Myriad Istoria

The Hotel

"Bryce," Adam whispered, frantically stepping backwards until he hit the back wall of the hallway.

"Hmm-" he grunted in reply, tugging at the straps of their knapsack to try and fix them.

"Bryce," he whispered slightly louder, leaning towards his best friend next to him, who was still looking down and frowning.

"I'm listening!" his voice was frustrated and strained. The strap had gotten pulled at when it had stuck in a crooked nail jutting out of the windowpane they had scrambled in through.

"Bryce, look!" Adam growled and yanked Bryce's hoodie, forcing him to look up in the direction Adam was facing. "What is —?" his raised voice was stifled when Adam placed a sweaty palm on his mouth and pointed down the hallway.

The dark, musty passage stretched out a couple hundred feet ahead of them. Peeling, broken doors lined the walls while water from pipes running the length of the ceiling dripped into black pools on the grimy floor. Pale streaks of the moonlight shone in from the singular cracked window at the extreme end of the hallway where it broke off into the right into one of the reception areas of the dilapidated hotel.

Leaning out from the corner of the wall, in the sparse light, the two young boys saw the figure of another thing slightly taller than them. The dusty silvers of light gave away almost no details but created sharp angular shadows that danced on the cracked concrete.

Bryce gulped and wiped his brow. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a door just like all the other ones, and he growled through his teeth, "To the door on the left. Go slow." Adam nodded tensely and picked up the backpack. The two boys sidled over to their left, Bryce reaching out to push the door in. They were too slow.

The friends watched in horror as the creature emerged from behind the corner on six legs. Resting on the naked spindly limbs was a long shaggy body that was thin due to lack of nutrition. The joints were bent outward from its torso, barely supporting it. The head was unusually large and jutted uncomfortably out from the creature's body. Bending its neck unnaturally towards the right the animal began to rush towards the terrified boys, coming at them hideously fast on its thin bony legs. Its sharp claws clacked against the concrete as the creature came closer and closer, pale beams of light and patches of shadows distorting its proportions. Bryce cried out loud and pushed the door in, and it swung hard into the room. Adam was still frozen in place, the backpack in his arms slipping out. "ADAM!" Bryce yelled, frantically grabbing his best friend's arm and trying to pull him in while clutching at the fallen bag. Adam fell over to his side, still frozen in shock, trapping the bag underneath him. The creature was but a few feet away, and it was tilting its shaggy head left and right in anticipation of a meal. Bryce could make out two sharp fangs curling over its chin even in his frenzy. He pulled at the bag with all his strength and yanked it out from under Adam's limp body, falling backwards into the room with its momentum, hitting his head hard against the cold floor. He scrambled up as the creature leapt at Adam, sinking its teeth into his exposed neck. Bryce could hear the disgusting sound of Adam's neck breaking as he threw the bag further into the room and pushed the aging door closed. Breathing heavily, he leaned into the door and slipped to a sitting position, listening to the creature eating his best friend.

——

Bryce was crying. Tears spilled over onto the cold floor as he sniffled and sobbed, remembering the horrors of the past hour. He had been sitting like that since he had entered the room, hugging the pack and shivering as he listened to the last of Adam being feasted on by the horrible monster. He finally wiped his eyes and his reddened nose on his torn hoodie sleeve.

Curse Walder and his goons for giving the teens a dare like this! Why had they even agreed to visit the Hotel in the first place? Everyone knew that whoever went in never emerged again, but the boys had never believed in the legendary monster. Well, now Bryce did. And so would the bullies when they saw him come home alone.

If he could make it out of there. Well, Bryce reasoned. I should be safe now, since the monster can't be hungry after eating— there was no way he could say his name without throwing up now. So he staggered up, wiping his grimy hands on his even dirtier hoodie and slinging the lopsided backpack to his shoulder. He shook his heavy, thumping head to clear it and rubbed the tears out of his eyes. He had to get out of here and he had to be prepared. The creature should have gone by now, leaving the coast clear for Bryce.

At least he hoped so.

He swung open the door just a tiny crack and peered out. The moonlight at the end of the hallway was barely enough for him to ensure total absence of the monster. He tiptoed out of the door and looked down. There was nothing where Adam had fallen, except for a few fragments of bone, cloth and a large pool of blood. He picked up a relatively large piece of clothing from the bloody remnants of his friend and gripped it tightly as he walked down the hallway. Every crack he passed seemed like a claw, every shadow on the walls seemed like a limb. The sound of his footsteps and dripping water echoed down the hallway, the cold, still air making chills go down his spine. He pulled the strings of his hoodie tighter around his face and focused on the window through which he could get out. There was no time to explore the Hotel now, and he had no wish to do it either. He just wanted to go home and be safe, once and for all.

The hallway seemed never-ending as he shivered and jumped at any little movement. But he eventually reached the shattered window, shards glinting in the pale moonlight. He carefully stepped through the pieces of glass and patches of blood, making sure to —

Patches of blood?

Bryce looked up at the windowpane. The bottom was lined with red claw marks, and deep gashes ran down the wall just below it. His heart began to thump hard as he hurriedly stepped back.

The monster.

It had escaped.

It took a moment for it to sink in. The hideous creature had somehow managed to climb out of the window into the open world... It was free. Bryce didn't wait any longer. Neither place was safe anyway, but out in the open he had the chance to run. He clambered through the window, the sharp edges of the broken pane cutting into his palms and mixing his blood with that of Adam. He landed clumsily onto the blood-red grass on the other side, his weak legs buckling under him. As he got up, slung his backpack over his shoulders again and dusted himself down, he noticed a shadow in front of him. Bryce looked up slowly, and the colour drained from his face.

The monster was standing in front of him. Its round, shaggy face was plastered with a grin that took up most of its area. Razor-sharp teeth lined the bloody smirk, with two fangs curling over under the almost non-existent chin. Small black pupils surrounded by massive bloodshot whites took up the rest of the face, giving it a maniacal look. The creature's hunger was visible from its gaudy, gory face which was still caked in blood. Saliva dripped from its yellowing teeth and, up close, it reeked of rotting flesh and sweat. It was heaving, six bony limbs shivering under its own weight.

Bryce stood there, shocked but fascinated, wanting to run but rooted to the ground. He stood there staring into its eyes as the creature, still grinning, bent its neck to the right. It opened its immense jaws and reached forward.

Crunch.

-Anonymous