eighty-seven

Minho took Jisung's hand in a tight grip and used his magic to brighten the hallway. Jisung still had the flashlight of his smartphone of course, but that wasn't as efficient and the battery wouldn't last forever.

"Where do we go first?" He asked unsurely and looked around, checking their options. The hallway was so long that the light didn't reach its ending. It looked like a black hole waiting to swallow them.

Left and right, he spotted two doors that would take them to an unknown place, and in front of them, a concrete stairway led up to the next floor. The entire orphanage looked old and abandoned. Nobody had taken care of it in decades.

It had been left as it was, and in some areas, it was easy to see that nature had overtaken the structure. Parts of the wallpaper near the ground was covered in green. Jisung suspected it was moss or mold, but he didn't feel like taking a closer look at it.

"I don't know... but we have to start somewhere if we want to find the blood mage," Minho said lowly. "I'm sure they have a few traps in here for us... and I assume they are watching us from somewhere."

A quiver ran through Jisung's body. This was like a scene taken from his worst nightmare. He hated to be trapped, it made him anxious. And the fact that some deranged psycho was waiting in here for them did not help either.

"Let's go upstairs first, okay?" Minho suggested and held Jisung's hand firmly. Frowning, they ascended the stairs and reached the next floor. This one didn't look much different than the ground floor.

The walls were grey and worn, the floor made of concrete. The creepy symbols were everywhere, following the long hallway as it stretched out in front of them.

They walked down the hallway fast, reaching the first door to their left. Minho decided to simply kick it down and walked inside. His magic illuminated the entire room to the last corner and revealed a mostly empty space.

The curtains at the walls looked out of place because there were no windows in this room. "What the fuck? Has it always been like that? Shouldn't there be windows?" Jisung muttered.

"It's part of the spell that the blood mage has put on the building. All exits are closed off, and the windows are no exemption to that," Minho said lowly.

A loud slam suddenly echoed through the building. Jisung flinched and turned to the door, but he couldn't see any movement. He didn't even want to know where that sound came from.

Minho had heard it too. He snapped his head around and stared at the empty doorway. None of them moved for what seemed like hours. As if they were frozen, they stood and waited for something to happen.

Minutes passed, but no other sound was heard. Eventually, Jisung relaxed and heaved a sigh. "What could that have been?" He asked breathlessly.

"Who knows. Maybe it was the wind," Minho said sarcastically, scowling. "Seems like this blood mage loves to play games."

Jisung gnawed on his lower lip, his heart beating unevenly. "I want to get out of here. Is there really nothing you can do?" He asked desperately. "M-Maybe you could try opening a portal to hell? That could be a way out."

Minho looked unsure, scrunching his brows. "I highly doubt that it would work, but I can try." He moved his hand in a circle and concentrated. However, nothing happened, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't create a portal.

"Shit. Then what do we do now?"

"We have to keep searching," he sighed.

"That's our only option, huh?" Jisung mumbled. He couldn't fathom how their Halloween party had escalated to this. He had gone from dancing and having fun to fearing for his life.

To be continued...