Chapter 1: The Arrival
Notes:
Just a heads-up, some of these chapters may be shorter than the ones found in Part 1 of this series, "The Ride", because I'm trying not to beat around the bush too much in my writing so I'm gonna try to choose quality over quantity whenever I get into that situation (but still add in some more quantity if I feel it still fits in some way). This part of the series I can already tell will definitely be harder to write because I have a lot less to work with when it comes to what happens in the story (the first part was easier because I had the actual ride in real life to refer to whenever I needed to describe what was happening or what the setting was). But I'm still going to try my absolute hardest to make this good! I'm so excited to start this part of this series, and I hope all of you enjoy every last chapter of it, no matter how long or short! Anyway, enjoy the first chapter!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
POP!
The orbble instantly vanished without a trace as Sylvia landed on the ground, Wander sitting on her back.
"Are you sure there's an orbble station here, Wander?"
"I mean, the map says this planet has one."
The two of them looked around, but they couldn't find any sign of an orbble station around.
Well, that was sort of bound to be the case, seeing how foggy this place is.
"Well, buddy, I really hope that map of yours is right. We're completely dry of orbble juice, and I highly doubt anyone would pass by here."
"Hey! Maybe we should..."
Wander started to get off of Sylvia's back, but the zbornak knew that was coming. And this was really not the place for him to do that. She immediately grabbed his arm before he could run off.
"Wander, we're not splitting up to find it. Not here, at least."
"Right, sorry. Forgot about the fog."
"You're okay, just please stay close to me this time."
"You got it, Syl!"
Sylvia smiled warmly at Wander. He really was getting better at listening to her whenever she told him not to run off, and she was proud of him for that!
The two of them began to look around the planet for any signs of an orbble station.
They did trail off from each other a little bit to cover more ground, but Sylvia made sure to stay close to Wander so that she didn't lose him.
The fog made it very hard to find anything here.
That didn't stop them from looking, though.
However, after quite a while of searching, it was apparent that if there was an orbble station here, this fog was hiding it way too well.
It was getting pretty late.
They needed to get going so they could find a different planet to crash on for the night.
But if the fog doesn't clear up for them to find an orbble station (again, if there even is one here), then they may have to set up camp on this planet.
Sylvia decided maybe they should just wait the fog out.
She turned to let Wander know of the pla...
...
Why was she surprised when she found no Wander with her?...
...
"Wander!! Didn't I tell you to stay with me?!"
...
"Wander?!"
...
"Wander, this is really not the time for..."
"Uh...Sylvia?..."
...
She stopped mid-sentence, hearing her best friend's voice filled with...confusion...
...
"You might wanna see this..." Wander called out...
...
Sylvia went in the direction from which she heard Wander's voice coming from...
...
Not long after, she saw Wander...
...
He was staring up at something...
...
"Buddy?...Did you find the orbble station?"
"No..."
...
Sylvia stopped once she was standing next to her little buddy and looked up as well.
"Then what did you...find..."
...
From where they were standing, the fog allowed them to see what it was...
...
It wasn't an orbble station...
...
It was a very tall building...
...
Its design was a mix of Gothic Revival and Moorish Revival architecture...
...
Not a single light was on...
...
"What is this place?" Sylvia wondered out loud.
The two friends spotted the name of the place just above the front door.
"HOTEL HIGHTOWER"
Is what read.
"Huh, no kidding," Sylvia said.
The place looked abandoned...
...
Completely run down...
...
Like nobody has been in it for centuries...
...
"Well, it's certainly no orbble station..." Sylvia remarked...
...
Wander started to move towards the front door...
...
"Wander, what are you doing?"
"Seeing if I can find help!" He really was so innocent. It sometimes worried Sylvia.
"Buddy, I highly doubt that there's anyone in there who can help...if there's anyone in there at all. And besides, just looking at this place gives me a bad feeling."
"I don't think we have much of a choice, Syl. There's clearly no orbble station here, so maybe there's a chance we can find something inside to help us get out of here!"
"Or maybe there's nothing in there at all. I'm just saying, Wander, this place looks like nobody has been inside of it for who even knows how long. What if it's dangerous?"
"We face dangerous stuff all the time! And, hey, maybe we don't have to this time! All we need to do is go in, look around for a bit, see if we can find help, and get out of here once we do!"
"And if we don't?"
"Then we can find another way out of here."
Sylvia had to admit that she did appreciate the fact that Wander was starting to get in the habit of thinking things through beforehand.
And he did have a point about them not really having any other option of getting out of here.
"Alright, fine. Let's do it."
"Ugh, Syl, why do you always-wait, what?..."
Wander was so prepared for Sylvia not to listen to him once again...did she actually just agree to go through with a plan of his?
Sylvia chuckled a bit at how confident Wander was that she'd say no. Really goes to show how often this kind of thing happens between them.
"Yeah. Like you said, we don't have much of a choice, anyway."
Wander smiled out of excitement. It was a pretty rare occasion that they tried out one of Wander's plans.
"There is just one thing, though. How do we get in? The doors are most likely..."
As Sylvia was saying that, Wander went up to the door to check if it was locked...
...
It wasn't...
...
The door opened right up...
...
"Oh...what do you know?"
The two were both equally surprised.
Notes:
If you've read the first part of this series, "The Ride", I think you can already guess what our two favorite space travelers are about to go through. Or maybe you don't! And that's okay! I should warn you (especially if you've read "The Ride") that I really do plan to make this part of this series way darker and a lot scarier than "The Ride". It shouldn't be too bad if I'm being honest, but if it does become too much for you, you definitely don't have to keep reading.
Please leave kudos, comment your thoughts below, bookmark, and subscribe to this story if you enjoyed this! And if you have any feedback on this chapter that I can adjust, change, add, remove, etc. to make it better or fix any characterization if Wander and/or Sylvia are out of character or there isn't enough characterization, please comment below (but please be nice about it) your critique and I will fix it as soon as I can! Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you in Chapter 2, coming out hopefully tomorrow!
Chapter Text
The door opened right up...
...
"Oh...what do you know?"
The two were both equally surprised.
They peeked their heads through the doorway to try to get a good look inside the hotel...
...
It was very dark and ominous inside...
...
"Hello?...Anybody here?..." Wander whispered...
...
Nobody answered...
...
The duo walked through the doorway and into the hotel lobby.
The doors shut behind them with a slightly loud slam...
...
It startled both of them just a bit...
...
But they were inside, now.
"Okay?...Now what?..." Sylvia whispered to Wander.
"I guess we should look around?...See if we can find anything?..."
"Alright...just please stay close to me this time, bud...I don't trust this place..."
"Yeah, me neither..."
With that, the two friends began to look around the lobby, staying close to each other.
Wander had pulled out two flashlights from his hat for him and Sylvia to use.
They didn't illuminate much, but it still worked.
This hotel was creepy on the outside, but it was even creepier on the inside...
...
Wander started to cough a little bit...
...
"Wander?...You okay there, buddy?..."
...
"Uh huh...it's just very dusty in here..."
...
Sylvia started to sense the dust as well...
...
This place has clearly not been properly maintained in a very long time...
...
They kept searching for any signs of help off of this planet...
...
One thing that was particularly interesting about this hotel lobby was that it was decorated...
...
Like it had just hosted some kind of fancy party or something...
...
What the occasion was, the duo was not sure about...
...
Another thing that caught Wander's eye was a drink in a glass cup...
...
It wasn't empty...
...
And it was very moldy...
...
It was pretty disgusting...
...
But it got Wander to start thinking about something...
...
"Sylvia, come see this!" Wander kept his voice at a whisper level, but still loud enough for his best friend to hear.
Sylvia came over and looked at the glass cup as well.
She was equally intrigued.
"This drink hasn't been emptied...like it was accidentally left here..." Wander started...
...
"You don't think that the person who had this drink left in a hurry...do you?..." He concluded...
...
"I don't know, buddy...I guess it's possible..."
...
Wander thought of another possibility...
"Well, there was definitely a party going on here...what if something happened that made everyone flee this place?..." He asked Sylvia...
...
"You mean like...something bad?..."
...
"Yeah..."
...
The two of them hoped that wasn't the case...
...
But something told them that it was...
...
"Maybe we should see if we can find more clues...and hopefully something to help us get out of here." Sylvia whispered.
She wasn't usually one to want to explore more to find some kind of hidden truths, but this was all way too intriguing to just ignore.
They looked around the dusty and dark lobby some more.
The flashlights allowed them to somewhat see what it looked like.
It seemed like it was an admittedly beautiful lobby, but the sheer amount of dust, cobwebs, everything that made it obvious that this place was abandoned just unfortunately took that beauty away.
Sylvia was looking over by the check-in counter while Wander was searching around a sitting area...
...
"Wander...I think I found something else!" Sylvia whispered to her little buddy.
"Really? Lemme see!" Wander whispered back as he walked over to the check-in counter where Sylvia was.
Pointing their flashlights at what Sylvia found, they saw that it was a calendar...
...
A very old calendar...
...
It read "December 1899" at the top...
...
All of the days were crossed off except the 31st...
...
That day was labeled "Press conference + Party"...
...
Just the fact that the day wasn't crossed off sent a bad feeling down the two friends' spines...
...
It was clear to them that nobody has been in this hotel since that day...
...
But the question is...why?...
...
They exchanged concerned looks at each other...
...
"Okay, something bad definitely must've happened here..." Sylvia whispered...
...
"I have a feeling that you're right, Syl..." Wander quietly responded...
...
"Buddy...something tells me we shouldn't be here...maybe we should get out..."
"I think so, too...but what if there's someone here who needs help?..."
"Wander...that's literally just us right now...WE are the ones who need help."
"Okay, you're right...but I meant what if there's someone else who needs help?"
"I understand where you're coming from, Wander, but I'm telling you, there's no way there's anyone else in this..."
Before Sylvia could finish her sentence...Wander suddenly cut her off with a "Sshh!"...
...
And it wasn't a playful one...
...
It was one that he did when he genuinely heard something...
...
"Sylvia...do you hear that?..."
...
Sylvia listened closely...
...
She didn't hear anything...
...
"No?...What is it?..."
...
Wander carefully looked around...
...
"There!" He whispered as he pointed his flashlight at a set of elevator doors at the back of the lobby...
...
They were pried open with a single wooden plank holding them in place...
...
The two friends quietly walked over to it...
...
"Wander...what exactly do you hear?..."
...
"I'm not sure...I wanna know, though...can you make sure nobody sneaks up behind us just in case? I'm gonna look inside."
"I got your back, buddy."
Sylvia was always happy to make sure no one tried to hurt her Wander.
Speaking of whom, Wander peaked his head in between the pried open elevator doors as he pointed his flashlight upwards...
...
"See anything, bud?" Sylvia whispered to him...
...
"Not really...But that noise is definitely coming from up there...Do you see anyone?..."
"No, not as far as the eye can see in this light...or...more like hardly any lighting at all..."
Sylvia still kept Lady and Duchess (her fists) ready just in case somebody tried to pull a fast one on her and Wander...
...
"Can you describe what you're hearing, Wander?..."
"I'm not entirely sure, but it almost sounds like metal screeching..."
...
Just those words alone made Sylvia worry even more...
...
"What do you mean by that?..."
...
"Again, I'm not sure...maybe I'm just hearing thi..."
...
He was cut off by the faint sound of a man screaming...
...
It was getting louder...
...
And louder...
...
Sylvia finally heard it now, too...
...
And though she knew it could be putting her in danger, she looked up inside the elevator shaft with Wander who was still pointing the flashlight upwards inside the shaft...
...
"You hear that, too, right?..." Wander whispered to Sylvia...
...
"Yeah...What is that?..." Sylvia whispered back...
...
They listened for a bit longer and squinted their eyes in hopes they could make out the source of the sound...
...
Eventually...they saw something...
...
It was a glowing green light...
...
It was getting brighter and brighter...
...
The two friends glanced at each other in worry before looking back up...
...
The glowing green light eventually seemed to take a more physical form as it got closer...
...
The metal screeching and the sound of the man screaming was louder than it had been before...
...
And it finally became clear what it was...
...
It was a falling elevator!!!...
...
Wander and Sylvia realized this and with a sudden yelp, they ducked their heads out of the elevator shaft just in time as the elevator car crashed to the ground...
...
The two friends found themselves on the floor staring at the elevator...
...
They quickly got up and ran towards it to see the damage and if anyone needed help...
...
However...when they looked inside...
...
There was nothing...
...
It was just an empty elevator shaft like it was before...
...
Like an elevator car didn't just crash-land on the ground...
...
"What the grop?!...Where did it go?!..." Sylvia whispered.
"You saw it, too, right?!..." Wander whispered to her.
"Yeah, of course!...What is even going on here?..." Worry began to consume Sylvia's voice...
...
"I have no idea...but I think you were onto something when you said we shouldn't be here..." Wander responsed, worry also taking over his voice...
...
"Definitely. Orbble juice or not, I say we should get out of here!"
"Way ahead of you there, Syl!"
And with that, the two friends quickly and quietly ran back to the front door on the opposite end of the lobby.
Wander grabbed the doorknob and began to turn it...
...
He bolted himself right at the door to get out...
...
And ended up slamming himself right into it.
"OW!!"
Wander fell backwards as Sylvia rushed to his aid.
"Buddy!! Are you okay?!"
Sylvia gently and carefully helped him up to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine...But what just happened there?..."
They looked back at the front door...
...
Walking up to it, Wander put his hand back on the doorknob and tried to turn it again...
...
It wouldn't turn...
...
"Wander...is it not opening?..."
"No...it's not..."
"Let me try..."
Sylvia took over and tried to turn the doorknob...
...
Still...it wouldn't turn...
...
"Are we...locked in here?..." Wander felt himself begin to panic...
...
"No, we'll be okay, buddy...I'm sure your hat has a key to open this..."
...
Before Sylvia finished her sentence...
...
She noticed something about the front door upon further inspection...
...
There was no keyhole...
...
In fact...there was nothing on there that indicated it could be locked or unlocked...
...
Wander took notice of that, too...
...
"Wander...I think we're trapped in here..."
...
She didn't think they were...she KNEW they were...
...
Wander began to shake in fear...
...
He huddled closer to Sylvia...
...
"Syl...I don't know about you...but I'm starting to get real scared right now..." Wander's voice nearly cracked in terror as he whispered to Sylvia...
...
Sylvia held her little buddy close to her...
...
"Me too, bud...me too..."
...
They looked around in the dark lobby...sensing that they weren't alone...
Meanwhile...in the penthouse on the top floor...
...
Wander and Sylvia had been spied on...
...
"Well, well, well...it appears we have our first two visitors in centuries."
"No!...Please, master...don't hurt them! They didn't do anything to you!..."
"SILENCE!!!...You know this already...nobody has to physically do or say anything to me."
"But they're just two innocent beings!...If you must torture someone, stick with me!"
"I just plunged you down the elevator again just now...stop forgetting there's a cooldown timer of when I have you relive your death."
"Right...sorry, master..."
"Besides...I'm getting pretty sick of tormenting only you for all of eternity...these two, however, are fresh meat...I can already tell what will torment them just by looking at them!...Oh...this is gonna be fun..."
And with that, evil laughter filled the air in the penthouse.
Notes:
Who was spying on Wander and Sylvia? Who were they talking to just now? What do Wander and Sylvia's findings in the lobby mean? What is wrong with this hotel? What will happen next to our two favorite space travelers? All of these questions and more will be answered throughout the course of this story, so stay tuned for more!
Please leave kudos, comment your thoughts below, bookmark, and subscribe to this story if you enjoyed this! And if you have any feedback on this chapter that I can adjust, change, add, remove, etc. to make it better or fix any characterization if Wander and/or Sylvia are out of character or there isn't enough characterization, please comment below (but please be nice about it) your critique and I will fix it as soon as I can! Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you in Chapter 3, coming out hopefully in a week from now!
Chapter 3: The Artifacts
Notes:
This chapter takes place not long after Chapter 2 does (it's still the same night as that chapter, along with Chapter 1, takes place in), but we jumped ahead in time by just a little bit (no longer than an hour or maybe just a tad bit more). To summarize the time jump from the end of Chapter 2 to now, Wander and Sylvia have been exploring the abandoned hotel after unsuccessfully trying to open the front doors since they still want to find a way to get out of here and, hopefully, find something to help them get off of this planet soon. They didn't want to, but they knew they didn't really have much of a choice. So that brings us to right now at the beginning of Chapter 3! Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Wander and Sylvia weren't sure how many hours it had been...
...
Could've been under one...could've been two or more...
...
But regardless, it feels like they've been wandering around this creepy hotel forever now...
...
With the front door being ruled out as a potential way to escape, the duo needed to find another way to get out of here...
...
And preferably fast...
...
The two friends didn't dare split apart from each other...
...
While nothing bad has happened yet besides that ghostly elevator crash back in the lobby, Wander and Sylvia had a bad feeling that they were being watched...
...
They couldn't prove it as they hadn't seen anyone...or anything...else in this hotel...
...
But they couldn't help but sense that someone...or something...else was lurking around...
...
Biding their time...
...
Waiting to strike at any given moment...
...
Sylvia kept a protective arm around her little buddy, Wander, as they carefully pointed their flashlights around them to see where they were...
...
They had now been further upstairs in the hotel for quite a bit now...walking through the dark, dusty, creepy, abandoned hallways...
...
The two of them wanted to comment on everything they were seeing...but they just couldn't...
...
One, because it was way too dark to properly see anything at all...
...
And two, because if something was roaming these halls that wasn't them...they needed to stay quiet to not alert it...
...
Wander usually would run off and explore despite Sylvia's objections and warnings...but for probably the first time ever...he didn't...
...
Sylvia knew she should feel relieved and less stressed since Wander was finally listening to her, but she had to admit that how she was feeling was not at all what she had expected...
...
She could tell that Wander was terrified...
...
She couldn't blame him at all; she was just as scared herself...
...
But she couldn't even think about her own fear, seeing just how scared Wander was...
...
And that's why he was sticking by her side...
...
He needed her to protect him like she always has been...
...
And she will.
She was not about to leave his side...
...
They kept searching and looking around the dark and empty hallways...
...
Trying to find anything that could help them get out of here...
...
They then heard that same metal screeching and screaming man plunging down that elevator shaft...
...
It just passed right by their floor...
...
That poor guy...
...
This might as well be the millionth time tonight that Wander and Sylvia heard him falling in that elevator...
...
There was definitely something wrong with this place...
...
There was no doubt about it...
...
Eventually, the two of them stopped at what appeared to be a vault door...
...
Above it was labeled "DO NOT ENTER"...
...
That was ominous...
...
They had been seeing an exact copy of this door on every floor they've traversed tonight...
...
What if there was something important inside?...
...
"Sylvia, I know you're not gonna agree... But I feel like we should go in..." Wander whispered.
The zbornak wanted to object...just like she did every other time they came across this kind of door tonight...
...
But something told her that maybe Wander's gut is onto something here...
...
"Okay... Fine... Just please keep staying with me, alright, bud?..."
"Don't worry, Syl... I do not trust this place any more than you do..."
...
Sylvia reached out and grabbed the wheel...
...
She began to slowly turn it so it wouldn't be too loud...
...
Wander turned around away from the door to make sure nobody was there...
...
He didn't dare use his flashlight in case there was something...
...
"Almost got it, buddy... See anything?..."
"No...not reall..."
...
He fell silent...
...
Sylvia looked down at him...
...
"Wander?... What is it?... Is someone there?..."
...
He began to breathe a little heavier than before...
...
He pointed out in front of him...
...
Sylvia looked in the direction he was pointing...
...
What she saw made her blood go cold...
...
There thankfully wasn't actually someone or something right there...
...
But what the two friends did see was not any better...
...
There was a green light on the wall coming from an adjacent hallway to the one they were in...
...
It was as if someone...or something...was walking down it...
...
Wander and Sylvia wasted no time...
...
They ducked into the vault doorway and shut it behind them before whatever was there could see them...
...
They were breathing heavily...
...
"We really aren't alone here... Are we?..." Sylvia whispered as she pressed her hands against the vault door...
...
She looked over at Wander...
...
He was starting to hyperventilate...
...
"What was that?..." His whispering voice cracked again...
...
"I have no idea, bud... I have no idea..." Sylvia wasn't any less scared than Wander was right now...
...
"Well... Now where are we?..." Wander quietly asked...
...
They took out their flashlights and turned them on...
...
They shined them out behind them...
...
What they illuminated didn't make them feel less scared...but it didn't make them more scared either...
...
It intrigued them...
...
It was a gigantic storage room...
...
It seemed to take up the entire height of the hotel...
...
And it was filled top-to-bottom with all kinds of artifacts...
...
"Whoa..." The duo simultaneously whispered...
...
"What is all of this?..." Wander whispered...
...
"Only one way to find out..." Sylvia quietly responded...
...
The two friends walked through the storage room, looking at all of the artifacts...
...
Every floor had different kinds of them...
...
Statues...
...
Relics...
...
Treasures...
...
Everything you could imagine as an artifact was all here in this storage room...
...
All of them were very diverse...
...
As if they had been collected from all parts of the galaxy...
...
Or even other parts of the universe, for that matter...
...
Each one was labeled something different...
...
There was some other information given about them, but not a lot, unfortunately...
...
It was all still very interesting, indeed...
...
Wander got the urge to take out a notepad and a camera from his hat to record their findings...
...
"What's all that for, Wander?..."
"I don't know... Something tells me we might need to know all of this later on..."
...
After quite a while of exploring and looking around at all of the various artifacts and traversing to the 12th floor of the hotel (the one just below the top floor), the duo found another vault door on that level and found themselves back in another dark and creepy hotel hallway just like before...
...
They quietly closed the vault door behind them and began to walk through the hallway...
...
There was the sound of that falling elevator again...
...
It sounded even closer this time...
...
It was just as unsettling as the millions of other times the duo heard it tonight...
...
As they were walking...
...
Out of the corner of their eyes...
...
Wander and Sylvia saw another glowing green light in an adjacent hallway...
...
They ducked out of view...
...
Hugging each other close as they waited for it to pass...
...
Sylvia began to poke her head around the corner...
"Sylvia, no! What are you doing?!" Wander kept his voice at a whisper as he looked up at his best friend, who was holding him in her arms.
"I wanna see what it is." Sylvia quietly responded.
Wander has to admit, he wanted to see what it was as well...
...
He also poked his head around the corner...
...
The green light appeared to disappear around the corner...
...
Neither of them could tell what it was...
...
Sylvia got up, holding Wander's little body close to her in her arms...
...
She carefully crept down the adjacent hallway as Wander hid his face in her chest, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to hide himself...
...
He began to shake and quietly whimper...
...
"Sshh...It's okay, buddy, I won't let it hurt you..."
...
Sylvia neared the corner of the hallway...
...
She could still somewhat make out a green light...
...
Something was definitely there...
...
As fast as lightning, she peered her head around the corner...
...
Nothing...
...
There was nothing there...
...
"What the?..." Sylvia whispered...
...
Wander dared to take a peek...
...
He didn't see anything either...
...
Both of them looked at each other, confused...
...
"What the grop?... You saw that green light, too, right?..." Wander whispered...
...
"Yeah... What is going on here?..." Sylvia whispered back...
...
She gently set Wander back down on his feet...
...
"Maybe we should go back that way just in case..." Wander quietly suggested, pointing in the direction they came in.
"Good idea, bud..." Sylvia carefully took one of Wander's hands in one of hers as they used their flashlights to illuminate their path...
...
Not long after they started roaming the hallway again...Wander heard what sounded like paper crackling under his shoes...
...
The two friends froze in place...
...
Unsure if they just alerted something...
...
They quietly sighed in relief when nothing came out at them...
...
They shined their flashlights on the floor to see what Wander stepped on...
...
It was a piece of paper...
...
Wander picked it up...
...
He turned it around...
...
It was a journal entry...
...
Of what appeared to be an artifact...
...
It talked about what it supposedly was and how this writer intended to...
...
Steal it?...
...
"What is it, buddy?..."
"It looks like a journal entry... On an artifact... It sounds like this person stole it..."
"Is it an artifact we saw?..."
"Wait... Actually..."
That made Wander remember something...
...
He took out the notepad and photos he took in the storage room from his hat...
...
He looked through the pictures and his notes...
...
He found a match...
...
"It is... See?..."
He showed the journal entry, photo, and his notes to Sylvia...
...
"So whoever wrote this is an artifact thief?..." Sylvia quietly said.
"I guess so..."
"Do you think all of those other artifacts were stolen by that person, too?..."
Wander shined his flashlight ahead...
...
The hallway it illuminated showed a bunch of other ripped-out journal entries lying scattered across the floor...
...
Sylvia looked behind her and saw it, too...
...
"If I'm right... Then I think we're about to get our answer to that..." Wander whispered in response...
...
With that, the two friends looked at every journal entry on the floor...
...
Each and every one of them matched Wander's photos and notes from the storage room...
...
Not a single artifact they came across was excluded in any of these entries...
...
And they all had one thing in common...
...
Whoever wrote these stole all of them...
...
Wander and Sylvia were shocked...
...
How could a single person have stolen this many artifacts and not ever get caught?...
...
How that was possible was beyond the duo...
...
However, after they matched all of the entries to an artifact they saw in the storage room...
...
They found one more entry...
...
"Wait... There's one more?... But we already matched all of the other ones..." Sylvia whispered.
"Well, maybe we just missed one... There was a lot, after all..."
"Yeah... There really was..."
...
Wander and Sylvia quietly picked up the last journal entry...
...
They shined their flashlights on it...
...
What was on it made them cringe...
...
It was a creepy-looking totem of some sort...
...
It had a blank face with its eyes closed...
...
It had pointy ears...
...
It seemed to have sharp teeth...
...
A small skull on its stomach...
...
Really weird armor covering its torso...
...
And it was holding a spear in one hand with a small dagger in the other...
...
"Whoa... What the grop is that?..." Sylvia quietly wondered aloud...
...
They read the entry...
...
It said that this artifact is an idol named "Shiriki Utundu"...
...
It comes from an uncharted part of a planet far away in the galaxy...
...
Known for its unique flora and fauna...
...
This idol came from an ancient tribe that held it as its sacred item...
...
The writer put how he tried to buy it, but the tribe refused any offers...
...
And, so, this person ended up stealing it along with their partner, Archibald Smelding...
...
But the tribe made little (if any at all) effort to stop them...
...
The writer explained how they found it weird yet convenient at the same time...
...
The entry said it was almost as if the tribe wanted them to take this Shiriki Utundu idol...
...
And it was also strange how every other tribe that saw them leave the planet with the idol showered them with gifts...
...
But this writer clearly had no remorse for taking this idol...
...
They didn't even seem to have any regard for others or even themselves, for that matter...
...
But what really concerned Wander and Sylvia the most...
...
Was the part about there being rumors of this idol supposedly being cursed...
...
The writer, though, made it clear that they didn't believe those rumors to be true for even one second...
...
The journal entry stopped before it could provide more information...
...
The two friends gave each other a fearful look...
...
"Wander... Do you know what this could mean?..."
"I... I think I do..."
"What if this person successfully brought this idol back here... And it was actually cursed?..."
"And what if something happened with this idol after that... And it caused all of this?..."
"What if... What if that green light we saw in the hallway and that falling elevator... Has something, if not everything, to do with this Shiriki Utundu thing?..." Sylvia felt uneasy just saying that...
...
Wander huddled closer to her as she held him in her arms again in an effort to comfort her terrified little buddy...
...
The two friends looked all around themselves in the hallway...
...
Waiting for something to jump out...
...
After a little bit...
...
Something startled them...
...
But it wasn't a person or a figure...
...
It was the sound of a phone ringing.
Notes:
What was that green light Wander and Sylvia saw in the hallway? What is up with that ghostly elevator? Who is the person who wrote those journal entries? Did they really steal all of those artifacts that our two favorite space travelers found in that giant storage room? Are Wander and Sylvia's suspicions about Shiriki Utundu correct? Who is Shiriki Utundu? Who is responsible for the phone ringing? All of these questions and more will be answered in the upcoming chapters, so stay tuned for more!
Please leave kudos, comment your thoughts below, bookmark, and subscribe to this story if you enjoyed this! And if you have any feedback on this chapter that I can adjust, change, add, remove, etc. to make it better or fix any characterization if Wander and/or Sylvia are out of character or there isn't enough characterization, please comment below (but please be nice about it) your critique and I will fix it as soon as I can! Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you in Chapter 4, coming out hopefully tomorrow!
Chapter 4: The Calls
Notes:
Heads-up, this may be a bit of a shorter chapter because I do still want to choose quality over quantity, but I'm gonna try my best to get both in! And another heads-up, starting from the end of this chapter is when I plan to really put things into full gear, and this story should begin to get actually scary now. With that in mind, enjoy the fourth chapter!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The two friends looked all around themselves in the hallway...
...
Waiting for something to jump out...
...
After a little bit...
...
Something startled them...
...
But it wasn't a person or a figure...
...
It was the sound of a phone ringing...
...
Wander and Sylvia weren't sure where exactly it was coming from...
...
But it sounded fairly close...
...
The duo rose to their feet and carefully began to follow the sound...
...
With everything that's been happening, they knew they could not trust this hotel...
...
After passing by a few rooms with nothing super paranormal happening (thank grop)...
...
They reached the room where the phone ringing sound was coming from...
...
Quietly shutting the door behind them, they approached the phone...
...
Sylvia kept watch as Wander picked up the phone to answer it...
...
"Hello?..." Wander quietly answered...
...
Nothing...
...
Wander tried again...
...
"Hello?..."
...
No response...
...
"Well?..." Sylvia whispered to Wander as he hung up the phone...
...
"There was no one there..."
"What do you mean 'no one was there'?..."
"I don't know, Syl, all I know is that nobody seemed to be on the other lin..."
Wander was interrupted by the sound of another phone ringing...
...
It was coming from another room across the corridor...
...
The two friends jerked their heads in the direction of the sound...
...
They glanced at each other with confused looks...
...
Once again, they followed the sound across the hallway until they reached the room the next phone was in...
...
Like before, Sylvia kept watch as Wander answered...
...
But it was the same thing as before...
...
It was just silent...
...
"Okay, what the grop is going on?..." Sylvia quietly wondered out loud.
"Maybe it was a wrong number?... Bad connection?..." Wander whispered possibilities...
...
RING!
...
Again?...
...
Wander and Sylvia were starting to get frustrated with these stupid phone calls...
...
Twice in a row now, they heard nobody on the other side...
...
They decided to wait it out...
...
Eventually, the ringing did stop...
...
But before they could say anything else...
...
That same third phone began ringing again...
...
"That phone's gonna keep ringing unless we answer it... Isn't it?..." A pretty annoyed Sylvia whispered.
"Looks like it..." Wander surprisingly sounded no less annoyed.
They followed the sound to the third phone...
...
Sylvia answered it this time...
...
"Okay, look, whoever this is, this isn't funny. It's starting to get really frustrating and we'd appreciate it if you..."
She was cut off by the sound of heavy breathing on the other line...
...
"Sylvia?... Is someone there?..."
"I... I think so?..."
She gave Wander the phone as he listened...
...
He heard the breathing too...
...
"That's so weird..." Was Wander's quiet response.
"I know..."
Sylvia hung up the phone...
...
"I can tell there's gonna be a fourth phone call... I just know it..." Sylvia whispered...
...
She was right...
...
"Geez... Whoever's calling must really wanna talk to us..." Sylvia quietly said...
...
After finding the room with the fourth phone...
...
It was similar to before...
...
But this time...
...
They heard a voice...
...
A man's voice...
...
He only said one word before hanging up...
...
"Leave!"...
...
"'Leave'?... What could that mean?..." Wander thought out loud.
"No clue..." Sylvia replied...
...
The duo instantly went from annoyed to intrigued again...
...
Silently...they waited to see if there was gonna be a fifth phone call...
...
This time...they did get a little more...
...
But not much, unfortunately...
...
They just couldn't tell what this mysterious man was trying to say...
...
Whether it was because the connection was awful in this hotel, or that he wasn't saying much at all, it wasn't getting the duo very far in their investigation...
...
Thankfully, though, they kept getting more and more phone calls throughout the hotel...
...
Each one gave them slightly more than the last...
...
Every single call had that same man begging them to leave...
...
He didn't sound evil...
...
He sounded like he was trying to help them...
...
When he wasn't telling them to leave...he was saying that "he" will find them...
...
Wander and Sylvia's question was what the man meant by "he"...
...
They could tell this man wasn't referring to himself...
...
So who could possibly be this "he" that he kept on reiterating so many times?...
...
After about the upteenth phone call that night...
...
All was silent...
...
The two friends quietly waited for yet another phone call...
...
But it was taking forever...
...
Wander took this moment to pull Sylvia aside...
...
"Syl, I wanna talk to you about all of this..."
"Oh... Okay... What about it?..."
"As you know, I've been taking notes on everything we've seen since we first came in here. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I can tell you what I have found."
Sylvia listened intently. Wander took out his notes, photos of the artifacts, the journal entries, and a flashlight from his hat. They were currently in a different room where they had just finished another weird phone call.
"What I've managed to gather from all of this is that this hotel is clearly abandoned and is most definitely haunted... And based on that calendar in the lobby, it seems that nobody has been inside this hotel since December 31st, 1899... Why exactly I'm still not sure about... But I've concluded that whatever the reason is is not a good one... Just that moldy drink alone makes it obvious that people left in a hurry... Or maybe even were running for their lives... We also know that somebody affiliated with this place was an artifact thief... Just the giant storage room and journal entries by themselves give that away... But the one thing I'm still trying to figure out... Is the significance of that Shiriki Utundu idol..." Wander quietly explained his findings to Sylvia.
"We've been inside this place for who even knows how many hours now, and neither of us has seen that weird idol even once... The only thing we have of it is this journal entry..."
Wander pulled out the journal entry of Shiriki Utundu as he illuminated it with his flashlight.
"I think you can agree with me on this, Syl, the thing that concerns me the most is the possibility of this idol actually being cursed... And right now... With all that we've seen... I'm starting to think that... Maybe it is..."
"What about the glowing green light and falling elevator?..."
"I think that this Shiriki Utundu may be directly involved with both of those... That green light in the hallway may have been him wandering the halls trying to find us... How it's involved with the elevator, I'm not sure about... But seeing how similar the weird green lighting surrounding the elevator was to the one we saw in the hall... I just know this Shiriki idol has at least something to do with it..."
"And what about the phone calls?..."
"I don't exactly know much about those either... But I have a sneaky feeling that whoever that man calling us was... Might be the one who wrote these journal entries..."
"You think that he's the artifact thief?..."
"I'm not sure... He might not be... But I don't wanna rule anything out..."
"So... What exactly are you trying to say?..."
...
"I'm saying that... We might actually be in terrible danger right now..."
...
The fact that Sylvia just felt a wave of fear from hearing Wander say that honestly concerned her...
...
They've faced huge threats before...
...
But Wander hasn't treated a bad guy as just a bad guy since Dr. Screwball Jones...
...
That's how Sylvia knew she should be scared, too...
...
Then she realized something...
...
"Wait... Wander... Didn't that man's voice on the phone sound just like the man screaming in the elevator?..."
...
Wander's eyes lit up in realization...
...
"Hold on... It did..."
...
"Buddy... What if that man calling us is the guy in the elevator?..."
...
The duo felt like they were finally beginning to piece things together...
...
But before they could say anything else...
...
They heard another phone ring...
...
This was it...
...
Maybe they'll get more answers this time...
...
As quickly and as quietly as they could...
...
They followed the sound to a door on the same floor as the lobby...
...
But as they reached it and Wander put his hand on the doorknob...
...
He stopped...
...
"Wander?... Buddy, what are you doing?... Aren't you gonna open the door?..."
"Sylvia... I don't know why... But something tells me we shouldn't go in there..."
"What do you mean?..."
"I feel like something's in there waiting for us... Something bad..."
"I'll look in first..."
"No, Syl... Please..."
"I'll be okay, bud. I promise."
Sylvia could tell Wander didn't believe her. She gently pulled him close to her with one arm as a form of reassurance. Wander clung to her, afraid of losing her...
...
Carefully and quietly...
...
Sylvia opened the door and peeked in...
...
It was a study room...
...
She looked around inside...
...
Wander then heard her quietly gasp...
...
"Sylvia?... What is it?..."
He peeked inside himself...
...
And made a small gasp...
...
Standing on a tall pedestal...
...
Was that Shiriki Utundu idol...
...
It was sitting there lifeless...
...
Not moving or anything...
...
The duo carefully crept inside the study room to answer the phone...
...
It was on the opposite side of the room from the idol...
...
"Sylvia... Can you watch over it?... I don't trust it..."
"I got you, buddy."
She placed herself in between Wander and the idol, shielding her little buddy out of view.
If that Shiriki Utundu is actually cursed, it's gonna have to go through Sylvia, Lady, and Duchess to have even the smallest chance of hurting Wander.
Sylvia promised herself she would make sure of that.
Wander answered the phone...
...
"Hello?..."
...
It was that same man again...
...
But Wander could hear him clearly now...
...
"Listen to me... You and your friend must get out of here now!!... He's right there in the room with you!!... If you don't escape, he's gonna get you!!... Run away quickly before it's too la..."
...
The phone line seemed to be cut off before he could finish his sentence...
...
"Hello?... Hello?... Mister... Are you still there?..."
Wander tried talking to him again...
...
But he heard nothing...
...
"Uh... Wander..."
He heard Sylvia's voice behind him...
...
She sounded...
...
Horrified...
...
Oh grop...
...
Wander slowly turned around and peeked his head out from behind Sylvia...
...
The two friends' eyes started to go wide at what they saw...
...
That Shiriki Utundu idol...
...
Was slowly starting to open its glowing green eyes.
Notes:
Oh boy! Things are not looking good for Wander and Sylvia! Who was calling them on the phone? Is he really the one who wrote the journal entries? Is he the same guy from the ghostly elevator? How accurate are Wander and Sylvia's findings? Will they find even more throughout this story? All of these questions and more will be answered in the upcoming chapters, so stay tuned for more!
Please leave kudos, comment your thoughts below, bookmark, and subscribe to this story if you enjoyed this! And if you have any feedback on this chapter that I can adjust, change, add, remove, etc. to make it better or fix any characterization if Wander and/or Sylvia are out of character or there isn't enough characterization, please comment below (but please be nice about it) your critique and I will fix it as soon as I can! Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you in Chapter 5, coming out hopefully in at least a week from now!
Chapter 5: The Tape Player
Notes:
Before you start reading, I just want to say that this was a tough chapter to write, so I don't think it's gonna be one of my best. Like I said in the beginning of this story, I have a lot less to work with writing this story compared to "The Ride".
However, I am not about to give up on this story. I hate it when fanfic authors abandon their stories, and I don't want to be one of them. I am still trying my absolute hardest to make this as good as I possibly can. With that being said, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and enjoy Chapter 5!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Uh... Wander..."
He heard Sylvia's voice behind him...
...
She sounded...
...
Horrified...
...
Oh grop...
...
Wander slowly turned around and peeked his head out from behind Sylvia...
...
The two friends' eyes started to go wide at what they saw...
...
That Shiriki Utundu idol...
...
Was slowly starting to open its glowing green eyes...
...
Wander and Sylvia needed to get out of here...
...
Now...
...
As fast as lightning, they bolted out of the study room and closed the doors behind them...
...
Both of them were starting to hyperventilate...
...
They couldn't even bring themselves to speak, they were so shocked...
...
All they could do was pray that Shiriki Utundu didn't see them before they bolted out...
...
A weird green light began to shine brighter behind the door...
...
Bleeding right through it...
...
Wander and Sylvia heard a creepy laugh alongside it...
...
They gave each other worried looks...
...
The idol knows that they're here...
...
There's no way it doesn't...
...
It was coming right towards the door from the other side...
...
The duo knew that if they stayed here any longer, they would get caught for real...
...
Sylvia got an idea...
...
"Wander, get in your hat!" She whispered to her little buddy.
Thankfully, Wander was in such a state of shock and fear that he luckily obeyed without question.
He slid himself into his hat like he did every night before he fell asleep, as Sylvia picked him up.
Without another word, the zbornak took off.
Running away from the study room doors with Wander, inside his hat, cradled in her arms.
As they both heard the sound of the study room doors slamming open, Wander ducked inside his hat, fully hiding himself as he whimpered in fear...
...
Sylvia looked down at him, feeling her heart break at the sound of how scared he was...
...
She wasn't any less scared herself...
...
Without another word, she immediately picked up her pace...
...
They had no idea how far behind Shiriki Utundu was, but they were not about to find out...
...
But with the amount of time it took for Shiriki to supposedly burst through those doors and how far away on the first floor Sylvia managed to get away from them, it was safe to assume he was far behind...
...
Wasting no time, Sylvia found the door with a staircase she and Wander used earlier on in the night while they were exploring...
...
She raced up them, trying to stay as quiet as possible...
...
Her need to protect Wander kept her stamina high as she didn't dare slow down...
...
As she reached the top floor, the 13th floor, she saw out of the corner of her eye a glowing green light approaching the staircase all the way at the bottom, back on the first floor...
...
Sylvia quickly opened the door beside her and ducked in, shutting the door behind her...
...
She took a moment to catch her breath as she held Wander's hat out.
"We should be okay now, bud. You can come out now." She gently whispered.
Wander, shaking pretty violently, and his fur bristled out, peeked out from the hat.
Sylvia felt her heart ache again, seeing him in the state he was in.
Seeing they were safe...for now...Wander crawled out of his hat and got up to his feet.
He was still hyperventilating.
After a moment, he spoke up...
"Oh... my... grop..." He whispered, terrified. "That curse... It's real... It's actually real..."
It was pretty obvious that the curse was real this whole time, but Wander and Sylvia were still taken aback nonetheless...Sylvia spoke up...
"What do we do?... If Shiriki finds us, we could be as good as dead!"
"I don't know... I wanted to go through with this whole 'investigation thing' because I thought nothing would end up happening! I didn't know all of this would happen! But right now, I just want to get out of here!" Wander whispered back.
"But how?! We can't get the front door open, and we still haven't found anything to get us off this planet!"
"There's got to be something in here that could help us! And if not, I say we just bust the front door down! We've done it so many times in Mister Hater's ship, maybe we can do it again here!"
"Wander, when we're in Hater's prison, what I kick down is bars made of metal... The front door of this hotel is made of glass..."
Wander thought about that for a second...
"Oh... Yeah, never mind... Sorry, Syl..."
"It's okay, bud. I know what you meant. We definitely need to find something to get out of here. And honestly, maybe we can find something to hold off Shiriki Utundu. I don't think he should be up here for a while, so we may have time."
"Are you sure?... I don't want to keep investigating if it'll put us in danger, Syl..."
Again, Sylvia really appreciated the fact that Wander was treating this situation appropriately...But she also felt bad about it because it really shows how scared Wander is right now...
"I'm sure. Find anything you can at this point, whether it be something to help us get out of here, or something that gives us more on Shiriki Utundu. Either way, it's not gonna be easy."
Wander nodded. He took off his hat and pulled out two flashlights. He gave one to Sylvia. They turned them on and shined them out to see where they were...
...
This 13th floor was just one big apartment...
...
Like a penthouse...
...
Wander and Sylvia looked at each other in awe...
...
"Man... Whoever stayed in here must've been rich." Sylvia commented...
...
"Yeah, no kidding." Wander replied...
...
They slowly began to creep forward as they pointed their flashlights around to get a better look at the penthouse...
...
As they were looking around...
...
They saw a blue light slowly ascending inside an elevator shaft at the back of the penthouse...
...
The duo were startled a little bit, but relaxed as soon as they realised the glow wasn't green...
...
They carefully approached the elevator...
...
It eventually began to near the top...
...
Wander and Sylvia managed to get a good look at who was inside...
...
It appeared to be a man who looked kind of old (not crippling old, though). He had a white beard and mustache...
...
He was holding something in his arms...
...
It looked eerily familiar...
...
It was Shiriki Utundu!!!...
...
Wander was about to scream, but Sylvia pressed her finger on his mouth before he could...
...
"Shhhh!... Wander, I don't think that's the real Shiriki..."
Wander carefully glanced back at the elevator as it reached the top...
...
When it did, there was a sudden burst of green electricity that turned the man's ghost from blue to green...
...
He looked startled...
...
"Wh-wh-what?! Those eyes!!" He screamed...
...
He was staring down at the idol...
...
Wander and Sylvia looked closely at it...
...
It opened its glowing green eyes and smiled evilly...
...
It began to laugh...
...
"What's happening?!" The man screamed...
...
The elevator began to spark more green electricity as it shook, the idol's laughter growing more intense...
...
"Shiriki Utundu!!" Was the man's final scream as the elevator suddenly plummeted down the shaft...
...
Wander and Sylvia ran over and looked down inside...
...
They saw that same green glow falling down the shaft with that same screaming man being heard...
...
It was then that the two friends realised something...
...
This was the same ghostly elevator they saw crash-land in the lobby earlier that night...
...
What just happened must've been how it started...
...
Wander and Sylvia looked in each other in pure terror...
...
The former then got a look of realization on his face...
"Wait... Sylvia... That's him!"
"What?... Who?..."
"The man!... That was the voice I heard on the phone in the study room!"
"Wait... Really?... Are you sure?..."
"Positive! I know that voice anywhere!... I don't know about you, Syl, but I really need to find out what's going on..."
"I'm with you there, buddy..."
...
This was the first time for quite a bit tonight that the mysterious ghost man in the elevator plunged down it again...
...
When they didn't hear it, they were being hunted down by Shiriki...
...
Maybe this means that Shiriki went back to torment that man after not finding Wander and Sylvia!...
...
The duo admittedly felt bad about that, but also relieved that they seemed to have bought themsleves more time.
They kept searching the penthouse to find something to help them escape or further their investigation.
Not long after, Wander found something...
...
"Psst! Syl! Come here!" He whispered out to his best friend.
Sylvia came over.
"Wander, did you find something?"
"I think so. Look at this!"
Sylvia shined her flashlight at what he held out.
It was a tape player. On it was a recording listed to have been from 1912.
"Should we listen to it?..." Wander whispered.
"Yeah, sure... Why not?..." Sylvia replied.
They sat on the floor as Wander pressed play...
...
Nothing much was heard at first...
...
Until a man started speaking...A man whose voice didn't sound like the man's in the elevator...
"My name is Manfred Strang. I'm a reporter for the Galaxy Telegraph. I was there when that terrible incident happened on December 31st, 1899."
Wander and Sylvia gave each other nervous looks hearing that.
Manfred Strang hung up his coat outside of the study room of Hotel Hightower. He had been invited to be an interviewer for the press conference being held by the hotel's owner and founder, Harrison Hightower III who had just returned from an expedition from an ancient planet with a totem by the name of Shiriki Utundu.
Strang wasn't sure what was so special about this totem, but he had researched it before this press conference to try to get more info. He took notes on all that he had gathered and wanted to get more answers from Hightower himself.
Strang's notes read:
"Legends believe that the idol is possessed by the spirit of an old shaman deity. According to Kibwana, the son to the Mtundu chief, Kijanji, decades ago, the Mtundu were a tribe of thieves and vagabonds. They were so disliked by their neighbors that they were forced off their land by the Kokoko tribe. As the Mtundu migrated, they learned of a wealthy tribe with a powerful idol. Kijanji's grandfather (Kibwana's great-grandfather) got an idea and, during the night, snuck into the village and stole the idol. The fortune of the Mtundu changed afterwards, and the grandfather demanded tributes from other tribes.
He then learned how the magic of the idol worked and planned to get revenge on the Kokoko. He proceeded to pound nails into the idol's head and chanted an incantation, causing the idol to come to life and disappear into the night, scaring the Mtundu. The next morning, the tribe awakened to find the idol had returned, blood dripping from its spear and dagger. A few weeks later, they learned the Kokoko tribe and their village had indeed been destroyed.
Feeling guilty for what they had done, the grandfather tried to get rid of the idol by throwing it into a river. Before he could, though, the idol came alive again and zapped him with green energy, causing him to disappear. He returned a week later, claiming to have been sent to a jungle, in a permanent night, full of leeches and snakes, where he was forced to face death again and again. The idol was teaching him a lesson."
He had no information on where the idol came from, why it was so evil, or anything else similar. He couldn't find anything on it.
The press conference had begun and Strang was carefully listening to what Hightower was saying in response to questions. He noticed how heroic of depictions he was making as he explained how he obtained the idol.
"Mr. Hightower! Mr. Hightower! Where did you find this?" A reporter asked.
"I obtained this idol at great expense and risk to my life. Yes, sir, the local tribesmen weren't happy to part with it!" Along with a laugh was Hightower's response.
It was then that Manfred Strang finally stood up to speak.
"Mr. Hightower! There are rumors that the idol is cursed."
Hightower's response concerned him...
"Ha! A cursed idol? Ridiculous!"
Wander and Sylvia didn't like the sound of how that interaction went.
"So, do you think that man in the elevator was Hightower?..."
"I think so, Syl..."
They kept listening to the recording as Strang's voice continued...
"I asked more about Shiriki Utundu, but that upset Hightower, so he kicked me out. Later, disguised as a waiter, I snuck into the fancy party at the hotel. I shadowed Hightower's every move. Then, Hightower's valet, Archibald Smelding and I saw something that was truly paranormal."
Amidst all of the patrons who came to attend the party, Strang made his way towards the elevator at the back of the lobby where Hightower and Smelding were walking towards. Hightower turned to Smelding.
"Smelding, stay here and entertain the guests!"
"Shouldn't I come with you, sir?" Was Smelding's reponse as Hightower took a glass of wine from the platter that Strang was holding. This caused Strang to lose his balance and drop the other wine glasses onto the floor. He proceeded to begin cleaning up the mess as he carefully listened in on the rest of Hightower and Smelding's conversation.
"No, you remain here. Make sure the party runs smoothly."
Hightower began to step inside the elevator as Smelding responded in a worried tone...
"Sir, please be careful and treat the idol with respect!"
"That ridiculous curse!" Hightower mocked...
...
He took the cigar out of his mouth...
...
"Here's what I think of it!" Hightower continued...
...
And with that...
...
He smothered the cigar...
...
Right on the idol's head...
...
Smelding froze in terror as Hightower laughed dismissively...
...
The elevator doors then closed.
"I witnessed something important then. Maybe that was the cause of what happened."
Wander and Sylvia began to get more scared as they kept listening to Strang's voice on the tape player...
...
"15 minutes went by and everything was normal. The guests had been taking part in a slow dance across the floor and all was running smoothly. I was sitting at the bar with Smelding as we were both feeling uneasy about what happened. The new year was approaching quickly. However, when the clock finally struck midnight...that's when it all happened..."
...
Wander and Sylvia leaned in towards the tape player intently...
...
"All of the lights in the hotel suddenly shut off as the party was plunged into darkness...everyone gasped...nobody knew what was happening...Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a framed photo of Hightower on the wall as a green light began to overtake it...As if it was being burned from behind...Suddenly...an intense green light burst out from behind the elevator doors...thousands of volts of green lightning arched across the entire hotel...shattering glass, hurling debris, and even starting small fires across the hotel...everyone at the party, including myself and Smelding, ran outside of the hotel for our lives, screaming in terror...Once everyone was outside, we all witnessed a big green light coming from a window at the top of the hotel where Hightower's penthouse was...that same green light then plunged down the face of the hotel as everyone heard a man screaming...It was Hightower screaming!...There was an intense crash on the ground as all went calm and quiet..."
Wander and Sylvia had pictured all of that in their minds...
...
It was not pretty to say the least...
...
"Smelding and I ran back inside the hotel to check on Hightower...The elevator doors had somehow been pried open...We looked inside the elevator, but Hightower was gone...I heard Smelding cry 'Sir...?' as he shined a lantern inside the elevator...he gasped as I looked inside as well...I was shocked myself...for inside the elevator wasn't Hightower...the only two things inside were his hat and the idol laying lifeless just like it's been this entire time...I've read and re-read my notes, but what happened that night is beyond my understanding...The only thing I'm sure of is Harrison Hightower the Third disappeared and hasn't been seen since...The hotel has been closed for 13 years now...Despite all of my investigations, I've never been able to prove anything...But I have come to this conclusion...The entire hotel has been cursed...There's no other explanation...I wanted to have this place destroyed before anyone else could get hurt...However, Beatrice Rose Endicott, the daughter of the Galaxy Telegraph establisher, Cornelius Endicott the Second, who was a lifetime rival of Hightower and tried to expose Hightower's corrupt business practices, saw differently...She had always looked up to Hightower ever since she read that magazine and she wants to preserve this hotel for tours...I told her to not go near this place...Same with everyone else...Whoever is listening to this recording now, you must stay away from Shiriki Utundu and leave this hotel at once...at least until I solve this myster...Wait...what's that?...Oh no...NO..."
Before Strang's voice could continue, he sounded like he saw something...
...
Something bad...
...
The recording went to static as Wander and Sylvia heard the sounds of Strang running away screaming with what sounds like that same laugh Shiriki Utundu made back in the study room...
...
Oh grop...
...
Did Strang get caught?...
...
The recording ended there...
...
Wander and Sylvia slowly looked up at each other...
...
They were speechless...
...
"What the grop was that?..." Sylvia whispered...
...
"I have no idea... But frankly, Syl... I think we've gathered everything we need to call this a completed investigation..." Wander whispered back as he went to put the tape player in his hat.
Sylvia began to gather what she had collected as well.
"Definitely... Now I say we get out of here before Shiriki finds us t..."
...
She was suddenly cut off by a creepy laugh...
...
"Wander, this is really not the time for... Wander?..."
...
Wander's face was pale as he was looking up at something...
...
"Buddy?... What's wrong?... Are you okay?..." Sylvia whispered very quietly...
...
Wander stammered as he pointed behind Sylvia...
...
His hand, along with his entire body, was shaking violently again...
...
Sylvia slowly looked behind herself...
...
She looked up at one of the top corners of the penthouse where Wander was pointing...
...
Her face went pale itself.
Notes:
Okay, that was actually a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. And I'd say it turned out better than I thought it would, too! It seems we have a lot of the backstory uncovered now! I was really worried about this being a weaker chapter, but I'm very happy with how it ended up being! I wanted to get as much of the backstory in as possible so I apologize for this chapter being a long read. With that being said, who did Wander and Sylvia see in the penthouse with them? What happened to Hightower that fateful night? Will we see him again in this story? What will happen to our two favorite space travelers? Like always, all of these questions and more will be answered in the upcoming chapters, so stay tuned for more!
Details, dialogue, any content written that was from the tape player are from the YouTube videos "Tower of Terror: The Mystery (English Subtitles)" uploaded by FigmentJedi and "Secrets, Story & History of Tokyo DisneySea's Tower of Terror - Virtual Guided Tour" uploaded by ReviewTyme; Manfred Strang's notes on Shiriki are also directly from the Shiriki Utundu pages found on both the Disney Wiki and the Tower of Terror Wiki. Please remember that the story I am having Wander and Sylvia investigate is not my own original story; it's the one from the Tower of Terror ride at Tokyo DisneySea; all rights to anything related to Tokyo DisneySea's Tower of Terror go to Disney and/or any other original owners.
Please leave kudos, comment your thoughts below, bookmark, and subscribe to this story if you enjoyed this! And if you have any feedback on this chapter that I can adjust, change, add, remove, etc. to make it better or fix any characterization if Wander and/or Sylvia are out of character or there isn't enough characterization, please comment below (but please be nice about it) your critique and I will fix it as soon as I can! Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you in Chapter 6, coming out hopefully on Saturday!
Deyinel on Chapter 1 Sat 15 Nov 2025 11:37PM UTC
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