“He vanished,” Xander said, glaring at his friend. “Without a trace.”

Omar pushed back from the fence. “I love the place. If it looks this creepy on the outside, I can only imagine what it looks like on the inside.”

“After five years it would be pretty run-down,” Li said.

Priya squinted at the building. “How would we even get in?”

“I’m sure they would have security,” Li said.

“You always think that,” Omar said. “If they did have security, how would the taggers have marked up the walls?”

“The windows on the main floor are boarded up,” Priya noted. “And no way are we going to reach the second-floor windows.”

“Too bad we can’t get inside,” Xander said. “That would be the ultimate.”

“Well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be,” said Priya. “But I can check out the old museum over the weekend. Even if we can’t get inside there, we should be able to at least explore the grounds.”

The four of them turned and started to head for their regular route home.

After a few paces Xander stopped. “You all go ahead,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When the other three had gone around the corner, Xander turned back and circled the haunted hospital, searching for some way in. From the street the place looked locked up tight, but what about up close?

He glanced around for any witnesses. An old man was raking leaves in his yard, but his back was to Xander. The coast was clear. Xander climbed the fence and scurried to one of the boarded-up windows. He pushed against the plywood. Solid. He crept farther along the wall, testing each boarded-up window for a way in. No luck. Then he reached a section of the building hidden from the street by a row of bushes. As he neared the window, he began to smile at what he had discovered.

The sheet of plywood was loose.

Chapter Three

Xander had found a way in. He pried the plywood sheet farther away from the window and crawled inside. His jacket snagged on a loose nail and tore a hole in the shoulder. Xander stuck a finger through the hole in the fabric and shook his head.

“Mom is totally going to kill me,” he muttered.

He fished his phone out of his back pocket and switched on the flashlight mode. He swept the beam across the walls of the dusty room. The place reeked.

Xander headed to the door and pulled it open. The hinges groaned as the door swung inward. He poked his head into the hallway and flashed the light both ways. At one end was a large counter at the nurses’ station. Beside the black-topped desk a gurney sat on its side, rusted caster wheels dangling from the legs.

At the other end of the hallway, double doors led deeper into the heart of the haunted hospital. The scene reminded Xander of an old video game his dad used to play. Silent Hill. He remembered once sneaking a peek as his dad killed zombie nurses and having nightmares for a month.