The Shining (Kubrick Version)

Part 4: Tuesday

Tuesday afternoon, 3:02pm. Sunset was here, but it wasn't very light. The sky was mostly cloudy. The ground was covered in frost, ice and flurries and walking out in bare foot was like walking in snow almost. Wendy was cooking afternoon tea for Danny and Jack, fruit salad. Not by scratch. Wendy was exhausted and was just simply going to pour in a big can of fruit salad into a big bowl and provide spoons for Danny and Jack to serve themselves. She would cook dinner around 5:30. A quick dinner. Probably just mac and cheese or heat up a microwaved meal. There were some in the fridge. Hallorann had told Wendy back on Closing Day that the meals were bought by the staff members who stayed in the staff quarters from the supermarket down in Sidewinder and that some of the staff were going to just simply leave them in the fridge. She was listening to the news on a small table TV, which was probably older than the one back in their apartment, but it still gave better sound. The picture was to be desired, but that didn't matter. It was only used for background noise. As she used a can opener to open the large can of fruit salad, the newswoman said something that Wendy had been waiting for since their arrival at the hotel. 

"A vicious snowstorm is set to come in tonight, with tomorrow and the next few days predicted to be snowy, cloudy and dark," said the reporter. Her coworker joked about Florida's current climate, where their winter was set to be their warmest in history. She silently cheered in her head and went to get the cutlery. It was nearly time to batten down the hatches.

Danny was riding his tricycle on the second floor. He had grown bored of The Colorado Lounge and with Wendy's help, had carried his bike up the lounge's grand staircase to the second floor, which was nothing but endless corridors of rooms. He rode down one corridor and one room door caught his attention. He looked up at it. There it was. Room 237. The room that Hallorann had told him not to enter. The numbers on the door screamed at him. Danny got off his tricycle and walked cautiously to the door. He knew there was something evil behind that door. He just knew. He knew that all the other hotel rooms were empty. The other hotel rooms were dark and empty, neat and quiet with the lights off and the electricity points all switched off, courtesy of the chambermaids. Not Room 237. Out of all the rooms in this hotel, Room 237 was the only one occupied. He looked up at the number again then at the door, level faced. He put his hand around the door handle, knowing it was locked, but he tried it anyway. It was locked. The keys for the rooms were all behind the registration desk. Then, a vision bashed his head. Two twin girls, standing in an unknown corridor, presumedly in the staff quarters wing where the towels, linen, vacuums, mops and brooms etc were kept. The vision went away. There were footsteps inside. They were walking to the door. Danny fled to his tricycle and rode away, not looking back. Hallorann was right. There was evil in that room. And he would keep out. No way would he go in. What was in there was worse than ghosts and abandoned hotels and homeless shelters and pedophiles. It wasn't a ghost at all, he was almost certain. It was a demon in there.

9:23pm. Danny was in his room, fast asleep. Wendy was watching TV, not really paying attention unless a news break came on. It would usually be the highlights of the news briefly read, but twice it had been about the coming storm. She was thinking. Jack hadn't made love to her in ages. And he had been quite strange this past week. Hardly talked to her and hardly bothered to make conversation with her. It was as if he was almost a different person. She stood up, switching off the TV. She would go and see what was wrong with Jack. Something was up, for sure. She walked out of the suite. Without the TV on, the wind was heard quite clearly. It howled around the walls and Wendy felt quite timid. She didn't take the elevator down. She just didn't feel comfortable. She took the stairs and found that the wind was louder as she was walking down the corridor with all the rooms. The doors glared at her, their numbers large and gloomy. She walked past Room 237 without a passing glance. If she had put her ear to the door, she would of heard the sound of water running, like water coming out of a tap and filling a bathtub. Maybe if she had, things might be different than what was coming, but it was highly unlikely that Wendy would just put her head to a random door and hear the bath being filled up with water and if she did, what were the chances that it would be Room 237? There were about 300 rooms in the hotel. As she got to the grand staircase, she saw Jack sitting at the typewriter, working busily. She walked down the stairs, holding the railing. She felt funny tonight. She didn't want to slip down the stairs, especially if the snow came down hard within the next hour. She reached the floor without fuss, but Jack hadn't looked up. The Colorado Lounge was dark tonight and full of shadows. There was only light from his lamp and above the elevator. She slipped off the shoulder sleeve of her dress and let it hang, revealing her side breast, hoping it would turn him on.