Touring the world to share music was a thing that every singer enjoyed. Visiting new places, performing in front of excited crowds, hearing them sing along to the songs written...It was an eye-opening and addicting experience.
Some shows went well, others had unlikeable twists. Crowds were fun when they were in your favour, not when they were constantly complaining about the genre of your new album and harassing you for the style of the character representing it.
That's why Melanie was filled with a rational sense of relief to make it to the hotel she'd decided to stay in. It was infamous, rumoured to be inhabited by cryptids. Though off-putting to most, it matched the aesthetic of her music to a certain extent.
Still wearing the clothing and makeup of her character, Melanie entered the hotel.
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Her eyes were met with an oddly dated reception, and she exited the elevator with a careful hop. The floorboard underfoot groaned, causing her skin to crawl.
"I love it!" She cried out, the haunting fear no more than a prickle of skin to her; where most would turn back and run, she stood tall and strode.
Accompanied by the creaking floorboards, her heels clacked against the wood, as she ducked under the trolley to grab a key with an ominous blue glow. A twinkle was emitted from the key, and it jangled loudly on its hook.
As she took it in her hands, the hue dissipated, leaving an ordinary key.
When she put it inside the lock and turned it, it poofed into thin air. Nothing more than thin air filled the keyhole once the door had been opened.
Perplexed, Melanie took a step back to process the abnormality, which occupied a corner of her mind the entire time she spent in the hotel.
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She wandered deeper until she came across double doors. Nothing had happened to her, and she'd encountered no cryptids whatsoever, disappointing her somewhat.
Her eyes scanned the reception desk of the hotel, and she decided to sit on the office chair, spinning herself around before she was bored of it.
Once she'd gained the courage, she got up, approached the entrance to the library and swung the doors open.
Heavy footsteps sounded, and a slender humanoid with a mouth for a face came pounding forwards, its arms limply hung from its shoulders.
Melanie felt the carpet burn from its wrists as it dragged its arms along the ground.
Her eyes widened at the sight of this creature; it had an external ribcage, no eyes and a lanky frame. It looked to be in pain.
The blind creature idled, before hunching over, its breath in her face.
Each breath hitched in her throat, and her heart beat rapidly.
Chances were she would die here. This blind creature would kill her where she stood if she did nothing.
Gradually, her hand held its, her touch soft and comforting.
A small purr escaped its throat, its face lowered to hers.
The corners of her lips folded upwards, and her eyelids curved at the bottom.
Guiding this creature with utmost care, she seated it on the coral sofa by the statue.
Clearing her throat, she decided that maybe it could be spoken to.
"So, what's your name?"*She inquired, watching it rear its head to give the impression that it could see her, when it couldn't.
Deciding that words didn't matter, she sung to it; perhaps the tones and pitch of her voice would soothe it?
Quietly, she begun to sing to it, starting with the first song from her new album, the song Death.
It wasn't the most obvious, but its mouth curved upwards in a form of smile.
Seeing its response, she moved on to the song Void.
She continued, only to find void-black fluid developing on the ground between the floorboards. Yet, she sung on.
A hand reached up, dragging an ink-black, humanoid form from beneath the ground. One piercing eye opened on its head, serving as a face. As it got up, her voice died down, fear gripping her.
They gestured with their hand for her to continue, their body language weirdly human-like.
Her voice returned, and she resumed her song, trying to ignore the fact that she'd brought another cryptid into the room by the sheer power of her songs.
"I've heard that before."They said to her in a whispery tone once Void had ended.
Hearing the mouthless entity speak, she raised an eyebrow, trying to forget that this wasn't a human she was talking to,"That's really cool! Where'd you listen to it?"
Whipping out a cracked phone, they showed her a playlist of songs one of their victims was listening to while exploring the hotel. They admitted they hadn't a clue how to use the phone, other than the button to turn it on and off, nor did they know that there wasn't a tiny human in the phone.
The thought of the creature smashing the phone to try and get a human out of it amused her, and a chuckle escaped her. It was disheartening that the phone screen was too damaged for use.
They lean closer to her, a look of adoration in their eye,"How do you do that with your voice?"
"How do I...sing?" She asked returning the question.
They nodded.
"I've trained my voice. I practice a lot and I sing in front of large crowds." She told them, seeing them squint their eye at her.
"...A crowd would be a lot of humans...How do you do it?" They asked her, acknowledging the costume she wore.
Raising her eyebrows, it took her a minute to recall her current appearance,"Oh, it's a costume. I don't actually look like this. It's a character I made for the album and the story."
Slowly, they nodded,"What's your name then?"
"I'm Melanie Martinez. How about you?" She introduced herself.
"Humans know me as Seek. The one besides you is known as Figure." Seek bowed their head respectfully.
Giving a small purr, Figure leaned its head back for some headpats, which Melanie was more than happy to oblige by.
This hotel perhaps wasn't as bad as she's initially suspected it to be, but perhaps there was more yet to see.
