NO ESCAPE?: The Hostel.

The Empty Hallway (CHAPTER 6)

Hey! Thanks for coming back💕

NARRATOR's POV:

Shit- that smells like absolute shit goodness gracious, she pinched her nose.

A blanket of an extremely foul odour suddenly wrapped itself around Lana. One step inside the hostel and she's already smelling something extremely rotten. What a great start.

Hello? Anyone in here?....Hello?? , she called out.

After a brief moment of silence, Lana knew she was forlorn. She sighed and strolled farther to check out the place.

Lana struggled to walk because of the foul odour, but she kept on. She kept on pinching her nose hardly to stop the smell from entering her nasal cavity but some of it seeped in anyhow. Her footsteps were the only thing making noise in the empty hallway.

The hostel that was covered with moss, algae, thick bushes on the outside, appeared oddly clean on the inside. Indoors, It was a plain whitewashed room that was completely empty, no furniture or humans to be seen. On the right, there were stairs leading up to, what appeared to be, the main entrance or reception.

Lana looked around, turned her head to every corner of the room, it just seemed distinct. The place looked old, and not in a good way. Old in an ominous, dark, eerie way.

The smell was getting worse and she couldn't bear it any longer so she grabbed her suitcase and dragged it across the quiet, empty hallway, towards the stairs as fast as she could. Her footsteps echoed the hallway. Lana was panting, her hopes were either 'bout to fulfilled or shuddered. Only one way to find out.

Hoof, my foot ughh. I can't walk anymore God. Please end my agony!
Lana hissed in pain.

Hey? Uh- Um I'm here for a room? Miss?
Lana finally saw someone besides her in this place, the Warden. She wore a white loose gown with a white cloth wrapped like a veil on her black hair, Christian veil to be precise. Her face was pale. She sat behind a desk with a net in between, she peaked through the big hole at the bottom of the net. Her eyes were big, black. CHICK BLACK.

"Refer to me as WARDEN", the lady frowned at Lana with her big eyes, staring right into her soul.

"I'm sorry, Miss Warden. I'm... ne- new here, looking for a dorm. It's kind of an emergency. Do you guys have uh- a vacancy by any chance?", Lana stammered. She was intimidated by the Warden already. Her oddly creeping stare sent chills down her spine, she couldn't maintain eye contact with her.

"YES. Documents", the Warden demanded in a rude tone. A tone that Lana despised.

"Documents? Oh you mean documents? Okay-Okay", she chuckled nervously.

"Just give me a minute please. I have them ready in my bag", she searched while gasping for breath. Her hands were shaking from exhaustion.

The Warden's eyes were stuck on her. It almost looked like she had no life in those eyes.

"Don't waste time. Give now or be gone woman", she spoke in a slightly loud tone.

"No-No I have them, please allow me. Here you go", Lana stuttered while handing those documents to her.

The Warden snatched those documents from Lana's grip, into the hole inside the net. She looked at them for a while and then looked at Lana who had a distant smile on her face.

She was sweating, maybe because of the Warden's cold behaviour towards her.

Not even a minute had passed and the Warden yelled, "WHAT IS THIS?!", she banged her fist on the desk.

"What? Wait.. what do you mean?", Lana flinched because of the sudden raise in voice.

"WHERE ARE YOUR DOCUMENTS?!", The Warden yelled again.

"Um- uh I gave you all of them. Is... Is there something missing Warden?", Lana quivered.

"Your passport, green card is missing!", she spoke in a blunt tone.

"I don't understand. I gave you my resume, graduation papers, proof of residence, my college acceptance letter. Aren't those enough?", Lana answered in confusion, "Why do you need my passport and green card?", she couldn't comprehend the issue.

"We need to know you're not a threat to this place. It's for safety. Everyone who comes here has to give us their documents, ALL OF THEM", the Warden's eyes grew darker, wider. Her tone was freaking Lana out.

"So what do I do if I need them?", Lana squinted.

"You ask, we give them to you", she replied in the same taunty tone.

Lana was puzzled. She couldn't understand the reason but knew there was no other way. She HAD to give them to her.

Lana rummaged her purse and took her cards and passport out to hand it to her. She wasn't convinced but had no choice.

"Here", Lana said in a shaking speech.

The Warden grasped those from her hands and pulled out one of the drawers and banged a file on the desk, a dusty, rusted, red that had turned brown, register. The dust immediately spread across the area and was soon invading Lana's nostrils.

She sneezed loudly as she looked at the register with her eyes wide open. It looked a 1000 years old and rusted.

__________________________________

Thanks for reading this far! See you in the next chapter 🤍

Please be sure to show your support <3
Check out my other works too! ;)