazed through both rooms. His arms shielded his face as he waited. The wind died down and Jay's heart stopped. He lunged from his hiding spot in the shadows to the machine room where threw himself forward. He crouched and picked up his flashlight. He ran in between machines and sprinted forward, not wanting to get caught in the wind again. He wove in and out of machines and darted through the darkness to the other side. Light bobbed like a buoy in a storm. In front of him on the ceiling was another gaping hole that opened up the sky to the first floor. Snow fell in and mixed with debris. The dirt stuck to and blackened his sneakers as he made his way past the hole in the ceiling to the other side. On the end he saw a staircase. It was maybe three hundred yards away.

A gust of wind came from the hole behind him throwing dirt and snow up in all directions of the room. His mind raced as a sheet of debris rushed right through him. He dove behind a weaving machine and huddled his body into a tight-nit ball, and buried his face in his dirty clothing. He felt pebbles, and splinters attack at his body as black waves filled the room, crashing on walls. Old screws and metal filings slammed against machines. Metallic echoes and howls tore at Jay's ears as he began to choke on the blackness. Ashes quickly filled his lungs and he panicked, coughing convulsively. He put his sleeve over his mouth as his body sustained scrapes and strikes from angry rocks. The snow burned at his skin with pieces of ice scraping his body and clothing. He felt his body temperature rising, he couldn't breathe. He was grasping for air as the waves of ashy snow covered him. It caught in his hair and dyed his skin black was he was suffocating. He couldn't do anything, he was paralyzed by pain and the raging wings. In between gasps for air he felt himself cry out in fear. Three hundred yards. It was too far! He would never make it without air. Muscles giving out and cold air piercing his skin, he feels the windy twister of ash whirl around the room in a relentless rage. His muscles twitched as he started to rise. His own muscles were betraying him. Again he tried to use his strength to rise but failed. Sleeves over his eyes and mouth, he inhaled more ash but coughed it all up.

He removed his sleeves from his face while coughing profusely as the winds began to recede. Victory. He lay there leaning his back on the machine for some time as his body received oxygen once more. He lifted himself with the support of the machine. Slowly he walked over to the staircase as particles of ash fell from all around.

Besides the ashy taste left lingering in his mouth, he felt something else. His black hands touched his numb lips and face. Blood. Jay slowly felt the sensation of pain arise as he hugged his body for warmth. Making his way forward he felt short frigid gusts of snow slap him in the face, taunting him. He tried shaking off the dirt from his clothing but it was wet and sticky. His body started to thaw out as he reached the staircase but it started burning from ash entering his cuts. The staircase was dark and quiet, unlike the machine room. It was a straight, narrow ascension to the second floor; there was only room for one person on this staircase at a time. As Jay took the first step the ashes on the walls disappeared replaced by crackling flames engulfing the walls around him. The sizzling fires climbed the walls and caught onto the wooden stairs on the ground. The staircase was now a burning pyre. The room was burning, the heat unbearable. Distant screams came from above. His heart raced at these blood-curdling screams. What was going on? Was he seeing what was happening in the past? Slowly he shifted his eyes to the top of the engulfed room and from around the corner he saw a tsunami of people pushing and raging forward, trying to floor forward down the stairs, a matter of life or death to them. As they descended, the ones in front tried to move faster so they would not get crushed by the wave of people. Flames from the walls singed their skin. Their clothing caught on fire. Screams. Skin melting, charring black. Wooden beams fall and knock the people out. Their skin peels back as it melts away from muscle and bone. Smoke rises from their bodies. Muscles are tearing. Jay forces a breath. Jay takes a step down the fiery staircase as burning people sweep toward him. The floor creeks but is almost incoherent to the crackle of napalm and cries of the dying. Fire drops rain from the ceiling onto their heads. Hair lights up and burns off. Their eyes. Jay cannot look into those eyes. His mouth is agape. Their piteous eyes. Stop! The bodies come at him. Red. Screams. Cries. Collapse.

"Please!"

The heat.

Someone falls. Their hands red with blood and pieces of tearing skin. They are in range. Jay falls in fear onto his back looking up at the horde of men. His eyes close as his head hits the cement floor. The crackles stop. The cried end. The wind howls wildly and the stairs creek innocently.

He opens his eyes. Ashes and darkness. Breathe. Exhale.

"Get up Jay."

"Compose yourself."

"Ok..." He says to himself, heart racing.

Jay rose to his feet and leaned against a wall until his heart rate slowed to as close to normal as he could get. He waited a few minutes, looking at the staircase. His flashlight waves up and down.

"It would be foolish to think the fires would burn me. They're gone anyway."

He felt he had to go up the stairs. There were other paths, but this was calling him. His eyes rose up and gazed at the top steps.

Jay lifted his left and planted it on the first step. The stairs creaked like a cat in fear. He put pressure on the foot, the wooden board wobbled but held his weight. He took another step placing his hand on the adjacent wall, frightened of what these stairs held in wait for him. Another step, the stairs wobbled. His muscles were weak, frightened. Would the fire start again?

"Half-way there..."

Jay stopped and cocked his head over his shoulder. The wind was howling again. Would ash blow up the staircase? He stood there in wait, unable to move. Nothing.

Jay thought about Heather for a moment as he took another step. Did she make it to the car ok? Was she getting worried? How much time has passed?

"I still have time."

The stairs roared and whined as he took another step over a fallen support beam. The stairs winced in pain pulled down by his weight. Wood split and crackled and Jay felt his body drop. He put his hands out in front of him and locked his arms as it reached wood. His leg fell through. He felt pain begin to throb in his leg. Splintering wood tore at his skin. The wood creaked and start to crack again. His body became stiff. He quickly through his flashlight to the top of the stairs and started to pull his leg through the floor. Another piece snapped and his right hand reached up in an attempt to latch onto something. He grabbed the wooden railing. His body hung there as he held onto the railing and got his undamaged leg onto the next step. As he pulled up his other leg wood snapped and tore at it again.

"Adam! Where are you!" He yelled into the darkness in pain as he sat himself on secure wood looking at his leg. Blood stained his black pants. He began thinking this was a mistake but did not forget why he came. He touched at his open wounds. Thick splinters stuck out of his leg. He slowly retracted them wincing with each withdrawal. They were all superficial wounds.

He got to the top of the staircase and picked up his light. Shadows guarded each doors passively. He felt as though they were watching him, ready to strike at any time. He walked forward in silence, no sound but his breath. No creaks, no wind, no fire. No life in the room but his own. A bead of sweat broke through the layer of ashes on his forehead and saturated his face as it fell. Where were the clues?

He pondered as he stepped forward, doubting himself. Had he been deceived by instinct? Had it deceived him before?

"No."

The doors were locked.

He turned at the end of the hall into a large open room, much like the machine room. There was a hole in the ceiling, and floor boards were missing in the middle. He looked over his shoulder back down the hall he was in. Nothing else to choose from, no other rooms. This was it. He felt the danger of stepping forward. His heart raced. The floor looked so feeble yet this was the only way. The stairs he came on were completely destroyed anyway. He took a step into the room. It began to tint in a reddish color, slowly at first.

"No. No!"

The room was ablaze. He heard screams from behind him. He tipped his head over his shoulder slowly and his eyes roamed to the hallway he came from. Flames. Nothing but flames and screams.

"Not again..." He whispered insecurely dropping his flashlight in disbelief.

Fireballs falling from the ceiling in the front. His hands were trembling. His breathing constricted. His leg muscles gave way and he fell onto his knees, quivering. The fire on the ground struck the nerves in his body. He was burning.

"This isn't real! It's not real!" He started to scream as he smelt the smoke rise up from his pants.

The screams grew louder from behind. He looked over his shoulder again. A shadow in the flame. Jay couldn't blink. Smoke filled his lungs but he didn't cough. He wasn't even sure he was breathing. A man emerged from the blaze. Torso and legs on fire. He was convulsing, throwing himself against walls, rolling onto the ground into more fire. He looked up at the crowd behind the man crushing him, smashing in his face with their feet. They came toward Jay.

"They are all–dead. DEAD! Do you hear me!" The man's corpse was now nothing but fuel to the flame. People ran past Jay, he knelt unmoving as they passed. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He felt their feet slamming on the wood as they walked by and realized flames were eating at his legs fiercely now. He couldn't lift himself, or move any part of his body. He just knelt and watched. He felt tears running down his legs as an endless swarm of people ran by. Hot tears. Fiery tears.

Ashes. Darkness. So much pain. They all died. His body shook as he cried and held himself. All these people died. He tried getting to his feet. His body was trembling violently and on fire with a fear he never felt before. He looked at the empty room in front of him and heard a noise from behind. A light tap. He looked over his shoulder slowly. Taps. Quiet at first. Then louder. Louder! Footsteps! Yells! Jay's eyes widened and new tears fell as he watched people with charred burning skin scream at him. Run at him. Such torment! His mouth opened and he screamed. Not aloud, he screamed inside.