Saturday April 7, 2024 2:03 p.m.

Daniel and Matt had stood outside the "employees only" door for almost half an hour, having done little more than scratch their heads and stare at the door. They both knew Amber had gone in there. In all truth, Daniel had stood there for about fifteen minutes before getting Matt out in the lobby, where he was playing a portable video game to pass the time. Daniel had debated about whether or not he should break the door down gangbuster's style, but figured it would be more appropriate for a detective vs. the mob movie and completely inappropriate in this case, where Amber would have just stared at him like he had horns coming out of his head or something. So much for a damsel in distress, he would mutter, and he would just continue staring at her.

"How the hell did this get locked anyway? Are you sure you don't have a key to this door?" Daniel asked for what felt like the redundant-to-the-nth-degree time.

Matt didn't even bother looking up at him from his position on the floor with his back to the wall. "For the last time, no. It was lost years ago and nobody bothered fixing it since they stopped showing movies here anyway. If I did have the damn key, I would have opened the door already. Are you even sure you saw her go in here?"

"Yes. Where else could she have gone?" Daniel pointed up to the balcony. "If she went up the other stairwell, we'd see her up there. If she went out through the lobby, you would have seen her. Besides, I hardly think that she'd be the type to go around playing jokes on people."

Matt lifted his head from between his knees and stared vacantly at the aisle of chairs in front of him. "Yeah, you've got a point there. Let's just break it down. It doesn't matter anyway. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but this place is scheduled for demolition."

Daniel felt a strange sense of depression. It turned out that there really was no point in his being there. Hopping a plane, a bus and renting a car proved to be just as futile as him waving around his electric "gun." Granted, he didn't really find anything there according to his instruments, but that didn't shake the odd feeling he got as soon as he stepped into the Phoenix Theater. He had only been there for hours and felt oddly attached to the place. Daniel couldn't imagine how Amber would take the news, especially considering how she seemed to look at the place in awe, how much the Phoenix had a hold on her.

"Then why call us?" He glared at Matt. "Wasn't the deal that if we found new ghosts or 'historical value' to the place, they'd try to make it a landmark?"

Matt immediately went on the defensive, raising his hands as if to show their spotlessness in the situation. "Don't look at me like that. I love this place as much as anyone. It was up to the city council. Since I could barely afford to keep it, let alone reopen it or turn it into something else, they decided to tear it down. Ironically, it's all part of some sort of 'beautify downtown' campaign or some shit like that."

"You didn't answer my question. If you knew they were just going to tear it down, why call us?"

"I just figured it wouldn't hurt to try."

Now Daniel was sitting on the floor. Even if there weren't any real ghosts here, it had to be worth saving considering how much the place had changed over the last century. He found the documents, the playbills and deeds.

"Didn't some guy own it a few years back, turned it into a real nice hangout for the college students or a restaurant or something?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah. I don't know much about that, but I heard from some people who went to school here that he was a real nice guy, one of those rare kind and generous sort." Matt looked around the theater visualizing its previous incarnation. "Of course, the problem is that usually great men tend to be terrible businessmen. Naturally, the place went tits up."

"So why did you buy it?"

"Nostalgia I guess, even if it wasn't for a time or place I was from." Matt chuckled. Daniel smiled slightly. He could definitely relate to that. "Of course, it was a nice tourist oddity for awhile, but since the factories shut down and they built that new highway completely bypassing the town, nobody really comes here anymore."

"Ain't that a bitch?" For whatever reason, Daniel wanted to take this guy out for a cold beer or two. Yet the task at hand remained. "Speaking of life's little pains in the ass, we should really try to get Amber out of there."

"Heh. Knowing her, she'll be fine and get pissed off at us for meddling."

"On three." Daniel backed up into the aisle leading directly to the door and extended his right shoulder. "And a one, and a two and a-"

It turned out that busting down doors wasn't as easy as they made it look in the movies. For one thing, doors in movies shattered into millions of splinters, leaving a nice man-sized hole to walk through. Either that, or the wood doorframe would give in to the metal lock almost like a piece of paper gave in to a pair of scissors or a letter opener. Instead of either of these two previously imagined scenarios happening, something completely unexpected happened.

"Fuck!" His voice reverberated through the empty theater. Daniel fell to the floor, curled up in a fetal position and cradled his potentially-dislocated right shoulder in his left hand.

"Are you ok?" Matt stood over him and peered down, wincing.

"What the hell does it look like? Of course I'm not ok!" Daniel gritted his teeth, trying not to let so much as one droplet pass through his eyelids. Then again, it wasn't like he had any shred of dignity left after falling to the floor and curling up like a sick baby. "What is that door made out of anyway?"

In all the commotion, they barely heard the clack of the deadbolt or the creak of the doorhinges. "What the hell is going on out here?"

"Amber! We should ask you the same question?" Daniel looked her up and down. She was completely covered in dust. The blood trickling down the side of her face wasn't exactly a good sign either.

Matt ran into the dark stairwell, propping the door open with his foot as if in fear of it slamming shut and locking him in. "There's blood all over the stairs. What the hell happened?"

"The girl..." She murmured, almost dazed, but still only looking like she had been rudely awakened from a much-needed nap.

"We better get you to a doctor." Daniel moved as if to reach for her and take her into his arms, but she batted his arm away like she was swatting a fly.

"I'm ok. I just need a moment to-" She fell, not exactly swooning, but just stumbling backward and overshooting her correction and stumbling forward as if drunk.

"No, we're getting you to a doctor." Matt took her left arm and put it around his shoulder as Daniel took the right.

"He's still in there...he needs me."

"Sure he needs you, but Max wouldn't want you to die of a concussion." Matt chuckled awkwardly. "He'd want you to live so he can spend a few more years of his afterlife without being pestered by you."

Daniel nearly dropped her as he glared at Matt again. "You know, man, that's a really terrible thing to say."

"I hate the fact that any time I try to lighten the mood, it always goes completely wrong." Matt shifted the weight on his shoulders slightly. "Let's get her to the car and to the hospital right now."

"Agreed." Daniel muttered, grunting as he realized that he had picked the wrong side. His potentially-dislocated shoulder hurt like all hell, but he figured it wouldn't take that long to get her the hell out of this place.

It sort of reminded Daniel of those old movies he saw where the hero has to escape from the crumbling temple or haunted house before it fell down on top of him and his love interest. Then again, dragging a bleeding, unconscious girl while hobbling with a throbbing shoulder really wasn't that romantic. Nonetheless, he still got that idea when he looked back at the Phoenix Theater for the last time. It may have been beautiful once, but even with a "restoration," even a few years of neglect made it seem like a mere copy of what it used to be, what it was supposed to be. There was something plastic and hollow about it, even if the wooden chairs were made of real wood and the paint matched the original colors from nearly a century ago.

Matt took a couple of tries to unlock and open his car door. Daniel made the mistake of offering to take most of the weight while Matt opened it wide with both hands. Those few seconds were probably the longest in Daniel's life. Nonetheless, he figured it was worth it to save someone, even if he really didn't know a damn thing about her or even if she wouldn't be that grateful for such a daring rescue.

Daniel turned around after he had secured her in the backseat of Matt's car, seatbelt and all. He took one last look at the Phoenix Theater as he lit a cigarette.

"Maybe it's a good thing that they're finally tearing this place down." He muttered.

Matt threw a tired look at him from outside of the driver's side. "You're not smoking that in my car."

Daniel took a very long drag, sighed and coughed a little before dropping the butt and crushing it under his heel. "Fine."

As he ducked to get in the car and reached up to make sure his hat didn't get knocked off, Daniel realized that he had accidentally left the damn thing in the theater. Perhaps it had fallen off while he was helping Matt drag Amber out to the sidewalk. Or maybe he just took it off and left it somewhere.

"What is it?" Matt looked at him after noticing that the passenger door wasn't closed.

"Nothing." Daniel closed his eyes and leaned back. Let the cobwebs and dust have it.