A tremor took over in place of my shock, and I didn't know what to do. Joshua came out of the shock quicker than I did, and grabbed my hand. He pulled me into the first room where we had found the bandages. He pushed me behind the door, and leaned his body against mine.
I could feel his breath on my lips, but now was really not the right time to think about romantic things.

The lock on the door was broken, so we weren't really safe here. But we couldn't really think of anything better.

We heard the main entrance door open and the voices got louder and louder. They were becoming more and more distinct.

"Where is this going now?"

Said one voice again.

The other voice, sounding a little stronger and more confident, said:

"Where these things usually go."

Silence fell.
After a few seconds, the squeaking on the floor and the heavy footsteps of the two men could be heard.

I panicked and felt uneasy. Joshua looked deep into my eyes. My heartbeat became much faster than it already was.

Was I falling in love with him?
Did we even have time for this?
I don't even really know him...

His eyes calmed me a lot, and I decided to look into his eyes too.

This beautiful moment was destroyed again when we heard the rattling of a lock and a dull bang.

Was that the locked room?

I felt fear inside me and my body began to tremble. I held my breath as we heard the grinding of something on the floor.

You could hear that it was something heavy.

But what was it?! That's what I wanted to know!

While I was still trying to hold my breath, everything became too much, and I exhaled loudly.

The grinding on the floor stopped.

Was it because of me? Did they hear me?

We hear those voices again from the inner area that had once served as a waiting room for patients.

"Did you hear that too?"

"You're exaggerating, I didn't hear anything."

Relieved, I had almost exhaled loudly again, but was still holding it in.

The door was locked again, and the lock could be heard picking.

The footsteps moved towards the main entrance, where silence fell again.

"We'll have to come back tomorrow, let the little girl wake up first."

I froze. 'The little girl?'
What did these men want from her!

The other voice replied:

"Yes, that's right. She will spend her last hours in this dark room."

A loud laugh was heard, echoing through the building.

I got flashbacks to the time from before, when my mother had smiled at me like that after pulling my hair and looking at my pained face in satisfaction.

It felt like the whole world was falling on me, everything was becoming too much for me. Panicking, I covered my ears with my hands to stop hearing that devilish laughter from the men. I closed my eyes, I can't take it anymore!

My body began to tremble, and my pulse quickened considerably.

Joshua looked at me worriedly, noticing that I was not well. He looked spellbound into my eyes, and then at my trembling body.

Slowly he touched my cheek, stroking it gently.
I opened my eyes and looked into his. He pulled me closer to him, and I lowered my arms in shock.

He came to my ear, and whispered:

''Calm down Alice...''

My breathing slowed again after his words.

His gaze moved to my lips, and he looked at me with his blue eyes, asking for permission to kiss me.

I thought his light freckles were so cute, and his smile is like sunshine. His slightly curly hair fell in his face.

I wasn't ready for something like that, but I didn't know how to tell him.

Slowly, I pulled him into a hug, whereupon I could feel his breath on my neck. He ran his hand soothingly up and down my back. His heartbeat was really fast...

At that moment, I became sure that he was really the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. No one had treated me as well as he had until now.

We stayed in the embrace until we heard a sob, and then shrill screams, apparently coming from one of the rooms. 

''The little Girl!!''
I thought.

I broke away from Joshua's embrace in a panic, and looked around. Were those men gone?

But the more important question has been:

Who did those screams belong to?