Disclaimer:
I don't own Stephen's King's It or The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author's Note:
The story will have Rated-R content in future chapters for explicit content, gore and violence.
Chapter One:
Desire for the Unknown
My name is Dorian Gray, a multimillionaire with a lot of free time in his hands, and believe me, I have traveled the world for more than sixty years now, and I thought I had seen it all. Now I'm back in America, in the Washington County. Nothing could have prepared me for this trip.
By the way, have I already told you how beautiful and charming I am? Well, there is nothing more beautiful than what I found in the small town of Derry, Maine in 1988.
The first thing I thought after arrival was about going to see the places of interest, and then going back to Paris, but I never thought that I would find something more beautiful than myself. I had money, beauty, and eternal life. But that one thing that I was missing, was power. If I could only wrap it around my fingers, I would be the most powerful person on the world, or that's what I thought.
On my way to Derry, I switched the radio to the local station on the highway. That dark night scorched by heavy rain and thunder was the last straw, but I was lucky that the road was empty. Then, something on the radio caught my attention.
"Hey, Ted did you hear about the Denbrough family incident this past weekend?" said a soft but very masculine voice. "For our many radio listeners out there that haven't got up to speed, Zack Denbrough son, George Elmer Denbrough went missing a couple of days ago. Tell us more about it, Mark." answered back a sharp voice. I lighted a smoke.
"Yes, it's a sad tragedy. According to his brother, Bill, George went outside the house during the storm to play with a paper ballot that his brother had made for him,"
A fog had cover the view to the main road, so I decided to stop the car on one side of the road, and listen to the radio.
" ...the Denbrough family did their best along with Derry's police department to extend a search for the boy, but there hasn't been any news since." the voice in the radio continued, "What about the rumors Ted?" I yawned. My eyes began to tire. "What about them?" Ted replied.
"Haven't you heard about the monster that kidnaps children?" Mark said.
"I went to the local library the other night to see if there was a story. I read and missing children and adults are a common thing here in Derry, well... they happen every 27 years but still." That made me leave the Cigarette aside for a moment, drawing my attention.
"Ted, that's a urban legend." I laughed. "Is it Mark?" Another stupid urban legend. Correct me if my opinion is wrong, but after seeing almost everything that had to be seen in this world, during all my years alive, sometimes I wonder if such things are real.
"Well, it just so happens that this is the 27th year since the last incident, and people here in Derry seem to ignore it." I didn't had hopes up. In the past I have traveled the world trying to find something supernatural that told me "you are not alone in this world" but I had not such luck.
Why now? Was something supernatural happening in this small town? I started the car and crossed my fingers, hoping that I'll hopefully run into this so call monster. Further on the road was a small motel near the main road. The Derry sign was behind me now, but with the pouring rain, it was more of a guess than anything.
The place seem deserted, there was not a single vehicle on sight leaving the car near the motel outside the parking lot I ran in the rain and got to the front door, and to my luck, the door was closed. It's not like I would die of hypothermia or something like that, but ruining my expensive suit was a downer. I paid a good amount of money for the dark Victorian era suit.
The big old wooden doors were open inwards, it only took a moment of distraction for someone to open them. "Hello, is anyone there?" I shouted in between the doors that led to a dark corridor that seem to end on a counter. Couldn't hold a smiled, lengthening my stride and moving briskly, the counter came into view. No one was in the front and the hallways to the sides were taken of any light.
The darkness along the right aisle kept growing, I swear that I heard the voice of a little boy laughing.
"Can I help you with something, sir?" Said a voice to my side coming from a senior man dressed in a dark suit. "Why is so dark in here?" I asked. "My apologies, sir. The power went out during the storm, and sadly we don't have a backup generator."
Surely, the man had not been standing behind the counter all along, right? I was intrigued, if I had been a normal person I would had jump-scare at his words. "True." I smiled. Apparently the old man did not approve of my smile and third his head a bit to the side. "Do you want to stay the night?" ask the old fellow.
"Oh, yes. I will like the best room for the night, please." He was floating his white gloves together, something a nervous person would do, but I ignored his action and took the key to the room. "Left hallway, first right, at the end of the hall, room eighty-nine." The old man tried to emit my smile, but it didn't went well.
"Thank You." I said, raising an eyebrow. I did the best I could to contain a laugh, prudent hadn't been my style for almost ten years, change was a most for me, a reason to keep living. But as if he could read my mind suddenly, he looked at me with a stern gazed.
Getting to the room wasn't a problem, I reclined quickly on the bed once inside. Didn't pay attention to anything else, just wanted to close my eyes and get up early so I could go to the library. I needed to check the rumor on the radio as soon as possible.
Woke up with a start, someone or something was hitting something hollow continuously, the deep blows could be heard in the distance, it could had been a wall or a door.
The clock had strike three o'clock in the morning, putting my shoes on I left the room abruptly. "Anyone there?" I smiled, couldn't stand the satisfaction of living a horror movie. The dark creepy motel, the storm, the lack of light, the old man in the counter, and now the noise that the lead protagonist would follow to meet the "inciting incident" of the story.
"I will definitely be proven right or wrong today." I said sarcastically to myself. I went to the counter and the old man was not present, of course not. It would not be fun if he were to tell me the boring history of the place. There it was again, the boy's giggle. "Wait." I speed up the pace and jog to the other hall.
Arrive at a cross-shape corridor, just to my right I heard the voice once again, but this time the boy's cries were coming from inside a room with the number one thousand four hundred eight. Tried to open the door but it didn't budge, it was closed, I crouched to look through the lock but I only saw what seem to be the red contrast of the room's wall, there were no furniture either. It was odd.
"I would not go near that room if I were you." the old man appeared again. I swear he just materializes out of nowhere. "I heard a child crying." I said, touching the door. "There has to be a-"
"A key?" he continued, "Yes, many hear him, and they also disappear when the ask for the key to the room." the old man approached me, "Why is this room four digits?" I said, curiously. "We are on the thirteenth floor, sir." I tried to find the right words but I could hardly pronounce them. "But this is the first floor? I-"
"Yes, you did. The room you're staying lost the numbers one and four and the other floors are underground. Technically, this would be the first floor if this motel wasn't build on an old war bunker." There was a moment of silence between us as I gazed at the room's door. "If you wish for the key." The old man put an old bronze key in front of me, I didn't hesitate to do it.
Let something so exciting like this passed? Not a chance. As I expected, the old man had disappeared on me again. I went outside for a smoke. The rain had passed. What was a very nice relief for me, since I could not see anything before on the road.
The surroundings of the motel were being revealed at sunrise, heavy rain had covered the forest on the other side of the road. An hour later, I'd finished unpacking my stuff from the car. The room had not been so expensive which had been another relief as they didn't accept credit cards, I took my suit and went to the car.
If that monster has anything to do with the motel, I was going to find out. First stop would be the library, and then visit the Denbrough family. A boy stood on the entrance to the motel with a balloon red as an apple when I drew backwards to get out of the parking lot.
"Good-morning," I said, taking the curved. The boy didn't replied, but ran inside instead. Maybe, there was a family that stood the night in the room, and the old man was fucking with me. I shouldn't had kept my expectations high.
