Death at the Orleans Hotel

Part 2

I woke up with a bang on my door. I looked around. I was in the hotel, but I wasn't? It looked like the same place, but with older surroundings. I look outside and I'm astonished, realizing that it looked like an old picture from the 1950s. I was surrounded by this haze, almost like...smoke. I noticed something even more intriguing. I looked at my hands, and I knew I didn't have my nails painted before I went to sleep. I ran into the bathroom, and I looked at my reflection, dazed. But it wasn't my reflection. I was wearing a beautiful grey velvet gown, and I was sporting glittering diamonds on my ears and neck, with matching grey velvet cords. I was admiring myself in the mirror when I was interrupted.

"Madame! Madame Gabrielle!" I heard between rapid knocks. "Madame please! We have to hurry!" I opened the door and I was greeted with a terrified bellhop with a foreign accent.

"Please, we have to go!" he said frantically. "The fire, the fire!" He shouted as he gestured outside my doorway.

I peered into the hallway behind him and I saw a blazing fire that consumed everything it touched. I wasted no time speeding into the hallway. As I looked at the staircase in the distance, I picked up my gown and cursed at myself for wearing heels. As I was hurrying through the flames on a path that the bellhop had described, I heard a crack above me. I sprinted as I looked above me and saw the ceiling cave in. I gasped in relief as I leaped out of the way. The bellhop wasn't so lucky. I gasped in fear as I heard the bellhop cry out. I turned, and saw his small hand poking out of the rubble, now stained with blood. I yelped and jumped as a cinderblock fell next to my feet.

"Keep going," I thought "You are almost there".

I made it to the door of the staircase. I felt the adrenaline pulsing through my veins. I quickly grabbed the handle of the door and turned it. It was locked. I felt my heart drop. I looked around, watching the building around me crumble, and let out one last scream as the burning walls collapsed on me, the fire stealing the oxygen from the air. Darkness consumed me.