Another buzz from my phone. Kid in Buckner Building. I try to slow my racing pulse. My phone will remind me what I’m doing. I’ll be okay. I won’t forget.

Another cry, high-pitched and terrified, comes from somewhere in this massive building, and I lurch forward, repeating a mantra, Kid inside, kid inside, kid inside.

The flashlight on my phone spreads a cone of light that catches on a concrete wall, drags across the walls behind it. In the dark, the building is otherworldly, and the near-constant drip of water echoing inside gives the sensation that it breathes.

Cans and other trash crunch underfoot, and my breath is smoke in the cold air. I move deeper into the building. Kid inside, kid inside, kid inside. Snow piles up against the windows of a room to my right, leaving the middle empty and vast, littered with insulation, rusted pieces of metal, and large chunks of drywall. Kid inside, kid inside, kid inside. Where am I? I’m in the Buckner, Buckner, Buckner. I swing my phone flashlight around, and a chill runs down my spine. I think of the night Mom left. How did I ever spend a night alone in here? And what am I doing in here now?

The phone reminds me. Kid in Buckner Building. The battery is on red. My stomach drops. With a sense of urgency, I swing the light, picking my way through what looks to be one of the long hallways. “Hello!” The idea that my phone could die and I’ll be left in here without a flashlight, without a way to remind myself, makes the hair on my arms stand on end. Kid inside, kid inside, kid inside. I clench my hands into fists and keep moving.

“Hello?” I call, quietly, as though I’m afraid to wake something up that I shouldn’t. My heart beats wildly. “Do you need help?” The building takes my voice, turns it thin. I move down the hallway. “It’s dangerous in here,” I say, stronger this time. Kid inside, kid inside, kid inside.

From within the bowels of the building, I hear a voice echoing down the long hallway. The building is huge, and panic swells, sets my pulse racing. Did I call someone else to help me search for her? I don’t have time to look for the answer, and I need to stay focused. Kid inside, kid inside, kid inside. I call out, “Hello? Where are you?” Silence.