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The chapters go from newest to oldest, which means the first chapter you see here is going to be the latest chapter. I'll put down a date at the front of it, and the chapter number and name.
Note: I don't have a specific updating schedule so it might take weeks or even months for another chapter to come up.
They walked in front of the building. The door was huge, and slightly cracked open.
They all looked at each other.
Anya sighed. “Okay, well now we know she definitely went in here.”
Duke pushed the door open more. It creaaakked as it opened.
They all looked inside...and it was pitch black. Everyone just stared.
No one liked the darkness. No one dared to go in.
Maya broke the silence. "So...we just gonna stand here or what?"
Anya and Duke just stood there, still. Maya watched them, waiting for them to say something.
"Guys!" She yelled.
Anya flinched. "Ah!" Anya flinching made Duke flinch. "Ah!"
"Are we gonna go in?" Maya asked.
Anya and Duke looked at each other nervously. "Um, sure..." Duke said.
They hesitated. Then Maya finally got it.
She shouted, "Are you kidding me?! You guys are seriously afraid of he dark?"
She stomped foward, pushing the door more open. "I can't believe you guys! Even Linda's not scared of the dark!"
Anya tried to stop her. "Wait, Maya!"
"We don't know who's in there!" Duke added.
Maya didn't stop walking. "Relax, there's no one here!"
Now she was fully in the darkness. "Besides, I think this building is—"
Suddenly, the lights turned on. Everyone froze.
"...Abandoned?" Maya said.
Now Anya and Duke were even more freaked out.
"Uhm...should we still go in?" Duke asked, unsure.
"Well, Linda might be in here! And we can't lose her!" Anya said, trying to hype herself up. "And even if we're scared we should just do it!" She took a deep breath and held it.
"Okay!" Duke said, and he took a deep breath and held it as well.
They both strutted in confidently, trying to ignore their fear.
Once they were all in and walking around, they were less scared.
It looked like a hotel lobby, with a check in desk and comfortable chairs to sit on.
There were papers everywhere, just scattered around on the ground.
Maya sat down on one of the chairs, then she immediately sprang up.
"Ew, what the heck?" She exclaimed. Anya looked over.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"This chair is so dusty! It feels like dirt!" Maya said while dusting it off with her hand.
Duke spoke up. "Yeah, along with everything else in here." He crouched down and rubbed his finger on the floor. He looked at his finger, and there was a ton of gray dust on it. "Everything is so dusty and dirty, I'm sure no one has been here in a long time."
Anya sniffed a chair. "And everything smells, too." She said while making a disgusted face. She gagged. "Geez, did the staff ever clean?!"
"Well, maybe they did, but it hasn't been a while." Duke stated. "I wonder how old this building is?"
Maya stood up from her chair. "Yeah, and why's it in such a weird place anyway?"
"I don't know..." Anya looked around, and then said. "But that's not our problem right now. Right now we need to find Linda. She's probably scared."
Duke stood up from the piece of paper he was looking at. "Yeah, you're right. We don't need to find this place's secrets, we just need to get out."
They all nodded their heads in agreement. They were all standing next to each other now.
Anya sighed, "Okay, it doesn't seem like she's on this floor. Maybe she went to the elevator. We can check all the floors."
Maya's eyes widened. "What? Every floor?"
Anya nodded. "Yup, if that's what it'll take."
Maya was still surprised. "But, haven't you seen how tall this building is? There's at least 100 floors! That's gonna take so long!" She said, exasperated.
Anya gave her a look. "Maya, this is our younger sister we're talking about here. I'll do anything to keep her safe. If you don't wanna do it, then feel free to sit this one out."
Maya sighed. "Well, now you just make me sound like the bad guy..."
Anya started walking. "Come on, let's go find her."
They all walked towards the elevator. Anya pushed the button and they waited.
Ding!
The elevator door opened slowly. Inside, there was a man standing there.
"Oh, hello, I've been looking for all of you..."
It was sprinkling out. The rain had made everything muddy and soggy, but that was when no one was around. Perfect for them.
They had gone to the park. It was empty, as expected. More swings for them.
Maya and Duke immediately jumped onto the swings and started swinging. Maya was standing on it, but Duke didn't want to slip from the rain.
Anya had been on her phone the whole walk, and she just leaned against the swing set trying to be all cool when, really, she was just still a kid like them.
Linda, however, was not having fun. Unlike her siblings, she preferred when it was hot and sunny out, when everyone was there.
But she couldn't stay at home alone, since she was the youngest. A blessing but also a curse.
She just sat there, pouting in the corner, pushing around the mulch.
Then, something caught her eye.
A hole.
It was small, but she could totally fit. Why not make her siblings worry where she was? She was so bored, so this was the perfect opportunity to spice things up. She slowly looked at her siblings. Then slowly turned her head back to the hole.
They weren't looking.
So, she slipped into the hole.
It was so easy, too. It seemed like it was made for her to fit through.
All the more reason to go through it.
When she reached the other end, she didn't get what she was expecting. She was expecting a whole a new world, or some cool place. But no, it just looked like the other end of the hole.
But there was one weird thing in front of her.
A building.
It was so tall, Linda couldn't even see the end of it. She peered up at it. It seemed to be neverending, she thought. Well, it's not like the building was going to explore itself!
She got up and dusted herself off. She walked around the building to find the entrance. Or at least a door of some sort.
Finally, she found the entrance door.
It was already open.
It was pitch black in there, but that didn't stop Linda.
She wasn't afraid of the dark.
Meanwhile, the other siblings were still at the park.
Maya and Duke were just laughing and having fun, when Duke noticed Linda wasn't anywhere.
His eyes scanned the whole park. No Linda.
He turned to his siblings.
"Where's Linda?"
Anya's head shot up.
She scoured the whole park, hoping she would be somewhere.
Suddenly, she panicked.
"Oh no no no no no," She said, furiously looking around. "Mom and Dad are gonna kill me for this!"
"Why are they just gonna kill you?" Duke asked.
Anya suddenly grabbed his shoulders. "Because I'm the oldest! I'm supposed to be watching her, and if she goes missing, it's kind of all my fault, right?!"
Duke tried to reassure her. "Hold on, she's not missing yet. We just have to look more."
Maya was just watching them panic, when she saw the hole.
She pointed to it.
"She could've crawled through there." She said simply.
Anya and Duke stopped.
They walked up to the hole.
Duke stared at it, thinking.
After a long moment, he finally said, "Yeah, she could totally fit through there."
"But can we? I mean..It's pretty small." Anya stated.
They both thought for a second, then Maya said, "I could try."
She walked up to the hole and got down on her knees. She was about to go in, when Anya stopped her.
"Wait. Are you sure you wanna do this? What if you get stuck?"
"I won't get stuck," She reasurred her. "I'll fit through."
Anya and Duke watched nervously as she crawled through the hole.
Surprisingly, she fit through. She didn't seem to have any problem crawling through, and she slipped through like butter.
She reached the other side, and saw the seemed to be never ending hotel.
“Whoa…” Maya exclaimed.
“Yeah, whoa. That is one tall building.” Duke said.
Maya looked over and saw Duke standing next to her with some mud on his shirt.
“Duke? Why are you here?” Maya asked.
“We tried calling you, but you didn’t answer, so Anya got too worried and she sent me to go in.” Duke explained.
Maya sighed, “Ugh, Anya’s always worried.”
“No I’m not.”
Maya and Duke looked behind them, and saw Anya crawling through the hole.
“I’m…ugh, actually being…” She was still in the hole, trying to get out. She tried pushing herself up with her arms. “Hnnghhh!!” She wriggled and struggled but she still couldn’t get out.
She finally let out a breath and said, “Uh, a little help?”
Maya and Duke grabbed both her arms and pulled her up.
Finally, she came out.
“Oof!” She exclaimed as she came up.
She stood up and dusted off her shirt.
“Ugh, now my shirts all dirty,” She complained. “How did you guys get through so easily?”
Duke smirked. “Hmm, sounds like you need to lay off some pounds, sis.”
“I’m literally smaller than you!” Anya snapped.
Maya cut in. “Guys, stop arguing about who’s smaller, we need to find Linda right now.”
Anya sighed, “Yeah, you’re right.” She started walking forward. “Let’s find her.”
“Where’re you going?” Duke called after her. Anya didn’t even stop walking.
“What are you two doing? Come on, let’s go!”
Maya and Duke ran to catch up with her.
“But,” Duke said as he ran. “Why are we going inside the building?”
Anya actually stopped. She walked up to Duke and said, “Oh, come on. Do you really think that a seven year old wouldn’t go into this building?”
Anya turned around and continued walking.
“Fair point,” Duke said, walking normally now that he caught up with her. “But, what if someone is in there?”
“Then we’ll have to take ‘em down.” Anya said dramatically.
Duke stopped walking. “What? What do you mean by that?” He asked, a little panicked.
Maya grinned, “I like how you think, Anya.”
Maya and Anya kept walking, but Duke was just standing there, worried. “Guys!” He called.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY TAKING THEM DOWN??” He ran up to them again to catch up.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!” He screamed.