Doctor Sleep | Dan x OC

The Overlook Hotel

The little girl spins in circles on the second floor, overlooking the Colorado Lounge. Amy Ullman, niece to Stwart Ullman, manager of the Overlook Hotel was under his watch for the last week of the season. A tradition Stwart's brother Johnathan has kept true over the years. Jonathan, Lis, and their daughter Amy would come up to visit Stewart for the week before the Overlook closing for the winter season. In the past years, Lisa and John have allowed their daughter to stay with her uncle on her own, giving them the well-deserved vacation they needed. They'd ship her to Colorado while they went to Florida for the week, awaiting their daughter's arrival in one of the other hotels Ullman manages in the off-season.

Amy watches as the guest leave one by one, bags in toe. Some packed neatly as when they came and others stuffed with garments with no rhyme or reason. Her ballet shoes would slide on the patterned carpet as she imagined she was on the big stage in New York. "You be careful now, Amy. I don't need any of these vases getting broken." Ullman would tell her as he looked up from the bottom level. "Okay, Uncle Stewart!" She'd holler before setting herself in another row of spins. "Beautiful as always, Amy." A maid said as she passed with a bundle of blankets. Amy bowed and danced further down the halls.

Her favorite place to dance was The Gold Room. She would get up on the stage and pretend she was a real ballerina, pink tutu and all. In the empty room, she'd be carefree. That is until the room was no longer empty.

A woman in a white flapper dress was watching her, a deep gash on his head just above her eye, blood flowing down her face. She sat at one of the tables in the center of the room, watching Amy dance. She raised her feathered fan, "My stars! I could teach you so much, couldn't I?" Amy stopped in her tracks. She closed her eyes and remembered what Dick told her. Just pictures in a book, Amy. They're not real.

She walked past the women quickly, bolting for the exit. She got as close as the velvet red ropes lining the entrance before the woman grabbed her arm with a steel grip, her dirty fingernails digging into Amy's arm. Amy screamed, kicking at the imaginary woman. Her smile stretches to her eyes before letting her go off the child. Amy falls to the floor with force before sprinting down the hall to her uncle.

"Uncle Stwart! Help me!" She screams, running down the halls of the Overlook. Her pink ballet slippers grow hot on the carpet at the pace she's making. Amy runs past the front desk right into Stwart Ullman's office. Tears stream down her face as she tosses herself onto her uncle's lap. "She's going to get me!"

Ullman struggles to stand as the child grips his legs in terror. "Who are you chatting about? What's the fuss?" His tone was a pure annoyance for the child. Amy looks up to him, tears streaking her cheeks, eyes puffy. "She-she's in the gold room. She grabbed me! Look!" Amy pushes her arm, faint nail marks appearing on her pale skin. "She was all bloody!"

Jack Torrance sat across from this altercation, confusion building in his mind. Ullman said he didn't have any children. Stwart rolls his eyes at Amy's words. "Amy, there are guests about. Straighten up!" He whispers into her ear harshly. "Wipe your eyes."

She does as instructed, taking notice of Jack across the desk. "Sorry, Uncle Stwart." She rounds the table offering a hand to Jack. "I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to interrupt." Her nose is still runny and her eyes are puffy as she contains her tears. "That's alright." Jack shakes her tiny hand with a smile. "Run along. See if Dick will make you something to eat." Ullman dismisses her quickly.

Ullman shakes his head as Amy exits the office. "My brother just has to drop her off at the end of the season before we meet them in Florida. I try to convince them it's far too busy, but they keep pushing. Each year. She's about your boy's age. 5 you said?" Jack nods, "That's right. Danny is his name." "Right. Strong imaginations those children have. I catch her talking to the walls sometimes. Gives me the creeps. She's convinced there are ghosts in these halls. I've never even gotten a chill at night, but she swears on her mother's life. Anyways, Mr. Torrance. Come back in a couple of days with your family and I'll give you the tour. You've got the job."