"He's gonna kill me, he's absolutely going to god damn slaughter me when gets here. Oh god he's gonna be so fucking pissed", Sam rambled to himself for possibly the millionth time as he passed the gas station that he and Colby stopped at before they approached that damned building. His gloved hands had been gripping the steering wheel so tightly for the past hour his palms were aching. He was breathing in and out at a rhythmic pace, trying to keep himself calm. It was reaching half 2 am now, he left the house a while after leaving Colby, spending a great amount of his time debating whether or not he should go through with this.

He flinched when his phone started to ring in his pocket. He didn't need to check the screen to know who it was. He was waiting for Colby to call honestly... He knew it would've happened eventually and he considered answering but chose against that. He needed to focus on driving and to be frank, he was pissing himself thinking about how ballistic Colby would be.

Colby called about four times before Sam reached the turn off to the forested road. He switching off his car once he was on the dirt road and sat back after pulling his phone from his back pocket. Just as he'd expected... Colby was calling him. His free hand scratched his thigh nervously as he watched the call drop and his lock screen of he and Colby came to view.

Two minutes passed and the screen flashed to life; Colby was calling him again. With severe reluctance he answered and brought it to his ear, hearing a breath of relief on the other end.

"Colby, I know you're mad- "

"Mad? You underestimate me".

"I need to do this Colby", Sam argued and Colby gave out a loud, furious laugh that made Sam swallow his heart down.

"You need to do this? Is that right? Say that again, I fucking dare you! It's getting torn down in a fucking week Sam, you couldn't have waited til then? Are you fucking serious!?" Colby was seething in anger and Sam bit his lower lip and looked ahead at the dark dirt road that was barely lit up by the headlights of his car. It looked incredibly unwelcoming. He didn't have time for this confrontation.

"Well I'm here aren't I? That should show how serious I am. I'm about twenty minutes away. I'm guessing I'll see you soon right?" He smiled to himself as Colby made an aggravated noise, like he knew he wasn't going to convince Sam to turn back... But he had to try.

"Sam... Please don't do this".

"You're my hero Colby. You'll save me right? Though... I won't be mad if you decide to leave me here because I've totally fucked you over this time around huh? This is so screwed of me", he laughed dryly and Colby's end remained silent so Sam continued. "Really though Colb's... I won't be upset if you don't come this time, it would be better off if I just... Didn't come back this time, because knowing this place I won't come out unscarred. You must be so tired of me clinging to you like a shadow, you're so kind so you've never said it to my face but I know it's gotta be draining just because I'm so... Pathetically stubborn. Thank you Colby... Really you- "

"Stop", Colby finally spoke. "Stop. It. That's enough Sam. You're full of shit. You know what's actually fucking draining Sam? The fact that you think I'm just going to discard you like you're nothing to me. That's what really gets on my nerves. Do not underestimate my devotion to you. Don't you fucking dare", his words made Sam pull his lips into a firm line and his eyes closed. "There is nothing in this world that you could do to make me hate you. Nothing".

"Saying it is one thing..."

"Have I given you reason to doubt my promises?"

"I'll see you soon then", Sam ended the conversation abruptly because at this point, Sam may just never get off the phone and Colby might just reach him before he had the chance to reach the place. "I love you Colby... I love you", he mumbled and he cut off Colby's saying his name as he ended the call and switched off his phone completely before discarding it in the passenger's seat next to him. The drive to the gates took about 25 minutes and his car halted as his lights shone over the open gates.

He exhaled and inhaled for about five minutes, feeling his heart start to flare in action, a possible panic attack threatening to occur but he refused to let it anchor him. He unfastened his seat belt and picked up his backpack in the backseat, leaving his phone in the car as he climbed out. This was it... This would be the last reckless time he'd return to this place. He wished he could've come in the daytime but he never would've been able to get past Colby who kept a firm check on him at all times.

He's already come so far, the only way he could move was forward. He pulled a flashlight from his backpack and stepped away from his car, slamming the door shut. He shouldered his bag and slowly started to enter through the gates, taking in the sight of a few trucks scattered about the premises in preparation for the demolition that would occur six days from then...

The gravel crunched beneath the soles of his boots and he noticed the doors were wide open today, which he gave the benefit of the doubt to, assuming it was due to the excavation. He clicked on his flashlight and shone it around by the gate, taking in the site of the tree he and Colby used to grant them access to the place. Thinking back on it now... Though Sam held unbridled hatred for this establishment, without it, he would've remained in a careless relationship and his feelings for Colby wouldn't've been able to flourish as it had. He was happy with Colby. So unbelievable happy. His gloved hands gripped the flashlight firmly and he grit his teeth. He had to be string tonight, he wouldn't come out as crippled as the last times, because he had no shred of doubt anymore... He had people who cared about him, who he knew for a fact loved him. He was shredded in doubt and insecurity the last two times, even that first time, harbouring unexplored feelings for Colby and feeling unsure of himself... The second time he wasn't rehabilitated in the slightest but now he could do this. He could. He would.

He turned to the hospital which almost seemed to tower over him, as if mocking him. The darkness of the trees and the walls almost blanketed him in the nightmare of the unknown, but he refused to recoil. Not anymore.

He approached it slowly, not wanting to stride in blindly and allow himself victim to any sort of traps, but now he would be cautious every step of the way. He took the first step and paused before continuing up the last three, a cold chill nipping at his neck which almost attempted to retract into the warmth of his hoodie's collar. He scoffed and began to enter the building before he looked at the doors, almost as if expecting them to slam shut the moment he went inside. He went back down the steps quickly and returned with a large rock, sticking it right against the bottom of the right door before he felt satisfied and continued to head in, for some reason feeling a lot more secure than before.

"Let's make this a calm reunion yeah?" Sam announced to the building as he slowly made his way into the waiting room where he and Colby entered and escaped through. It was like nothing changed at all; like no one had set foot in there for centuries. "I'm here alone this time, though I'm sure my... Partner will join me shortly", he said reluctantly, as if an abandoned and haunted hospital gave a shit about his homosexual status. "I wonder if you'll let me explore you properly this time without throwing shit at me", he wondered out loud and there was no response as he stepped away from the entrance to the waiting room and made his way over to the elevator that nearly killed him.

It wasn't there anymore, so the place wasn't spooky enough to repair that fuck up he made.

"Sorry about your elevator", he mumbled as he inched to the giant gap where the elevator used to be, leaning forward a bit in a cautious stance to peek down the dark hole. He could see the bottom thankfully but it was still quite a fall, would most likely paralyse him assuming he wouldn't die from the fall. He hurriedly backed away from the elevator in fear something would shove him down and send him to his death; because that would certainly pose an issue.

Sam wasn't planning on dying tonight.

He noted the stairwell doors were propped open with chains connecting them to the railings, a sigh escaping his lips in relief. He fell down those exact stairs which fucked his legs up before that table assisted it further. He flashed his light around the space for a few seconds before looking behind him just in case; everything seemed clear. As he made his way up the stairs, he couldn't help but think about how quiet it was aside from his footsteps... he tried not to linger on it for too long though.

By the time he reached the top of the stairs to the floor that he and Colby bolted from, he then heard noises... But it was anything but supernatural.

"Sam!"

He's already made it here? Sam did spent a lot of time just staring at the place from outside and he had no idea how far Colby was when he called. He flashed his light down the stairs but didn't respond to him, as if momentarily contemplating this being a trick. He looked back onto the floor he had just entered, shining his light over the various pages scattered around before he opened his mouth to finally respond.

"Colby is that... you?" It started out loud but his voice shrunk at his lips as his eyes landed on a dark figure at the end of the hallway in front of Sam. He heard Colby's voice call to him again but he stayed still, eyes trained on the unmoving figure.

His light wasn't directly on it but rather the floor just before it so he could make it out. He definitely was not imagining it, no matter how you looked at it. "What... What are you?" He mumbled as he bravely rose his light to focus on it, only sparing a second before like static to a corrupt video it shot closer towards him in fast beats before it was directly in front of him, Sam's light dropping to his feet and he screamed.

It grabbed him by the throat and he was thrown against the wall beside the stairwell doors, Sam's body pinned to the wall by the inhuman force, his feet removed from the ground as he rose his hands to what was holding his throat and desperately flailed against its hold. Colby's voice was growing louder in volume and he sensed he was coming up the stairs, tears prickling at his half close eyelids, unable to make out the figure strangling him through his blurred vision.

A moment away from falling unconscious, he was dropped and toppled like a ragdoll onto the floor, a massive gasp sounding from him as his windpipe attempted to expand in order to retch air back to his lungs. Even though he wasn't being choked anymore, he couldn't breathe; broken splutters ripped from him as he placed his gloved palms over his burning throat. His face felt over expanded, like his features were ballooning in their place. He was completely unaware of his surroundings as he tried to regain his breath, feeling something touch him but he hardly ingested it as all he could focus on was the burning in his throat.

Colby crouched in front of Sam with a desperate expression on his face while Brennen and Jake looked down at them in severe concern. Once Sam seemed to regain somewhat of an oxygen intake, his strained voice box screeched out in pain and horror, his eyes shutting as tears rushed down his swelling cheeks. His screams were silent and short as if he'd lost his voice. It seems he became aware of the hand that was touching him, unaware of who it was as he viciously slapped it away and forced himself to his feet by sliding up the wall.

"Sam! It's me, it's Colby!" He tried to subdue Sam's hysteria but he almost appeared blinded by fear as he weakly moved the hands away and stumbled hurriedly to the stairwell, ascending the stairs to the third floor in which he'd never been on. Though he was fatigued by the strangulation, his terror was fuelling his body as he darted up the steps with an abnormal amount of speed for someone who still couldn't breath properly. His ears were ringing and he could somewhat make out voices but he couldn't distinguish the words nor the being they belonged to. There were numerous voices, that much he could detect.

"How is he moving so fast?" Brennen voiced in a daze.

"Who the fuck cares about that?! Let's fucking calm him down! Come on let's go!" He snapped at them, already halfway up the stairs after Sam before the other two hurriedly followed suit.

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