Hello! It's me. This is my first Goosebumps story, so please don't rail on me if you hate it. Also, WARNING: THERE IS A POSSIBLILITY THAT THERE ARE SPELLING, GRAMMAR, PUNTUATION, AND MAYBE SOME OTHER MISTAKES. Always keep that in mind if you are ever reading any of my work. Enjoy!
The storm was incredible. The thunder sounded like a hundred guns being shot at the same time. Sarah Lee, age 27, was driving through the curtains of rain. Her car was out of gas and she was literally running on fumes. Where did this monster of a storm come from? The weatherman said it would be sunny and beautiful. Well, it'll really be beautiful when I get shot full of lightning, Sarah thought sarcastically. Through the wall of rain, Sarah saw the outline of what looked like a big building. A flash of lightning proved that it was a hotel.
Hotel Hawkins. It looks big and fancy. She thought, I wonder why such an expensive looking hotel is in the middle of nowhere. Oh well, guess I'll have to find out. Sarah drove her car into the parking lot, opened her door cautiously and slowly, and then ran as fast as she could to the front door of the hotel.
Once Sarah was in, a nice looking old woman with blonde dyed hair and crinkled blue eyes instantly came up to her.
"Oh, you poor thing. Look at you; you're soaked to the bone!" The old lady said.
"Yeah, it's raining cats and dogs out there." Sarah gasped, out of breath from running in her incredibly uncomfortable high-heels. "Would you happen to have a free room? My car is out of gas and I need a place to stay for the night."
"Well of course we do. I'll have my staff refuel your car. Right this way please." The old lady said, gesturing for Sarah to follow her. As they walked through the labyrinth of beautifully decorated halls, Sarah couldn't help but feel like she was the only one here who wasn't one of the staff.
"My name's Sally, by the way. I am the manager of this hotel so if you have any problems, please come to me." I'll keep that in mind. Sarah thought as they passed an incredibly detailed sculpture of a kind of demon/vampire creature that seemed to be watching her. Eventually, they came to a room that had the numbers 47853 written in gold on the door. Are there really that many rooms? I know this place was big but I didn't think it would be this humungous, Sarah thought. Sally handed Sarah the card key.
"Enjoy!" Sally said with a smile, and then she ran off. Once Sarah was inside her lavender colored room, she changed into some dry, warm clothes that she found in a closet that were somehow her exact size.
Sarah jumped into bed and thought, Sally's so nice. I wonder why I was worrying about this place before. Then she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The next morning was sunny and beautiful. Sarah was surprised to see how many trees had fallen down because of the storm. Now that she could actually see the hotel, she noticed how grand it was. There were tennis courts and a humongous Olympics sized pool. She saw some kids who were playing outside as was surprised that they were all completely covered in black clothes. Not a bit of their skin shown. Hm, well that's not something you see everyday, Sarah thought. She got out her cell phone and realized that her friends had no idea where she was and were probably worried sick. She tried to call her friends but then realized that there no reception at all. Sarah tried walking around her room to try to find a hotspot for a signal, but it was no use. Then she watched as her phone's battery slowly died, from 100% charged to 75% to 50% to 25%. Then, boom, it died. She stared at the blank screen, waiting to see if it would magically come back to life but it didn't. Sarah stood there in fear but then shook her head side to side. Snap out of it. Stuff like this happens all the time, right? She thought. But she couldn't help but think of the horror movie she watched a week ago: Cell phone of Horror.
Once she took a shower, Sarah changed into her old clothes that by now had dried. She almost shrieked when she opened the door and found Sally there wearing her cheerful (yet somewhat creepy) wide smile.
"Oh dear, did I startle you?" Sally asked. Sarah slowly breathed out and tried to keep her voice as level as possible.
"N-no. I'm fine, thank you for asking." Sarah thought of trying to go around Sally but then she realized that there was no way out.
"It's too bad that you have to leave," Sally said. She sounded truly sad. "And you haven't even tried out our wonderful spa." Sarah had to use all of her willpower to decline such a lovely temptation.
"Thank you, but my friends are probably worried about me. Also, I noticed that you don't have any cell phone reception here." Sarah said, offering her smile that said thanks-for-having-me-but-I'm-out-of-here. Sally giggled.
"Well that's the point, isn't it?"
"E-Excuse me?" Now Sarah wasn't even trying not to stutter.
"I don't believe that you understand. You aren't leaving." Sally said with a smirk. Then Sarah finally understood. The labyrinth of halls, the way- to- nice service, the kids covered in black outside, it was suddenly so clear to her. OH NO! Sarah thought, how could I have been so stupid? This place is so luxurious that the bill must be super big. Sally probably knows I only have $100 on me so now she's going to sue me or make me work for her. Those clothes that those kids were wearing must be some new rich kid style or something.
"L-look, I'm really sorry but I don't have much money on me so-"
"Is that what you think we want? Ha! Don't worry, you'll understand soon enough. You're going to be our newest little employee." Now Sarah was really getting scared. So she did the most instinctive thing, she ran for her life.
Sarah darted past Sally and raced down the hall. Sally was hissing and shrieking while she ran after her. Along the way Sarah lost her high heels. She didn't know where she was going and didn't care as long as it got out of here. Sarah took a sharp left past that demon/vampire statue. The she made a right.
Left. Right. Left. Straight. Right. Right. Left, Right. Straight… No, Sarah thought no, no, no. This can't be a dead end. She could hear Sally's footsteps becoming louder and louder. All that was there was a window with the shades over it. The window was too small for Sarah to jump through and besides, it was locked shut. She looked at the hotel room doors to her right and tried to turn the knobs but found that all of the doors were locked shut as well.
Then Sally found her. Her skin had lost all of its color and her eyes were glowing.
"There you are!" Sally said with a snake-like voice that made Sarah's skin crawl.
"P-please. I don't want to work here. I just want to go home." Sarah whimpered, pressing herself against the floral decorated wall.
"Well, that's too bad. Because you'll be working with us forever." Sally said, and then cackled. "But don't worry. You'll like it here. Maybe we could even become friends." And with that, Sally lunged at Sarah and at first you could only hear Sarah's bloodcurdling scream.
Then Sarah tried to get out of Sally's death grasp, pulling up the shades that had covered all of the sunlight behind them. Sally let go of Sarah and hissed in pain as the piercing bright light fell upon her.
"NOOOOOOO! GET HER!" Sally shrieked. Sarah ran past her and found a staircase. A few seconds later, a bunch of beefy looking staff members were on her heels. Sarah soon found herself in the lobby and ran out the front door. She found her car in the parking lot, where she had left it. She found her key on the floor of the car, where she must have dropped them. Sarah put her keys into the ignition… and nothing happened.
Her heart dropped.
"No! Work! Work you stupid contraption." Sarah shouted while smacking the wheel. Still nothing. Now an even bigger crowd was chasing after her. They were all covered in black clothing so they could run all they wanted in the sunlight. Then Sarah spotted a bike not to far from her. She opened the car door and ran to it. I hope I remember how to ride this, Sarah thought as she jumped on.
Sarah pedaled as hard as she could, the crowd of staff only inches away from her, and speeded out of the parking lot. The staff gave up chasing her and instead screamed at her. Her legs burning, her heart beating, Sarah was thanking god that she was alive.
"Admit it, Dad, we're lost" Jacob Stone, age 12, said. His little brother was crying his head off, screaming how he didn't want to visit our Aunt Flora.
"We're not lost. I think I just made a small wrong turn." Mr. Stone exclaimed, his face overwhelmed with confusion.
"Why don't we go to that hotel and ask?" Mrs. Stone suggested, pointing at Hotel Hawkins. Mr. Stone drove into the parking lot and parked his car. The whole family walked into the nice, air-conditioned lobby. A smiling woman with fake colored blonde hair approached them.
"Oh, you poor things! Are you lost? My name's Sally, I'm the hotel manager. It's getting late. Why don't you stay for the night?"
DUH, DUH, DUHHHHH! (Dramatic piano music) Did you like it? If you did, please send me a review. Also, if you didn't like my story and you want to write some "constructive criticism" to help me out, go easy on me, would ya? So, yeah, see you next time. I hope. DUH, DUH, DUHHHHH!