Traveling for work was always fun for me. Seeing the sights and meeting new people was always exciting and refreshing from the mundane boredom of staying at home all day. I was grateful for the opportunities that being a writer provided me.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, turning the sky this beautiful purple-blue hue, I had finally pulled into the parking lot of the hotel I'd be staying the night in. It wasn't exactly the fanciest place to stay, but it would get the job done.
I checked in and the gracious lady at the front desk handed me my room key. On the way to the room, I took a few glances around the lobby and my eyes landed on a corkboard with several missing person's posters. This peaked my curiosity, so I stepped closer. There were dozens of posters, all with black and white images of various people of different ages and genders. All disappearing in the last few years. All of them were last seen in this very city.
I approached the lady at the desk to ask her about it.
"Oh, those sorry souls?" she said. "From what I heard, quite a few of them were last seen exploring a place they weren't supposed to be. Why, one of them disappeared with a group of friends who wanted to do some ghost hunting in an abandoned house downtown. Another decided to take a swim in a pond that was on private property. All of them were doing some dumb kid stuff and paid the price for it."
I looked down, solemnly as to feel sorrow for them. She and I parted ways and I made my way to my room.
The room was just about as average as you'd expect. The bed lay parallel to the window with an AC unit against the far wall. In the narrow hallway leading to the bed sat the door to the bathroom.
I flicked on the lights and saw just how janky the room was. I mean, I feel like janky was the wrong word. There was nothing inherently wrong with the room. It was pretty average. Nothing exciting.
I pulled my laptop from my bag and sat down on my bed. I had some sort of twisted inspiration to write a story about missing kids exploring abandoned building, allowing my imagination to bend and twist as it chased down the rabbit hole of their fate. However, nothing felt too satisfying of a conclusion, so I just said that a ghost reached their hand out from the darkness and pulled them in.
But as the story concluded and my eyelids started feeling heavy, I put my laptop on the nightstand beside the bed and drifted off to sleep. Or at least I tried.
A sudden banging from the ceiling overhead startled me awake. The thuds were muffled, but it sounded like someone jumping up and down in one spot with maybe heavy boots on or something.
Oh boy, I thought. Of course I had to have noisy people upstairs from me.
I tried keeping myself awake until I was almost certain they wouldn't be making any more noise. Or at least that was the hope. Every time I felt myself start to drift off, be it after a minute or twenty, the thuds kicked up again, jolting me awake. But then, silence.
After about the sixth time of this occurring, I stomped out of bed and raced up the stairs to then pound on the door of the people in the room upstairs from me, ready to really lay into them.
The door swung open and immediately, I opened my mouth to start yelling. But no words escaped my lips. Just beyond the door was darkness. It wasn't a dimly-lit room like you'd expect, as there was nothing my eyes could make out. Instead, this looked like I was peering into the void.
I peaked my head inside and called out, hoping for a reply. But there was nothing but the dark echo of my voice. Why did the room feel so cold?
I felt something grip the front of my shirt, tugging me toward the door. Looking down, it was a disembodied hand gripping me in a balled fist. I tried to fight against it but it was too strong. With one final tug, I fell forward and stumbled into the abyss...
As the sun dipped below the horizon, turning the sky this beautiful purple-blue hue, I had finally pulled into the parking lot of the hotel I'd be staying the night in. It wasn't exactly the fanciest place to stay, but it would get the job done.
I checked in and the gracious lady at the front desk handed me my room key. On the way to the room, I took a few glances around the lobby and my eyes landed on a corkboard with several missing person's posters. This peaked my curiosity, so I stepped closer. There were dozens of posters, all with black and white images of various people of different ages and genders. All disappearing in the last few years. All of them were last seen in this very city.
I approached the lady at the desk to ask her about it.
"Oh, those sorry souls?" she said. "From what I heard, quite a few of them were last seen exploring a place they weren't supposed to be. Why, one of them disappeared with a group of friends who wanted to do some ghost hunting in an abandoned house downtown. Another decided to take a swim in a pond that was on private property. All of them were doing some dumb kid stuff and paid the price for it."
I looked down, solemnly as to feel sorrow for them. She and I parted ways and I made my way to my room.
The room was just about as average as you'd expect. The bed lay parallel to the window with an AC unit against the far wall. In the narrow hallway leading to the bed sat the door to the bathroom.
I flicked on the lights and saw just how janky the room was. I mean, I feel like janky was the wrong word. There was nothing inherently wrong with the room. It was pretty average. Nothing exciting.
I pulled my laptop from my bag and sat down on my bed. I had some sort of twisted inspiration to write a story about missing kids exploring abandoned building, allowing my imagination to bend and twist as it chased down the rabbit hole of their fate. However, nothing felt too satisfying of a conclusion, so I just said that a ghost reached their hand out from the darkness and pulled them in.
But as the story concluded and my eyelids started feeling heavy, I put my laptop on the nightstand beside the bed and drifted off to sleep. Or at least I tried.
A sudden banging from the ceiling overhead startled me awake. The thuds were muffled, but it sounded like someone jumping up and down in one spot with maybe heavy boots on or something.
Oh boy, I thought. Of course I had to have noisy people upstairs from me.
I tried keeping myself awake until I was almost certain they wouldn't be making any more noise. Or at least that was the hope. Every time I felt myself start to drift off, be it after a minute or twenty, the thuds kicked up again, jolting me awake. But then, silence.
After about the sixth time of this occurring, I stomped out of bed and raced up the stairs to then pound on the door of the people in the room upstairs from me, ready to really lay into them.
The door swung open and immediately, I opened my mouth to start yelling. But no words escaped my lips. Just beyond the door was darkness. It wasn't a dimly-lit room like you'd expect, as there was nothing my eyes could make out. Instead, this looked like I was peering into the void.
I peaked my head inside and called out, hoping for a reply. But there was nothing but the dark echo of my voice. Why did the room feel so cold?
I felt something grip the front of my shirt, tugging me toward the door. Looking down, it was a disembodied hand gripping me in a balled fist. I tried to fight against it but it was too strong. With one final tug, I fell forward and stumbled into the abyss...
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