DISCLAIMER: I don't and never will own any of Stephen King's books.
FLESHLESS
Have you ever felt someone or something watching you from behind your back?
Ever felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and prickle at the chilling breeze blowing on your skin?
But have you ever SEEN it, with your own eyes?
Sometimes when your eyes start to close and you start falling asleep, in the corner of your eye, you see a dead face, empty sockets, screaming lips. You snap awake, looking around blindly for what you have seen, trying to catch a glimpse of the horrid thing.
Have you ever had a taste of real fear, the strange sense of adrenaline and the overwhelming desire to get away? The pacing and sleeplessness of an insomniac, the cold feeling of a chill running down your spine, as if a dead, fleshless finger was running itself down your back.
Danny never felt more afraid in his life.
The hotel was large, echoing and sinister, as if taunting him to explore its deep crevices, find out its dark and terrible secrets one by one, until his death.
The extinguisher in the hall scared him most.
It was stupid, foolish even, to be afraid of a mere fire extinguisher. But that wasn't important now.
The air in the hotel was too cold in some places and too hot in others. This place felt like a mistake. Like when God had made the universe, the discarded remnants had somehow merged together to form this horrible hell hole.
The air was thick and clogging. As if trying to block Danny's throat and choke him to death. Of course, it wasn't as if the Overlook was already trying to kill Danny in the first place. Or maybe that was just his imagination.
Danny was afraid for his daddy. Or maybe he was afraid of his father. His father, the ex-alcoholic.
It was terrible, not being able to figure out what was going on. That was exactly how Danny felt right now. But thankfully, his mommy and daddy weren't considering DIVORCE anymore. It made him somewhat calmer and more assured. But the feeling of wrongness and the incurable curiosity that surged through Danny like adrenaline stubbornly refused to go away.
Danny was well aware of the saying, 'curiosity killed the cat' but there may be a second part to it; 'satisfaction bought it back'. What would satisfy this leering presence? Money, power, knowledge or... a life?
Danny, being sensitive to paranormal things more than a normal person carried an unhealthy amount of curiosity. But sometimes, you just knew that you were going too far and if you went any further, there'd me no return. So Danny kept quiet. And pretended nothing was wrong.
Everyday, Danny waited for Tony to strike. But it never happened, so Danny kept quiet. And pretended nothing was wrong.
Everyday, Danny waited for the hotel to take action, to finish them off once and for all, but it never happened, so Danny kept quiet. And pretended nothing was wrong.
Everyday, Danny waited, and waited and waited.
What was he waiting for? Even Danny didn't know, but he was still waiting, lying awake in bed, waiting in daytime.
So, as usual, night when Danny was lying in bed, wide awake, prone to the small scuffles of the mice. No hotel had absolutely no mice.
His watch glowed besides him on the bedside table.
11:45AM it said in glowing, green letters.
Danny heard the distinct sound of the elevator dinging. Maybe his mommy was up? But mommy never used the elevator. She though that it would brake and they would get stuck in it.
So maybe it was his dad. Why would he be using the elevator at this time of the night? Maybe he was going to the basement. He did that a lot.
But why could Danny hear the sound of music? Cellos, violins... a whole orchestra!
Maybe mom left her radio on and Danny was hearing it. But his mom was in the other room and the walls were sound proof. Danny frowned. What was going on?
He could hear the faint sound of laughing, people talking and the sound of footsteps. Danny felt afraid and more alone then ever. But he was a big boy. He could stand up for himself!
It must be his imagination, Danny concluded. Maybe he had waited too long.
Danny turned over in his bed and tried to muffle out the noise with his pillow, a terrifying conclusion that he refused to think about coming together in his head.
It got louder and louder. Danny whimpered and his under the covers. Couldn't his mom and dad hear it? It was practically blaring from right outside the door!
Danny gathered all his courage... and obeyed his curiosity.
He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and placed his feet on the cold, wooden floor of his bedroom. He shivered in the cold night air. Was it just him or did it get much colder? But, after all, he had left the comfort of the warm blanket. Just the thought made Danny want to hop back into bed and forget the voices, the music and the laughter. But his curiosity got better of him and he tip toed to the door.
Curiosity killed the cat...
He placed his hand on the doorknob and twisted it slowly, fearing what he would see behind that door. A wrinkled, haggard face with long, greasy hair and no eyes, only pin points of light?
He swallowed loudly and opened the door.
...but satisfaction bought it back.
There was nothing. But the door did give off a mighty creak. Danny winced.
Danny peered around the door apprehensively. Nothing. Only the louder sound of a party, or a feast. He tip toed out and warily looked both ways down the hall before bolting for the stairs. It was dark and Danny misjudged the steps. He yelped as he tripped over the first one and banged his nose on the carpeted, yet cold step.
Danny froze. The sudden noise and pain caused a panic attack to come over him. He couldn't see a thing. Everything was dark and blurry from the pain. Danny whimpered as he crouched at the bottom of the stairs, pitiful and afraid.
After a while, Danny's eyes began to adjust. He could see the stair rail and its steps, leading to the upper floor.
He could see the hallway and his bedroom door. That door seemed to far away now, too far for him to reach safely. Of course, this was foolish thinking. Nothing could get him. Nothing was real until you believed in them. Mr. Hallorann had said something like that.
'I don't think anything here can hurt you.'
Danny stood up slowly, and clutched the stair rail in his small fist. He wiped the beginnings of tears from his eyes and carefully trailed up the stairs, following the sound.
Each step he took was careful and precise. His face didn't need to meet the floor for a second time. It had enough of that, thank you very much.
Danny could smell something now. It smelt delicious. What could be cooking at this time of the night?
But Danny couldn't explain why he was following the voices even if his instincts told him clearly to go back to his room and ignore this. He ignored that voice.
He arrived at the top of the stairs and looked across the empty hallway and the door at the end leading to a large, supposedly empty room. Now, it sounded like it was full of people having a grand time, he was sure.
Danny started walking forwards but he saw the fire extinguisher, hanging on the wall, just hanging there. He could almost imagine it leering at him.
Danny gulped, swallowed and took two steps back. He almost fell down the stairs, if not for his instinctive nature as he grabbed the rail before gravity won the battle. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked back towards the extinguisher.
It hung, taunting him, telling him that he was a coward. Maybe Danny was just imagining this but he could almost imagine the hose turning towards him, a raspy voice issuing forth from the dark, unseen depths...
'I don't think anything here can hurt you.'
Danny gulped, and readied to run. On the count of three, one, two, three –
Danny bolted. He kept running and didn't look back until he could touch the door on the other side. Danny heaved, drawing air into his lungs and looked back at the extinguisher. Was it just him or was the hose facing him when it had faced him when he was at the stairs?
Danny shivered but ignored it. He couldn't help but crow in his mind that the extinguisher did not best him. It was dumb crowing, Danny knew, but he couldn't help it.
The laughter and music was closer, much, much closer. In fact, it was behind this door.
Danny stood outside the door, facing the extinguisher for the next few minutes, eyeing it in the dark distrustfully, as if when his back was turned, it would rear forwards and strangle him. The shiny head glinted eerily in the dark and Danny shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold air.
He gathered the courage to face the door and turned around abruptly, stealing backward glances along the way.
He put his hand on the knob and realized that his hand was covered in goose bumps and he looked deathly pale. Of course, that could just be the light but Danny knew that wasn't the case. He admitted it. He was scared to death.
Danny held his breath and pushed open the door, fearing what was coming up next.
Nothing.
The moment he had opened the door, the music and laughter and talk stopped. Everything was fine. It was dark, and no one was in the room. Danny breathed a sigh of relief. It was just his shining. He'll just tip toe back to bed and pretend nothing ever happened –
Danny turned around and screamed.
People, thousands of people were crowded behind him, with grotesque masks on. White and expressionless, the eyes holes cut into the material and blackness in them. Every man-shaped figure, every woman-shaped figure had the same mask. Fancy clothes and elaborate hairstyles made up for their faceless bodies.
Danny screamed, and screamed and screamed as they closed in around him.
The clock in the background ticked louder than ever. The people -things- reached out with groping hands to touch Danny. Danny shrieked and backed away, only to trip over his own feet –how ungraceful- and fall to the ground, landing on his backside.
Danny screamed and yelled for his mommy and daddy but they never came.
The masked things grabbed Danny, faces expressionless but a rasping, gasping voice came from behind each one, like the whisperings of a dead leaf.
"Unmask! Unmask! Unmask!"
The clock struck 12.
12:00AM. The time of the unmasking. What had that phrase come from?
Danny, confused and scared, struck out with his hands and feet, struggling to run away. What was happening? What was going on?
The humanoid creatures let go of him and he fell to the ground, stunned.
He gradually returned to his senses as the things around him stared at him. Danny was crying, weeping loudly, big fat tears running down his cheeks. "Leave me alone! Go away!" He cried, striking out.
The things remained silent, and the silence was only penetrated by Danny's weeping until an unearthly shriek burst out forth from every one of their lips.
Danny, confused and scared and now was deafened by the high pitched sounds, wailed loudly and cried.
The doors that the creatures had carried him through shook as something tried to break through them. The things had locked it when Danny had been distracted.
One by one, they ripped their masks off to reveal the nightmare that lay beneath.
Danny huddled on the floor and screamed until he was hoarse. What he saw next made him lose his sanity in one smooth stroke. There is a limit as to so much horror a human brain can allow before it completely shuts down and Danny has just stepped over that boundary.
Fleshless faces, eyeless sockets, gasping mouths, and crooked teeth. Yellow skin, stretched over the bone. Cracks in the skull and yellowy pus leaking out. Bits of brain and tongue hung limply on their faces. Blackened, decayed tissue resided in their eye sockets. Gore, gore, and more gore.
Their fingers suddenly elongated into sharp claws and bony structures.
"It's your turn to unmask. Unmask, unmask!"
Danny huddled as away from them as he could, his brain making no signals for his body to lash out. His eyes, wide and mad were filled with confusion and twisted fascination.
Curiosity killed the cat...
Their nails clawed at his eyes, his skin, his nose, and his lips. He screamed in pain and terror as they tore the flesh from his face. He screamed no more when they reached in his mouth and ripped out his tongue.
Crimson was spreading on the carpet, a horrifying pattern, a gruesome ritual.
The things laughed and screeched inhumanely.
They welcomed Danny with open arms. Now he was one of them.
He had no skin left on his face. His eyes lay, round and glistening on the ground and tear tracks mixed with blood and pus glittered on his bony face. His nose was bleeding profusely, running down his lipless mouth, down his skinless chin and onto his shirt.
The things screeched and cawed. The Fleshless.
Now Danny was a Fleshless too. Doomed. Bound to the Overlook forever.
..But satisfaction didn't bring it back...
Danny's parents, who had heard his scream from their bedroom, finally opened the door. His father plowed in, eyes wide and his mother, terrified and calling her son's name.
But all they saw was a pair of eyes, and a wet, crimson stain.
--End--