The elevator doors closed with a sound that felt final. No one spoke for several seconds. The ticking clock had started again, steady and calm, as if nothing strange had happened.
Riya was the first to break the silence. Her voice was trembling. "Did everyone see that reflection?" "Yes," said Dev in a low voice, "there were seven people in that reflection." "But there are only six of us, so who was that seventh person in the reflection?"
No one answered.
Rhea stared at the elevator doors. Her reflection still looked normal now, but she couldn't forget the smile she had seen before. That creepy smile did not belong to any of the six friends. "She's already among us," Rhea said slowly. "Not physically, but close enough."
Vivek frowned. "We don't know that." Rhea turned to him and said, "This hotel listens. It records, it remembers, and now it is reacting."
The lights above their heads again started flickering violently in response. Dev said, "Staying in the lobby isn't helping; we need space, we need a plan." The moment he said that, a low sound echoed under their feet.
Thud. The floor vibrated. Riya screamed and grabbed Meenal's hand. "What was that?"
Another vibration followed after the first one; this time they really felt that something was there below the lobby. Vivek went down and placed his palm on the floor. As soon as he placed his palm on the floor he froze for a minute and then very scaredly said that, "This floor is moving."
"What do you mean it's moving?" asked Meenal anxiously. Before Vivek could explain, the tile beneath Rhea cracked. She screamed and stumbled backward Dev caught her hands just in time. The crack did not stop. It spread in a straight line across the lobby, under the walls, toward the elevator.
The number panel above the elevator blinked and showed 8. After seeing the number 8, they realized they were not in the lobby anymore. They were on the eighth floor, which was swallowed by darkness. Meenal felt someone breathing near her ears. "I am here," whispered Dev
Meenal nodded even though she could see nothing. Then suddenly the lights returned. But the lobby was gone; they were standing in a long corridor. Yellow lights buzzed over their head. The walls were narrow, closing in slightly. The carpet was old and damp; doors lined both sides. The numbers on the doors of the room were old and scratched. "Where are we?" asked Rhea.
Vivek looked behind them There was no lobby, only more corridor. Vivek slowly said, "We didn't move, but the hotel did." A door nearby creaked open, and something came out of the room. That room was 804. Inside the room it was complete darkness. When they looked at it carefully, they realized that it was an old dusty shoe which was covered in blood suddenly the door of room 804 closed. They saw scratched marks on the door like if someone had tried to escape from this room but it looked like he wasn't successful in doing so.
A loud ding echoed through the corridor; every door vibrated, and the temperature of the corridor suddenly dropped. Then another sound followed, and the sound was of someone's footsteps. The sound of someone's footsteps was coming from the far end of the hallway, slow and dragging. Vivek said, "We need to move now." they ran
The corridor twisted strangely, bending left, then right, then narrowing unnaturally. Their breathing echoed louder with every step, mixing with another sound; someone else was also breathing with them. Meenal looked back, and she screamed behind them the hallway looked longer than before; doors were multiplying, and the footsteps were closer.
They turned a corner sharply and crashed into something solid. A wall "No, Dev shouted this wasn't supposed to be here."The footsteps stopped for a few moments; there was complete silence in the corridor. Then a soft voice came from inside the walls "You all look tired; you should rest."
A door appeared on the wall; on the door it was written 801. Rhea said, "She brought us here." The door handle turned slowly on its own cold air poured out from inside of the room. The voice whispered for the final time, "You don't walk through the hotel anymore the hotel itself walks through you."