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It smelled like mildew.
That felt like a weird first thing for her brain to latch onto, but as the light of the Exit Door faded and stopped overwhelming her senses, the first thing Roomy registered was the musty smell of mildew. And it made her feel like crying, for some reason.
Rubbing the black spots from her vision, she took a look around the room they had found themselves in. She and Tourist were in a short hallway, with a nice looking door (and not what was basically a plank of wood) at the end of it, a plaque reading 68 mounted to it. Four large windows sat on the walls on either side of them, real windows with frames and supports and red panel curtains. Rain fell heavily against the glass, creating a steady white noise that nicely scratched a specific part of her brain and as she took a step forward her shoes clicked loudly against the floorboards.
Because the room was wood, no drywalls or carpets, from its worn out flooring to its fancily designed top, and it smelled like rain and oak. It smelled like mildew. The lights of the lamps didn’t feel blinding. They just felt warm.
“Hey, you alright?” The question suddenly came from her right, and she startled, already having forgotten that she was, in fact, not alone right now. She looked over to Tourist, who gave her a comforting smile, before reaching out and carefully (because touch still felt weird to both of them) grabbing her arm, pulling her towards the door. Their footsteps were loud against the floor, and she carefully listened how the soles of Tourist’s boots sounded more soft than the sharp clicks of her dress shoes. It was a nice thing to focus on, as she felt slightly overwhelmed.
“The next room is normally the Infirmary," the other continued, “we can rest and recuperate there for a bit, and maybe look if there are a few bandages. You’re still looking a bit rough.” He gestured to her leftover wounds from her previous encounter with, as he calls it, ‘A-90’. “Plus, it’s a rather large room, so we won’t have to worry about Dread for a while.”
Resting does sound, Roomy thought to herself as the other pushed open the door, taking note of the exhaustion that settled over her body.
The next room was a lot different than she expected. Not wooden, instead bricks and concrete lined the walls of the darkened, dusty space. It looked old and abandoned, and probably was, but she didn’t pay much attention to any of that because much to her absolute delight, a plethora of beds filled the room. Yes, they too were old and dusty and probably moldy but holy hell, a bed-
Before she could even think about it, Roomy pulled away from Tourist and walked to the one nearest to her, unceremoniously collapsing onto the mattress.
She could hear chuckling from the other much to her embarrassment, as she sank further into the blanket, completely unbothered by its scratchiness. Her eyelids felt heavy.
“You enjoying yourself?” the woman heard her companion ask, his voice further away then what was probably good. She really shouldn’t fall asleep right now. But as she tried sitting up again she was quickly thwarted as Tourist pushed her shoulders down again. “Heyhey, nothing of that. We’ve got time, if you want to rest, then rest.”
Roomy really shouldn’t though. She needed to get her bearings, get used to this new environment, get patched up and also Tourist needed to debrief her on the dozens of monsters that can be found in the Hotel, he mentioned something called ‘Dread’ just moments ago. But the mattress was so soft, and she was so so tired.
She didn’t really have a choice in the end, as her exhaustion pulled her under before she could give it too much thought. Tourist kept busy meanwhile. There was plenty to be done, and he quickly fell into his usual routine as he combed through the drawers and luggages spread out inside the large room. Gold, he of course found en masse, though at this point he didn’t really need it anymore, and in two of the luggages he found vitamins and a lockpick. Much to his disappointment though, he didn’t find any bandages. Sighing, he too sat down on one of the beds, unsure on what to do now. There wasn’t much more left in the room, the last thing left being the Skeleton Door as it silently sat there, mocking him for his inability to open it.
Except wait.
He opened his messenger bag, pulling out the Skeleton Key he had used to open the door to the Rooms. It looked brittle and worse for wear, but maybe if he played his cards right…
It took a bit. Of force and determination. And breaking the key.
But he got it open. The dusty office was as he remembered, the same desks and clock and wallpapers, and the Green Herb (or Herb of Viridis, as Guiding Light called it) innocently sitting atop the wood as it always did. Taking the pot into his hands, he quickly glanced up at the clock. Five minutes until the hand reached half. Hmm, he’d wake up Roomy in… twenty minutes? Yeah, twenty sounded good.
Now, getting to sleep for like 40 minutes after years of sleep deprivation isn’t going to do much in the grand scheme of things, but Roomy had to admit she felt a little bit better as she groggily listened to Tourist explain the dangers of this place.
“... Rush shouldn’t be too hard, it basically works the same as A-60, though it also gives an extra warning as it causes the lights to flicker in a lit-up room. Just duck into a closet or under a bed and you’ll be fine. That being said,” he started, pacing as he spoke, “Rush has a… ‘variant’ called Ambush. What Ambush does is come back after its initial attack, so you’ll have to time getting in and out of hiding spots in a way that it doesn’t catch you.”
“Wait, why can’t we just… stay hidden?”
“That is the next entity I need to explain. There’s something in the closets,” Tourist responded, his gaze tired. “It’s called Hide, and it likes to rear its ugly head if you stay in hiding for too long, hence the name, but shortly leaving a hiding spot will let it settle again. Coordinating Hide and Ambush isn’t too hard, when it comes down to it just follow my lead. Okay-” She watched as he clapped his hands together. “Rush and Ambush are usually the two biggest threats here in the Hotel, but of course not to only ones. To make it quick, there is Eyes, big glowing cluster of eyes, don’t look at it; Screech, if you hear a psst, look at it, yes it will scream directly in your face but the alternative is being bitten and you don’t want that; and Dupe. Dupe hides behind fake doors, so we’ll have to keep track of which door we are at. Now, am I forgetting anything…?”
Somehow during his explanation, the man managed to pace to the other side of the room, completely without noticing much to Roomy’s amusement. “You’ve mentioned something called Dread before,” she called over, an amused smile crossing her face at the other’s slight look of confusion.
“Ah, yes… Dread. Well, it usually isn’t much of a problem,” he explained as walked back, “it just restricts how much time we can spend in any given room. If we idle too long, it will attack us until we move on. Which we should, as much as I would like to let you continue resting.” He looked ashamed at that, as if it were somehow his fault, but Roomy refused to let that shame get far. Getting off the bed, she laid a comforting hand on her companion’s shoulder.
“Hey, that’s not your fault. Very little around here is, let’s be honest.” Afterall, he chose getting trapped in this limbo as much as she chose getting trapped in the office. Which is to say, he didn’t.
Steering them both towards the next door, Roomy watched as Tourist took a deep breath, before straightening up again. “You’re right, I know you’re right. I guess I’m just tired as well. But yes, Dread! That should be everything for now-” As he was talking they pushed open Door 69 and were once again interrupted as a bunch of popping, or something sounding akin to throwing slime against the wall, filled the room. Looking around, Roomy was taken aback as the walls were covered in multiple spots of black goo, eyes sticking out of each one. She turned to Tourist with alarm, just managing to catch the look of weariness on his face before he buried it in his hands.
“Fuck, I forgot about Seek.”
One quick explanation regarding The Goo later, they were finally making progress throughout the Hotel, and Roomy could admit that she was enjoying this a bit too much. She just couldn’t help her satisfaction every time her heels clicked against the wooden floor or she ran her fingers across the wall, feeling the grain and splinters of the supports or the torn sections of the wallpaper.
And the colors! Holy hell, the colors! Whereas the Rooms had been nothing but greys and whites (Seriously, the most color she’d ever seen there was the freaking floor in the Waiting Room. And the plants, but those were all fake anyway.), the Hotel sported an array of deep greens, reds and occasional blues that pleasantly scratched a part of her brain she didn’t even know existed.
It was almost overwhelming, the way each room was a feast for her tired sense, but she had yet to regret it. The few rooms leading up to Seek both her and Tourist took their sweet time, Tourist meticulously looting each one while Roomy would run her fingers over the satin of the armchairs, smooth out the soft sheets of the hotel beds, flip through random books she pulled of a bookshelf or smudge up the windows as she pressed her palm against them, the surface cool on her skin while she pretended to be able to feel the raindrops that pitterpatterned against the glass. She’d kill for some fresh air at this point, the air in the Hotel was probably more stale than in the Rooms, but beggars can’t really be choosers.
She did poke one of the eyes though, which earned her a face full of slime and panicked fussing from the other.
For entities and monsters, much to Tourist’s surprise, Rush didn’t make an appearance, though did make acquaintances with Eyes in one of the locked rooms.
Then at Door 74, they all disappeared as the two stepped into a large, grand corridor. Its tall ceiling was held up by sturdy wooden supports while large arched windows lined the walls. They stopped walking, and Tourist let out a sigh.
“Right, this is it. As soon as we’re over there,” he pointed to the end of the hallway, “Seek will appear and start chasing us for roughly the next eight rooms and we’ll have to find the right path. During this we’ll be helped by Guiding Light, she’ll… guide us, I guess, just- look out for glowing blue doors, okay?” She nodded, giving him a thumbs up. He’s talked plenty of Guiding Light up to that point, thinking highly of the Architect, and Roomy too had seen the way she would light their way. It must be nice to have a little buddy like that.
“Now, the last room of the chase is always another hallway, though that one will be significantly more… on fire. And Seek will try to catch us with giant hands, but avoiding either isn’t too hard. After that room we’ll be safe again. Now, did you get all of that, because explaining it made me realize how ridiculous this all sounds and I don’t want to do it again.”
Roomy laughed at the other’s honesty. She could get why he was so anxious though, so instead tried to keep her own presence steady next to him. “I think I’ll be fine,” she said, “we need to take the same route anyway. I’ll just follow you, yeah?” She paused as he took a moment to think over her words. “Okay, yes, you’re right. Let's go.”
Approaching the end of the hallway was… nerveracking? A little bit? The woman tried to not let it bother her, but after all that exposition it was kind of hard not to. The next door quickly came closer, and just for a moment she thought nothing was going to happen after all.
Then something shifted in the air, and a chill ran down her spine as those same pops echoed all throughout the room, as well as the sound of squelching and wood breaking. During all of that, Tourist didn’t move at all, though his body tensed, ready to run, but Roomy couldn’t help but turn around. What she saw was a black mound that had emerged from the floor behind them, and crawling out of it was a humanoid figure made out of the same substance as it. Or not exactly crawling, that was the wrong word. More like a piece of the black slime separated from into something vaguely personshaped, its look completed with one large cyclops eye.
This wasn’t really what she expected Seek to look like, but it also wasn’t a huge surprise.
And then, without much more fanfare, the entity bolted and headed straight for them, startling Roomy so badly that she almost gave herself a whiplash with how quickly she turned back around. Tourist had already started running, practically kicking down the next door as the world around them shook and more and more eyes lined the walls. True to his words, he followed the blue light as he steered to the door with the plaque on his right, the other hot on his heel. Quickly shouldering it open, he checked for Guiding Light on his right and left side. Seeing her in neither direction, he sprinted past the pillar in the middle and threw open the door on the other side. The next room would’ve probably been a normal plus junction, if it hadn’t been for the fact the ceiling had collapsed in the middle, blocking most of the room other than two thin pathways on either side. Lights, Tourist hated this room, it always required him to stop for a moment to see where he had to go.
Checking either side as fast as he could, the man once again saw nothing in either direction and quickly bolted out of the way to the left, just in time as he could hear Roomy stumble slightly behind him.
This repeated for three more rooms before, as advertised, the last door opened to another hallway, multiple chandeliers crashing to the floor as fire started to spread across the carpet and giant black slime hands broke through the windows, surprising the hell out of Roomy. She hadn’t expected Tourist’s description to be this… literal. Speaking of the other, he was already moving left, away from the first hand as he weaved around the fire and she quickly followed him. The air was unbearably hot as she passed it, the flames flickering close enough to singe the sleeves of her blouse, and the process repeated with her other side as they dodged the second fire.
And now that they were on the homestretch, the woman allowed herself to throw a quick look behind, where she just able to see Seek sprint through the first fire, completely unbothered and yeah, sure, it’s fireproof as well, why not-!
Her foot caught on a loose floorboard, and what little air she had still had left in her lungs left her as the world tilted to the side. Panic caused her vision to blur as time seemingly slowed down, yet she could still hear the monster behind her speed up and was this it? Was she going to die, die and go back to that place, leave Tourist and be alone again until he decided to come get her, if he decided to- Thin hands wrapped around one of her arms, and she felt herself yanked forward, away from the flames and the chaos as she collided face first with the floor, barely able to avoid the man that had grabbed her. She heard a door slam behind her and the sound of sparkling, and by the time she managed to turn onto her back a sigil of a crescent moon was slowly fading away from the wood of the now sealed door. Banging could be heard from the other side, but it didn’t budge in the slightest. Right… Guiding Light.
For a moment neither of them moved as they tried to catch their breaths. Then, “Are you okay?” She turned to Tourist, who was kneeling beside her, a worried expression on his face and soot covering his glasses. His hands clenched nervously at his sides, fingers digging into his palms. “It’s entirely alright if you aren’t, that must’ve been terrifying, and it wasn’t exactly a great first chase. Not that any chases are ever great but it wasn’t a- oh, okay.” His rambling was cut off when Roomy leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. Unsure what to do with himself, he lowered his hands onto Roomy’s shoulders, before quickly course correcting and hugging her back stiffly. The action caused her to laugh softly as she let him go again. “I’ll be fine, thanks to you,” she told him as they both got off the floor, “we should keep going. Plus, I think you need to worry about your glasses more.”
Roomy looked around the room as he quickly cleaned them, taking note of everything. The room they were currently in was a four-way junction, each leading to a different locked door and rooms in each corner, accessible through two different doors. Desks and drawers stood scattered against the walls and looking closer it appeared that each door had a plaque, reading 81, 82 and 84 from left to right, and a lock. Right, that was the thing that Tourist mentioned earlier, Dupe. That didn’t sound too hard, they just had to pick the correct one…
Her forehead creased in realisation, and she turned to the other, who had just put his glasses back on.
“Tourist, what room are we in?”
After an understandable amount of panicking (mostly from Tourist), a less understandable amount of arguing, Roomy offering at least twice to just tank the damage, carefully listening for breathing at each door and also looking for the key; because they almost forgot about that; the two eventually came to the conclusion that the next door was most likely 82.
Which thankfully was quickly proven correct when Roomy unlocked it and the door swung open normally, revealing a grid door inside a darkened room. Tourist tsked in annoyance, and they looked at each other, before he shrugged in defeat and they both pulled out their flashlights.
Climbing down into the basement, the air was as stale as ever and overwhelmingly smelled like beer. Kegs and barrels stood scattered around everywhere, clustering the already narrow space. Tourist shone his light down the stoney hallways. “Right. Just gotta find the switch. Shouldn’t be too hard.” Roomy hummed in response.
Finding it really wasn’t hard, but to the misfortune of their knees, it was behind a grid wall only accessible through a vent. As the slimmer of the two, Tourist volunteered to get it, leaving Roomy by herself for a moment. Fiddling with her Gummi Flashlight, she noted in the back of her mind how different this darkness felt from the one in the office. Less oppressive, but more suffocating.
While lost in thought, a loud psst suddenly sounded from beside her and the woman looked down, expecting her companion to have returned, only to find no one by the vent. Wait… didn’t he mention something that would-
Before she could finish that line of thought, a loud scream came from her other side as teeth suddenly bit down into her arm, ripping through the thin fabric of her sleeve and digging painfully into her already sore skin. A shout of surprise and shock left Roomy, her other hand quickly grabbing the attacker, which was some sort of living ball with tentacles, covered in the same stuff Seek was made out of.
Acting on reflex, she dug her fingers into the corner of the thing’s mouth and pried its jaw open, wasting little time to throw it across the room before it had the chance to bite down on her much more vulnerable fingers.
Blood dripped from the wound, the blunt teeth having ripped open her flesh jaggedly and the woman hissed in pain as she wrapped her hand around the spot, trying to put pressure on it. Banging could be heard from the vent, and moments later Tourist popped out of it, clearly frazzled. “Roomy, is everything okay, I heard you shou- ah!” Spotting the injury, his questions quickly cut off. "Goddammit Screech.”
Prying her hand from her arm, causing another hiss of pain, the man carefully peeled away leftover ruined fabric and started to inspect the spot, his eyebrows creasing in concentration and concern. A few moments passed, before Roomy asked, “So, what’s the diagnosis, doc? Am I dying?” Tourist let out a humorless laugh at that. “You’re in luck, it seems like it didn’t manage to do too much damage. I would still like to wrap it, but without any gauze that won’t be possible. Let’s just hope the Green Herb works quicker than an infection does.” He tried giving her a comforting smile, though it was rather crooked. Roomy, despite her pain, tried to return it even as she sharply exhaled through her nose. “Hey, I’ve said it before. I’ll be fine, just a bit more than I’m used to. Now, you’ve flipped the lever, right? Let’s keep going.”
Quickly leaving the basement and advancing through the next door, things calmed down for a bit. Nothing of note happened from 83 to 86, while Door 87 not only spawned Eyes, but also let Roomy get her first experience with Rush, which didn’t go too bad. It really wasn’t any different than the Multi Monster, honestly in her opinion Rush was even easier to deal with since the flickering lights gave an extra warning. True to Tourist’s words, the bite did quickly close up, though the spot remained darkened and raw, her skin aching.
Now, Room 88 was nothing of note. It was a winding hallway, its walls filled with doors that were either boarded up or broken, with only a few leading into side rooms, and they reached Door 89 without problems. Then Tourist pushed it open, and Roomy startled as cold wind hit her face, starkly contrasting the so far warm Hotel. Not only that, but the air was suddenly so much more wet that she could feel small water droplets condensing in her eyelashes. In front of them stood an unnumbered metal gate in place of a normal door and besides her Tourist took a deep breath of the fresh air, before saying, “Ahh, the Courtyard! I forgot about that.” Not waiting for her reaction he pushed open the gate, the sounds of his footsteps transitioning from wood to damp stone.
Roomy followed him after a moment, and couldn’t help but let out a soft gasp as she stepped outside. Outside. She was- outside. Holy shit.
They were standing on a roofed-over stone path that led straight through the space, wooden fences lining it left and right, and to either side of them the space opened up into two beautifully kept gardens. Neatly trimmed hedges and uniformly placed trees framed the gravel paths leading throughout the gardens, and to the right side stood a statue of what looked like an angel, its head covered by shadows while marble wings curled to frame the sword held in its palms, stabbed into the pedestal. Rain was heavily pouring down onto the grass, and this time there was no window to stop it from reaching her. Truly, if she just stretched out her hand she’d be able to feel it.
Slowly she walked forward, stepping down the shallow steps into the yard where her feet met gravel and grass as the rain kept coming down heavily, quickly soaking her everything. Water dripped from her hair down her nose and past her lips, some drops pooling in the corners of her eyes as she closed them and tipped back her head, letting herself take in everything. Tourist, who had been watching her quietly up until that point, slowly stepped into the weather as well. It was the first time in a while he really just let himself… feel. Take the time. It wasn’t something he liked to do usually, as any break just meant time for the dread to creep in. But like this… “Feels nice,” he murmured softly as he could feel water dripping from his face and glasses. Roomy didn’t respond, only letting out a quiet laugh and pleased sigh.
They didn’t stay for long, and after going over the changes for the Greenhouse (i.e. snares, lack of light, Rush and Screech appearing more frequently), they finally entered the home stretch. And Tourist wasn’t lying when he said the entities appeared more frequently, as Screech, the fugly little slimeball, seemed to sneak up on Roomy every 30 seconds. Rush was manageable, at least, appearing after Door 91 and 94.
Then, they were at… Door 97, when Eyes actually appeared once more, startling them both. Quickly looking away, the two robloxians awkwardly started to shuffle around the creature, keeping their own eyes on the floor. The whispering sound it made filled the room, with only the occasional rumble of thunder hearable over it, and Tourist felt like they were overlooking something.
That something was quickly revealed as a rumbling scream faded in, quickly growing louder. Realization filled the man as he whipped around in an attempt to get his bearings, accidentally looking at the cluster in the process, and found that he was standing near the middle of the path, further away from any closet than was good. Roomy on the other hand was standing right next to one, having already opened but not yet entered it as she was looking at him. Ok, he could still make it. He could still make it.
Turning to her, Tourist sprinted towards the other, his boots flying against the floor as he closed the distance in record time. His hands shot up and pushed Roomy into the small space, but before he could join her, pain shot through his foot up his leg, wrenching a choked gasp from the man as his legs gave out from under him. His vision was blurry with adrenaline and fear and the fact that his glasses were barely hanging on, but the spikes of the snare were as clear as daylight as they protruded through his boot. The closet door in front of him swung shut, and at this point it was already too late.
He tried to stay positive in his last moments, be thankful for the time he got to spend with his new friend, but the last thought that sat in his mind as smoke overtook him was please I don’t wanna be alone again.
The world quieted down again as Rush forced open the next door, causing Eyes to disappear again as well, but Roomy still remained inside the closet. Her mind felt dazed, a low pain radiating from the back of her skull where it had collided with the wood. Air was… scarce as her lungs barely moved, and the world around her felt fuzzy to the point she almost didn’t notice Hide creeping up on her. It was only at the last second that she managed to get herself together enough to push open the doors, leading her to collapse on the floor outside.
Sitting in the dirt on her knees, her hands barely able to steady her, Roomy numbly stared at where moments ago her companion, her friend, had been.
A bloodstain.
Covering the floor by the snare, a bloodstain was all that was left of Tourist. It wasn’t even a big one, it wasn’t from Rush, just the blood he had already been losing due to that stupid plant- Well, that, and…
She grasped the strap of the other’s messenger bag, her shaking hands hugging the well-loved leather to her chest as tears started to gather in the corner of her eyes. The air still felt too thin, too little, but the moment her lungs were able to catch the littlest bit of oxygen a loud and ugly sob left her. And that’s what she did for the next few minutes, curled up into a miserable little ball on the floor, dry sobbing while tears clung to her eyelashes but never spilled over.
Should she even keep going at this point? Yes, she could finish the run, but what would that mean for her? Tourist had told her that he would always be sent back to the lobby of the Hotel, after he had talked to Guiding Light. But what about her?
I’m not supposed to be here.
She didn’t know how much longer she sat there, but by the time she stopped her throat was burning and her breaths felt raspy. Her brain felt numb, but there was still… a small sliver of hope slowly making itself known. If there was even the smallest chance that she would see Tourist again after this was over, the run was finished, then she had to try. She, at the very least, had to try.
Getting up onto shaking legs, Roomy stumbled to the next door, Door 98, and kept going.
It almost felt offensive how nothing the last two rooms were. Not even Screech was apparently interested in bothering her anymore. It made something in the back of her mind seethe, but she pushed it down for now. At least Room 99 was illuminated again, soft lantern light giving it an almost cozy feeling, but she didn’t stick around long enough to dwell on it.
Pushing open Door 100, the woman was greeted with a long, dark and dingy hallway.
Barrels were scattered all over the place, some pushed against pipe covered walls, some knocked over on the ground, as well as an occasional closet. Walking further, water dripped from the ceiling and gathered into puddles on the floor… or was it oil? The seal of one of the barrels had been knocked off, and some sort of liquid was dripping onto the ground. Loose open wires were laid across the floor, but it didn’t seem like there was any power. At the end of the hallway a larger room opened up, filled with shelves, a normal-looking metal door leading somewhere to her left and a large gate right in front of her, with an emergency exit sign above it. The gate’s lever, already sticking out of the wall like a sore thumb, shimmered and sparkled with the by-now familiar blue of Guiding Light, though Roomy ignored it for the moment. Looking around the room first, she didn’t find anything of notice and checking the door only revealed it to be locked. Great.
Not wanting to loiter any longer than she had to, the woman went up to the gate, putting her hand on the lever before pausing. All of this… seemed too easy. Tourist had mentioned before, as he had explained the Greenhouse, that something would be waiting for them at the end, something he had referred to as ‘The Figure’, though he hadn’t elaborated. Hadn’t thought he needed to, at that point.
Okay, a figure of some sort. The name was… rather non-descriptive. What was Roomy supposed to expect from that? Maybe something like Seek, a humanoid gestalt of some kind? She’d just have to be ready for… everything, or something like that.
Taking a deep breath, Roomy pulled the switch, causing the gate to raise and two things to hit her. The first was the absolute rancid smell of rotting flesh, and the second was a loud, ear piercing scream that almost knocked her off balance before she quickly managed to cover her ears. Looking up the stairway that had opened up, something stumbled out of an indentation in the wall, and- yep. Yes, okay, okokok, that was a Figure alright. 10/10, no notes on that name.
It was huge and fleshy and rotting with its protruding, visible ribcage and gigantic maw. If she had had any time, Roomy probably could’ve laughed at how round its head was, but as things were going, the Figure quickly stomped down the stairs towards her and she wasted no time sprinting back down the hallway. To her surprise, the space had opened up, as out here smaller gates had been lifted as well, giving her access to what must’ve been the rest of the Electrical Room, though she didn’t have time to dwell on that as she basically dived into the nearest closet.
Letting out a slow breath, she peered through the crack between the doors and immediately froze as the thing was now ambling around in front of the hiding space, too close for comfort. It made her hair stand on end and her mind fuzzy with panic as instead of leaving it leaned in closer. It can’t see her. Surely it can’t see her, right? Honestly, could it even see at all, that thing didn’t even have eyes!
Her heart was in her throat by now as her breathing grew ever shallower, both due to panic and her trying to stay as quiet as possible, but it didn’t seem to work, actually, it just made it worse. Then, almost out of nowhere, Roomy felt a calming presence settle over her, and something in her mind told her to take deep breaths. Trying to follow the instructions, because what else was she supposed to do at this point, the woman felt herself calm down as her heart settled back into a barely noticeable rhythm.
For a moment, everything about her remained still as Figure leered even closer… before losing interest and leaving, stumbling somewhere else-
Huh?
Waiting another moment to make sure it was far enough away, Roomy quietly opened the closet doors, just wide enough to slip out. Peering around the corner, she could see the entity continuously stumbling around, occasionally bumping into something. Well, she wasn’t going to question it for now, at least it wasn’t freaking out and chasing her anymore. Sneaking back into the main room, Roomy quickly and quietly climbed the stairs, and was immediately hit with another road block.
It was obvious that the elevator was supposed to be the end point, but of course, it didn’t have any power! Which meant she needed to power it somehow, and she’d have to figure out how to do that. By herself.
Gripping the strap of the Tourist’s bag tighter, the woman swept her eyes across the rest of the room and quickly spotted a key and some sort of electrical-looking box thing lying on one of the shelves. Both of their importance were highlighted by the glowing blue light surrounding them, so she didn’t hesitate to take them with her.
Wait a minute. A key! There was still that locked door downstairs, the one that actually said ‘Electrical Room’.
Sneaking back down, she quickly rushed over there, unlocking the door and squeezing in as silently as she could before shutting the door behind her, if only for her own peace of mind. This too was a very uninteresting room, but there was a breaker box for the elevator! Something that only raised her mood temporarily though, before she opened it and found it empty, devoid of any breaker poles. At least now it wasn’t hard to guess what the box thing was, as it fit perfectly. Though she needed nine more of them, and so far she’d only seen that one-
Actually… she had seen another one. It was laying by the wall near the closet she had hidden in. Back where the entity was.
God-fucking-dammit.
Throwing herself back into the lion's den confirmed, at the very least, one of her suspicions. Because as she was walking back from the main room, Figure had turned a corner, looked directly at her (at which point she did still, ready to run again), before turning away again and stumbling somewhere else. Okay. No eyes, sensitive to sound (her breathing and her heartbeat, apparently) and keeps bumping into things. Roomy was like 90% sure that Figure was blind, or at least had really bad vision. Which meant, as long as she didn’t make too much noise, she should be fine. This was fine.
The layout of the hallways was thankfully not that large. It was just… rather tight, and the few rooms that did exist all felt like deathtraps. Choosing to head to the middle room first, she quickly found three more poles, two laying on the metal shelves, while the last was on the floor by another pile of rotting flesh. Eww, but also good. If they were all scattered like that, it wouldn’t be too hard to find them. Just as she was about to continue, Roomy was able to hear the sound of footsteps coming nearer. Stilling behind one of the shelves, she watched as Figure appeared in the doorway and stopped. And… just stood there for a bit, doing fuckall, before thankfully walking away again as Roomy let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. As it walked over to where the entrance door was, she headed into the other direction, picking up two more poles that were laying on the shelves placed against the wall. The room in the back only held one though, much to the woman’s disappointment, but she didn’t dwell on it as Figure was heading towards where she was.
Heading around the other way, Roomy sneaked back to the junction, where she was able to pick up the one she had seen while hiding. Okay, that’s eight out of ten, and with one last section left to explore, everything was going good so far. Other than the fact that Figure was once again walking towards her. Retreating back towards the main room, Roomy took a second to collect herself as the beast continued stumbling in and out of her view. Okay.
She could do this.
The last room was, much to her dismay, absolutely filled with shelves, and one of the last two poles was blocked off by multiple of them. (The other one thankfully was right next to the door.) Well, it wasn’t too bad, she could just sneak around them. Pocketing the last breaker pole, she cheered for herself mentally, before stilling as Figure walked into the doorframe, and then the room, and then she started to panic slightly as it made its way around the shelves to where she was.
Making herself as small as possible, Roomy crammed her body into the corner of the space, tucking herself into a tiny ball while she tried to keep her breathing even. The fleshy entity came to a standstill barely five feet away from her and the woman tried to will her heart to remain calm.
She could do this. She had no control over this.
She was going to die. But she’d died plenty before.
Tourist was counting on her. Tourist was dead, and he had no idea what she was doing.
…
Was it going to kill her or…
Much to her shock (and relief), instead of taking one more step towards the corner and finding her, Figure turned back around and walked back out of the room. Roomy remained where she was for a bit longer, stunned, but quickly snapped herself out of it. With more effort than she was willing to admit, she quietly made her way back to the Breaker Room.
Carefully fitting the nine missing poles into the box, more power seemed to be regained as the lights gained a bit of brightness, and then-
Then an ear piercing scream filled the air before the sound of glass shattering could be heard, as something happened with the Figure, though she had no idea what and neither did she care to dwell on it. As long as it wasn’t coming to her, it wasn’t her problem.
Reactivating the breaker was easy, and the moment it was good she already rushed out the door, pointedly ignoring the fact that Figure was trying to break down the jammed door behind her.
She could win this. To what end, she didn’t know, but the fact that she hadn’t just managed to do it, but also managed to do it alone, filled her with a certain sense of pride. Rushing up the stairs, Roomy practically threw herself into the elevator, quickly activating it. Its metal gate shut behind her, and not a moment too soon as the whole thing suddenly lurched, Figure clawing at the metal. It was covered in burns now, for some reason.
Then the box started to move, leaving the entity behind.
“Good riddance,” Roomy mumbled to herself as she settled onto the floor, wondering what would happen next. Tourist said that at this point the limbo would usually reset, but he hadn’t elaborated on what happened.
Well, what happened next was that a large object collided with the top of the elevator, causing it to lurch once again as the blind entity literally threw itself down the shaft and started snapping the cables. The entire cage shook violently, and before she knew it, Roomy was already free falling.
There was no time to do anything, no time to panic. There wasn’t even time to think.
One moment there was chaos, and then, everything went dark
She wasn’t awake.
It felt like a weird thing to know, to be so sure about, but Roomy knew that wherever she was right now, she wasn’t awake and this wasn’t real. If that made sense.
Surprisingly though, that didn’t make her scared. She didn’t even really feel anxious right now, despite the fact that it felt like she’d been submerged in water. How was she breathing?
Wait, she wasn’t. Somehow she felt calm despite that.
Her eyes remained shut as she let herself float in the weightlessness, taking her time to think. Did she die? She probably did, she fell down an elevator shaft, inside an elevator. There was no way she didn’t get crushed in some way. But if that was the case, shouldn’t she be back in the office? The ‘Rooms’?
This was most certainly not that.
As she was thinking, the water suddenly started to shift and she felt a presence settle around her, cageing her in. But surprisingly, not in a way that felt constricting. No, it felt… safe. And then, “I know you’re awake.” A feminine, almost ethereal voice echoed around her, gentle and kind but straight to the point, startling her into opening her eyes.
What she was met with was in no way a traditional person. They were huge, large enough that she could feel them leaning over her, holding her in their hands, despite the fact that she couldn’t see their body, or could feel them physically. The only thing that was visible to her was the symbol of a crescent moon, shining with a gentle, blue light. If the woman focused enough, she was able to see what looked like a veil behind said symbol, but was instead distracted as they spoke again.
“It is nice to finally meet you, dear. I apologize it took so long for us to meet. I’m Guiding Light.”
Oh… that was Guiding Light?! That little cyan light? Roomy thought she’d be like- fairy sized! Not this!
While the woman was slightly freaking out, the Architect continued, “You have done an incredible job making it here. Braving the Greenhouse and the Figure without any help is not something done easily.” She paused for a moment. “I am so sorry,” her next words were mournful, snapping Roomy out of her thoughts.
“What do you mean?” she asked, fear creeping into her voice, “what is this? Where is Tourist? What’s gonna happen to me?” It was at the last question that the presence around her shifted, and panic filled Roomy’s chest. “You’re not gonna send me back there, right? The Rooms? You- you can’t send me back there, please don’t send me-”
Guiding Light hesitated with her next words. “Dear, I know you do not wish to return, but we cannot-”” “No! You don’t get it, I can’t go back there, I can’t be alone again, I-” She curled in on herself, hands pulling at her hair as her chest grew tighter and her eyes started to water. All she could think about was grey. Grey, grey, too much grey, too much darkness, too much-
Guiding Light’s presence shifted again, and suddenly something was holding her, actually physically holding her. She still couldn’t see them, but what felt like hands closed around her, forcing her to curl up even smaller. It should’ve probably scared Roomy more than it did, right now she wasn’t unlike a bug about to be squashed, but the pressure felt soothing and Guiding Light just felt safe. No wonder Tourist liked her so much.
For a few minutes neither of them spoke, as Roomy breathing calmed again and they both collected themselves. Only then Guiding Light spoke again, “I… cannot protect you. You are not supposed to be here, I can’t keep you safe when the time comes. To remain here would mean to place yourself in unknowable danger, do you understand?”
Maybe. Possibly. Not really. But danger was familiar. And the alternative was being alone, and that was worse.
Shifting slightly, Roomy tried to uncurl, causing the pressure to ease up as the Architect let her go.
Looking up at the moon, her mind already made up (as if it hadn't been the second she met Tourist), the woman spoke, “Please, I just wanna be with him again.”
The Architect let out a sigh at that, one of both dismay and understanding.
“Very well, then you will soon meet again. Stay safe, my dear.”
With that her light started to fade, plunging Roomy into darkness again, before from one moment to the next the water completely disappeared. Instead the woman felt something soft press against her back while heat suddenly assaulted her face. Opening her eyes, she found sitting on a fancy armchair in front of a fireplace inside some kind of long hall. Elevators lined the walls and on the far side of the room an old looking double door led to what looked like an endless abyss.
… where was she?
He didn’t realize it at first, but for once, for the first time since he had gotten here, Guiding Light didn’t greet Tourist upon dying. To be fair, at the moment he had been too preoccupied with leaving Roomy behind, leaving her in danger, but by the time he pulled himself out of the endless sea surrounding the Hotel he did realize that something was wrong. Or not necessarily wrong, but… different. Fixing his clothes, the man also discovered, much to his horror, that he didn’t have his bag on him. That… wasn’t good.
Lights, he groaned, running his hands down his face. Why couldn’t things just be good for once? Now he just hadn’t lost his friend, he also lost the one thing he had to easily carry items. Trudging up the stairs to the entrance, all he wanted was to just… rest. For a bit. Maybe he’d be able to nap in one of the armchairs in the lobby, but the last time he did it gave him a really bad crick in his neck, so maybe not.
Pushing open the doors, he let his eyes sweep over the room before freezing like a deer in headlights. His mouth fell open as it tried to form words, find an explanation, but there was none. Standing in front of him, several dozen feet away, was Roomy. How… how- how?! How was she here?
What happened, what did he miss?
The other had a stunned look on her face, and funnily enough, his messenger bag slung over her shoulder. So that’s where it went.
For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Roomy opened her mouth, letting out a quiet, “Tourist…” It completely snapped the man out of his daze, and before he knew it his legs were moving without his permission, clearing the distance between them in a few large strides as he crashed into the larger woman. She let out a small ‘oof’, stumbling slightly before quickly steadying both of them as Tourist tightly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Without hesitation she returned it, hugging him even tighter.
Letting out a wet exhale, she said, “Hey, it’s okay. I’m here. I'm not leaving.”
Her words pulled a few watery hiccups from Tourist as well, as he realized that his face was damp with tears.
“You better not,” he spoke between quiet sobs, “you can’t get rid of me anymore, I’m not letting you go again. I’ll be like a parasite.”
Roomy only laughed at that. “Promise?”
They didn’t know how much longer they stood there, basking in each other’s embrace. It didn’t really matter, as time rarely ever did in the Hotel. Eventually they would separate, and Tourist would start showing Roomy around the Lobby. But until then, they just held another. For now, that was enough.