In my hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida stands a huge building once home to Palm Beach Jai Alai. Nowadays it’s empty and abandoned, the way it’s been for years now.
I couldn’t help but wonder what’s been going on inside that building all this time. I definitely don’t want to risk a charge of criminal trespassing during my attempt to find out, so I’ve opted for a safer alternative and began to imagine the possible sights and sounds that take place inside an abandoned building during the middle of the night. My brainstorming sessions produced some seriously spooky ideas that actually scared me. Now it’s time to put all this to writing.
Ultimately I think this will become my first novel. I’m really intrigued with the idea of creating a story loaded with suspense and horror and there’s no better setting than the abandoned building I’m about to explore. I think this is the one writing project that will keep me going until the last page is done. Here’s a preview:
I walked closer to the building, shining my flashlight along the exterior walls to see if there was another way in. Every door I saw was sealed shut with no way to open it. By now I was teetering in the middle of my uncertainty, sometimes leaning towards giving up and going home, and other times determined to find a way inside. It all came down to whether or not I could get in at all.
Wait a minute.
Upon closer inspection of the boards covering the front door, I saw that one of them was pulled away from the doorway, creating a tight space behind it that allowed access inside. After making sure I was absolutely alone, I stepped behind the board and endured the tight squeeze during my passage to the entrance on the other side of the boards. My concerns about getting past the front doors were silenced when I saw the shattered glass on the floor. All I had to do was step through the door frame and there I was, inside the very dark building. I was grateful for my taking the time to put fresh batteries in my flashlight. But now that I was here, there was no choice but to go in and start my expedition.
At this time I’m still developing the story and have not decided on what lurks deep inside the building. Could it be a secret so horrifying that I’d wish I never came here in the first place? Or could it just be darkness and my mischievous mind playing tricks on me? The only way for me to find out is to continue developing the story, one dark room at a time.
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