Beyond

ACT -1 (Chapter 1-Check in)

"..."

"The night before the outbreak."

"35 people."

"And they all went missing in one night, at this exact place?" Lucas thought as he slowly walked through the door. Lucas was a detective tasked to investigate the "Sleeptight Hotel", a total of 35 people were said to have vanished inside the hotel. Those that spent a night in the hotel all said the same thing. "That place is cursed. Stay out of there!". Nobody would believe them, thinking they were simply drunk or just over-exaggerated whatever they saw. This was the case, until 35 people decided to stay the night in the hotel, to prove it was nothing and none returned.

"I'm here to investigate this place," Lucas said as he entered the hotel. Strangely, there was nobody to be found in the lobby. Lucas was tasked to stay in the hotel for a night, to see if anything strange happened in this hotel. Since he had already paid for the room, he walked up to the front desk and grabbed his key. He walked towards the elevator and looked around. On the left was the dining hall and the kitchen. On the right was the elevator room, where there were multiple elevators. Lucas entered the elevator in the middle and went up to the second floor.

Ding

The elevator doors opened and revealed dimly lit hallways. "Something seems off about this place. This hotel seems completely empty." Lucas thought, as he walked towards Room 13. The number "13" was known for being an unlucky number and was said to bring misfortune. Lucas never believed those stories; a mere number causing misfortunes seemed implausible to him. Lucas opened the door and went inside the hotel room. The room was normal; there was nothing of note for him. There was a framed picture in the hotel room that seemed a bit weird, but Lucas didn't question it. He knew people with tastes that were far worse than this. It was late at night, so Lucas decided to go to sleep and continue investigating tomorrow.

That was the night where it all started.

Creepy music started playing at midnight, there were footsteps and sounds of whispering. Lucas woke up from the music, "If there wasn't anyone in this hotel, then who is playing the music, whispering, and making the footsteps." Lucas said. Then suddenly, a woman's scream pierced through the noises that filled the second floor. "Someone is being attacked." Lucas said, as he quickly picked up his flashlight and rushed out of the hotel room. The scream came from the top floor. Lucas headed to the stairs, as taking the elevator would be too time consuming, but some of the steps were broken. The stairway was under construction. "I'm starting to think this really is bad luck" Lucas said, as he sighed and headed towards the elevator.

Ding

What he saw next, he wasn't prepared for. The heads of the hotel staff members, all their heads ripped off from their bodies. All the heads were strung together, with strings and hung up on the ceiling. "What happened here?" said Lucas, as he slowly moved forward. In the corner of his eye, he saw another body; but, this one was alive. Someone or something, was dressed up in a bellhop costume and carried a suitcase. "I don't know what it is, but it definitely isn't human." Lucas thought, as he slowly backed away. It didn't have a face; it was just black with a singular glowing red eye. The lights flickered. When it came back on, the creature was gone. "This place is cursed. I need to get out of here!" Lucas said, as he rushed back to the elevator and pushed the button. It wouldn't work. "The elevator's power is turned off. I need to find a way to turn it back on." Lucas said, as he went into the maze-like hallways of the top floor. He could hear footsteps.

He wasn't alone on the top floor.