He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter Eleven

The laundry room smelt of soap. No bitter aroma like before, just, soap. It was still cold, and still felt eerie, but that could be because I was overthinking and anticipating something to happen again. Regardless of how ordinary the room felt and looked at this moment, Zachery didn't disregard anything that I said. Instead of mocking me, or saying I was hallucinating or some other bizarre excuse; he was looking round the room intently, examining each wall, shelf and object in the room, absorbing all the information that was possible to him. His face was a vision of pure concentration, dedicated analysis, and determination. It was beautiful.

I began to avert my gaze from Zachery, towards the shelves which were definitely not trembling today. Everything seemed to be completely normal in here, which I should be happy about. But I wasn't. I felt kind of disappointed, even a little angry, because what happened here really got to me, and I couldn't explain it. Then, once I explained it to Zachery and created this stigma around this room, we entered and there wasn't a single item out of place to support my story. Zachery is going to think I'm mad now for sure. He trusted the chambermaid, and she turned out to be nuts. I was basically starting to plan an excuse to respond to any accusation Zachery had to throw my way, when he started moving the shelves forward eagerly.

"What are you doing?" I asked, scrunching my brows, slightly confused as to what he was looking for. He didn't seem to acknowledge my question until he had finished moving the shelves enough so that he could fit in between them and the wall. He then looked at me and signalled for me to come closer and look at what he was seeing. I walked over hesitantly, not knowing what to expect. Maybe he has found a mouse hole which could cause a draft? Or maybe one of those new radios has been placed down here to scare someone, and that was the voice I heard before? Any of those would have been plausible to me, but what Zachery had discovered was anything but.

He was crouched down now, and looked up towards me as I walked closer. His eyes hinted at concern, but also in understanding. "I believe you Audrey-Rose. But it looks like we may have an intruder opposed to a spirit. Which ultimately, is slightly more worrying." he said as he frowned, looking down towards the floor, where there was a door placed within the concrete, imbedded so delicately that it was barely noticeable. There was dust thickly layering the top side of the trap door that Zachery had found, but the hinges and handle were clean. It had been used recently.

How did I not know about this? Who does?

Hey guys, sorry this chapter is pretty short! I wanted to keep it focused on this little part of the story before moving on. I will make up for it in the next chapter! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think so far, is there anything you think that will happen?! Your feedback is brilliant, and thank you all for your support❣️