11:38 AM.
The small room Thorn found herself in was a mess; several filing cabinets were opened and their contents were scattered all over the floor with the exception of a red carpet in the center of the room that was paper-free. Glancing over them as she went to Dusk, Thorn realized that most of them were financial records, old guestbooks, maintenance requests, and other documents one would expect from a hotel.
"So what did you find?'" Thorn asked.
"I dunno, Luna spotted something while we were waiting for the foreman to leave and she told me to get you," Dusk explained.
Dusk led Thorn over to Luna, who was leaning over a folding table examining some documents. As Thorn and Dusk approached, Luna turned around.
"Glad to see the foreman didn't catch you," Luna said. "You okay?"
Thorn nodded. "Yeah I'm good, guess he got spooked or something." A lie. Thorn knew full well she was responsible for the foreman to flee in terror. Thorn put on a smile for Luna and she quickly changed the subject. "Dusk said you found something."
Luna nodded and stepped aside so Thorn and Dusk could see the papers on the table. Some of the papers were yellowed with age while others appeared to be fresh copies of older documents. Thorn's eyes widened in excitement as she realized that she was looking at detailed drawings of each floor of the Regal Hotel.
"They're floor plans," Thorn stated as she held the plan for the lobby. Looking at the plan, she saw that the room they were in was circled and labeled with a small handwritten note reading "Enter Here." She also noticed several rooms with black 'Xs' drawn over them, though they were unlabeled and there was no key to interpret them.
"What do these X's mean?" Thorn asked as she turned to Luna.
"I don't know," Luna replied. She pointed to a few other floor plans. "But they're only on the first floor and the basement."
"Isn't that where the ghost is supposed to be?" Dusk asked as she tossed a floor plan she was looking at onto the table.
"Yeah," Thorn said with a grin. "And maybe the treasure. You know, 'X marks the spot.'"
"I don't know about that," Luna countered, "these could just be construction plans."
Thorn crossed her arms. "For the basement? The construction is happening on the upper stories."
"I'm sure they had to do rewiring or something down there," Luna said, shaking her head. "That's a more likely explanation than this being a treasure map."
Thorn paused and glanced at the basement floor plan. A bunch of unlabeled Xs, 'Enter Here' written on the room they were in and few other illegible marks were all she had to work with. And unfortunately for her, there were a number of other explanations for what they had found.
Thorn shook her head and placed the plan on the table.
"I don't know," Thorn confessed. "But they've got to be important."
Thorn grunted as she continued her examination of the blueprints, hoping to find some detail she missed. Of course, there was nothing. But just as she was about to give up, something sticking out of the pile of papers on the corner of the table caught her eye. She pulled the paper out, discovering a single piece of stationery, folded and formerly sealed with a wax seal. Yet the stationery was burnt, its bottom half gone and much of the edges were charred. Thorn unfolded the stationery and sighed, seeing most of the document was blackened by the fire and illegible, including the possible sender and recipient. Yet there was a sliver of legible writing in the center of the document:
"...eighteen will be present. I do[Ilegible] but the Repair will commence as scheduled. I truly believe we can fix [Illegible. Several sentences missing.] To fix oneself is necessary to become com[Illegible]herwise [illegible]arante failu[Illegible] You will work the lower half. [Illegible. Several sentences missing.] When done, we shall all [Illegible] fill the hole, the lack, and [Illegible} toget[Illegible] who[Illegible]. Only then can we [Illegible] restore Ein S[Illegible. Rest of document missing]."
Thorn shook her head, placing the letter on the table.
"What did it say?" Dusk asked.
Thorn looked down at the letter, noticing what looked like an upside-down 'F' on the wax seal. "I don't know." She let Dusk take a look at the letter.
"This doesn't make any sense," Dusk replied.
"Well duh, most of the letter is missing," Thorn said with frustration, not aimed at Dusk though, but the letter itself.
"Hmm, looks like someone was trying to salvage stuff from the fire," Luna said, pulling out a box of burnt documents from underneath the table much to Thorn's surprise. The Hex Girls rummaged through what left of the documents, examining each charred paper for clues, but after several minutes of tedious checking, they tucked the box back under the table.
"Damn, I was hoping we'd find something useful," Thorn sighed.
"We have the blueprints," Luna said." That will help us search the hotel and if the cops or anyone else shows up, we can easily find places to hide or outrun them."
"You're right," Thorn said with a nod as her attention turned back to the blueprints. She removed her phone from her purse and snapped a picture of the basement floor plan.
"Not a bad idea," Luna said and she also took a few pictures herself.
Thorn photographed the remainder of the floor plans. "Yeah, I don't want to carry them around or have whoever put them here come back and find them missing." She also took a picture of the burnt letter, just in case.
As Thorn snapped the last picture, she noticed the time on her phone and gasped.
"Shit, it's almost noon. We need to check-in with Gus," Thorn exclaimed. She dialed Gus's number but the call quickly dropped. "Ugh, I don't have service in here. Can one of you try?"
Dusk and Luna took out their phones. Dusk walked off toward the center of the room searching for a signal while Luna held her phone up to the ceiling.
"Okay, I got some serv-AH!" Dusk screamed.
"Dusk!" Thorn shouted.
There was a loud thud and Thorn turned around only to see that Dusk was gone. Thorn and Luna ran over to where Dusk was. Instead, they found a large rectangular hole, perhaps five feet in length and seven feet in width, that was previously covered by the carpet, which now hung from the other side of the hole like a red waterfall.
Thorn crouched and peered into the hole. "Dusk are you okay!?"
Dusk didn't answer.
Thorn's heart was racing and she was starting to tremble. Her friend wasn't answering and she could only see a large pile of boxes that Dusk presumably fell into. Please be okay. Please be okay.
"Dusk are you all right?" Luna called out.
Again no answer.
"Dusk can you hear us!" Thorn shouted.
Please answer Jane.
Dusk groaned and she rubbed her head. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. She found herself in a pile of cardboard boxes full of blankets, pillows, and other soft fabrics, as several of them were broken from her impact. Ugh, first you're knocking things over and now you're falling through holes in the ground. Get a hold of yourself and start paying attention to your surroundings. She pushed a couple of pillows and broken boxes off of her and stood up.
"Dusk! Are you okay!?"
Dusk looked up and saw Thorn and Luna peering into the hole she had fallen through, both of them with worried expressions on their faces.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Dusk finally called back. "I got lucky and landed on a pile of boxes full of pillows."
She heard her friends sigh, both glad that she wasn't hurt.
"Wow, that really is lucky," Luna said. "Considering you easily fell ten, maybe fifteen feet straight down."
"Yeah…" Dusk said. She glanced at the floor. It was concrete. Damn, I'm luckier than I thought. Not wanting to imagine what would've happened if the boxes weren't there, she looked back at her friends.
"Doesn't look like I'll be getting back up that way," Dusk sighed. "I'll try to find another way out of here."
"Where exactly are you?" Thorn asked.
"I guess the basement, but I can't see much," Dusk replied. She bent down and rummaged through the pile of boxes. After a minute or so, she recovered her phone. Using her phone's light, she illuminated a small area around, enough to get her bearings. She could see piles of boxes stacked in an orderly fashion, miscellaneous furniture wrapped in clear plastic and covered in boxes, and various appliances unplugged and covered in dust.
"Yeah it's definitely the basement," Dusk said.
"Okay, the basement door is on the other side of the hotel," Luna said as she looked over the photo of the floor plan on her phone. "The basement is one giant room, so all you have to do is head to the northeast corner and the stairs are there."
"How the hell am I supposed to know which way is northeast?" Dusk said.
"Keep walking straight until you hit a wall and then turn right," Luna clarified.
Dusk glanced in the direction she was supposed to walk and was met with a wall of boxes and crates blocking her path. "I'll try."
"We'll meet you at the door," Luna said.
Dusk nodded and stepped out of the box pile she was standing in and got her bearing.
"Please be careful Dusk," Thorn cautioned. "The ghost is down there."
Dusk frowned. Of course, I'm alone with a ghost. She dug the dagger from her jacket pocket and gripped it tightly. While it wouldn't do much against a real ghost, she could do some damage to a dude in a mask.
"I will," Dusk said as she looked up at her worried friends.
Luna nodded and disappeared from sight. Thorn lowered her head and hesitated for a moment as she looked back at Dusk. She sighed before turning away. As their footsteps faded, Dusk found herself alone in the darkness.
All you have to do is find the basement stairs. That should be wicked easy. Dusk stood on her toes as she tried to peer over the stacks of boxes blocking her most direct path but her phone's light wasn't bright enough to spot the exit. She groaned and lowered her phone. She looked around for a few moments before spotting a small pathway in the stacks of items.
"Aha," she said with a grin. But as she approached the pathway, her attention was quickly brought to the ground. There she saw what looked like a set of brownish tire tracks. Kneeling down, down she grabbed a pinch of the material and it crumbled in her fingers.
"It's dirt," she said. Shining her light down the pathway, she saw that the tracks continued down a makeshift passageway. This is weird. The tracks were way smaller than car tires and even bike tires. With no explanation as to what made them, she shrugged them off as tracks made by the construction workers moving equipment. Regardless of their origin, following them could lead to a way out of here.
Dagger and phone in hand, Dusk followed the tracks through the winding corridor. She didn't get too far when she heard a loud thud. She spun around and saw a box on the floor. You must've bumped into it and knocked it down without knowing. She turned back around, raised her dagger, and resumed walking, albeit at a slightly quicker pace.
"You got this, you're just walking to the stairs," Dusk said to herself.
She flinched and her grip on the dagger tightened as she heard something metal, perhaps one of the miscellaneous household appliances, fall to the ground in a loud clamor somewhere behind her.
"Um, it's just rats knocking stuff over,'" Dusk said, trying to reassure herself that it wasn't anything dangerous. Her pace quickened to a light run Really? Rats? She shook her head. No. It's just rats. Leave it at that.
She emerged from the piles of supplies and found herself in a spacious area devoid of boxes or other packed items. Dusk shined her phone's light around her so she could assess her surroundings. The basement was immense and was more like a sublevel encompassing the same area as the aboveground levels than a true basement. A row of concrete supports, evenly spaced apart with enough room between them for a person to comfortably fit through, went down the entirety of the basement from what she could tell. It was as though everything had been moved to one side of the basement, as aside from the supports, there was nothing between the boxes and the far wall she could barely see in the periphery of the light.
"Okay, just walk straight till you find the wall," Dusk said. But before she could advance, she noticed the tire tracks trailing off in the opposite direction. More curiously, there was a spray-painted 'X' between the tracks a few feet from her. She gritted her teeth as she glanced at the tire tracks before looking ahead. She knew she should regroup with her bandmates who were no doubt worried sick about her, but there was something off with the 'X' and the tracks that she couldn't shake.
"Goddamnit," she muttered as she turned and walked toward the 'X' on the ground.
There wasn't much to it, it was simply an 'X' drawn in yellow spray paint. This was a construction zone after all, and it could simply be a way to mark wires or pipes. Dusk scratched her chin. Wouldn't there be more if it was just wires or pipes? She followed the tracks a bit farther and didn't see any more Xs or any other symbols. Intrigued, she continued to follow the tracks.
The tracks turned and eventually led to the wall, which was really just the cement foundation. There she found another yellow 'X', this time at the base of the wall. Dusk patted the wall, searching for a button or symbol like those she encountered at the Fallen's temple, but there was nothing. Dusk sighed and looked back at the tire tracks. They continued to run parallel to the wall. Shrugging, she continued to follow them, certain that'd they lead to something of significance.
After a minute or so of walking, Dusk stopped and sniffled. There was a faint smell of paint and sure enough, she found a third yellow 'X' on the ground. Crouching, she tapped the 'X' with the tip of her dagger; a bit of yellow paint was smeared on the dagger.
"It's fresh," Dusk exclaimed.
Clunk!
Dusk spun around with her dagger raised and shined her light toward the noise. A large piece of piping had fallen from its pile and was slowly rolling toward her. There was a light thud when it hit the supports.
"Please somehow be rats," Dusk begged as she slowly backed away from the 'X.'
Dusk froze when she heard it. It was like a gust of wind howling through the night; a soft wail, ever-increasing in pitch and intensity, that echoed through the basement. Dusk felt a cold chill run down her spine as the wailing grew louder. The ghost is here. I'm fucked. She could barely hold her phone and dagger due to her sweaty palms. Her breathing was hastened and she closed her eyes, the ghastly wail quite loud. Her body tensed as she felt like someone was watching her; she was certain that the phantom was right behind her.
And then the wailing stopped.
Dusk gulped. Don't look. Don't look.
Yet the urge to do so was there. Dusk gritted her teeth. She needed to get out of there. Or fight. She took a deep breath and held it. If this is just some fucker in a mask, I'm taking him down. She exhaled and squeezed the dagger as tightly as she could.
"AHHHH!" Dusk screamed as she spun around, cutting and slashing the space in front of her in a blind furry with the dagger. There were no screams of agony, causing Dusk to open her eyes to see if she had inflicted any damage on whoever was behind her.
Instead, there was nothing there.
Dusk sighed with relief. "Okay, you're just spooking yourself. That wailing had to be the pipes."
"Geeeeet ouuuuuuuttt!"
Dusk shuddered upon hearing the raspy demand; it was as if someone was struggling to breathe as they spoke behind her. Dusk clenched the dagger in a tight fist ready to stab at whatever ghoul was there. She turned around and thrust her arm forward.
Dusk gasped.
Standing within arm's reach of her was a glowing snow-white figure clad in a simple, monk-like hooded robe that extended down to its feet, covering them, and with a pair of short sleeves. Its arms were scrawny, the flesh, cracked and dried, was as white as the robes and pulled tightly over its bones. Its nails were long and grimey, more like claws than fingernails. The head was lowered and the hood covered its face.
And Dusk's hand and dagger had phased through the entity, causing it no harm.
She couldn't run. She couldn't even pull her arm back, the fear too great. She tried to shout but all she could manage to do was to incomprehensibly stutter as she gazed at the intangible specter. She couldn't think clearly, and had no escape plan; all she knew was that she couldn't feel the ghost and that it was no man in a mask.
The ghost cocked its head as if assessing Dusk. The phantom moved back a bit, no longer obscuring Dusk's hand. This sudden movement broke Dusk from her fear-induced trance and she slowly backed away from the ghost.
"Hehe, sorry about the uh, stabbing," Dusk nervously laughed with a fake smile, as she looked around for an escape route.
"I told you to get out," the ghost said with a wheezy voice, its head still down.
"If ya can just point me in the direction of the exit, I'll happily scram," Dusk said, slowly backing away from the ghost.
"GET OUT!" the phantom screeched. Its head jolted up and Dusk screamed. Its face was only a skull, with only a few strands of decaying hair poking out from under the hood and a few bits of peeling flesh hanging off its face. The eyes were merely green lights that glowed with an unearthly hue that sent shivers down Dusk's spine.
The phantom lunged at Dusk, and she ducked, barely avoiding the ghost's wretched swipe. With its other arm, the ghost swung at Dusk in a downward motion and Dusk clumsily sidestepped the ghost's attack. More so on instinct than rational thought, Dusk thrust the dagger into the ghost's side but the blade simply passed through the phantom without harm.
Just fucking run!
She turned and went into a full sprint toward the basement stairs. She briefly looked behind her and the ghost was on her heels, screeching and floating just above the ground in pursuit. She gasped, her lungs were burning. There was no way she was going to outrun the ghost in the open. She swerved around one of the support columns, narrowly avoiding a collision with it. She then went around another, hoping to confuse or throw off the ghost. She turned around and gasped as the ghost passed right through the support columns like they weren't there.
SHIT! It's not working! She moved away from the support columns, her initial plan failed. She looked behind her and screamed as the ghost was just out of arm's reach of her. Running wasn't working. She needed to hide and lose it.
Panting, she made a sharp turn, causing the phantom to float past her. She leaped over some crates before diving behind a large dresser covered with plastic sheets. She turned her phone off, sat against the dresser, and hid in the darkness, the only sounds were her racing heart pounding against her chest and her quickened breaths.
After taking a few moments to catch her breath, Dusk poked her head around the dresser. The ghost was floating over the boxes and furniture in complete silence, clearly searching for her. She adjusted herself so she was out of sight.
How the fuck am I going to get out of this? Her breathing was still heavy and she needed time to recover, so simply running wasn't going to work. She also returned her dagger to her jacket pocket as it was of no use. She groaned. She had no idea what to do. Fuck! What do I do? Wait! I can warn Luna and Thorn. She took out her phone and promptly shielded her eyes from its light.
Thud!
Stupid! It saw the light. Dusk pocketed her phone and scrambled to her feet, though she remained crouched, ready to run if need be. There was a shuffle like a piece of furniture was being moved out of the way. Ugh, where is it? She peered into the darkness but couldn't see anything. She sighed and steadied her breathing so it could be quieter. She then listened for the noise, hoping to determine where it came from and where the ghost was.
Thud!
It was closer this time, no more than a few feet in front of her hiding spot.
Dusk gulped and looked over the dresser.
"GET OUT!"
Dusk shouted. She stumbled over and fell down, avoiding the ghost's swipe. She tried backing away from the ghost which was now hovering right in front of her and above the dresser. There was a loud crack, and the dresser shook and began to tip over. Panicking, Dusk crawled away as the dresser toppled over and came crashing down where she had been laying. The ghost screeched as it swung at her. Dusk rolled over and onto her stomach causing the ghost to miss, its hand vanishing into the floor.
Grunting, Dusk pushed herself up but with limited sight, she banged her head on something hard. She groaned, rubbing her head as she stumbled past the ghost and in her daze, ran into a large box that crumpled beneath her. "Ugh!" she shouted, clambering off the crushed box. She gasped as the ghost lunged at her. She dropped to the floor, avoiding the ghost which floated over the boxes. With adrenaline coursing through her, she scrambled to her feet and ran past the ghost as it returned to attack, knocking over several boxes in the process. She ran back toward the open portion of the basement, a hopeful smile spreading across her face as she escaped the maze of boxes and sprinted across the open area. The ghost let loose a blood-curdling scream as Dusk managed to put some distance between herself and the specter.
Dusk grinned. Ahead of her was a small window that let a little light in. She could see the silhouette of the basement stairs, a beacon of hope in the darkness.
"GET OUT!"
She looked behind her and gasped at the sight of the phantom's horrid nails almost scraping the back of her neck. She screamed and her pace became a sprint. Her lungs were burning, her heart was pounding and the aches in her leg were even worse; she hardly had time to recover from her previous sprint and was suffering for it. Looking away from the pursuing ghost, she shouted and she turned right upon reaching the far wall. The stairs! She grabbed the handrail and practically threw herself up the steps.
"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"
She never looked back as she trudged her way up the narrow staircase, which was so tight she worried she might get stuck and subsequently caught by the ghost. The door at the top of the steps grew closer, and before her eyes, a literal light in the darkness was widening. The door was opening. She ran faster but gasped as something pulled her back. NO! She fell to the steps, turning as she did. She heard a tear and saw that her jacket had been caught on the railing. Without hesitation, she pulled on her jacket, and with one tug, she tore it loose and freed herself. She got to her feet and continued her ascent to safety. With a final grunt, she took a longer stride, bypassing the top two steps and the wider top as her momentum carried her forward, and she fell into the light.
