Hotel Le Grand

vii

I crawled off of the body in disgust, looking down at the seemingly innocent girl that I'd taken the life from; the knife still protruding from her small chest. Part of me felt immense guilt for my actions, but another part was happy, relieved even. There was nothing chasing me anymore that looked like it'd fallen into a meat grinder.

I hopped to my feet, crying out when glass burrowed deeper into my skin. Undoubtly, my feet would forever be drenched in awful scars. Limping back to the door that had crushed all the bones in my right hand, I twisted the handle.

To my surprise, it opened. I stumbled into the room and immediately my eyes went to the small wooden chair. Jared was no longer there, but his blood was. It stained the wood and ran off the legs in large drops, gathering in a puddle on the floor.

I swallowed. No one could survive this much blood loss. No one. What was this hotel doing to him?

Hell. To us.

Shutting the door, I headed back towards the hall where our rooms were located and began slamming my fist against the doors, screaming everyone's name. There was no response, there wasn't even any sound. The hotel had become eerily silent. I stopped in front of Levi's room and tried the doorknob, staring at it when it easily opened beneath my fingers.

Nothing but vast darkness welcomed me as I took a single, solitary step inside the room. Not even the window emitted light, though it was curtainless. Everything looked liked it had been dipped in dark, black paint. I squinted and patted the wall for the light switch, stepping further into the room. Suddenly, my foot made contact with something cold and soft.

The room burst to life.

I jumped slightly as light filled the room, revealing Levi standing in the middle of the room breathing hard. He clutched a broken piece of furniture in his hand, maybe the arm of a chair or bedpost, above his head. He stared down at the floor and my eyes soon followed.

On the floor was two bodies. One was crumpled in the fetal position, their dirty blonde hair hiding their face. The other was some kind of mass of dark, lumpy flesh. It laid on its back, its twisted, gnarled face staring at the ceiling. Levi dropped the post and slumped forwards, still breathing heavily. He suddenly dropped to his knees and crawled to the body of the girl, pulling her out of the fetal position.

I stopped short.

It was me. Or what was left of me. I had cuts and scratches all over my face, deep and shallow. My eyes were wide open and my mouth was frozen wide with fear.

Levi let out a small cry and stroked the face of my doppelgänger. "I'm sorry," He murmured. "God, I'm so sorry, Temp."

Taking a step forwards, I went to touch his shoulder, to pull him from this fake reality, but a kind of barrier prevented me. My hand smacked into it, bouncing back to my sides. I placed my hand on the barrier and began to slam my fist into it, screaming loudly for him but he didn't hear me.

"It's all my fault. I'm so sorry." He kissed the fake-me's forehead. "Please forgive me."

"LEVI!"

His head shot up, looking around in shock. I blinked. He'd heard me! "LEVI!" I shrieked again.

"Tempie?" He gently placed the me lookalike onto the ground again and stood up. He, himself, was spared no injury. He was covered in deep scratches and cuts as well as a long gash along his bicep. I look at him in hopes that he'd see me, but I remained hidden. "Oh god, I'm so sorry, Temp."

Levi looked down at my doppelgänger's crumpled body and sniffled, murmuring something under his breath before turning and sitting down in one of the same small wooden chairs that Jared had been confined to. He placed his hands over his face and stooped forwards, his body trembling from silent, broken sobs.

While I was watching him cry, I failed to notice the body twitching and spasming, one arm suddenly uncurling and gripping the threads of the carpet in its hand before yanking its weight forward.

This noise of the dragging body was what alerted me. I jerked my head and watched it twitch and move its limbs much like it was a marionette doll, being yanked about as if it was tied by invisible strings. I opened my mouth and screamed, pounding my fist on the invisible barrier and releasing an almost inhuman sound to just try and get his attention.

He didn't hear me. He didn't even move.

The marionette doll was pulled to her feet, her head limply lolling to the side but her eyes suddenly snapped open. They were the same blue as my own, but bathed in a thin, dim film. Her lips twitched and a large, sickening smile spread across them, as if the corners were being pulled by strings too.

Her lips suddenly dropped back into an emotionless line and her eyes flashed to Levi's back. She stumbled forwards, a hum escaping her throat.

"Ring around the rosie," she hummed, leaning forwards with her body as she dragged herself over to the chair. "Pockets full of posies."

I resumed my fit of trying to get Levi's attention, but he still wasn't able to hear me. Hell, he was acting like he couldn't hear her.

"Ashes, ashes." Her head rolled to the other side, her arm reaching out towards the back of the chair. She stopped stumbling her way over and laid her hand onto the back of the small wooden chair. Her body jerked forwards and she positioned her lips right by Levi's ear. "We all fall... down." And when he finally turned, she lunged, seemingly no longer bound by her strings, and clasped her hands around his throat.