Chapter Seventeen

Ben looked around the filthy room. He started gathering the papers that were strewn on the floor. He didn’t bother reading them, as he would take them all. But there was also something new this time. An old, leather-bound book sat in the middle of the floor. Tara’s backpack was also on the floor, against the far wall. Ben grabbed it and began stuffing the book and papers into it.

He wondered if Cameron was okay. He’d heard him shout his name as he entered the room. He thought about what Cameron had seen to make him sound so panicked. He pushed the thought from his mind and continued collecting papers and stuffing them into the backpack.

When he had finished picking up all of the papers, Ben looked around the room. He used the camera on his phone to take pictures of the room, especially the drawings on the walls and floors. When he had collected his proof, Ben exited the room. There were no spirits in the hallway, and Ben turned toward room 501. Surely, that’s where Cameron had gone. Before he could move any closer to 501, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the center of his forehead. He knew he was falling, but he couldn’t stop it. Everything went black.

Ben dreamed of Chase again. He dreamed that they fought and Chase left him. In his dream, the fight was about Cameron. Chase was accusing Ben of having feelings for Cameron and was jealous of Ben’s relationship with the security officer.

He dreamed that Chase left him and went to a motel. At the motel, Chase met and flirted with another man. Feeling that Ben was cheating on him, Chase enjoyed the other man’s company, eventually taking him back to his room.

Chase voiced his regret afterwards and left the motel to find Ben. As he drove along the country road, a ghost appeared in the path of the car’s headlights, and Chase swerved. He hit a tree, totaling the car. Bleeding, Chase started walking down the road, to get help. The first house he came to was the Silverwood Manor.

As Chase approached the spooky, dilapidated mansion, lights suddenly turned on. The mansion appeared as it had when it was a hotel. Chase walked inside and approached the front desk.

A clerk looked up from his ledger and said, “Welcome, Mr. Morton. You are expected. We have a room reserved for you. But perhaps you would like to have a drink in the lounge first?”

Ben watched as Chase went into the lounge and took a seat. He ordered a drink and began chatting and mingling with the other guests there. After several minutes, Ben realized that, in his dream, he was also sitting at one of those tables in the lounge as a guest at the hotel.

Afraid of the prospect of being trapped in the hotel forever, Ben stood to make his way toward the door. Blocking his path were the familiar faces of the spirits he had encountered: the nurse, the bride, the tall man, the soldier. They didn’t look like spirits in his dream, they looked like real flesh-and-blood people. They also didn’t have the grotesque wounds, purple, bloated skin, or the glassy eyes of the dead. No, these spirits were very much alive, at least in Ben’s dream.

They were all blocking his exit from the lounge. Ben’s fear turned to terror, as he realized that they would never let him leave. The tall man began walking toward Ben, in an intimidating and menacing manner. The tall man produced a large knife and began stabbing Ben repeatedly. The dream was so vivid that Ben could feel the cold steel plunging into his body, ripping and tearing flesh as it was pulled out. He tried to fight, but he was too weak. His closed, and he could feel death creeping toward him like a starving lion would an injured gazelle.

When Ben woke, he was lying in the floor of the hallway. He was still clutching Tara’s backpack in his hand. He looked up and saw the tall man, towering over him. Ben crawled backwards on his elbows, terrified from the dream he’d just had and the ghost before him now.

When he was far enough from the apparition, Ben stood and ran. He ran back to room 501 and slammed the door behind him.