+ • DOORS • + The Series

+ 👁 TUESDAY, 20 APRIL. 👁 +

Here it is. The day I made my great mistake.

The Hotel didn't look at all very scary. I brought some extra clothes with me and a camera, as well as my phone and a gun. You never know, right? And then when I stepped inside, it was like walking into a whole other decade. It was clean, the indoor plants were tidy and healthy, and the suitcase trolleys were left in neat lines by the walls. Strangely, the suitcases on them were all empty. It wasn't cobweb-ridden and infested with bugs. It wasn't dusty and unkempt. If anything, the place was pristine.

"Hello?" No one was here. I was alone, apart from a spider which was spiraling from its web. I batted it away, but it continued to follow me from the wall. I finally decided to grab a leftover newspaper and I smacked it right off the wall and it landed in a trashcan.

It was beginning to go dark. I figured it wouldn't hurt to go into the main part of the Hotel itself. The gun by my side sort of reassured me. Nothing would hurt me.

The elevators worked perfectly. A few uncomfortable minutes of sitting in an elevator later, it finally stopped with a little jolt and the doors opened to reveal a nice, cozy, warm room with a fireplace crackling merrily in the corner.

I shook my head, trying to dislodge any thoughts of letting my guard down. 

"Whatever's in here? Are you gonna show yourself now and get this over with or not?"

|     D O O R    T E N     |

I was getting bored. Nothing interesting was happening.

I might as well go home, but then the next room I entered, the lights began to flicker despite there being no sign of power failure or electricity problems here. I looked around suspiciously, but there wasn't anything in the room with me. The room around me started to shake, and I looked behind me. 

The last thing I saw was a ghostly grey face grinning creepily at me before I suddenly died.

You may be confused at this point. How am I writing this if I'm already dead? To be completely honest, I have no idea.

But then there was this... feeling.

Like I was floating. And when I woke up, I was in some sort of void. The panic and confusion was overwhelming, but then I heard something speak to me.

"You died to Rush..."

"What?" I swiveled a full one-eighty, but the void remained just as desolate. And why did that thing have a name? What did it mean?

"Pay attention to any clues that might hint at its arrival."

And then, suddenly, I was back in the elevator. I banged on the walls, trying to get out, and ended back where I had started; with the fireplace and the door marked 1.

I didn't realize for a moment. Then I looked around me and went through the door. All the doors ahead of me were still closed.

That's when I knew.

Something was trying to help me. And there was definitely something in this Hotel.

[ E N D      O F       E N T R Y ]

AN: This was extremely challenging to write. It's hard to try and make something scary when it's written down and I spent waaaay too much time just debating whether I should do more of this.

And now, a short message from the Guiding Light:

Alright, now we can begin.