Day 748

The abandoned cinema was supposed to be two floors of nothing but pigeon crap, dust and the remnants of film posters from fifty years ago. The two teens got exactly that at first, breathing the musty, possibly asbestos-tainted air through their cheap filter masks and making fun of the graffiti from people like them who'd come before to mark what was left of their first forays into moving pictures.

They headed to the upper floor first, feeling a little worried by the sheer darkness of the lower area and its boarded up windows, seeking that slightly fresher air right from the start.  Of course they didn't bother to test the stairs before they headed straight up and onto the old upper foyer, the place where their older friends despaired at never having been allowed to see as the bar there only served alcohol. Now the bar was little more than an outline on the floor and a few glass shards in a corner, piled up neatly like somebody had once done the sweeping and been too distracted to finish it off.

The rooms around there were the toilets(broken and used, the source of most of the scent that permeated that half of the floor), the staff room (door too broken to use but totally empty from what they could see) and the upper floor of the only cinema room there. The balcony they'd always wanted to sit on when they were younger but the seats had always been to costly. Now they sat on the metal bars what were the last pieces of furniture around and pretended to be watching an old-timey flick, shining their torch beams around like beacons.

They almost forgot the lower floor even existed until they heard laughter that wasn't theirs coming from the darkness below them. The urge to immediately bail was stifled only by thought that it might be their friend who'd said he'd meet them there in a bit. He may have sent that five hours ago, judging by their phones, but still he could be there. Time had flown by so quickly but they soon forgot about that when the sound of dozens of feet came thundering up the stairs.

They panicked, heading to a door furthest from the one they entered, squeezing through the slim gap and hiding together under the remains of a cardboard box that someone had clearly slept in a long time ago. The footsteps pounded onto the balcony and low voices whispered about the still-on torches the two teens had left behind in their mad rush to hide away.

Two torch beams darted about the room they'd run into and what sounded like eight voices speaking in unison spoke to them. "They ran in here they did. We know that. Yesss they always hide in here somewhere but why can't we see them? What if they jumped? Yesss that would be fun to see, let's go to look? No, they were small boys, we saw that. They would break and be broken if they jumped so they must be here. But WHERE?" and their final word, said in a screech of annoyance, echoed about as the teens remained as still as possible, hoping the source of the sound would leave soon.

The person (or persons?) didn't seem to be able to make up their mind or comprehend that they could split up and check both upper and lower floor. From what they said their plan was to dangle as much of themself over the balcony as they could to check for the teens bodies or any hint of their current whereabouts. With a coarse rope-like noise and dozens of grunts the being seemed to be lowering themself right down "until the fingery-tips touch the floor. It makes for the best view, yesss."

With a prolonged thud and much pained groaning they seemed to have lowered themself too much and fallen straight over the ledge. Seeing their chance the two teens made a dash for the foyer, to one of the broken windows that led to the concrete canopy directly below. From there the drop to the street was only seven or so feet and they were more than happy to risk that rather than whoever, or whatever, was behind them, thumping up the stairs once more.

Rolling on impact they just about made it to the path below, relishing the fact that they hadn't been spotted. The streets in that area were generally quiet at that time of day, the busier areas being just around the corner. They ran without looking back, without thinking twice about the many pairs of eyes watching them go from the broken cinema window.