My friend David gave me the prompt. I started writing and this is what I got.
The smell of the place was sweet-astringent, like the stuff they mop with in hospitals.
The place was nothing like a hospital Mark would ever want to visit. The walls were burned black. Metal tables and chairs were melted right into the floor. Mark winced every time he crushed a shard of glass. It shouldn’t matter. The place was abandoned. It was supposed to be abandoned.
“This is stupid!” Amanda grabbed the back of Mark’s hoodie. “We just have to tell them we saw it. We don’t actually need to-.”
Mark broke free and kept on walking to the door at the far end of the hall. A golden light was coming out from under it. This was one of those mistakes you made even though you knew it was stupid going into it.
Mark pressed on the door and it flew open.
The room on the other side was where the cafeteria must have been. The tables were in pieces. Chairs were scattered across the floor. The only piece of furniture that stood upright was a table in the center of the room. In the middle of the table was a small iron box. Its lid was half open. A golden glow pulsated inside.
“You’re an idiot!” Amanda growled. “I don’t care if they don’t let me in.” She turned around and ran back down the hall.
Mark reached the table lifted the lid of the box, looked inside and started to cry.
