3rd Person~
Traditional Japanese flute music spills from the elevator as it slides open. However, when the door dings shut, the music abruptly stops, sending the reverse Hotel Obsidian lobby into eerie silence.
"Dar!" Diego hollers, his voice cutting across the quiet. "Darla!" He yells again, this time with much more force and worry in his tone.
Both Diego and Lila listen intently, hoping to hear the scurry of feet, a small gasp, or maybe the bang of a door being closed, or something. Anything but the silence that chokes them. Diego looks down at Lila, and she looks up at him, nodding to the center of the lobby.
"This place is jacked," Diego comments as he and Lila begin to walk. "Really? I hadn't noticed." Lila says sarcastically, as they pass by a never-ending sushi bar, where the regular bar should have been.
"Come on." Lila inclines her head for Diego to follow, leading him up to the check-in counter where nobody stands. Despite how pristine it is, the hotel seems to be quite abandoned. "Hello!" Lila says to the counter as if someone will just magically pop up. No one does.
" 'Hotel Oblivion'." Diego reads off a sign on the counter before going to ring the bell. "Whoa, numpty!" Lila is quick to stop him. "Can't you read? It says, 'do not ring the bell'." She says, referring to the same sign that says do not ring the bell in Japanese. "We need help finding Darla. Why would they put a bell here if they don't want us to ring it?" Diego asks.
"I don't know." Lila groans, "Let's just... let's just look for Darla, alright?" Diego nods, running a hand through his hair before walking towards the revolving door as Lila walks back up to the elevator, both calling out Darla's name as they go.
"Darla!" Diego calls, voice echoing. He walks through one revolving door and walks back in through the other like he was teleported. He does the same thing, only for the same thing to happen again. "Lila!" Diego yells, getting the attention of the woman across the room, who quickly comes jogging back. "Did you find her?" She asks even though it's obvious he didn't.
"I can't... I can't get out. The doors won't let me," Diego says, as Lila grimaces and squashes another cockroach under her boot. Diego turns, walking back up to the counter. "Where are you going?" Lila asks, watching him.
"To get help finding Darla," Diego answers. Realizing what the man is doing, Lila's eyes widen. "Hey! Hey, hey hey, hey! No!" She protests, running to Diego before he can ring the bell, or try to, at least.
Just as Lila reaches him, Diego's hand slams down on the little gold bell and an echoing gong ripples through the hotel. The lights in the lobby darken as the building rumbles. Diego and Lila glance at each other, walking into the only ring of light created in the center of the lobby as raspy breathing suddenly meets their ears, along with heavy footsteps somewhere in the distance.
"Diego?" Lila says slowly, looking around for the source of the ghostly sounds. "I hear it," Diego says, grabbing one of the many knives from his harness. He looks around, examining the shadowy places created by the sudden lack of light. The breathing seems to grow heavier, and eerier by the second as Lila and Diego look around, their backs pressed together, rotating in circles.
"We need to get out of here," Lila suddenly says, panic rising in her voice. "Not without Darla," Diego answers, adjusting the knife in his hand. A metal chain clangs in the corner, catching Diego's attention. He goes to throw his knife, however, his knife instead clatters to the ground as two of his fingers get sliced clean off by a sickle.
"Run!" Lila yells, grabbing Diego's other hand before the pain can even register with him. She drags him down the lobby, and to the elevator. As the pain starts to register with Diego, he grabs his fingers, trying to stifle the flow of blood. The footsteps they heard grow closer and louder as the sound of metal drags across the floor.
"Close it! Close it!" Diego yells as Lila hammers the top floor button. Once the door opens again, both Diego and Lila take off sprinting, both screaming bloody murder, Diego still clutching his bleeding fingers.
"This way! Come on!" Lila screams, guiding a disoriented Deigo back through the corridors to the White Buffalo Suite. The footsteps of whatever is chasing the duo, still echo behind them, and the sickle on a chain rattles eerily, acting as motivation for the two to run faster.
Lila wrenches open the tunnel door, pushing Diego inside before scrambling in herself, not even bothering to check if the door swung shut behind them. "Run! Go, go!" She yells as they run back through the mirror and fluorescent-lighted passageway.
Diego barrels through the door on the other side, and the room is back to normal. The second Lila jumps through the door, Diego slams it shut, throwing his body against it as it threatens to be pushed back open by the creature on the other side. Lila does the same.
"Push harder!" Lila yells, pressing her full body against the door as the creature pounds on it. The creature growls and eventually, his footsteps subside back down the tunnel.
"We have to go back." Diego pants once the room is reduced to silence. "Are you bloody insane?" Lila asks. "We just barely got out alive!" "Darla's still in there!" Diego shouts, wincing as he points to the door.
"Umm... in where?" A confused voice suddenly asks from behind the two, making them whip around. "And what the hell happened to you two?" Darla asks.
YOU ARE READING
COPYCAT ✾ The Umbrella Academy
Fanfiction❝Copycat trying to cop my manner. ❞ For Darla, it's been thirteen years. For Diego, it's been thirteen minutes. When Lila decides to introduce Darla to her father, things can only go sideways. After all, Diego didn't even know she existed. {Diego's...
