Well.. first I went to check out the wall. Turns out that behind the 20 foot wall and the huge steel door was the Marina. The venitian Navy kept it's boats behind those walls. SO next I turned to the over grown barracks. I made my towards them pushing through vines and small trees until I noticed a well beaten path. My curiosity egged me on. I approached the first door that I found, it was up a flight of stairs. There were warnings all over to keep out, and no trespassing and beware of dog. I thought to myself, Dog!? Ha... How many times out of 100 was there actually a dog in a place that had a sign posted. And in a place like this. Like they would leave a dog there, alone, locked in the building. The barking allerted me to the fact that this was not one of the times that the sign was being used as a decoration. The large dog behind the doog began clawing and barking loudly. It was crashing into the door and causing a lot of commotion. I decided to get away from that door quickly before the noise drew the attention of someone who didnt want me there. As I pushed back farther around the buildings I began to think, if I were to be confronted, what would I use as an excuse? Claim that I didnt speak italian and that I had gotten lost? Say that I just really wanted to meet a gypsy and see if everything they say about them was true? Or maybe that I was a time traveler from another time and had come back to warn them that the polizia were going to bust them soon?

Which one do you think I chose? :P

Continue? Yes..... or..... No

So there I was. I found myself under the building. It was like the place under the baracks in Fort Sam, where everyone would gather for the formation. There was a boat down there, just sitting there... and a car. I found this odd considering Venice is an island with no roads. I wondered how it got there as I went up the stairs to the first floor. As soon as I got high enough I peeked over the top steps. The place looked deserted but it sounded otherwise. I could hear the soft sounds of jazz coming from somewhere close. Edging my way up the stairs I drew closer to the location of the music. It was a small room. The door was closed. There was only a small window looking into the room from the hallway that I stood. I looked around and didn't see anyone, and thankfully I didn't hear anyone either. My heart was racing as I passed under the window. Just a quick look, I thought to myself. I stood up and glanced in. There was a man hunched over a table in there. He was writing something, or maybe reading something. A small radio was on the corner of the table and a low watt light bulb hung from the ceiling. It looked like a really gloomy room. There was no lock on the outside though, so thankfully, he wasn't a prisoner. I took a few steps back and made it to the stairs again. If there was one person on this floor, there could be more. So I decided to go up to the next floor and take a look around there. I looked back at the little room once more before darting up the stairs to the second floor. This floor apeared to be empty as well.

Ooooh... what could be on this floor!?

This building had 4 floors. So as I emerged on the second floor I looked around. All the rooms lining the hallway had the doors open. As I took the last step off the stairs I heard the door from the small room open down stairs. My heart jumped. I peered down the stairs and tryed to get an idea if the man was coming up stairs or going down. I prayed that he was going down. Though I had thought up all those good excuses, I wasn't prepared to use them, not now! I saw his shadow pass by and his hand on the rail as he went down. I sighed and felt a little lighter. That was the only person that I had seen, so now, I prety much had the whole building to myself. I walked a little easier to the first room and looked in. It was full of old news papers. Not neatly stacked, just thrown in there. Like someone would read them and then walk by and toss them, letting them land wherever. Walking down to the next room it was full of clothes. Old... dirty... ragged clothes. Men's and womens and childrens clothes. A shudder went down my spine as I looked around, wondering how the clothes had gotten there. A little shakily I moved on to the next room and I found that the door was closed. I tried the handle and gave it a little push. It easily swung open revealing a room with a few tables and dusty bottles all over them. I curiously walked in and lifted a bottle up... it was filled with a dark liquid. Could it be... blood!? I pulled the cork off the top expecting the worse and prepared to run screaming from the building...

I polled the cork off and took a sniff of the dark liquid. Whisky! They were making their own alcohol here. Hmm... I had a bag with me so I opened it up and grabbing a few bottles I put them into the bag and closed it. Looking around I started to get paranoid. If I got caught now, I wouldn't be able to explain why I had their illegal alcohol in my bag. I had to make sure that I didn't get caught. I maked my way back out of that room and continued down the hall. The next room I came to was full of boxes. Empty boxes of all shapes and sizes. Nothing interesting there. The next room was a bathroom full of towels. There was a really bad smell coming from the room but I pushed forward. There was only one more room and I just had to find out what was in there. It was a warm looking room, there was sunlight coming from the window at the end of the room and it was the cleanest room yet. There was carpeting on the floor and a small book shelft filled with books. Childrens books I learned upon closer investigation. I opened one. They were old. Printed in the early 40's! Donald and Goofy and Mickey mouse, in their original form, pre-world war. I bet that these book are worth a fortune I thought as I thumbed through them. The toys laying around in the room made me think that it was a kiddie room. I looked back to the book and began translating the italian to english to know what the story was all about when all of a sudden... The door that I came in slammed shut.

When the door slammed shut the first seconds were a blur. My eart rate sped up so fast and my mind raced. They found me! Are they going to kill me!? Did they lock the door? How am I going to get out of here!? I moved quietly to the door. How had they snuck up on me? Probably while I was engrossed in the books. I was such an idiot! I put my ear to the door and hear foot steps moving away from the door and two male voices. My heart jumped into my throat. I tried teh handle and pushed on the door a little... it didn't move. I was locked in. I loked around the room trying to brainstorm a way out. My eyes fell on the wondow across the room. I ran over to it and looked out. Being on the 2nd floor (which is really the 3rd floor in the US) there was a window directly under the one I was looking out. I thought about how I could swing my legs out and turn backwards, if I stretched all the way out I would probbaly be able to reach the ledge... or at least get really close. I could see the soccer feild that the team had been playing on only minutes ago. Empty. If they had been there I might have been able to signal for help, but no... I took a deep breath and looked out the window again... Wait! This is crazy! There's no way I'd be able to do that! I'm no laura croft.. and if I missed. I didn't want to think about that. Id just have to find another way out of the death room. It was full of soft plastic toys that would be of no use against two big gypsies! I began to sweat but then I noticed something. A door! It was partially blocked but it could be an exit out of there!

I ran jumped over the toys and ran to the door. I pushed the book shelf out of the way and my hopes soared. This should go into the bathroom that I had passed before, I thurned the handle thinking as long as it's not--- locked. No! The only feasible exit! Locked. I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't become a victim to the gypsies! In a panic I opened my bag and took out the bottles putting them on the ground. If they were going to catch me, I wasn't going to give them another reason to kill me. I tentatively pushed on the door. It was old and rotting, it didn't look that strong. I bit my lip and took a few steps back. With a burst of energy I ran into the door slamming my shoulder into it adn crashing through the other side. Pain short up my arm and my hip as I slammed into the ground. Peices of the door fell all around me. I couldn't believe it, I was out of the death room! I got off my feet and quickly ran down the hallway. I could hear voices from above as I reached the stairs. They were shouting in a language that wasn't italian, and they sounded angry. I jumped down the steps 3 at a time and back past all the weird things in the building. I didn't slow down as I came out of the building and into the wooded area. The vines tore at me and the dog barked loudly. I looked towards the vaporetto stop, there was no boat and that means that there wouldn't be one for up to 30 minutes. I couldn't be caught standing around waiting so I took off running down the road.

I passed a lot of old people who looked at me like I was crazy but I didn't stop until I came to the next stop that was almost a mile away. I'm telling you, if you VER go to Venice, don't get off in Bacini. It's not worth it.

The end :P

OK, that's the end of my story. It could be a short story or something. maybe the beginnign of a horror movie. lol. Venice, canals of terror. lol

I got away. I ran down the alleys like a lunatic when I got out of the building.... but yeah... Here I am! I bet you thought I was gonna die! lol

EDIT: oh.. I edited teh ending into the other post. I didn't want to chance double posting... so it's up there.

They were probably gonna be violent but yes I was scared too. My curiosity always gets me into pretty bad situations. I'm not sure what would have happened if I waited there to meet my fate. The gypsies are from albania mostly. Albanians are known for selling their own sisters and mothers into prostitution, so I'm sure that it wouldn't have been a good outcome.

Oh yeah, and I had a cell phone, so I could have called... if I had charged it up first! D'oh!

Actually.. yeah. I'm going on a mission tomorrow morning.... 0330... Gotta be somewhere to help out one of my soldiers. It is going to be a little adventure and a little dangerous because... it's dangerous where we are going and one of the guys has a gun, and carries it everywhere... so... Man, this sounds really dumb... heh.