The Shining (Kubrick Version)

Part 13: 4pm

Jack lay fast asleep in the pantry, sprawled all over the floor. Food surrounded him. He had gone on an eating binge after he had calmed down. While he had been in there, he had heard the party in The Gold Ballroom. There were laughs, cheers, clapping and sounds of conversation. Jack vowed he would get back at Wendy. He knew he would. He had fallen asleep, mostly passing out due to exhaustion and had laid there for a good 3 hours, snoring and drooling, when there was a faint tap of knuckles on the pantry door. Jack woke up and scratched his eyes. 

"Wendy?" he groaned.

"It's Grady, Mr Torrance," replied the voice outside, rather sternly. "Delbert Grady." Jack stood up and limped to the door. His head throbbed dully and his ankle was a riot of pain. The bitch had broken his ankle. 

"Oh Grady," wailed Jack. 

"Mr Torrance," scolded Grady. "I can hardly see you took care of that matter we discussed." Jack frowned. 

"No need to rub it in, Mr Grady," he growled. "I'll deal with that situation as soon as I get out of here."

"Your wife seems to be somewhat more stronger than you," scolded Grady in that same stern tone. "She seems to have gotten the better of you."

"Just give me one more chance to prove to you I can do this, Mr Grady," sighed Jack. "That's all I ask."

"I fear you will have to deal with her in the harshest possible way," said Grady, in that stern tone. "I fear that is the only possible way." Jack grinned.

"There's nothing I look forward to with greater pleasure," he scowled. The bolt slid back and the pantry was unlocked. Jack burst out, expecting to see Grady but he was gone. All the background noise of the masquerade ball had stopped too. The only sound was the howling of the wind outside. There was a note on the bench. Jack picked it up and read it:

GO TO THE LOBBY AND CHECK THE REGISTRATION DESK 

Jack limped out of the kitchen and straight to the lobby.

***

Dick Hallorann drove up the mountains. Trees surrounded the left and right hand side, but Dick couldn't see them. All he could see was the snow falling outside. His lights were on high mode and the snowy road lay in front of him. He saw a sign standing deep in the snow, next to a rock:

THE OVERLOOK HOTEL

15 MINUTES AWAY

YOUR DREAM VACATION STARTS NOW

Dick's stomach twisted. He took a sip of warm water from his bottle and kept driving, determined to reach Danny and his mother.

***

Jack limped into the lobby. The lobby was filled with bright yellow lighting and it looked spooky with all the empty seats and the empty registration desk. One could expect that a monster could pop out from behind the registration desk but Jack had lost so much sanity that if he had seen a large crocodile that lunged towards him when he came into the lobby, he wouldn't of even flinched. He walked to the registration desk and there, sitting next to the silver bell, was an axe. It was shiny and silver and it gleamed brightly. Jack grinned a wide grin. He picked it up and it felt marvellously light. He swung it and it whistled in the air, but it wasn't heard very well. The wind outside was picking up. The storm was the worst it had been so far and it was obvious that it was going to get worse throughout the night. The last bits of daylight were fading and in 3 minutes, there would be nothing but darkness outside and no visibility outside. Jack noticed something else on the registration desk. It was a glass. Inside that glass was bourbon. Jack picked it up and drank it. He swilled it around in his mouth, like it was mouthwash and then swallowed it. He felt refreshed. He limped away, holding the axe in his hands, smiling the smile of a man who had truly gone insane.