The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

|7| Oh, a vortex. Nice.

"Wait!" Kris called out from inside the bathroom, but it was too late. Ashley already left the room, jogging down the hallway. She just needed to be sure that no one was in danger.

When she reached the lobby, Justin was wearing casual clothing and leaning against the counter, and there was another woman on the other side of it. They had been talking and laughing but looked up as soon as Ashley came down the stairs.

"Hello," the woman said, smiling politely. "Can I help you?"

"Sorry to disturb you but I, uh..." She hesitated, not knowing how she should ask it. "Didn't you just see the person who ran outside like five minutes ago?"

The woman frowned and Ashley glanced at the name pinned to her chest. Nora. "No, I'm sorry," she said. "No one has left this hotel since I started my shift..." She looked at Justin.

"I didn't see anyone either and I've been here for the past five hours. You guys were the only ones walking in or out, the other guests have stayed in their rooms," he confirmed.

"Are you sure? Shouldn't we, like, search them? The snowstorm's almost here," Ashley insisted, but both just shook their heads.

"No one has left this hotel recently. You must've seen something else and mistaken it for a person," Justin explained. "It's late, not to be rude, but maybe you should go to sleep soon."

"Ashley!" Kris shouted from behind, running down the stairs. "What the fuck?"

Both Sam and Colby were following her, the blond holding up the camera once again. Ashley quickly smiled at the two workers and turned around to walk back to the other three. She tried to calm her rapidly beating heart down and take even breaths.

"Ashley, what are you doing?" Colby hissed, quickly catching up with her.

"I just saw something and thought it was a person even though it wasn't," she said, shrugging it off. Colby waved Sam and the camera closer.

"Wha- when?"

"Well, I was standing at the window and looked out and there was this person running out of the front door, so I wanted to make sure no one was in danger," she quickly explained.

"Wait, come on. Show us what you saw at the window," Sam said, hurrying to get back to the girls' room.

Back at the window, she hesitantly positioned herself in front of the window.

"I don't think..." she began, but Sam interrupted her.

"Just explain it." He held the camera closer so the audience would see what she pointed at.

"So, I pulled the curtains to the side to see if I had dropped my ring here. But then I saw this person just bolting out of the hotel, running across the street. And then they disappeared in the darkness." She pointed at the entrance of the hotel, which was directly below them, and raised her hand to point to the forest across the street. "I obviously thought it was someone and got worried, so I walked down to talk to Justin. But he and Nora said they had seen no one. And they're sitting right in front of the entrance."

"What were they wearing?" Colby asked. As Ashley looked back at him, she saw him and Sam exchange a meaningful glance.

"I didn't see it that well," she answered hesitantly. "Some kind of coat, I think. Wait, no, now that I think of it, it could've been a dress as well..."

"Okay, that's crazy. Just for the viewers – Ashley and Kris don't know a lot about this place or the haunting. We usually film the explanatory part with the guests in the background, but they stayed here, in their room, while we were in the other room," Colby started. Ashley frowned, where was he going with this?