Chapter 6; A Fifth Dimension

Back in Royal Woods, Michigan. Lynn Loud Sr had just walked in the door home from work when Rita called out to him.

Rita: Hi, Honey. Good news. I talked to the kids today.

Lynn Sr: Wonderful. How are they?

Rita: They're doing great, but I think Lincoln's having some kind of mental health breakdown or something.

Lynn Sr: He's probably having problems adjusting to California. So where the kids staying at?

Rita: Some old hotel off sunset blvd. Hollywood tinsel tower or something, I think.

Lynn Sr: Sounds nice, dear. Wait a minute, The old Tower hotel on Sunset Blvd? The Hollywood Tower Hotel!Rita! That place is evil. People died in that hotel long ago! And they closed it up!

Rita: What?!

Lynn Sr: And you let the kids stay in there?!

Rita: I didn't know! Maybe she didn't know, either! How do you know this?

Lynn Sr: My grandfahter told me this story as a kid. He said that's where hotel geusts check in, but they never check out! We gotta get over there now!

Rita: California is a thousand miles away. We'll never make it in time!

Lynn Sr: We can if we hurry.

Rita: Let's go, then!

Rod Serling: Two frightened parents. Now aware of the peril their children are in, are now in a frantic hurry to find the fastest way to reach Hollywood to rescue their children from a potentially horrible fate. A fate in which the path the follow may in fact condemn them to the same fate of those five unfortunate individuals from long ago. A fate in which they are forever bound...to the twilight zone.


(Hollywood)

The kids all entered the lobby with everything they had from their day out when suddenly, there was a glowing light. Lori was carrying Lily when she noticed it. She gave the baby to Lincoln and went off the find the source of the glow. She followed it into the basement as the others went to the service elevator. Lori then noticed a small girl about 9 or 10 in a pink dress and called out to her.

Lori: Excuse me! Little girl! Are you lost?

The girl didn't respond and hopped away, Lori followed her again.

Lori: Little girl? Hey, don't walk away from me! Maybe I can help you.

The girl turned a corner, but Lori followed it and saw no one. The only thing in her sight was a door marked 22. She walked up to it and touched the knob. She opened to reveal a room full of coffins and standing there was a sinister looking nurse lady.

Nurse: Room for one more, honey.

Lori: Screamed and ran away. She found herself back in the empty lobby. But standing in the shadows was a tall man in a black tuxedo.

"If anyone needs help", he said as he pulled out a giant meat cleaver at Lori. "It's you!"

She turned to run the other way, and there was another person there in a bellhop uniform with a hangman's rope.

"Checking in?", he chuckled as he straightened the rope.

Then in Lori's other direction stood a tall woman in a bowler hat with an umbrella.

"You're a bad girl", she said to Lori in a sinsiter tone walking towards here. Lori walked back towards the elevator door which opened to reveal a large fire at the bottom of the shaft. She finally stopped.

"A very bad girl", the woman said again and she chuckled with a smirk.

Lori was now scared out of her wits.


(Seventh Floor)

Lincoln then just remembered that one of them wasn't with the rest of the group.

Lincoln: Where's Lori?

He suddenly heard a scream from down below.

Luna: She's in trouble! Let's go help her.

Lincoln ran back to the elevator carrying Lily with Lola and Lana following behind with Lisa following as well.

(Lobby)

Lori: I'm sorry! Please don't kill me. I just wanted to help someone. A little girl, she was lost.

The doors behind her closed much to her relief, but she was still huffing and panting.

Woman: Go away, girl. Leave us alone.

And she vanished, but behind her stood the girl.

Sally: You want to help us?

Lori: Yeah.

Sally: Can you set us free and get us on the elevator?

Lori: What? The elevator?

Sally: We have to get to the party.

The girl disappeared. Now, Lori was finally coming to a realization. These were the ghosts Lincoln had been talking about. He was telling the truth all along.

Lincoln(Off Screen): Lori! Lori!

She heard her brother calling her. There was Lincoln, Lola, Lana, Lucy, Lily and Lisa, were in the lobby looking for her.

Lori: Lincoln! I saw them. I saw the ghosts!

Lincoln: Oh, now you believe me?

Lori: It's the elevator. It's all tied to this.

Lincoln: How did you know?

Lori: The little girl told me.

Lisa: You're informing us that you actually visually encountered the spectral image of former movie star, Sally Shine?

Lori: Yes! She said something about setting them free and getting them on the elevator to get to the party.

Lincoln: But aren't they a little late?

Lori: Maybe: But there's a chance we can find out more if we do something.

Lincoln: What do we do?

Lisa: If I may be so bold as to interject, I was just reading something in the newspapers we picked up. A young science student here at the time was theorizing about a fifth dimension. A dimension where man's worst fears become his knowledge and what is unreal becomes real. A kind of...twilight zone as he called it.

Lincoln: I thought the Twilight Zone was just a tv show.

Lisa: So did I. But my research is telling me that this realm of imagination is in fact a reality.

Lori: So the fifth dimension exists?

Lincoln: More or less, it would seem that way, but Lisa has a theory.

Lisa: As a matter of fact, theoretically, the lightning storm that caused the elevator to crash may have actually caused the souls of the five individuals to be taken both body and soul in a place where they are caught in some kind of limbo between this world and the next.

Lucy: So it's like a curse.

Lincoln, Lori, Lola, Lana, and Lily:AAAAHHHHH!

Lisa: Again, aaaahhhh!

Lucy had shown up out of nowhere. She had a real knack for doing this at home.

Lisa: Yes, Lucy. It could be like a curse. This fifth dimension aka Twilight Zone in fact does involve the supernatural. It may in fact actually be a supernatural realm.

Lincoln: So in other words, they're stuck here but are caught in between dimensions trapped in limbo and can't move onto the other side.

Lisa: Excatly, they are trapped body and soul in a place not merely of simply death, but also, punishment, fear, insanity and endless amounts of suffering and sometimes, pain. All of which are the worst fate a person can bring upon themselves, stretching on forever.

That's what awaits in the fifth dimension.

Lincoln: But if we can free them, can they return to their physical bodies?

Lisa: That would be scientifically impossible, but it can allow them to move onto the afterlife finally.

Lincoln: How do we set them free?

Lisa: I will have to find more information.

Lincoln: The Library. It's filled with books. They might have some clues as to the answers we need.

Lisa: Fascinating Idea, Lincoln. I wish I had thought of that. After all, I am the genius of the bunch.

Lincoln: Lori, take Lily and the twins. I'm going with Lisa.

Lori: Whatever. Fine. Good luck on your little scavenger hunt.

Lucy: I wish to learn more too, so may I be allowed to accompany you both?

Lisa: The princess of darkness and despair following us and this damn foolish idealistic crusade of knowledge? I don't see why not.

Lincoln: The more the merrier.

Lucy(Sarcastically): Yay. Let's do this.


Rod Serling(Narrating): A quest for answers. An adventure that will send these children down a path that will lead on road not dissimilar to the road the five people went on before. The onset of which took place on an evening very much like the one that will be spent searching for answers. The difference being that on that evening many decades ago, the five people who boarded the elevator that same night were driven away from their coordinated arrival point and were instead presented with a grim fate. But this time, Lincoln and his sisters will attempt to make it their appointed destination, which contrary to the young man's determination will eventually take them into the darkest corners of the fifth dimension itself. And there they will find the answers of what happened that night. Their next stop...the twilight zone.