My friend Mark and I love exploring abandonments. We've been doing it for years, and I'm telling you, it never gets old. The constant unsettling feeling, finding new areas, guessing the history. It's almost addicting. From the first time we did it, we were hooked. Still, you can only explore houses for so long before you have to move on to something bigger. That's what led us to what happened last year.

There was this huge abandoned hospital located nearby, only a few towns over. We'd never seen it ourselves, but we knew that it had been abandoned for several decades, having closed down in favour to a smaller, more moderate version. Mark refused the first few times that I suggested it, since he was concerned about getting caught by the police. I was eventually able to convince him, pointing out that they would more than likely simply ask us to leave the area.

It was approximately 7:30 P.M., when we left, it was summer, so the sun was still visible. On the way there, we discussed the plan one last time. The hospital was rather isolated, and the area surrounding it was overgrown. The idea was to drive to a parking lot a quarter of a mile away. From there, we would sneak through the bushes. By the time we arrived, it would be dark enough to walk across the final paved stretch to the front doors, remaining unseen.

Once in the parking lot, we stood by the car for a few minutes. The road next to the lot went by the hospital, and we wanted to guarantee there wasn't any traffic. It seemed that our odds were good, because in the ten minutes in which we waited, only 1 car passed by.

Next, we checked our supplies. For each of us, a flashlight, bottle of water, disinfectant, band aids, as well as a cheap radio, for when we inevitably decided that it would be better to split up.

As I headed for the trees, Mark tapped me on the shoulder.

"I almost forgot, I got this from the library earlier."

He reached into his backpack, and retrieved a rolled up scrap of paper.

"It's a map of the building, the fire exits and whatnot. You take it."

I asked, "doesn't a map defeat the purpose of exploring?"

"We will only look at it if required to. If one of us gets injured, it would suck to bleed to death while searching for the exit."

"Alright, but why do I have to take it?"

"Because by one of us, I mean me."

He had a point. In the years that we've been exploring, we'd had 3 total injuries. All of them were Mark. I shoved the map into my back pocket, and we headed towards the hospital.

Just as planned, it was dark upon arriving. Because of the surrounding trees, we couldn't distinguish a clear silhouette of the building against the sky. Shining our flashlights on it revealed a brick exterior, containing 3 floors. Most of the windows were broken.

The main entrance was wide open. One of the double doors laid on the ground nearby, with the other one nowhere to be found. Most definitely, we were not among the first people to investigate this location, which had been expected. I don't think we've ever had to break in ourselves.

In we went.

The place was in incredibly bad shape. The floor was covered in dirt, and most of the doors had been kicked in. There were holes in most of the walls, indicating that thieves had taken the copper wiring. There was also significant water damage. With all of this, do I care to mention the graffiti?

The first floor was probably the most interesting. It contained the cafeteria, staff room, and most interestingly, the morgue. To our surprise, there was a set of tools left behind. As a rule, we don't take anything from abandonments, but at the time, we really wanted to. We went upstairs to the second floor.

There, most of the doors were intact, and there was no graffiti. I'm assuming that the troublemakers were too lazy to climb the stairs. The thrives supposedly had the motivation, given that there were numerous holes in the walls.

It was at this time that, as always, Mark decided to split up. I tend to take my time, and he moves quickly in comparison. I inspect the details, he aims to see everything. Because of this, I knew that he'd end up far away from me. It was alright with me, as I slightly enjoyed the silence. The creepiness is widely what makes this fun, and if he didn't split us up, I would have.

The second floor was mostly patient rooms, containing beds and tables. As I was exploring, I could hear Mark's footsteps upstairs. They would move a distance, halt, I'd hear the faint sound of a door opening, and then I'd hear him move away. He had really gotten ahead of me.

I explored half of the floor before discovering a relatively large sitting area, located in the middle of the building. It was rather illuminated the moonlight, which shined through the large window big enough to be the wall itself. Looking out, I could see the paved front area that we had come from.

I didn't require the flashlight, so I turned it off. There was a coffee table in the centre of the room, surrounded by 4 old sofas. I sat down on one of the for a water break. It was incredibly unsettling, sitting there alone, with everything bathed in a dull, blue light. I kept seeing things from the corner of my eyes, but in that light, this was to be expected.

I was putting my water bottle away when I heard my radio crackle.

Mark's voice came through. "Hey, I'm a little lost here. Can you help me find you?"

I would have been annoyed at having to use the map, but after seeing things for a few minutes, I didn't mind regrouping.

"What's the nearest room number?" I asked.

"I'm in room 308."

"Okay," I spoke, while locating his position on the map. "You're in the east wing, third floor."

"Where do I go from here?"

"Walk in the direction that the numbers would be descending. There should be a staircase next to 301."

2 minutes passed, I was about to try communicating again, when his voice came back through.

"These stairs are blocked. Where are you?"

I answered, "I'm sitting in the middle of the second floor. I assume that you're next to 301 right now?"

"Yes." He confirms.

"Now, you'll want to move in ascending order this time. There should be an employee staircase next to 349, which leads down here."

Across the half from the sitting area, according to the map, was a staff lounge. This is where the stairs are supposedly located.

After 10 more minutes, I could hear Mark's footsteps above me. Once again, the radio crackled on.

"These stairs right here?"

"Yes, I can hear you above me."

As I listened to him walk away, I headed to the door of the staff lounge. On the other side, I could hear Mark descending the steps and walking across the room. When he reached the door, the knob jiggled, but it was evidently locked.

I yelled at him through the door, telling him to unlock it. Strangely, he answered through the radio, despite being on the opposite side of the door.

"The lock is broken. You will have to open it for me."

I particularly dislike damaging sites, but I was way too scared to keep sitting there by myself, while I led him to another staircase. I backed up and prepared to kick down the door. Just as I was about to kick it, my cellphone rang. I practically jumped through the ceiling.

I answered the phone.

"What?! Christ, you scared the shit out of me!"

"And you have been scaring the shit out of me!"

It was Mark.

I asked, "what do you mean?"

"You weren't answering your radio, I've been waiting outside for 20 minutes! Where are you?"

I walked back to the sitting area and peered out the window. Mark stood, at ground level on the pavement.

I said, "I'm on the second floor, in the large, middle window."

I watched him look around momentarily before spotting me.

He said, "there, I see you."

It was then that I heard a loud series of bangs. I ran into the hall. The staff room door was violently shaking with each hit. Whoever was behind it was wailing on it, desperately trying to get out. I turned and ran out of the building.

I met up with Mark outside, and without a word, we ran through the woods, all the way back to the parking lot. We sat in the car, then sped off towards his house.

When we arrived, I explained to Mark what had happened. He also gave me his experience.

"When I went ahead of you towards the opposite end of the second floor, I tried going upstairs. It was blocked by debris, but I heard footsteps up there. I tried and tried getting you on the radio, in order to ask you how you did it, but you weren't answering. I thought you were messing with me, but I was also unnerved by it. I waited for you outside, eventually, remembering to call your phone."

I was throughly unnerved by this, but he had one last detail for me.

"There's one more thing," he said, "remember when I called you, and you asked me if I could see you? I did see you, but..."

He paused.

"At the time, I didn't want to say anything. But I'm certain that I could see people in the third floor windows."