Chapter 5
"Skullington!" The three brothers cried out, spinning to face the phantom that had appeared to them earlier.
"What do you mean Scott's trapped in there forever?" Virgil demanded. "There has to be a way to free him!"
"There isn't," Skullington replied, flashing his cruel smile. "You're brother has entered an opposite world; there is no way out, unless…."
"Unless what?" Gordon asked. He peered closely at the mirror, and then rapped his knuckles against it, hoping to be rewarded with a reply from his older brother, but didn't have any luck.
"Unless he discovers the opposite exit."
"What's the opposite exit?" Alan wanted to know. "Where can we find it?"
Skullington threw back his head and let out his chilling laugh. "You think I'm going to tell you that? You're more stupid than you look! But if I were you I'd focus more on getting out of here than freeing your brother."
"No way!" Virgil growled, "we're finding our brother, no matter how long it takes!"
"Then you're going to be here for a very long time," Skullington chuckled, before vanishing into thin air.
Alan turned to his older brothers. "What are we going to do? We have to get Scott out of there!"
Virgil sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "As much as I hate to admit it, Skullington's right; we can't hope to help Scott unless we help ourselves first."
"So, we're just going to abandon him?" Alan demanded. "We can't do that! You don't know what's going on in there; he could be hurt or dead for all we know!"
Both Virgil and Gordon startled at Alan's statement. Neither of them would ever admit there worst fear like that.
"Don't say that, Alan!" Gordon spun away from where he had been looking at his reflection. "Scott's alive, I know he is! And so do you!"
Alan hung his head. "I want to believe that he's still alive Gordon, I truly do, but what evidence have we got?"
Virgil put his hands on his brother's shoulders and commanded Alan to look at him. When he was satisfied that he had the blonde's full attention, he said: "Listen to me Alan. Scott is alive. He wouldn't let us down like that, you know he wouldn't. But if we don't get to the ground floor of this hotel, then we have no hope of helping him. I need you to focus and stay optimistic if we're ever going to find that key. Do you understand?"
Alan nodded, "I understand Virgil." He looked his older brother in the eye and forced a small smile. "Let's go find that key!"
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Opposite world
Charlie followed closely behind Scott, as he entered the hotel's dining room. The eatery was a large room with hundreds of round tables, each one able to accommodate between two and ten people. At the far side of the room was the entrance to the kitchen. A long counter ran across just opposite the door, with trays of food ranging from mashed potatoes to white rice being heated under a lamp.
The walls of the room were painted a dreary gray, and the four lights suspended from the ceiling were covered in cobwebs and beginning to lose their glow.
Scott glanced around, checking to make sure that no one was hiding in the corners, ready to sneak up on them. As far as he could see there wasn't a soul in site.
"Don't worry," Charlie reassured him, "there's no one around. Remember, things are opposite. It's daylight outside, which means that everyone is asleep; we're perfectly safe."
"You're sure about that?" Scott asked.
Charlie nodded, "I know we are. I've been here for a long time, and nothing's ever happened to me……Well except that lady."
"Lady? What Lady?" Scott asked, as he continued walking towards the door to the kitchen.
"A lady that keeps chasing after me at night. She scratched me once, here." She pointed to her arm, where a small scar was barely visible. "She's a nasty woman; we should watch out for her."
"Ok," Scott had reached the kitchen doors. He pushed them open, and he and Charlie stepped into a dimly lit room. The kitchen was large- not surprising considering the amount of people the chefs had to cook for. Dozens of knives and kitchen utensils were lying around on the work top. Charlie picked a small knife up and pocketed it.
"Protection," she said to Scott when he raised an eyebrow. "You might need something as well."
Scott merely smiled and indicated the laser pistol strapped to his boot. He hoped it would provide enough protection for both of them.
"Oh, no," he heard Charlie suddenly whisper.
"What is it?" Scott asked, turning to face her.
Charlie pointed at a clock, where the hands showed that it was quarter to seven. "It gets dark at around seven. The people will be out soon."
"I thought you said that we were safe."
"I know I did," Charlie insisted. "But I didn't know what the time was though, and these people can come out at any time during the night, and they come out from anywhere."
Scott grabbed Charlie's hand and together they began to run towards the kitchen doors. "We'll head upstairs," Scott said. "We should be safer there."
The two of them reached the doors, and Scott pushed it open.
A large object stood, blocking their exit.
Charlie screamed.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Gordon and Alan were searching room 1510 for the key. Virgil had agreed that the two of them should search together, because Alan was still nervous after what had happened to him, and like his brothers, he was worried about Scott.
The red-head glanced at the large grandfather clock, standing in the corner. It was seven – o – clock, according to the hands.
'Odd shaped hand,' Gordon thought to himself as he noted the shape of the hour hand.
He peered closely at it, and then his eyes widened in surprise and relief. "Alan! I found the key!"
Sure enough the 'hand' of the clock was in fact a key. It was a golden old fashioned one, which was gradually rusting with age.
The brothers ran over to the clock, and Alan open the glass door to remove the key. However as soon he removed the key, the door to the room slammed shut.
"What the?" Gordon cried, running to the door and trying to open it. The door refused to budge, no matter how hard he pulled on it.
"What's wrong with it?" Alan asked, coming over to try the door for himself. "Why won't it open?"
"I don't know," Gordon replied.
Suddenly there was a loud creaking sound coming from the wall, and two of them watched as a pine chair was pushed forward across the floor.
On the other side of the room, the grandfather clock was also shoved forward. The corner of it hit a loose floorboard and the clock toppled, over crashing to the ground.
Gordon and Alan looked at each other, having realized what this meant.
The walls were closing in on them.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story. I hope you are enjoying it so far.
DeathRealm: I admit that I don't really know how long this story will be, however we are now on the fifth chapter and they have only just found the first key! So I think we can safely say that it will be quite long.