Set Free // HS ✓

Six.

From the very moment that I stepped back inside of this dreadful building, it has been nothing but one disaster after another.

It began when they discovered a malfunction in our reservation system that led to us being overbooked by thirty rooms.

I ended up being the lucky one who got to help the front desk deliver the joyous news to the weary travelers. That didn't go well.

There was a man who had pulled up the word reservation on a dictionary app, and recited it to me repeatedly. I informed him that the definition was absolutely correct, but unfortunately, it didn't change the situation. I wished that I could have built him and the other poor souls a room, but I simply lack the construction knowledge.

The next thing I knew, a silver iPhone was flying towards my face. Thankfully I dodged it just in time for it to crash into the wall behind me. I have to admit that seeing that phone completely shattered was a beautiful sight. Instant karma.

Once the front desk insanity was over, I got called to a banquet room that had been set up incorrectly and was told to reset it by myself. That was an obvious catastrophe waiting to happen. I somehow managed to trip over a stack of chairs, and all of them tumbled down along with me. It took about five minutes for me to find the strength to get up. I'm just thankful that I didn't significantly hurt myself.

The kitchen had some sort of problem that made dinner run five whole minutes late for the conference. Somehow Kathy twisted that into it being my fault. I'm still scratching my head what I could have possibly done to cause that one.

All of this on top of trying to get contracts processed and sales profiles updated.

I'm so exhausted that I'm seeing stars, and there is not one single muscle in my body that isn't aching.

Slowly dragging my sore feet through the conference area trying to get the ballrooms locked, I notice the subtle sound of a piano being played.

I follow the noise with my ear to figure out the source.

If the freaking A/V staff left the music on, I'll never hear the end of it.

Heh. I'll never hear the end of the music.

Okay, I clearly need sleep.

My skin suddenly becomes clammy when I realize that it's coming from an unused ballroom that is currently locked and has no A/V equipment set up in it.

What the?

I take a moment to stand still and really listen to determine if I'm hallucinating due to sleep deprivation or not.

I remember hearing my colleagues discuss all the deaths that have taken place in this hotel throughout the years, and how this place is supposedly haunted. I scoffed at them because there is no such thing as ghosts.

I would know. I lived on the same property as my father's funeral home for eighteen years. I've been around plenty of dead bodies, but I never saw one single ghost.

What if I'm wrong, though?

Regardless of how terrified I am right now, I still have to go in there to turn the music off.

Chills run through my body as I shakily insert the skeleton key to open the large door and tiptoe inside.

I gasp when I see that the lights in this room are turned on.

There is somebody in here.

I lift my head up and open up an eye to peek in the piano's direction expecting to see a demon of some sort.