Faceclaim (ONC 2022, Completed, Shortlisted)

15: Sliver of Light

Daniel woke up to look at the same ceiling tiles that had haunted him for the last few days. No new call had come from the author yet so he reached over toward the bedside table, where he'd put the walkie-talkie. He fumbled in the dark to find it but yielded no result.

Confused, he sat up to look for the device. That's when he noticed something curious. Something that made him forgot all about the missing communication device. A sliver of light shone into the room from behind the curtains. But those curtains hid no windows behind them.

Daniel stumbled out of bed to investigate, getting his feet tangled in the sheet in the process. He landed on the carpet below, still half wrapped in the offending sheet. "Fuck!" he exclaimed, as he was prone to do. "Fucking cunt sheet!"

The light shone upon him as he untangled his legs. It warmed his freckled skin, almost like a ray of sunlight. But the sun had never shone upon his lonely prison cell before.

Finally freed from the sheets' embrace, Daniel stood up and pulled the curtains away, prepared to once again be met by the wall's rugged surface.

Instead, basking sunshine blinded Daniel. His retinas hurt from the onslaught It took him a while to adjust to the warm light from outside. Because, when squinting to see where the light came from, Daniel once again saw the outside world. The streets and canals of Amsterdam lay below him. People were everywhere, workers hurrying to get to work or lost tourists bumbling around aimlessly. Daniel just looked in awe at the scene for a few moments, as confused as Prince Ramon had been about the fairy queen's evil intentions.

Then, he ran toward the door. Wearing only his boxers, he pushed down the handle and pull the door open.

Because the door did open this time. And outside was not a stage but a regular hotel hallway. A passing couple looked with judgment at Daniel's almost naked appearance and whispered something in a language he didn't understand. Probably that they should have found a hotel in a nicer part of town.

"Do you need something, Mr. Shepard?" a hotel employee by a cleaning cart asked. "Some clean towels perhaps?"

Daniel, still unsure what was going on, took the towels that were handed to him and returned to the room. He placed the fluffy pile given to him on the bathroom vanity. With his hands clasping the sink, he closed his eyes and tried to figure out what was going on.

Had it all been a dream? A weird and twisted dream brought on by some kind of drugs found on the streets of Amsterdam perhaps. It sounded plausible but yet he couldn't shake how real the events had felt.

He looked up to meet his own gaze in the mirror. Tired eyes met him. Tired eyes shaded by muted brown curls.

His hair wasn't usually that color. Daniel might be dazed and confused, but he did know that much.

Had everything--the author, the stage, the outrageously bad story--been real after all? Or had he in an altered state thought it would be a genius idea to dye his own hair?

Most of the remaining dark hair dye came out in the shower. Daniel's curls were once again strawberry blond and bouncy, albeit with a few strands still sporting a darker shade. Whatever hair dye had been used, it hadn't been of good quality.

His clothes were folded on a chair. A gray henley shirt and a pair of frayed jeans. Just what Daniel remembered wearing at the bar when he spoke with Tina, right before the madness began.

His phone rested on the desk beside the chair. He looked at the date on the display. It was Willa's birthday. Just like he'd calculated time during his weird dream. If it was a dream... Because a dream usually didn't last for almost three days.

He also had eighteen missed calls from his agent Vanessa. Daniel decided to deal with that later. First, he had to get to the airport. Because even though he still wasn't sure what was going on, he knew he had to get away from here. He had to go home.

Despite not remembering ever checking into this room, Daniel found his suitcase below the bed. Maybe he'd just forgotten what his hotel room looked like. He did after all stay in a lot of hotel rooms in his chosen career. He'd forgotten and then found some of those drugs Amsterdam was famous for, which had caused him to blackout and venture into weird dreams for days. That was the only explanation.

That's what Daniel decided was the truth. It was the easiest way to process this situation. He'd fucked up and blown his career by missing the contract signing, but at least the explanation made somewhat sense.

So, he rummaged through the room to find his belongings. He had to admit he was a bit relieved when he found no strange costumes in the drawers. They were all empty. Daniel pushed the last drawer closed, only to discover that it wouldn't close properly.

He opened the drawer again to investigate what hindered the mechanism. A small piece of fur was stuck in the side rail.

Daniel looked at the fur. He recognized it from his surreal dream. It looked like the capybara pelt he'd worn.

He fell back from the shock, staring at the small piece of fur. It couldn't be... or could it? The memories from his time in captivity filled his head. So vivid and real. Or unreal?

This discovery only added to Daniel's will to escape this city. Now. Yesterday preferably. So he put the piece of fur in his pocket, gathered the rest of his belongings, and finally left the hotel room behind.

Author's Note: So was it real or... unreal? I guess that is the question :)

I'm just so happy to finally have Daniel leave that room behind and to get to tell the end of this story (one chapter and an epilogue left).