+ • DOORS • + The Series

+ 👁 C H A P T E R : E I G H T 👁 +

We're Done Here

Glitch shrugged.

"You don't know?!" Seek cried, aghast, "But how did you get out?!"

"I got kicked out, remember? Besides, I'm not sure there's even a way out for anybody that can't teleport. I've got all these thoughts and ideas, but I need to be sure." Glitch looked around. "We have to be careful. That voice can see a lot of things and if it catches on, we're dead." She stood up and made her way over to the door, peeking outside. "Okay, first, we need to get everyone together, devise a plan. Then, well, um--" she shut the door and then checked the closets. "Hey, has anyone been hearing that voice too? Apart from The Eyes, duh, but anyone else I should know of?"

"What, Rush?"

"Yeah," replied Glitch, nodding very fast.

"He's been hearing it. If anyone else has, I haven't been told."

"So we're still at square one with the whole escape plan," Glitch groaned in frustration and then slammed a fist on a nearby drawer, which phased through and then continued to become solid. "Crap!" Glitch yelled, trying to phase her fist back out. A startled Timothy jumped from inside onto Glitch's arm as she shook the drawer trying to free herself. 

"Okay, you know what? Maybe I'll just get everyone back together in room 40 and you can take care of that," said Seek, walking out of the room.

     | R O O M    F O R T Y |

"So, is it another family dinner?" Ambush joked as the entities sat at the table. Glitch suddenly came in through the wall and everyone gasped, except for Figure, who had been mysteriously sitting there before anyone else had come in. So was The Eyes, which caused a bit of a reaction, but no one said anything about it. Figure turned its head around, confused, and Glitch patted it on the head. "You've gotten so tall, buddy!"

"I don't get it," Screech whined, "Are we supposed to just sit here and say hello? And she's not even gonna explain why she finally showed up?"

"Screech, be quiet," snapped Halt, "She's back, okay?" "So, is this everyone?" Seek asked, looking around the table. "I think we're missing Rush." Everyone looked around for any sign of him, but he was well and truly gone. "I haven't seen him since Glitch miraculously appeared," said Halt with clear uncertainty, fiddling with her sleeve. "Maybe he forgot or something." Jack frowned from the doorway. "I couldn't see him anywhere, either."

"Look, that doesn't matter," Glitch said, sitting on top of the table, "We haven't got much time. There's a voice that's been telling me, and some of us, to do...  questionable things, and we can't just rot here as its puppets."

"What?" Everyone excluding Seek, Figure and The Eyes asked in unison, "But we're not," said Ambush nervously, "We can talk. And we can do whatever we want."

"Because humans aren't here," pressed Glitch, "When they come here to investigate the Hotel, the voice makes you kill them."

This was followed by another 'what', and The Eyes cut in. "Their bodies mysteriously disappear afterwards. We think it's because the voice uses them as a source of food. And we..." They gestured to everyone, "...may have been past victims of this."

"You're saying that it ate us?" asked Jack. "Ain't we still here, though?"

"Hey, it's just a theory," said The Eyes. "I still don't get it," Screech said, "Why doesn't it just kill the humans itself?"

"I can't move."

Everyone froze, and Halt shuffled her chair to look out the window. "Uhh, anyone hear that?" the voice huffed as if it were offended. "In my earthly form, I can't move or speak or even see. But you... you're all so capable. I need you here. Don't leave, please."