Everyone and everything was nearly ready to go. Anby got her video checked out, and her raincoat was once again on her body. Belle had the car keys, and she had accepted her fate. Not willing to catch a cold over this sudden favor Anby had called upon her for, she had one last thing that needed doing before setting off. Briefly borrowing Anby's flashlight, she went upstairs, into her room, and opened up one of the lockers opposite her bed. Inside was a see-through rain poncho, though it wasn't like the ones you could get at 141 for just a few dennies. This was made of sturdy material, and featured a green trim around the bottom of it, as well as a design of a very generic Bangboo on the side. Practical and stylish. Belle hastily draped that over her body, grabbed and put on the rain boots at the bottom of the locker, and hurried back downstairs to return Anby's flashlight.
"Alright. Let's do this."
"Let's. Thank you again for your help today." Anby grabbed the handle of the back door, leading to the parking lot. As opposed to the front door where the door got flung open by the wind, the heavier metal door combined with the wind blowing directly against it meant she had to put noticably more effort into pushing it open. Once the door was open enough for Belle to squeeze through, she immediately did so, followed closely by Anby. The door was blown shut, and the two made a run for the car.
Seeing the weather through the window was one thing. Actually being outside in it was another matter entirely. For one, Belle immediately learned that it looked windier than it felt, which she saw as a welcome surprise. That didn't mean she didn't have to fight to keep her poncho's hood over her head, however, or that she didn't have to lean into the wind a bit with each step. While it wasn't as bad as she initially thought, it was still pretty bad. Secondly, while the wind wasn't as bad as it looked, the rain was somehow worse than it looked. She could barely see across the parking lot to the car, and her every step was punctuated by the splish-splash of a film of water coating the entire parking lot. Just in the moments it took to reach the car, every inch of her not directly protected by the rain poncho or boots was completely soaked, and the fight for her hood meant her hair and face didn't fare much better.
For what little mercy it was, once the two were in the car, Anby seemed to be in much the same situation. Perhaps it would've been smart to bring another towel or two for in the car? No. Upon further consideration, it would have gotten soaked through in the time it took to reach the car, defeating the point entirely. Belle turned on the car, set the windshield wipers to their highest speed, and was disappointed but not surprised to find that even at their best, the wipers didn't really do much for visibility against this much rain. While the numerous lights on the roof helped a bit, it was still hard to make out more than general shapes and colors. She'd have to drive a bit slower, then.
"Our first stop is an abandoned hospital near the edge of the city," Anby said. "There's an urban legend there that says you can see the ghost of yourself. If you meet your ghost, you die later that night."
"Come on, we both know ghosts aren't real." The car pulled out, turned to leave... and Belle stared at the parking lot gate ahead of her. It was closed. "Anby, do you mind?"
"Understood." Opening the gate wasn't a difficult process, but Belle was trying to minimize her time spent outdoors. Anby, for one, didn't seem to mind the elements raging around her, and was back in the car in short order, with the gate open and the girls ready to go. The drive to the hospital in question was mostly spent discussing what exactly Anby hoped to gain out of this.
"So, how does this help us figure out the horror movie thing?"
"If we get in situations that belong in horror movies while dressed like this, we can figure out why this sort of outfit is associated with the horror genre more than others."
"I mean..." Belle took the red light she had to stop at as a good chance to gesture at the windshield in front of her, and the rivers of water running across it. "Do you want to go out there dressed normally?"
"That's not related."
"It's totally related. Plenty of horror films use bad weather as a plot device or to set the mood. Although, I feel more like we're in a disaster film, driving like this."
"Precisely. I mentioned it in the store already. Even in disaster movies where rain is a major factor, the main cast usually doesn't ever wear a raincoat. It doesn't rain nearly as much in horror films, but nearly every major scene featuring a raincoat is a horror scene. It doesn't make sense."
"...that's... not wrong. But I'm not sure if that sounds right either."
"Then can you recommend me a disaster film where a major scene features the main character in a raincoat?"
"That's kind of specific. I'm not sure the film you're asking for exists."
"Precisely." The conversation mostly continued in circles of the same general idea from there. Anby's insistence that there had to be something horror-related that caused this odd statistic, Belle's offer of an explanation that made sense, and Anby digging deeper into it to come back to the root question. While the conversation only changed on a superficial level, even with the limited visibility it was easy to tell the scenery of New Eridu was gradually changing. Eventually, the hospital in question came into view.
Even through the windshield, Belle could already tell this place was well past "abandoned" and more into the territory of "gradually falling apart." She was frankly impressed it hadn't been demolished yet. The lights were out, the skies were dark, and she was pulling up to a hospital that looked like its decay alone could have been older than her. She was almost beginning to understand what Anby meant, but the key word was almost.
Once she opened the car door and stepped outside, Belle was immediately treated to the second instance today of being battered and bombarded by wind and rain. Even with her poncho protecting her, each drop of rain felt like a tiny bullet that could pierce through and still soak her. The wind kept grabbing and pulling at the hem of her poncho, and just keeping it down to cover her was a struggle. She couldn't believe the thought was crossing her mind, but she envied Anby's raincoat in this moment. It was clearly made of a heavier material, which probably explained why she seemed so unbothered despite the weather.
Belle just reassured herself, the maelstrom of wind and water collapsing in on her was a sensation that didn't have to last very long. The two made a mad dash for the hospital doors, only to find that there was no longer a door; just a vacant doorway. The inside of the hospital was beginning to face some minor flooding due to its state and location, but it couldn't have been more than a couple of inches of water. More importantly, the wind happened to be blowing directly into the doorway, meaning the girls were forced to retreat further inside to seek shelter from the elements before finally removing the hoods of their respective poncho and raincoat. Once that had been accomplished, however, Anby reached into her pockets again. This time, she retrieved a pair of walkie-talkies.
"For you," she said, holding one out.
"Uh... thanks? Can't you just use your phone?"
"I can't. The battery died while I was calling you earlier. This is the only way for us to stay in contact."
"I see. Wait! Stay in contact? Weren't you the one who said we can't split up?"
"Yes. This is just in case we get split up against our will. It's perfectly normal in a horror movie for people traveling together to get forced apart. If that happens, we should use these to get back in contact, then meet up at the lobby as soon as possible."
"You really planned ahead, huh?"
"I told you that my life was in your hands today, Proxy. But, by coming with me for all this, you're leaving your life in my hands as well. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let something happen to you, all because of my own curiosity. Also, Nicole said before I left, "If anything bad happens to Phaethon while she's with you, there won't be enough dennies in the world for you to make it up to me.""
"Aww, thank you both so much for the concern." As Anby turned on the flashlight and started down the hall, Belle followed close behind, thinking more about what Anby had said. Her general tone of voice never would have shown it, but she knew well enough by now just how much Anby cared about the people close to her. That said, she still didn't appreciate getting dragged all over New Eridu in this lousy weather. And while she knew Anby was a bit weird, it was a bit scary in itself how seriously she was taking this. She fully expected something straight out of a horror film to happen, and quite frankly, she was so into it that Belle was starting to get some suspicions herself.
The general ambience of this hospital definitely didn't help that one bit. Even aside from the minor flooding, this place was so decrepit by now that the wind and rain could come and go as they pleased. Water dripped down from the ceiling above, and cracks in the walls and missing windows both meant that some places in the hospital were subject to the same harsh conditions as outside. Even in areas free of such drafts, there was the constant whistling of wind squeezing through tight spaces. Sometimes, in certain places, the wind would make other sounds, too. At one point, Belle could have sworn it was a voice calling out to her. Quite frankly, the only thing keeping her and her active imagination grounded right now was Anby. As long as she just focused on the girl right in front of her, following behind that white hair and yellow raincoat, surely everything would be fine. The conversation also helped.
"You really know how to pick 'em, don't you?" Belle asked nervously.
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"I mean this place is pretty darn spooky. It really does feel like I'm in a horror movie."
"That sounds like a compliment. If it is, thank you. If you're scared, you could hold my hand. Nicole does that when I put on horror movies at night. She has a very strong grip."
"No, thanks. Or... not right now, at least." Belle couldn't help but peer into the different rooms as she and Anby passed them. They were all in much the same sorry state as the lobby and halls. Old, dark, and decrepit. "How did you even find out about this place?"
"I looked on Inter-Knot and social media for urban legends. To be honest, the question about raincoats and horror films has been bothering me for some time. I couldn't look into it when I first thought about it, because the weather was too nice. Once I saw the weather forecast for today, I knew this was my chance, so I began finding as many as I could. Then, I narrowed it down to the ones that sounded like the plot of a horror movie."
Suddenly, the relative calm was interrupted by a loud squeak, and a loud crashing noise. The next thing Anby knew, the Proxy who had been cautiously following behind her was in front of her, gripping her hand that had the flashlight, and spinning her in the other direction. That was absolutely where the sudden sound had come from. And for just a split second, she could see the culprit. Her only wish was that she had enough time to get a better look, but she saw enough to draw a conclusion. The source of the sound was a young woman, with the same white hair, and the same yellow raincoat. That was all she had time to spot before the figure seemingly disappeared, but it was enough.
"Proxy. You saw it too, right?"
"Yeah. You think that was your ghost?"
"It has to be." Rather than turn and head back to the lobby like Belle was planning to, Anby instead went deeper, continuing in the direction of the supposed ghost, resolved to see this through. "Proxy, stay close behind me."
"Got it."
The conversation had stopped dead in its tracks in response to this turn of events. All that was left was the whistling of the wind, the dripping of water, the endless rumble of thunder, and the footsteps of the pair. Splish-splash. Splish-splash. Splish-splash. Until eventually, they reached the very spot where the ghost had been spotted. Only to find nothing out of the ordinary. Just old chairs, crumbling walls, wet floors, and a leaky ceiling.
"Now what?"
"I'm not sure." Anby put her hand up against the wall. "This wall is in very poor condition. Look, water is leaking through it like it's a fountain. It could collapse any day now, especially when faced with intense weather like this. Here, take the flashlight for a moment."
"Sure." As Anby continued feeling around on the wet wall, seemingly looking for some sort of clue to piece together what she just saw, Belle tried to give her a good angle of light to work with. Then, just out the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw her own ghost for a second. When she turned to look, however, it all came together.
"Hey, Anby, could you take a step or two away from the wall? I wanna see something."
"Okay." Once Anby had stepped back, Belle turned off the flashlight. For that moment, all that surrounded the two was total darkness. But then she switched it back on, and for a very brief moment, Anby saw something in the wall. Herself. "Oh. I get it."
"Anby, you scared me half to death," Belle groaned, taking a few steps back to collapse onto one of the old hospital chairs. "I really thought you saw a ghost or something!"
"Ghosts aren't real. You said so yourself."
"Then why are we looking for one if you don't believe in them?"
"I didn't say I don't believe in them. But I'm not surprised it was just a reflection."
"Can we go now? This place is really giving me the creeps."
"Yeah. I don't think we'll learn anything about horror movies here, if the ghost story was fake."
And so, the two started back toward the lobby. As much as Belle had enjoyed being inside, at this point, she was more than willing to take another round with the wind and rain, instead of staying here for much longer. She never thought she'd feel relieved to step outside into such grim weather, fighting the wind for her balance and control of her rain poncho every step of the way, and yet, here she was. Everything not directly covered by her poncho was drenched, her hair was a disaster, and she was somehow thankful for it.
If every stop Anby had planned was like this, this was going to be a long outing.
"Alright, Anby. Where to next?"