Post by buck on Jul 1, 2023 0:11:14 GMT -5
You wake up, unsure where you are. In the darkness you hear voices calling out.
“Welcome. Welcome.”
You stand to your feet and find yourself in a long corridor. Despite your better judgment, you walk towards a bright light at the far end. As you get closer, you hear the sound of people talking loudly and laughing. You’re unnerved by the commotion somehow but find you can’t turn away and continue forward.
When you finally make it to the end of the corridor, it empties into a much larger room. All around you are people dressed in fashions not haven’t bee in style for decades. Most of them wear porcelain masks. They chat amongst themselves, and only briefly acknowledge you with a nod or a wave before returning to their conversations.
As you turn around, taking in the full view of this magnificent room, a man in a grotesque mask and wearing a white coat walks by, carrying a tray of wine glasses. He nods his head politely in your direction.
“So glad you could join us for our grand re-opening. Care for a drink? No? Very well.”
He hurries off to his duties, passing a large overstuffed chair. The chair spins around and none other than Eli Buchanan stands to his feets, wearing an expensive suit. The former World Champion smiles as he greats those watching.
“You’re here! I’m so glad you could make it. Welcome to the grand reopening of the Hotel California. I know what you’re thinking, ‘It’s a real place?’ Crazy, right? And in case you didn’t know who the owner is, it’s ME!”
He grabs a glass of wine from the man in the white coat as he passes by again, but has second thoughts and puts it back. You recall hearing Eli’s a recovering alcoholic, but you can’t help wondering if that’s the real reason he chose to put it back.
“This hotel has been special to me ever since I stumbled upon it a few years back. I call it my sanctuary, a place that I come to re-energize when the world gets me down, especially after spending an hour checking out my Twitter.”
He cringes a little before beginning to chuckle. Something catches his eye, and the masked woman known as Lotte appears, dancing and twirling about. She offers Eli her hand and he gives it a kiss before she tries to skip away. He pulls her back towards him, but it’s no longer Lotte, but instead his wife, Charlotte. The two share a long, romantic kiss before turning towards you.
Eli chuckles at your expression.
“What, you didn’t know they were one in the same? Seriously? Charlotte. C-h-a-r-L-O-T-T-E.”
Charlotte kisses him on the cheek, before winking at you.
“I wouldn’t give them such a hard time, my love. Despite how smart they claim to be, some people can’t see the obvious clues right under their nose, even if you beat them over the head with it again and again.”
The two of them share another long drawn out kiss. Charlotte whispers something into Eli’s ear before slipping from his arms and skipping away. Eli watches her go for a moment before turning back at you. He nods off to the side and smiles, mischievously.
“Come one, I’ll show you around. Follow me.”
You turn to follow after him as he leaves the lobby and goes down a hallway. Rooms line both sides and inhuman looking hands peak through the doors, waving us in.
“Join us,” voices whisper.
“Come on,” Eli calls, “there’s no time to dittledaly!”
The move further down the hall to a doorway. Eli points inside.
“This is the recreation hall, where we go to have fun. I should warn you that it can get pretty competitive in there. ‘It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye,’ then it becomes a sport!”
Eli suddenly ducks and an arrow shoots past his head and into the wall. He takes a look at it and laughs.
“Great shot, Hambone,” he yells into the rec hall, “You almost got me that time. Keep up the practice.”
They pass by a door, boarded up. A sign hanging above it reads, “Abandon Hope All Who Enter Here.” Eli smiles through gritted teeth and shakes his head.
“I can’t show you that room right now, there was an incident in there again. To be honest, we still haven’t gotten the place properly since a certain tattoo-covered pothead wrecked half the hotel. Someday it will be fit for both man and beast.”
At the mention of “beast” there’s a loud crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. Eli rolls his eyes and sighs.
“Sometimes this place can get a little on the melodramatic side. Ignore it, or it’ll get out of hand. I’ve got a few other rooms to show you though, come on!”
He waves at the camera and they continue down the hall to the room with a strange symbol over the door.
“This is the temple of our lord and master, Ngyr-Korath. Mass is held every Friday at midnight, and if you decide to attend I suggest you don’t walk in late; people around here tend to hate it when their time with the Ultimate Abomination is interrupted.”
The smile briefly disappears from Eli’s face and he eyes the door nervously. He reaches out to touch it, but quickly backs away and shivers. The moment passes and he shakes his head. The smile returns to his face and he laughs.
“Where were we? Oh yes, I’ve got one more room to show you. A special room just for me.”
He leads the way down to the very end of the hall, to a room with no door. Eli’s face turns grim and he pats the door frame.
“This my room,” Eli whispers, solemnly “The place I go when I need to do some soul searching, or at least I used to.”
Eli reaches up and pulls a curtain across the front of the doorway.
“Nope, I’ve decided I don’t need that room anymore. I’m happy with just being plain old Eli. I’m my own man again. This room doesn’t control me. It never has.”
Eli doesn’t acknowledge it, but red smoke billows out from beneath the curtain. Hands appear and try to grab Eli, but he sidesteps them all without even looking, and moves away from the room. One by one the hands all disappear back into the smoke, with the last one snapping its fingers in frustration before vanishing.
“Yep,” Eli says, still apparently oblivious to what’s happened, “I am completely free of this room’s influence on me. I…”
Eli is interrupted as a round object rolls out from beneath the curtain and hits his foot. Frowning, Eli bends down and picks up the object, absent-mindedly smacking aside a hand from the doorway. Standing up, Eli lifts the object up so you can see it.
“Hey, it’s a pumpkin.”
He turns it around in his hands and he notices a face carved into it.
“No, my mistake, it’s a jack-o-lantern.”
Eli studies it for a moment. The grin on his face takes on an air of grim menace. His pupils seem to disappear and his eyes turn completely red.
“Or should I call it a jill-o-lantern?”
Eli stares at the pumpkin a little longer. More and more of the red smoke billows out of the hidden room and begins to surround him. Dozens of hands reach out and appear ready to grab him, but then the moment quickly passes. Eli’s eyes lose their red glow and return to normal. He takes a step away from the room and the smoke disappears, taking the hands with it.
“Oh well, tomato, tamahto. Let’s call the whole thing off! All that Jill person wants to talk about is how tough she is and I just want to a bit of fun.”
Eli tosses the pumpkin over his shoulder and it smashes on the floor behind him.
“Come on, I’ve got some much more I want to show you. You really need to meet my friends, the Herkmen. They’re an absolute hoot.”
He walks away, chatting nonstop, and doesn’t seem to notice you haven’t followed after him. Instead, you’ve turned your attention to the broken pumpkin and begin walking towards it. You don’t know why, but you find you can’t take your eyes off the orange gord. You bend down to take a closer look at it and reach out to pick up a piece.
No sooner than you do, a hand reaches out and grabs you. Looking at your wrist, you realize too late that the hand grabbing you is coming out of the red mist. It’s all around you. Your caught, and unlike Eli, there’s no escape for you. You try to cry out for help, but more hands reach out to cover your mouth, while others reach out and grab you firmly by all your limbs. They begin to drag you back towards the door behind the curtain. Your final thoughts before your dragged into the room is to wonder if Eli had planned all this out in the first place.
Meanwhile, Eli is long gone. He’s forgotten all about you, and why shouldn’t he? After all, you’re apart of the hotel now. You can check out whenever you like, but you can never leave.
“Welcome. Welcome.”
You stand to your feet and find yourself in a long corridor. Despite your better judgment, you walk towards a bright light at the far end. As you get closer, you hear the sound of people talking loudly and laughing. You’re unnerved by the commotion somehow but find you can’t turn away and continue forward.
When you finally make it to the end of the corridor, it empties into a much larger room. All around you are people dressed in fashions not haven’t bee in style for decades. Most of them wear porcelain masks. They chat amongst themselves, and only briefly acknowledge you with a nod or a wave before returning to their conversations.
As you turn around, taking in the full view of this magnificent room, a man in a grotesque mask and wearing a white coat walks by, carrying a tray of wine glasses. He nods his head politely in your direction.
“So glad you could join us for our grand re-opening. Care for a drink? No? Very well.”
He hurries off to his duties, passing a large overstuffed chair. The chair spins around and none other than Eli Buchanan stands to his feets, wearing an expensive suit. The former World Champion smiles as he greats those watching.
“You’re here! I’m so glad you could make it. Welcome to the grand reopening of the Hotel California. I know what you’re thinking, ‘It’s a real place?’ Crazy, right? And in case you didn’t know who the owner is, it’s ME!”
He grabs a glass of wine from the man in the white coat as he passes by again, but has second thoughts and puts it back. You recall hearing Eli’s a recovering alcoholic, but you can’t help wondering if that’s the real reason he chose to put it back.
“This hotel has been special to me ever since I stumbled upon it a few years back. I call it my sanctuary, a place that I come to re-energize when the world gets me down, especially after spending an hour checking out my Twitter.”
He cringes a little before beginning to chuckle. Something catches his eye, and the masked woman known as Lotte appears, dancing and twirling about. She offers Eli her hand and he gives it a kiss before she tries to skip away. He pulls her back towards him, but it’s no longer Lotte, but instead his wife, Charlotte. The two share a long, romantic kiss before turning towards you.
Eli chuckles at your expression.
“What, you didn’t know they were one in the same? Seriously? Charlotte. C-h-a-r-L-O-T-T-E.”
Charlotte kisses him on the cheek, before winking at you.
“I wouldn’t give them such a hard time, my love. Despite how smart they claim to be, some people can’t see the obvious clues right under their nose, even if you beat them over the head with it again and again.”
The two of them share another long drawn out kiss. Charlotte whispers something into Eli’s ear before slipping from his arms and skipping away. Eli watches her go for a moment before turning back at you. He nods off to the side and smiles, mischievously.
“Come one, I’ll show you around. Follow me.”
You turn to follow after him as he leaves the lobby and goes down a hallway. Rooms line both sides and inhuman looking hands peak through the doors, waving us in.
“Join us,” voices whisper.
“Come on,” Eli calls, “there’s no time to dittledaly!”
The move further down the hall to a doorway. Eli points inside.
“This is the recreation hall, where we go to have fun. I should warn you that it can get pretty competitive in there. ‘It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye,’ then it becomes a sport!”
Eli suddenly ducks and an arrow shoots past his head and into the wall. He takes a look at it and laughs.
“Great shot, Hambone,” he yells into the rec hall, “You almost got me that time. Keep up the practice.”
They pass by a door, boarded up. A sign hanging above it reads, “Abandon Hope All Who Enter Here.” Eli smiles through gritted teeth and shakes his head.
“I can’t show you that room right now, there was an incident in there again. To be honest, we still haven’t gotten the place properly since a certain tattoo-covered pothead wrecked half the hotel. Someday it will be fit for both man and beast.”
At the mention of “beast” there’s a loud crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. Eli rolls his eyes and sighs.
“Sometimes this place can get a little on the melodramatic side. Ignore it, or it’ll get out of hand. I’ve got a few other rooms to show you though, come on!”
He waves at the camera and they continue down the hall to the room with a strange symbol over the door.
“This is the temple of our lord and master, Ngyr-Korath. Mass is held every Friday at midnight, and if you decide to attend I suggest you don’t walk in late; people around here tend to hate it when their time with the Ultimate Abomination is interrupted.”
The smile briefly disappears from Eli’s face and he eyes the door nervously. He reaches out to touch it, but quickly backs away and shivers. The moment passes and he shakes his head. The smile returns to his face and he laughs.
“Where were we? Oh yes, I’ve got one more room to show you. A special room just for me.”
He leads the way down to the very end of the hall, to a room with no door. Eli’s face turns grim and he pats the door frame.
“This my room,” Eli whispers, solemnly “The place I go when I need to do some soul searching, or at least I used to.”
Eli reaches up and pulls a curtain across the front of the doorway.
“Nope, I’ve decided I don’t need that room anymore. I’m happy with just being plain old Eli. I’m my own man again. This room doesn’t control me. It never has.”
Eli doesn’t acknowledge it, but red smoke billows out from beneath the curtain. Hands appear and try to grab Eli, but he sidesteps them all without even looking, and moves away from the room. One by one the hands all disappear back into the smoke, with the last one snapping its fingers in frustration before vanishing.
“Yep,” Eli says, still apparently oblivious to what’s happened, “I am completely free of this room’s influence on me. I…”
Eli is interrupted as a round object rolls out from beneath the curtain and hits his foot. Frowning, Eli bends down and picks up the object, absent-mindedly smacking aside a hand from the doorway. Standing up, Eli lifts the object up so you can see it.
“Hey, it’s a pumpkin.”
He turns it around in his hands and he notices a face carved into it.
“No, my mistake, it’s a jack-o-lantern.”
Eli studies it for a moment. The grin on his face takes on an air of grim menace. His pupils seem to disappear and his eyes turn completely red.
“Or should I call it a jill-o-lantern?”
Eli stares at the pumpkin a little longer. More and more of the red smoke billows out of the hidden room and begins to surround him. Dozens of hands reach out and appear ready to grab him, but then the moment quickly passes. Eli’s eyes lose their red glow and return to normal. He takes a step away from the room and the smoke disappears, taking the hands with it.
“Oh well, tomato, tamahto. Let’s call the whole thing off! All that Jill person wants to talk about is how tough she is and I just want to a bit of fun.”
Eli tosses the pumpkin over his shoulder and it smashes on the floor behind him.
“Come on, I’ve got some much more I want to show you. You really need to meet my friends, the Herkmen. They’re an absolute hoot.”
He walks away, chatting nonstop, and doesn’t seem to notice you haven’t followed after him. Instead, you’ve turned your attention to the broken pumpkin and begin walking towards it. You don’t know why, but you find you can’t take your eyes off the orange gord. You bend down to take a closer look at it and reach out to pick up a piece.
No sooner than you do, a hand reaches out and grabs you. Looking at your wrist, you realize too late that the hand grabbing you is coming out of the red mist. It’s all around you. Your caught, and unlike Eli, there’s no escape for you. You try to cry out for help, but more hands reach out to cover your mouth, while others reach out and grab you firmly by all your limbs. They begin to drag you back towards the door behind the curtain. Your final thoughts before your dragged into the room is to wonder if Eli had planned all this out in the first place.
Meanwhile, Eli is long gone. He’s forgotten all about you, and why shouldn’t he? After all, you’re apart of the hotel now. You can check out whenever you like, but you can never leave.