A/N: SO two horror movies inspired me to write this chapter: The Strangers and Cabin In The Woods. Both amazing. See them. NOW!
Haha, anyways, sorry for the delay, but time is flying.
Enjoy!
Number Two
Carlos's eyes slowly creaked open and a soft, warm light slowly filled his vision. As things came into focus, he started to see that he was in a bed, in a room with sunset orange colored walls. He groaned and slowly stirred, not wanting to get up.
The queen sized bed he was in was warm and cozy and for some reason he was a little tired. Slowly he sat up, stretching and yawning in the process.
He looked over to his side and saw another queen bed mirroring his, and in it sat James. The pretty boy was sprawled out and his hair was extremely messy, which made Carlos smile.
The small boy slowly stood up, once again stretching. He noticed he was in only his briefs, and the cold air stung against his warm body. Before long, he was shivering. He looked around for some clothes to put on, but found none.
And then he thought of something: Where was he and how did he get there? He looked around and it appeared he was in a hotel room. But why?
Carlos approached James and placed his arm on his warm, tan shoulder, then gave him a small shake. "James..." he said. "James, wake up."
James mumbled something in response and shuffled a little under his sheets.
"James!" Carlos said a little more forcefully.
"What?" he moaned.
"Get up. I need to ask you something."
"No."
"James, come on!"
"What!" he said as he sat up. His hair was disheveled and his eyes still had sleep in them. The light immediately glinted off of his bare tan chest.
"James, where are we?" Carlos asked in a hushed tone. James didn't respond though, as he started giggling spontaneously.
"What!" Carlos exclaimed.
"Nice undies." James replied, then he started laughing even harder. Carlos rolled his eyes and picked up a pillow, smacking it on James's head. James gave Carlos an irritated glare, saying, "Not cool, bro."
"James, I'm serious! Where are we?"
James gave him a concerned look, then said, "You really don't remember?"
The smaller boy shook his head. "No, I don't."
"We're in the Swiss Alps, remember? We were stranded here...?" Memories flooded back to Carlos of the car exploding, and them wandering into the mysterious hotel.
"Oh yeah." Carlos said, looking down and thinking about the events that brought them there. It all seemed like a dream...
When he looked up, he was in the lobby. Fully clothed. Weird. He looked at his hand, then grabbed at his shirt and glanced at it confused. 'What just happened...' he thought to himself.
"Carlos, are you okay, buddy? You look a little sick." a voice said.
He looked up and saw the owner of the voice was Kendall. He was standing on the other side of the impoverish, yet homely lobby.
"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine." Carlos mumbled. He could feel Kendall worriedly glancing at him, but he shrugged it off.
He looked over to the cozy waiting area where he had fallen asleep the previous day, and where Gustavo was currently sitting. He had many questions, like who stripped him and put him to bed, but instead, he asked, "So, Gustavo, when are we gonna be able to get out of here?"
Gustavo gave a small grunt, then when Carlos didn't laugh, he realized he was serious. "Have you even looked outside? The blizzard is worse than ever."
"Blizzard? There's a blizzard, too? Talk about bad luck." Carlos said.
Gustavo furrowed his eyebrows at the teen, then said, "Yes, there's a blizzard. That's the reason we're stuck here."
"Itd'z bean coomeeng doon fur heurs." the manager sitting at the front desk said. She was a middle aged woman with graying hair and a thick accent. Carlos didn't remember her from the day before. What kind of accent was that anyways?
Suddenly Carlos realized what Gustavo just said. "You mean you got a new car?" he asked.
"What do you mean? Why would we get a new car?"
"Because our old one exploded..." Carlos said quietly yet as if it should be obvious. It came out as more of a question, though.
"What...?" both Kendall and Gustavo asked. Kendall looked at him concernedly once again.
"So the blizzard's lasted for hours?" Carlos asked, trying to change the subject. His mind was reeling.
"Yez, I vould zay aroond nine." the manager said.
"What did you just say?" Carlos asked.
"I zedd it'z bean znowing vor nine heurs."
Nine hours. Nine. Nine. Nine...
"STOP STARING AT ME LIKE THAT!" Carlos yelled at Kendall, and the blond teen looked away as if he hadn't been staring at Carlos like that.
The room fell to an awkward silence and Carlos looked down at his feet, blushing. "I'm sorry, Kendall, I guess I am feeling a little sick." he said. He squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed a hand over them, trying to make some sense of what was happening.
When he opened them again, he was sitting back in his room, sitting on his bed, facing the wall. From the other room, he could hear a faint noise, which he guessed was the water from a shower. He fell back onto his bed, his mind foggy. What was happening to him?
Carlos groaned and flipped over so he was on his stomach. This day was so confusing; it didn't even feel real.
He decided he needed to talk to someone about it, so Carlos got up and opened the door to the bedroom. He traveled down the hallway, until he reached the main room of their hotel room, which consisted of a couch and flat-screen TV off to the left, and a kitchen behind that. In front of Carlos was a door that he assumed led to the bathroom, and in front of the middle of the room was a small entryway and a closet.
He could hear the shower more clearly now, and approached the door. He slowly hit his knuckles against the door, the sound echoing throughout the otherwise silent room.
"What?" James's voice rang out from inside the bathroom.
"James, can I talk to you?" he asked.
"Now's not exactly the best time, Carlos...you know, because I'm in the shower. Naked."
"James, it's important."
There was a short pause before James sighed and responded, "The door's unlocked, just try not to...look in my direction."
Carlos opened the door and walked into the bathroom awkwardly, which, like much of the rest of the hotel, was fancy yet cozy. Directly opposite the door was the shower, which had an almost clear glass door to it.
Carlos quickly averted his eyes and jumped up on the counter, which was right by the door. There was an awkward silence for a minute until James finally spoke up, saying, "What is it that was so important?"
"Oh..oh yeah. Something weird has been happening to me, Jamie. I-It's kinda hard to explain, but I guess I'll try-"
He was interrupted by James, who said, "Is this about the car exploding yesterday?"
"Yes! And no one believes me Jamie! Do you believe me, James?" Carlos said.
"Well, Carlos, you-" James started.
He was cut off mid-sentencce, though, as there was a loud groan and the electricity and water shut off.
"Fu-" James started to say but he remembered his more naive brother was in the room he said, "Crap." instead.
"Weird, I've never seen the water shut off in a power outage before..." Carlos mumbled.
"Neither have I." James agreed. "Close your eyes while I get a towel on, ok?" James said to Carlos.
"Sure." Carlos said as he squeezed his eyes shut.
Realizing what he had just done, Carlos knew what was coming next, and opened his eyes, expecting to be somewhere else.
He thought wrong, though, and when he opened his eyes James was standing naked, barely illuminated by the small amount of light coming in through a nearby window.
Both boys furiously blushed, and James yelled, "Carlos!" while quickly grabbing a towel and covering up.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Carlos quickly apologized as he closed his eyes again.
When he opened them, he was once again in the lobby. This time he was sitting on one of the two comfortable chairs, with Logan squeezed in beside him.
On the second chair was Kendall and James, and somewhere behind all of them Carlos could hear Gustavo's hushed whispers with the hotel's manager, most likely about the blackout.
"What time is it?" Carlos asked Logan.
"Well, let's see...it's about...five." Logan said.
"At night?" Carlos asked.
"No, in the morning." Logan said sarcastically.
Before Carlos could respond, Gustavo came over to where the boys were sitting and said, "Well, it looks like the power out could last for days because of the storm."
"What? But I can't not be beautiful for days! And why is the water not working anyways?" James asked, standing up. Carlos rolled his eyes as he saw James was still in a towel, his hair still wet with shampoo.
"Well, it's pretty complicated, but apparently the piping to this place is pretty old fashioned, and the valve to let the water flow was somehow closed."
"Well this is just great, isn't it! Now I have to wait for days to even be clean and to look-" James started to ramble.
"BUT," Gustavo interrupted, "She did say that if someone wanted to, they could go into the basement and try to fix it themselves." he said referring to the manager.
Immediately Kendall volunteered, seeing as how he considered himself the leader. Carlos volunteered to go with Kendall so he wasn't alone, but everyone objected because he was 'sick.'
Seeing as how James was practically naked, and no one wanted Kendall to go alone, it was decided that Logan would go with him, even though he harbored a secret fear of dark basements.
Twenty minutes later, Kendall and Logan were equipped with flashlights and walkie-talkies (because of course cell phones wouldn't work with the blizzard and everything) and were headed to the basement.
The entrance to the basement was in a hall behind the front desk, sealed by a large metal door.
"Why is the door so...large...and metal?" Carlos asked. Everyone was standing around Logan and Kendall, who were standing in front of the looming door.
"Parce qu'il détient les méchants." the manager lady said.
"What?" Carlos asked.
"Nah reezun." she said.
Carlos gulped.
Slowly she moved her way in front of all of them, grabbed the thick handle to the door, and slowly pushed it upwards. The loud creaks and groans of the cogs in the lock turning and unlocking.
Finally the handle clicked when it was upright, and a loud whoosh was heard as the small lady dragged the door open. A frigid air escaped from the vault, and suddenly all Carlos could feel was the need to run as far away as possible.
Everyone stood still, looking at the dark, looming stairway in front of them.
After a few moments, Kendall finally spoke up, saying, "Well, we better get going, huh?"
Logan gulped loudly, then replied in a hushed whisper, "Yep."
And so they set off, into the unknown. Into the darkness...
Around an hour later, everyone, sans Kendall and Logan, sat in the lobby of the hotel anxiously.
Five minutes after the two had gone into the basement, they informed everyone via their walkie-talkies that they had reached the bottom of the stairs, and the manager told them where both the water valve and the power generator were. But in the 55-ish minutes since then, they hadn't heard a word from them.
So now Gustavo anxiously paced around while Kelly tried to comfort them all and Carlos and James sat down by the fireplace.
Carlos sat with his elbows on his knees and his head resting on his hands, watching the fire. The hotel was quite cold, so he appreciated the warmth. But slowly the flame started to die out, until one last ember flew into the air and then flickered out.
And then the room was cold, dark and silent.
Finally, Carlos couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and loudly (or at least it seemed loud compared to the silence they were waiting in) announced, "I'm gonna go look for them. No one protested, as fear for the two lost boys made everyone forget about his supposed 'illness.'
Silently the manger got out another flashlight and walkie-talkie, and Carlos took them. Everyone looked away as Carlos made his way to the opened basement door. Then with one final breath, Carlos ventured down the dark hallway.
He clicked on his flashlight and shined it around a bit to look down the long stone staircase. He slowly made his way down step by step, one hand on the wall to keep his balance.
Around five minutes later, the walkie-talkie in the lobby crackled to life, and everyone crowded around it as a voice spoke.
"'Kay, guys, I'm at the bottom." it said.
Everyone sighed as they recognized the voice. The manager grabbed the walkie-talkie off the table and said, "Do vu nehd deerecchuns?"
After a moment, Carlos's voice was heard again, this time saying, "No, I remember from when you told Kendall and Logan."
"Ok, Good luck." Kellie said.
"Thanks." Carlos squeaked.
Down in the basement, Carlos shone his flashlight out to get a good luck at the place. It was all plain stone, but something about it was just creepy. As Carlos stepped out from in front of the staircase, he saw there were three paths: One going straight ahead, which led to the power generator, one to the left, which led to the water valve, and another to the right. Carlos didn't know where that one led.
He decided to start out by traveling to the left path, occasionally calling out Kendall and Logan's names.
Eventually he reached a large pipe with a wheel-type thing sticking out of it, which Carlos assumed was the water valve. So they weren't here...
Carlos grabbed the handle because he thought as long as he was there he should try to get the water flowing again. Though no matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn't turn.
"I'm at the water valve, but it won't turn. I think it's frozen." Carlos said to the walkie-talkie.
He could hear James groan and then he heard Gustavo's voice asking, "And the dogs?"
"Haven't found them yet." Carlos was about to leave to check out the power generator area, when something caught his eye.
He shone the flashlight on the valve, and gently rubbed his finger over it. Because on the wheel for the valve, there were scratch marks. Nine scratch marks.
"What the-" Carlos started to say, but he was interrupted by a piercing scream that echoed through the basement.
He quickly ran towards the direction of the screams, ending up back in the central room of the basement. The screams were coming from the hall to the right of the staircase, the one now opposite him. The one that he didn't know where it led.
The screams began to get louder and louder, and Carlos, although afraid, dashed across the hallway.
When he reached the end of the hallway, three things happened at the same time:
First, the screaming stopped.
Then, Carlos took in the room in front of him. It was large and rectangular, though in the middle, flat ground turned into a large staircase.
And finally, Carlos began to slide across the strangely slippery ground, waving his arms frantically, unable to gain friction.
He quickly reached the staircase and began to tumble down it, gaining speed. Sickening cracks echoed throughout the room but the pain Carlos was feeling distracted him from the noises.
Finally with a boom he smacked against the bottom of the stairs.
Strangely, though, he didn't feel hurt at all.
He stood, dusting off his pants, and looked around with his somehow-still-intact flashlight. In front of him, the path continued on.
And curiosity got the best of Carlos, causing him to walk forward slowly. Soon he reached a dead end; in front of him was a large, gaping, uncrossable chasm.
Carlos reached for his walkie-talkie, but found it was no longer hooked to his waistband. He gave the chasm one last look with his flashlight, then turned around and started to head back.
But as he reached the stairs he saw a shadowy humanoid figure standing and staring at him. "Kendall? Logan?" he asked as he hesitantly approached it.
His flashlight flickered out after a few steps, and after banging it a few times, he knew it was useless, and so he dropped it on the floor.
He continued to approach the still figure, until finally, when he was just a few feet from it, he reached his hand out. He reached closer and closer slowly until his fingers were just inches away from the shadows.
His mind flashed back to the horrible whining the car made before it exploded. The whining that let him know he was in danger. Funny, he thought, how lucky it is that danger like that gave a warning first, much like a dog growling.
Carlos remembered growing drowsy in the chair in the lobby, slowly drifting away. Giving in to the sleep because he didn't know the consequences.
Then he woke up and was confused and that should have been a red flag that he woke up in just his underwear, not knowing how he had gotten there. He should've wondered what was happening, but other emotions, like confusion, had blinded him.
And Logan and Kendall, disappearing without any evidence left behind of them, just vanishing directly off of the earth.
And the blizzard happening, even though Carlos remembered the car exploding, the blizzard having cut off the group's only form of communication with the outside world.
And Kelly, trying to comfort everyone from the very beginning, even before anything had gone wrong, as if she knew something was happening. Had she? Had she known? And why didn't she tell anyone? No one noticed her anxiety, because they all must have felt the evil present.
And the manager of the hotel, no one could really understand her. But she clearly had knowledge of what was going to happen, and she didn't tell anyone, maybe even because she wanted them to get hurt.
And so, as Carlos was millimeters away from the shadowy figure; after ignoring the warning sound of the piercing screams; giving in to the need to save his friends because he didn't know the answers; getting up at the bottom of the stairs without feeling the pain anymore, yet ignoring that red flag because of a feeling, curiosity; hearing the screaming disappearing without a trace, as if it hadn't ever happened; dicovering the vanishing of his walkie-talkie happening when he remembered having it on, cutting off his only communication with everyone else; reaching for his walkie-talkie even though nothing was happening, to find it not there, as if he sensed the looming evil; seeing the shadowy figure, clearly being more than just a shadow but not moving because it must have wanted to hurt Carlos; after all of this Carlos still reached towards it, even though he knew it meant certain death.
He was possessed to do it, and finally, Carlos's hand touched the being.
And Carlos would have died...
But at that moment, the energy came back on, filling the basement with golden light. The shadow vanished with the light, leaving a gaping Carlos, arm extended.
"Alright, let's get out of here, this place creeps me out." a voice said from the main chamber.
"Aw, is little Logie scared?"
"Shut up! I am not...hey, what's this?"
"It looks like a walkie-talkie.."
"Hm that's weird.."
Carlos came to his senses and broke out of his trance, calling out, "Kendall? Logan?"
"What was that?" Logan asked.
"It...sounded...like Carlos."
"Carlos? Was that you, bud?" Logan called.
"Yeah, it's me!" Carlos responded as he ran up the stairs, which were surprisingly blood-free.
"Carlos!" Kendall exclaimed as he reached the main room of the basement. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? I came here looking for you two! Why didn't you respond? We were waiting for like, an hour!" Carlos said exasperatedly.
"Carlos, bud, we were only gone for nine minutes." Kendall said.
"What did you just say?"
"I said we were only gone for nine minutes.
"Nine minutes.
"Nine minutes.
"Nine."
Carlos closed his eyes because it was all too much and this wasn't happening.
And when he opened them again, he was laying in bed in his dark hotel room.
And above his bed, Carlos could've sworn he saw the shadow watching him sleep.
Nine minutes.
Nine.
Day Two.
Seven days left.
Number nine.
A/N: Mysterious, eh? Very, very mysterious…
I'm so happy because I've always wanted to try circular prose, and now I finally got to XD. If you don't know what that is..um..research it.
Wow. So this is by far the longest chapter I have ever written. It is also one of the best in my opinion.
What about you? What do you think? Please leave a review because I love reviews and they make me very happy. And they encourage me to write. Yup.
Oh and by the way GUP21 guessed correctly that the quote was from Majora's Mask. Don't know your prize yet. Hm….
Later!
BTL14 8D
