You gotta go now

 Thinking back on an adventure I had a few years ago, it made me question some things.

First off, I really enjoy photographing urban decay. If you're not familiar what that is, it's abandoned or older buildings in different states of decay. It might have holes in the roof and nature protruding through the floor or paint peeling and objects left behind. There's something about standing in an historical or otherwise once cherished space. Sometimes, you can just feel the history of the building, typically you want to be as safe as you can when entering as there may be squatters or people doing unsavory things. I'm more afraid of the living than the dead.

So, me and a friend decided to explore this old what looked to be adjunct to a nearby church, it looks like it was converted into a hospital or school wing, possibly both. We were walking through taking photos of the objects and remnants left behind, using the available light and natural backgrounds. It was fun.

Everything was going fine until we arrived on the 3rd and top floor. There were a series of doors down a hallway, all open and splayed in an odd fashion. Just an old layout that wouldn't do well in modern architecture. The entire time we were there I had no hesitations or worries about anything, we felt like we were alone. All of a sudden, I get this feeling creeping up my back and I couldn't find the words at the time to describe it. It was nagging at me with a growing sense of tension and urgency to GO! I remember hearing 'You gotta go, you gotta get out of here' with no logical reason to do so. I decided to trust that voice when it finally built to the point where I told her we needed to go. I had a really bad feeling almost as if we were being watched and it was telling me to get out of there quickly. 

I tried my best to stay calm but I guess the look on my face said everything and she agreed to go. We left abruptly against the urge to continue photographing but I just remember this heavy feeling of dread overwhelming me to the point of panicky fear. And I don't scare easily.

I still remember to this day how that felt, it makes my palms sweat thinking about it, even though I couldn't explain it at the time. It was just an intense feeling, maybe there was someone hiding out there waiting to hurt us or something warning us that there was a potential of a floor collapse. Maybe it was something I couldn't explain building energy to do something, who knows, we'll never know. I just knew at that moment that we had to leave. I'm glad my friend trusted me and we were able to leave safely.

This by far does not stop me from exploring, just reminds me to be mindful of my surroundings and my intuition.