Chapter Text
“Joey!”
Voices of the lost souls called out in agony and fury.
“Joey!”
The remnants of guilt were still there.
“Joey!!!”
“Just leave me alone…!”
Hiding inside of a closet was a man in a fetal position, his head held in guilt, as if his own judgment was approaching rapidly.
“Stop it… Please just leave me alone!!!”
His cries fell on deaf ears as the souls continued to torment him.
Mystic, Montana, and Delta had been separated from the other five in the group, and their feet were starting to hurt. Not to mention it was now beginning to drizzle and it would no doubt begin to storm sooner or later.
“Shit,” Mystic sighed as she fiddled around with the positioning on her phone. “I can’t get any signal.”
“Are we going the right way?” Delta wondered.
“Well, technically we don’t have a right way to go,” Montana said. “There’s no knowing where we’re going.”
All of a sudden, Mystic heard something coming from her phone. The desperation of contact with her other friends kept her from looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Mystic? It’s Riley.”
“Riley! Where are you? You all went off and left us behind!”
Mystic’s frustration and anxiety were growing in multitudes.
“Breathe, Mystic,” Delta advised.
Mystic huffed before continuing.
“Where are you now? What’s this number?”
“We’ve all booked into a hotel up the road. How far away are you?”
Light’s voice carried into Mystic’s ear.
“I don’t know,” Mystic shrugged. “We’ll have to call when we get there.”
“You can’t. There’s no signal.”
Now she could hear Bailey. She could also hear Alex and Vanya running around like mad.
“Well…” she began before realizing it was a pointless venture to meet up. She knew they’d all be exhausted when they got there anyway. “Doesn’t matter. Just go to bed, all of you.”
“Well listen,” Light continued. “Make sure you’re…”
Her voice began to get dodgy and cut off, prompting a confused look on Mystic’s face before the line dropped.
“Weird...” Mystic noted to herself.
“What is it?” Delta asked.
“Signal got cut off. C’mon.”
Mystic walked on ahead and the other two followed, uncertain of where the hell they were going. Soon they arrived at a gate with a sign that read SEA VIEW HOTEL.
“Well that doesn’t seem totally creepy,” Montana remarked.
“They said they were all booked up at a hotel up the road,” Mystic reminded them. “This must be what they meant.”
“Maybe they were talking about somewhere different?” Delta asked not even attempted to disguise the hope in her voice.
“We’re at a dead end here,” Mystic told her. “I’m pretty sure this was where they meant. C’mon, I’m getting tired.”
Without another word, the girl headed inside, her friends following close behind.
The inside looked a bit dated, but still relatively well-kept. There was some chipping at the wallpaper and a few odd smells, but it was otherwise your standard hotel. They headed up to the front desk and Mystic’s palm tapped against the service bell. In the background, Montana was trying every possible spot in which she could get signal until suddenly a young man popped out. He had on a fancy tuxedo with a black bowtie. His hair was a silvery-white and his eyes seemed to light up at the sight of these three newcomers. Mystic assumed that this was the proprietor; Joey Hall.
“Ah, Mystic, Montana, and Delta, I presume?” he said in a friendly tone. Montana fumbled with her phone, setting it in her jeans pocket as Joey continued, “Don’t be alarmed, I always be sure to make check-ins as swift as possible. Your friends booked you three in… Let me just check…” Flipping through the registry book, he quickly found what he was looking for. “Ah yes, rooms 101, 102, and 104 respectively. It’s all been paid for so you don’t have to worry about anything.”
Paid for? Wow.
“Oh,” Mystic exclaimed. “Well, that was quite nice of them.”
Joey nodded almost too eagerly in agreement.
“Indeed, very nice,” he continued. “And there were quite a few of you I saw as well. It’s nice to see so many… fresh, new faces… for a change.”
Delta felt as though there was something a bit off about Joey, but this hotel did look pretty run down.
“Perhaps he’s just excited to have guests,” she figured. “The place does look a bit abandoned.”
“Er, are you by chance here for the outdoor mystery hunt in the town over?” he continued.
Mystic nodded.
“Yeah, we were supposed to be camping there tonight, but-”
“There’s hardly any weather for that, now is there?” he laughed.
This prompted an awkward smile from the three of them and slight shakes of the head. Joey cleared his throat before continuing.
“Will you be staying for breakfast?"
“I think we’ll probably just be going tomorrow,” Delta said.
“That’s fine, that’s fine. And, um… If you don’t mind me asking, would you be interested in the entertainment for tonight?” asked Joey.
“Entertainment?” Montana asked.
“Tonight?” Mystic followed.
“Yes, starts around midnight, usually. It’s me doing it actually, comedy. I play this comedy character called ‘Nicholas Punch’,” he said. “He’s sort of this comedic sociopath, says things that you’re not usually supposed to say and that sort of thing. It’s quite popular with students.”
Despite her fatigue, this piqued Mystic’s interest.
“Comedic sociopath?” she questioned, leaning forward a bit. “That does actually sound kind of interesting. I’d love to see how that would play out.”
Joey’s eyes sparkled with excitement. How long he’d waited to pull back out Nicholas for his shows! Was he finally going to be able to put on his act?
“Actually, I think we’ll pass,” Delta said. “We’re pretty tired.”
Mystic whirled back around startled.
“Delta, c’mon! You really don’t wanna see what it’s like?”
“Yeah, I’m exhausted,” Montana nodded.
“You too?! Oh come on! Comedic sociopath? You’re really gonna pass on that?”
Delta gave Mystic a look of discomfort.
"Dude, normally I would," Montana yawned, "but right now, I'm just about ready to crash."
“Are you sure I can’t…twist your arm on that?” Joey asked. "Your friend here really seems to want to. I don't think you should hold her back."
“I don’t think so, we’ll all just go to bed, probably,” Delta said quickly.
“C’mon!” Mystic groaned. “It could be hilarious!”
“Mystic,” Delta said in a firm tone that indicated that she wasn’t going to let up.
“Delta!”
Mystic was being stubborn as well.
“I’m not discussing it anymore,” Delta said. “We’re going to bed.”
Mystic growled in objection, but Delta was having none of it.
“Fine, fine, fine,” Joey sighed, trying to maintain a pleasant demeanor.
“Which way are the rooms?” Montana asked.
“Oh, just take the lift, you’re all on the first floor,” Joey pointed to the elevator. “Oh, and make sure to drop your keys off in the box over here if you will, please, tomorrow.”
“Okay!” Delta called out as they dragged Mystic to the elevator while she mouthed “I’m sorry” to the eccentric man.
He waited until they were out of earshot before he scowled.
“Best show in town within miles and barely any takers…” he muttered. “One. Only one was interested--could've gotten two--I was so close! Nearly in my grasp! If it weren't for those friends of hers…” He sighed and headed to the front door to lock up for the night. “Who needs real entertainment when you have ‘You Tune’ and ‘My Face’ or whatever… Nothing but stupid, uncultured-”
“Nicholas doesn’t like rude people! They’re naughty, so naughty!”
A bass-baritone mocking voice called from the other room; it sounded somewhat similar to Joey, and yet not.
“Don’t… Don’t start this again.” Joey groaned as he went back to the front desk. “I don’t want to hear it, okay? Not tonight.”
“Naughty people like those are bad eggs! They need to be taught a lesson!”
The muscles inside of him began to constrict as his temper began to take a turn before grabbing a baseball bat and heading inside of a room behind the desk.
“Shut up! Just shut up!” he yelled at his reflection in a mirror inside the room. “You always do this, they’re paying customers! They haven’t done anything to you, and we almost had one!” He looked sadly into the mirror in front of him. “Just leave them alone…” The reflection just chuckled maliciously.
“Bad eggs need cracking! Whack ‘em hard and crack their shell, kick ‘em down the stairs to Hell!” The voice ascended in tone before dropping back down as the mirror in front of him revealed a demented version of him with horns, blue skin, and heterosexuality. “You know what you need to do, Joey. Show them who’s boss. That’s the way to do it!”
All Joey saw before passing out was a flash of light-blue.
At around 2:30 am, as she was getting ready for bed, Mystic heard a shriek.
It was a familiar one and it made her blood run cold.
“Shit...that sounded like Riley!”
Rushing out of her room, her eyes darted around the hall before hearing a noise behind her. Whirling around, she had to restrain herself from shrieking when she saw Delta with Montana following just behind.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Mystic exclaimed in a harsh whisper. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“You heard that shriek too, right?” Montana asked.
Mystic nodded and suddenly they heard the sound of faint talking around the corner. Peeking over, a horrific sight came into their vision.
Riley was being set on the floor, a cloth over her mouth and nose and above her, holding her….
“That’s right, go to sleep…”
was Joey Hall, the hotel proprietor.
Delta squeaked in a panic, but Montana quickly placed a hand over her mouth. Unfortunately she wasn’t quick enough.
Joey’s head whirled towards the corner and the three backed out of his line of sight.
“Who’s there?!” he snapped.
His voice sounded mad and demented, meaning any confrontation with him wasn’t going to end well.
Mystic turned to the two and gestured for them to follow her. As quickly and quietly as possible, they rushed back to her room, only to find….
“I can’t get it open….” she gasped.
“Don’t you have a key?” Delta asked.
“I didn’t take the key because I didn’t think I’d get locked out of my own—!”
“Show yourselves!”
They all froze as Joey’s voice was coming closer.
“Ground floor, quick!” Montana exclaimed quietly.
As quiet as mimes, they dashed for the elevator and went down to the lobby. Immediately they began to inspect each area.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“Dammit!”
After about a minute, Montana’s fear was slowly turning to frustration as she tried to open the front doors.
“Locked.”
Another kick at the glass only caused her to cry out as the force flung itself back into her leg.
“Well, by all means, keep banging on them loudly,” Mystic snapped sarcastically. “I’m sure they’ll just break open.”
“Hey, at least it’s something!”
In the back room, Delta was frantically fumbling with the rotary phone.
“Line’s dead as well,” she whimpered out to them.
”Just keep looking; we can’t waste any time!” Mystic snapped.
While the two looked around the floor a bit more, Mystic decided to search the front desk. Just like the back room phone, the one at reception was out as well. However she managed to find a key marked Master Key #2.
“This should help,” she said as the cold metal hit her hand.
She was just about to leave when all of a sudden, static hit against her ears.
"Joey!" Voices called out.
Mystic’s eye made a beeline for a strange contraption sat on the front desk. It was a sort of box with a speaker-like thing on it. On a small plaque on the box, it read Ghost and Spirit Voice Receiver.
"Get out of the hotel!" A man's voice warned.
It was coming out of the speaker in the voice receiver…..
"Get out while you can!" A little girl's voice warned. "You have to find out what he did, and tell everyone. Make him realize what he did!"
What he did...
All of this was coming from that spirit box, and they were telling her to get out of Joey Hall’s hotel, to find out what he did; so then…
At that moment, Mystic felt a huge wash of relief that she hadn’t gone to see the comedy show.