The Monsters of the Mind

Part 11

Following breakfast, I decided to head back up to the second floor.

Part of my mind believed that there may have been something inside of Room 217 where I had seen the strange unknown man knocking on the door, calling out for 'James'. That man may have been the spirit of Dr. Bose - a doctor who may have known about Amy's death. At least, it seemed like Amy knew of him, though they had never met when they were alive.

The lift came to halt on the second floor, doors opening with a soft click. 

As before, the colored streamers and balloons were there - littering the ground and hanging on the walls. Lamps, still covered in dust and cobwebs, flickered on and off - making me feel as if there may have been another presence nearby. I stepped onto the floor, the boards under the scarlet carpeting creaking with my weight.

I turned toward the way I had last seen the strange specter. The hallways were a bit brighter than before, the lights on the ceiling and on the wall glowing off of the red patterned wallpaper. I listened, hoping to hear something that would help guide to where I needed to be.

Nothing.

I sighed, "Then there's something I might need to find..."

I headed down the now brightly lit hallway toward the two doors where I had seen the spirit the day before.

Not to my surprise, both doors were still locked and tightly. I was glad that I had the decency to put my hair up with bobby pins and a hair tie before leaving my room for the day. I pulled one of them out of my thick locks, fiddling with it in my fingers before crouching down and sticking the end into the lock.

I had only done this once before. When I first started at university in my early-twenties, my best friend needed my help to get a few of her belongings back from an abusive boyfriend and was too afraid to go to the police - scared about what he might do to her if she called. Luckily, I had been playing around with the idea of lock-picking and - though illegal - we snuck into the arsehole's place while he was out. We did manage to get most of her personal belongings, but some items were missing - I figured he must've sold them after taking them from her in order to keep up his chav appearances.

I didn't typically care for him.

As for what I was doing, I knew that in order to help the other spirits like Amy Bell, I would have to uncover the secrets of the Sea View Hotel. I had no doubt that there was something going on with Jimmy Hall's mind - there was something keeping him from being completely honest with himself - and that part of him had done several immoral things in his lifetime thus far, wearing his skin like a disguise in order to hide.

I twisted and turned the hair pin a few times before the door let out a soft 'click.'
'We're in!' my mind was still pleased I knew how to jimmy a lock. I stood and turned the knob - opening up the room. 

The room was dark and smelt of must and decay, dust hung in the air as if the room hadn't been entered in for some time. The light from the hallways bounced onto cobwebs that hung from everywhere - the carved bed, lamp shades, the wardrobe... even the remaining coat hangers inside the wardrobe.

I had to move quickly, just in case Jimmy had come up to clear out the main lobby of the second floor. I opened every door, looked in every nook - anywhere I could see in the darkness with the open room door leading into the brightly lit corridor as my source of light - looking for something, anything that would tie to the next spirit that needed to have their story told.

I started in the bathroom, opening the cabinets under the sink and around the backend of the toilet. Finding nothing, I turned to the main room. The wardrobe was empty, save for a few dust bunnies and mothballs. The trunk at the end of the bed had nothing in it either. I crouched onto the floor next, patting the ground under the bed with hope of feeling something. I only found a gum wrapper, caked in dust.