Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Cleo had spent the entire day reading over and over again the story typed out on her laptop.
It was too gory….too intense.
Not something that she would have ever thought to write in the first place.
It was about a girl who was killed in a hotel room.
“And her body was dragged down the hall.”
Cleo couldn’t recognize any of it. Cleo continued to read page after page, dialogue after dialogue.
The story was about a girl named Morgan, who checked into the hotel but was brutally murdered by someone…..something?
She could not remember writing any of it. In the first place this wasn’t something that she would have written.
Cleo got up from the desk and headed to the bathroom to wash her face.
She was not sure for how long she had been at her desk but she needed a break.
Her eyes were swollen and red and her back was sore from hunching over.
The first thing that Cleo noticed was that her mirror was fogged over.
“That’s weird. I haven’t taken a shower.”
She thought out loud as she cleaned the mirror with her hand.
She froze….
She saw it….
A shadow….
A shadow with a smile.
The sound of the tap dripping was loud but could not drown out the sound of her thumping heart.
Then just as soon as she saw it, it disappeared like it was never there.
Cleo shook her head and brushed it off.
Perhaps she was just tired from staring at a screen all day.
She had barely eaten today and was properly just tired.
She thought this but at the same time, she felt so confused abiut how she had typed such a story on her laptop.
Sleep writing?
That didn’t seem possible but it was the only plausible explanation that she could give.
Then she heard it.
KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK
“Please let me in i’m scared.”
The reaction came to Cleo in an instant. She felt her blood run cold and shiver run down the length of her spine.
She rushed over to her phone.
3:01am
Cleo walked over to the desk again and her eyes found the same paper written in bold,
“Don’t let her in after 3:00am.”
“Pleaseee let me in.”
However, what caught Cleo’s attention was that the knocks were not coming from the door which would not make any sense.
Perhaps the little girl was planking her and it was just the receptionist trying to pass across an information.
She walked slowly to the door, looking into the peephole to see who the culprit was.
However, there was no one there.
There was no one in the hallway. In fact, she could not see anything as the hallway was pitch black without its usual flickering lights.
“Let me in. I’m scared.”
It was a girl’s voice but there was no one in the hallway.
“Please”
“P-please I’m cold.”
Just when Cleo was about to open the door and check for herself, the knocks became so aggressive that the door bolted at its hinges.
The sweet voice soon turned into something loud and horrific as the walls shook.
“LET ME IN!!!!”
“LET ME IN YOU SILLY GIRL!!!”
“OPEN THE DOOORRRRR.”
Cleo went down on her knees with her hands over her ears hoping that this nightmare would end soon.
Then….silence
The lights regained their normal flicker and the doors stood still.
After what seemed like hours, there was a soft whisper.
“You locked me out.”
Then tiny footsteps walking away.
Cleo stood up slowly, walking over to the door to look into the peephole again.
She was confused as her body trembled in fear.
She was not sure what was happening but all she wanted to do was write in silence for a couple of weeks.
Now, it was looking like she had signed up for more than she bargained for.
Nothing.
There was no one there.
She turned to look at her laptop.
7:00am
Was that how much time had passed?
However, Cleo noticed something strange.
The mirror at the corner of the room had red stains on them.
Red stains that she was not going to investigate.
She needed to get out of here as soon as possible.
At noon, Cleo was packed and rolling her suitcase down the same gravel path that she had walked into.
The hotel was quiet…..
It was always quiet but it was more quiet than usual.
She didn’t know where she would go but sure as hell anywhere was better than here.
She had watched too many horror movies to know that staying in such a hotel thag was in the middle of nowhere was the dumb thing to do.
She was going to walk a distance, call for. cab and then go to another hotel that was in the center of a bustling city with damn normal service.
That was the plan but something else was waiting for her.
A huge black gate.
One that wasn’t there when she had previously entered Hotel La Rue.
She dropped her suitcase in shock at the massive gate that spanned all round the compound.
It was so massive and high that she could not see the outside world.
“Dear me, you cannot leave Hotel La Rue Miss Ainsley”
Cleo heard from behind her as she turned around in shock.
It was Linda looking haggard and tired.
“What do you mean? I want to leave. I don’t care about the deposit.”
Cleo argued back in frustration just wanting to leave this creepy place.
“Miss Ainsley…… no one can leave. Just like many who came before you…..just like me.”
She said eerily as a soft smile spread across her face.
A smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Cleo just stared at her… taking steps back in horror.
Her smile was growing wider and wider as her lips stretched past the normal proportions of her face.
“Miss Ainsley….why didn’t you let my daughter in last night? Why didn’t you let Morgan in?!”
But you said there were no children in the hotel…
I thought your daughter was dead…....Cleo thought.