20 minutes ago…
'Huh?'
'Hey.'
'Where am I?'
Lin was floating somewhere, no one would have seen before.
'Hey, you died…'
'Who's That?!' Lin whimpered.
'I'm…
Guiding Light.'
—————————————————————————
Present…
'What was that light?' John asked.
'Something friendly?' Skyler replied.
'Something that helped us a lot, that's certain.' Kenneth stated.
He stood up ready to keep going.
'Yeah, let's go.' John huffed.
'Alright.' Skyler laughed.
'Door 40'
It was a locked room.
'Oh great.' Skyler said sarcastically.
It seemed the lights were out in this room too.
'Flashlight!' John yelled in celebration.
It was long hallway.
'Time to check every one of these rooms…' Skyler sighed.
They pulled out drawers checking every one of the rooms.
'Where is it?' Skyler cried.
'Keep looking.' Kenneth commanded.
'Yes sir…' Skyler laughed.
John wasn't giving up easily. But the entities weren't about to give up either.
'In a closet right now!!' John warned.
They rushed to a closet and hid in a second, then the black cloud came.
John sighed.
'Keep looking guys!' John yelled.
—————————————————————————————-
The blue aurora flashed around her, in the void with turquoise glow. A blue moon talking to Lin.
'You died to dupe, Lin.
'How do you know my name?!'
'I've been watching you and your friends carefully.'
'Why?!'
'To protect you.'
'…'
Lin sighed.
'Now I'm dead?
'For now.'
'What do you mean?'
'Hopefully your friends figure it out…'
—————————————————————————————————
'Where is the key?!' Skyler groaned.
'I don't know!' Kenneth mumbled, 'Keep looking!'
'Hey!' John suddenly called out, 'It's the blue light! Key!'
'!!'
'The blue light's on the door!!' Kenneth observed.
'Nice!'
'Let's Go!' John called.
'Door 41'
'42'
Flicker.
'Quick! In a closet!' Kenneth warned.
No hesitation.
Everyone in a closet.
They weren't afraid anymore, they were used to it.
'Alright!' Skyler clapped, 'Flashlight?'
'Nope…' John sighed, 'No battery.'
'Okay…' Skyler groaned.
'Look! It's the light again!' Kenneth yelled.
A blue light glowing up 'Door 43'
'Whoa.' John gasped, 'It was real, not a hallucination…'
Kenneth walked through the door into another dark room and he signalled for Skyler and John to follow.
'Still dark…' Skyler sighed.
'Blue light again!' Kenneth celebrated.
'Nice job!' Skyler congratulated.
John smiled. For one of the first times in his life, he couldn't stop smiling. He couldn't be more relieved.
'Let's check the drawers for items first, guys.' John suggested.
'Right!' Kenneth agreed.
They scanned the drawers and looked for loot, gold and items.
'Battery!!' Skyler screamed.
John walked over to Skyler and laughed.
'Thanks.' He said.
They looked around for more items, when one thing broke the silence.
PSST!
'Where are you little screechy creature??' John said cheekily, 'Found you!!'
'Guys! Over here!!' Kenneth called out.
'Coming!' John called back.
John and Skyler sprinted over to Kenneth, waiting for an update on what had happened.
'Lockpick!' Kenneth announced.
'Wait…' Skyler interrupted, 'So we can unlock locked doors without a key now?'
'Feels pretty fragile though, might break after one or two uses.' Kenneth replied.
They proceeded through the door and another door,
'Door 43'
'44'
'45'
Suddenly there was a room with bars blocking them from getting to the other side.
'There's a bandage here in this drawer.' Kenneth told them.
'That doesn't help…' John said.
The metal bars weren't going to be broken through, it had to be unlocked.
'Seems like we can open it…' Skyler observed, 'But it's locked.'
Then and blue light glowed up on a door next to John.
'The light, again!' Skyler celebrated.
They opened the door and enter a basement place. The were barrels everywhere, bars and walls. Old lights that didn't work and cobwebs in the corners of the room.
'There must be something here.' Kenneth advised, 'Let's look for something.'
John dropped the flashlight in front of Skyler.
'Take it. So you can flash it around in case we're lost.' John told Skyler, 'I'm going to look for something that can help us open that metal bar door.'
It was a maze. Kenneth quickly lost track of where he was and wasn't able to find anything but a candle that had no way of being used.
'Guys?' Skyler called out, 'Are you guys there?'
'Yeah!' Skyler heard John call out.
But there was no response from Kenneth. John looked around and quickly found a lighter.
'I found a lighter!' John yelled to Skyler.
Skyler waved her flashlight around and led John back to her.
'Where's Kenneth?' John asked her.
'No clue.' She answered, 'Somewhere that way.'
Skyler pointed to the other entrance that Kenneth had walked through.
'Alright.' John sighed, 'I'm going after Kenneth.'
'Be careful…' Skyler warned John.
John nodded back at Skyler, showing her that he understood her. He walked into the entrance Kenneth had taken when he heard it again.
PSST!!
John reflexively turned around and looked around for a black creature with tentacles made of gooey slime.
'Where are you?' John laughed.
The creature screeched,
John smiled and kept walking and bumped into something.
Kenneth.
'Hey!!' John yelled out in desperation, 'Kenneth!!'
John got down onto his knees.
'You alright?!' John freaked out.
Kenneth lied on the floor in pain.
'Oww…' He yelped hiding his face.
'It's the same bite that Lin had…' John whispered in disbelief.
'I was bitten by the black creature with tentacles…' Kenneth mumbled.
'Maybe Lin was bitten by the black creature… and you did too?' John said confused, 'Come on, there was a bandage up stairs.'
Kenneth stood up in pain with his hand on his face. John led Kenneth back through the way that John had come.
'Skyler?' John called out.
Skyler switched on the flashlight and waved it around.
'Here come on…'
'What happened?' Skyler whimpered in disbelief.
Seeing Kenneth being injured badly was a rare sight.
'Let's go get the bandage in the drawer upstairs.' Skyler suggested.
John nodded.
'I'll keep looking for something that can help us open the bars.' John informed.
'Alright.' Skyler agreed, 'Be safe.'
John walked back to where he found Kenneth injured and realised there was a blue light in between metal bars and there was a vent leading inside. He pushed the vent cover away and climbed into it.
'Urgh…' He growled.
John pushed away the other vent cover and climbed out.
'Thanks light…' John smiled, 'You've really guided us in this strange hotel, I hope me and my friends can go home soon.'
John pulled the lever the light was glowing up. It faded away.
He climbed into the vent again and walked back upstairs again.
'John!' Skyler called out in joy, 'The bars opened up!'
'That's cool…' John smiled, 'How's Kenneth?'
'I'm okay. Still hurts a bit but I'm alright.' Kenneth informed.
'Did you find anything?'John asked Kenneth.
'Candle.' Kenneth replied.
'Great! I have a lighter.' John laughed.
They proceeded through the metal bars and through 'Door 46'.
'47'
'48'
Then…
'49'
There was something strange about the room. It looked different. There was a counter, and stairs leading up to a grand door.
'There's something wrong…' Skyler said.
'Yeah, it's not right…' John agreed.
Kenneth walked over to the counter, another bandage.
'Nice.' He whispered to himself.
Skyler walked over to the door and opened it.
'Aaah!!!' Skyler screamed.
John covered her mouth. A figure charged at them. Kenneth walked over in disbelief. It all happened so quickly it felt like a second. They thought they were going to die.
Something crashed onto the ground. The figure ran towards it smashing it, it was a lamp.
'Shhhh' Kenneth realised.
'Don't make a sound.' John whispered to Skyler quickly realising it too.
'What do we do?!'