Roblox Doors

Chapter 2 - The Vision

The Hotel was boring.

Rush didn't have any other way to put it. If he wasn't hanging out with anyone, or doing any task in particular, then his life's content would be wandering up and down the hallways aimlessly, until he found something worthwhile to do. Since he had left Ambush at door 52 (to go and do some research, he had said) he had been left alone, with nothing to do or to see. There was nothing interesting in the Hotel. Just old faded wallpaper and creaky pink armchairs, he thought bitterly as he stalked the corridors. He regretted not practising his lockpicking skills with Ambush. Without her help, he was practically useless. 

Part of him, however, needed the time to think. He still remembered the look of surprise and mingled anger on his friend's face when El Goblino mentioned the Rooms; he knew Ambush well enough to tell when something was wrong. And more importantly, how to tell when she was hiding something from him. This was one of these times, and Rush didn't like it. Initially, his first resort would be to go to the Library and see if he could find anything interesting there, but he had the feeling that Figure was still aggravated from their last encounter; therefore he decided it would be best to leave it alone for the rest of the day while it did its work. Whatever sort of work a blind person could do in a Library Rush had no idea, but he didn't usually know these things anyways. Not that he really cared. 

Door 65. The Infirmary. Nothing special in here either, as far as Rush was concerned. Except... 

Voices. 

Instinctively, he ducked behind a bed in the corner, and tried to distinguish the voices. One of them, he recognised almost instantly - Guiding Light. A friendly, shimmering blue spirit without any physical form, its ghost fluttered around one of the bedstands. She had a calm, soothing voice that warmed him immensely. She was also in charge of most things around the Hotel as well. The other voice took a little longer to decipher, but the hoarse, whispering echo of voices told him it was the Eyes. It too was another entity - purple in colour, and made up of dozens of bulging eyeballs. It had dark tentacles protruding from its own dark matter above. 

"- had a vision last night. It... it wasn't pretty."

Rush risked a glance from his hiding spot just as the entity finished speaking, only to wince with pain as he looked into one of the entity's eyes. 

Oh, right. They don't like to be looked at.

Rubbing his eyes, Rush just managed to wheel himself back round behind the bed before either Spirit (Guiding Light) or Eyes saw him, just to hear Spirit speak. 

"What was it about?"

"I'm not sure. A person. Looked kinda like a ghost though, from what I could see. And he was holding... two swords..."

Eyes' voice dropped to a quiet murmur, and for the first time, Rush wished he had the Figure's intense hearing. 

"...and he had this mask. I couldn't tell what it looked like... but I could feel its presence. Spirit... it was evil."

Eyes finished his description, and he could hear the worry that edged Spirit's voice when she next spoke. 

"Ok..." she said. "Thanks for telling me."

There were a few words exchanged, but Rush wasn't listening. 

A mask.

Rush slipped out of the room, trying to stick to the shadows where his smoke easily blended in. 

Like the one you used to wear? 

He quickened his pace. 

Interesting. Very interesting.

No, that figure couldn't be him. He couldn't even remember the last time it had happened. 

You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me.

Rush didn't even bother arguing. That voice in his head, his conscious - was right.

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Halt pondered the gloomy corridors of her room, every movement casting flickering blue reflections across the room. It left a glittering blue mist in its wake, and its eyes shone like diamonds. She observed herself in one of the many crystal-like walls around her. Halt was a ghost, with shimmering blue waterfalls of smoky residue and sparkling cerulean waves of the same cold substance. Through the dim light, she thought she could see the mist reassembling itself, rearranging to form 3D images. She peered through the thick fog, trying to figure out who it was. She thought she saw fire, and she could almost hear the screams of people as they ran through the thick plumes of smoke. Ash fell down like rain and rifts tore through the Hotel like seething animals. In all of the madness, a silent figure stood, swords unsheathed; a charred, disfigured yellow mask strapped to its face. Clusters of wire were visible on the person's face, yet the mask itself was still distinguishable as a grin. Halt peered through the darkness, her eyes readjusting to the murky blue haze. She found herself staring at the figure. Whoever it was, they were looking down. Then the figure's head snapped up and they made eye-contact; Halt found herself stumbling back in horror despite herself. She knew better than anyone else that it was an illusion, yet here she was, gaping open-mouthed in horror. The figure gazed at her calmly for a few seconds, then smiled.

The illusion collapsed back on itself, glitching. Mist swarmed her like wasps strangling their prey, and before she knew it she was running out from her room, away from the mist, away from the shadows, and away from whatever it was in her own nightmares that wanted to tear the Hotel apart.