2. “Please Use the Stairs…”

2. “Please Use the Stairs…”

 

Dresden carefully shut the door behind him and jiggled the doorknob to make sure that he could still get in it should the need arise. He wasn’t particularly looking forward to stepping back inside, but it was a ‘safe place’ he could go back to. He thought more on that as he felt the silver key drop into his pocket. He needed a key to get out of his room. That meant that it was designed to keep people in, not to keep people out.

Gripping the doorknob, Dresden pushed the door and it swung into the room. The lamp on the floor by the bathroom greeted him with its bright yellow light. He felt a lump form in his throat. He shut the door again and prayed that he wouldn’t have to go back in there for any reason.

He turned his back to the room and finally took in his new environment. The hallway was dark, not because of the dim lighting, but the colouring robbed it of any potential brightness. The walls were a deep grey while the carpet was a dark maroon. The light sconces were shaped like silver roaring lions with the light coming out of their mouths. The doors to the other rooms were painted black. It almost looked as though there were no doors there at all; just empty spaces leading to nothing. At the end of hallway, just before the hallway curved to the right, there was a window with the curtains drawn. It showed the same nothingness Dresden saw in his window.

Dresden was hesitant to move at all for fear that something might jump out of darkness and pull him away. There wasn’t anywhere he could really hide if something did come out, so if they were going to get him they wouldn’t have to work very hard.

After much mental urging, he finally took his first steps down the hallway. He didn’t like how quiet it was. He tried to listen for any signs of life behind the doors he passed, but it sounded like no one was home. It was possible that the hotel hadn’t issued anyone in those rooms yet. Maybe they liked to fill the floors below first. He had a small list of ‘maybes’ whose only purpose was to reassure him that he wasn’t the only person in the hotel.

His feet were moving but he wasn’t quite sure where he was going. If he wanted to talk to someone, the best place to go would be the lobby. He couldn’t remember if he had decided that already, but he was glad he had a place to shoot for.

As he was walking, Dresden slowly came to realize that while his feet were still moving, he didn’t appear to be going anywhere. He hadn’t seen a sign telling him what floor he was on or where the other locations were. He kept passing rooms. Maybe the hallway was longer than it looked.

Directly in front of him at the other end of the hallway was another window. He tried to gauge his progress by that window. He quickened his pace and the doors rolled by. The window kept its distance. What is going on here? Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

He stopped and rested in front of Room 512. “Just how many rooms does this place have?” He realized that he didn’t bother to check what room he was in. Hopefully the staff would be able to help him with that… if he ever reached them.

Dresden pushed forward, hoping to get closer to window. Keeping a close eye on the room numbers he knew that he was making some progress. He passed 510, 508, 506, 504, 502… But when he passed 500, he was shocked to find that instead of Room 498, the number looped back around to 598. “What?” He turned to look at the window had been staring at like a dangling carrot and found that it was no longer there. He was in a completely different wing of the hotel. If he surmised correctly, it was the wing that was behind him when he exited his room.

Had he looped around without even noticing it? It was possible that the building was a big circle that looped around. He had yet to see some kind of floor plan. But how could he have passed the elevator, assuming there was one, or stairs without seeing a sign for them?

I’m just going to have to pay better attention this time, Dresden told himself. This time he kept his eyes on both sides of the hallway, counting down the room numbers as he passed. 596, 595, 594, 593… I can do this!  Nothing strange had happened yet. He told himself that as long as he kept focused, nothing bad would happen. That worked right up until he reached Room 570 when he heard something click behind him.

It wasn’t a loud click; it was a deceptively quiet click, a click that tried to present itself as non-threatening. Deciding to be the kind of person who doesn’t trust deceptively simple things, Dresden stopped to look behind him. A light on the far left hand side of the hallway had gone out. No big deal. Then, the light across from it turned off. Then the next light on the other side went out, then the one across from it. This trend continued down the hall, getting closer to Dresden.

The blackouts stopped five lights short of him as he peered into the oncoming darkness. His brain and his feet were telling him that he didn’t want to be there anymore and run, but Dresden’s curiosity kept him rooted. What was he looking for?

There was something moving in the darkness. Was it another person? The idea that something inhuman lay waiting in the dark sent a chill through his body. What kind of hotel is this? He could hear it breathing… not really breathing, but growling. It could almost be mistaken for a cat’s purr, only more sinister and louder.

When another light went out, Dresden decided to finally listen to his feet and took off running down the hallway. He could hear the click of the lights shutting off behind him. As he turned the left corner, he saw that the lights on the far end of the preceding hallway were shutting off, too! They were coming at him from both ends! There just had to be either an elevator or a staircase somewhere between them, he hoped!

He ran as fast as he could towards the center of the hallway. That seemed to be a good place to put an elevator, right? The darkness was quickly catching up to him on both sides. He tried to look for signs that would tell him that he was heading in the right direction, but he couldn’t see them.

Just when he was about to give up hope, he finally reached a gap in the row of rooms that signified that an elevator was there. He ran up to the mechanical door and pressed the down button. He didn’t press it so much as he jammed it repeatedly. The darkness was still coming at him. It seemed to sense that Dresden wasn’t going anywhere and slowed down.

“Come on! Come on!” Dresden muttered under his breath. He kept jamming the button. He looked both ways and saw that he had about ten lights left on either side. Whatever was living in the darkness purred happily as it neared its prey. Another set of lights went out on both sides of him.

Dresden resisted the urge to kick the door to the elevator because he knew that it wasn’t going to make it arrive any quicker.

Click!

He could hear the mechanical whirring sounds of the elevator working. At least it was thinking about getting him.

Click!

Any moment now!

Click!

Whenever it’s ready!

Click! He checked nervously around to see if there was another way of getting down to the lobby just in case the elevator didn’t arrive in time. There is was! A door with the words “STAIRS” above it! It was only a few feet away.

Click!

Now it was shrouded in darkness. “No!” Dresden exclaimed aloud.

Click!

PUUURRRRR!

The monstrous purring was so close now that Dresden was able to feel its vibrations hitting his chest. Where the hell was that elevator?

Click!

Dresden felt the panic rise into his throat, choking the breath out of him. There were only two sets of lights on either side of him. The Dark Creatures swimming within it were getting closer. He couldn’t see what they looked like, but he knew that they were big and moved gracefully because he couldn’t hear any footsteps.

Click!

And now, only one light shone down on him from on top of the elevator door. It was like he was being showcased just for the monsters’ enjoyment. He could feel their eyes staring at him, into him, projecting their mal-intent onto him.

“Where the fuck is that elevator?” is what he wanted to yell, but he was afraid of upsetting whatever was in the darkness and thus, prompting their attack early. Dresden slowly backed up against the door and pressed the button one more time.

Click!

The final light went out and there was still no elevator. It was all over now. He felt the creatures slowly move in for the kill. He had no more visual cues to alert him to just how close they were. Their purring grew louder and louder. A rotting odor found its way into his noise. They must be right in front of him with their jaws wide open, ready to devour him whole… or in pieces.

Dresden pressed against the door as hard as he could, willing them to open. The mechanical whirring told him that the elevator was still on its way. He closed his eyes even though he was in total darkness and waited for the end.

Ding!

Dresden quickly opened them again. His saviour had arrived. The door slid open, spilling yellow light into the hallway. He wasted no time in rushing inside the elevator. As he passed through the door, he could just barely see two sets of snouts retreating back into the darkness. He thought that maybe he had caught a glimpse of some teeth, but he was too busy pressing the ‘Door Close’ button to care. The door obeyed his command and slid shut. He let out a huge sigh of relief as he slid to the black and white tiled floor.

“It’s about time.”

BANG!

The elevator shook as something hit the door. Those monsters were still trying to get him and were angry at the elevator for stealing their dinner. The elevator door took another hit. Dresden wasn’t sure just how strong the door was and didn’t want to take the chance of them breaking in. He scrambled over to the panel with the buttons and pushed the one marked ‘L’. After one final bang, the elevator began its descent.

Dresden clutched his chest and let out the air he had been holding in. “Shit.” He closed his eyes and tried to relax, but the thought of running into more things like those ‘Hall Wraiths’ chilled him. This place was proving to be more frightening with each passing minute.  He’d be happy if he made it to the lobby in one piece.

The elevator slowed down and Dresden took this as a sign that he was reaching his destination. He looked at the display above the door and saw that the number ‘3’ was lit up. He waited for the ‘3’ to dim and for the ‘2’ to light up, but it didn’t. The elevator stopped completely and slowly opened the door.

Dresden stayed with his back to the wall, peering out into the same bland hallway as Floor 5. He didn’t see any immediate danger, but he wasn’t willing to chance it. He sidled over to the panel and pressed the ‘L’ button again. The door didn’t close. Did someone on this floor summon the elevator and then decide they would be better off using the stairs? It was possible. Now all he had to do was convince the elevator that there was no one else to wait for.

He pressed the ‘Door Close’ button and waited. The door remained open. He jammed it a couple more times, but the only result he got was a loud buzzing sound. The door had been open too long and now it was cranky. Dresden continued to push the ‘Door Close’ button, but it wouldn’t close.

Dresden knew what the elevator wanted; it wanted him to get off here. It wasn’t going to move another inch until he left. “But this isn’t the lobby!” The elevator did not care; it just continued to buzz. He wanted the buzzing to stop because he didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself. Begrudgingly, he stepped out of the elevator.

Ding!

The door slid shut and it whirred itself to a new location, leaving Dresden stranded on a floor he did not want to be on.

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