Into The Depths Of The Hotel

The Elevator

(Y/n) stood, completely gob smacked at the realisation that, if anything were to happen to them, nobody would ever know why. Holding their breath and crossing their fingers, they wandered further down the hall.

To their right was a boarded up room, cracks revealing the bare bones of what sat beyond. Each crack was infested; eyes observed (Y/n)'s every motion. They shared one thing in common, each had black irises, and were not of a normal size, meaning it was nothing human. An inky substance dripped from the boards, pooling on the boards below. Whatever it was, it snaked underneath almost by choice.

To the left was a smaller hallway that bridged off to a separate, boarded off door. One could tell that it was more of a utility issue, as water leaked beneath the door's crack. An electrical cackle sounded every few moments, and (Y/n) couldn't tell if the water was electrified or not, but knew it were best to be left be. There was a pink armchair resting besides a window, where the lightning flashed frequently. Each and every time, whether they anticipated the strikes or not, their hairs stood on end.

(Y/n), slumped down and feeling rather small, approached one of the elevators. Taking a step inside, they noticed it was still functional, and wondered what might happen if they were to take a trip through the elevator to another floor. It said they were on the ground floor, so if their adventure began to sour, they could escape, or could they?

They'd forgotten about the bridge, and shrugged off their chances of death as extremely low. Ghosting their hands over the panel of buttons, they imagined how lovely the hotel would've once been. The hustle and bustle of such a lovely place, the laughter and shouts of the children, who raced around, the lovely conversations had, the bubbly atmosphere, held together by those who resided there, whether temporary or eternal. Now, not even the flame of the fireplace felt warm, as the cold crept through the cracking walls.

(Y/n), not feeling up for decision making, covered their eyes and selected a floor at random. Smiling broadly, they waited for the doors to close before removing their hand off of their face.

A pleasuring jingle rung in the speakers, and (Y/n) was obligated to dance to it. Lightly swaying from side to side, they shimmied their shoulders in time to the motion of their torso. Closing their eyes, they bobbed their head in time to the beat. It was mediocre music, in a harsh reality, but it was something uplifting compared to the atmosphere they'd been given this far on their journey.

After a couple of moments of simple dancing, their elevator came to their designated stop. A self explanatory ding sounded, and the doors slid open as smoothly as a hot knife through butter. 

The floor that (Y/n) had selected was only 6 floors above the ground. In the room was a desk, and a bell set atop it. Another window was to their left, and a single, wooden drawer just in front. A painting was hung on the wall next to a corkboard that held onto one key. (Y/n) crawled over the luggage trolley and clasped the key desperately in their sweating hands. Grime rubbed off onto their fingers, staining them a bronzy orange tone. A tag was hooked on a keychain, attaching the two objects together. The tag was labelled,'001' signifying it was for door 001, which they stood in front of.

Their body trembled, and they swayed anxiously, transferring their weight from one leg to the other.

"Do I have to do this..? I mean," They muttered to themself in a displeased tone, as though they were scolding,"Do I really need to? Can't I just..leave?"

Shoving the key into the keyhole, they held their breath as they flicked their wrist to twist the key around. 

"What have I got myself into?"