With all of the inn’s torches and chandeliers blown out, the hearth in the Lobby was the only remaining bit of light between us. Huddled together on the three available couches, some resorted to standing or leaning on the headrests. Poltrick, meanwhile, sat on the floor.
The main door had been left open to let the views of outer space add a bit of atmosphere. To ensure that no accidents occurred, Gazpacho had been sent back to Room 001. The perfect environment to share scary stories with each other. It was a great group activity, and the inn’s vibes fit well. So, why not?
Fera was the one who had been telling hers for the last few minutes.
“That led me to finally investigate the cabin deeper in the woods. It was out of my territory, as I mentioned, and the nymphs over there were really rude. So, I had to sneak in during the night and hope that I did not get caught. The event with the old man and the axe had me pretty shaken up already, though. It did not help, to say the least.”
Tray, of all people, was the one who looked like he was most scared. For being someone who had apparently threatened to kill his twin brother for sharing too much information, he sure did not seem to have the aura about him right now. His arms wrapped around his legs; his entire body leaned against Trev. That second brother, in comparison, was quite calm. Almost amused.
“So, I reached the cabin. The night was darker than usual. Colder than usual. I was not used to being out this late, and I was really sleepy. My eyes were drooping. My body needed to rest. But I kept going, hoping to uncover this mystery. Then, I heard it. ‘Sister’, someone called out. ‘Sister, help!’”
Poltrick gulped, moving closer to the fire.
“The voices increased. ‘Sister’, ‘Sister, help me’, ‘Sister, set us free’. They whispered, as if right next to my ears. Their voices doubled down, overlapping each other as dozens of them cried out in pain. I looked around, but there was nobody. I tripped over myself multiple times, whimpering in horror and anxiety. I did not know where to look. But then…”
Everybody leaned in, waiting to see how it all concluded.
“Then, I saw it. They were all around me. All of the voices were coming from the logs the cabin was made out of. ‘Sister’, one of them cried. ‘Sister, it hurts!’, another one followed her. All of them had their faces still captured on the logs, crying out in hurt and pain and anguish. The cabin was not the location of the disappearances. It was the answer.”
We waited with bated breath, hoping to hear the conclusion of this plot. But it never came. The moment she finished that line, Fera leaned back into her seat and gave us all a slight nod. That indicated that her story was done. That had been it. Apparently…
“Wow.” I gave her a little clap, so as to not make her feel too bad. “That was it. That was Fera. Incredible story. I loved the part with the axe, really. Got my hairs standing up. And…very good environmental messaging. It was very strong. Don’t use wood to make your buildings, folks. It’s not right!”
Stopping my claps, I awkwardly went back to my position. Nobody said anything or reacted to my words. I knew why. I had figured out my mistake the moment those words left my mouth. The guests, currently, were busy looking around at the entire Northflame Inn. The one that they thought I had built and run since its creation.
No wood to be used in buildings. Sure.
“Right. Moving in.” I snapped my finger and let out a reluctant laugh. “Next one. Let’s move on to the next one before we’re all falling asleep like Fera’s story. Who’s next?”
“Yeah, we need to go to sleep,” Nathan remarked. His face said it all. The man was not very happy with what I had said. Probably thought it was a bit too insensitive and hypocritical. Oh, well.
“Uh, you’re next,” Trev answered my question.
“Who? Me? I just said mine before Fera’s.” Nathan asked.
“No, obviously not. You, innkeeper. You’re next.”
“M-me!?” I coughed in shock. “Right. Yeah, I almost forgot. I’m next, obviously. Let’s get to it. I got a nice one for all of you.”
Sitting down with Poltrick and Old Man Dom in the last loop had taught me this. I looked at Bella Garlove, who was listening intently, and prepared myself. Just because you were not personally involved in a story did not mean that you could not be affected by it. Them talking had helped me out more than I had expected. Now, with the excuse of this event, I hoped to do the same to the elf.
Obviously, I didn’t know much about her to truly make a good enough story on the spot. But I did know that she missed her parents, for some reason. Her mother, in particular. While it wasn’t very nice of me to weaponize something like that, I wasn’t going to be completely dishonest. The only lies I would tell would be changing the setting of the story.
Because when it came to missing your family, I knew a thing or two about it myself.
“This happened to me when I had only just moved out of my family home.” I started, only momentarily looking at Bella before shifting my gaze to cover everyone. “I think that what struck me most was how easy it was. Before going through with it, I really did think that it would be difficult, but it wasn’t. The only difficult thing was actually getting some time to even think about my family, much less miss them.”
Old Man Dom, who was sitting opposite me and right beside Trev, nodded. I smiled at him, and he smiled back.
“The more time I spent in my new home, the less I thought about them. Then, one night, when I was talking to a friend of mine. She had, uh, come over. Obviously. How else would I talk to a friend of mine? Anyway, I was talking to her, and she told me how much she missed her own people. That is what finally made me think about them. Why had I not thought about them until now? That’s what troubled me.
“Was I just a bad child? Maybe I was just a horrible girl who did not even care about her family. I did not know. Ever since that day, it got even more difficult to reach out to them. It got difficult because I did not know what to say. When you’ve done something so wrong, you know? You don’t even know how to face the ghosts in your own mind. You can’t even explain yourself to that mental version, so how could you explain it to the real one?”
Bella nervously shifted around behind the twins. She had decided to stand, so it made it easier for her to look away. The girl obviously didn’t want to meet my eyes, which was good. I needed her to understand that I understood her. More than I wanted to admit, I understood her.
“As the guilt started to bleed in, I started noticing things around the apartment that I hadn’t before. I mean…house. Things around the house. I found things in places I hadn’t left them. The fireplace lit up on its own and then went out all of a sudden. At night, in the moments before I drifted off to sleep, I would hear the patter of feet in the hall outside. When I closed my eyes in fear, I would feel like someone was standing next to me without saying a word.”
Tray’s eyes widened, and his legs pressed closer to his chest. He was basically sleeping on top of Trev now. At least that gave me a good view of the elf behind them.
“The loneliness started to creep in little by little. The fact that I was all alone sank in, and that made me notice that I wasn’t alone. That there were so many others in there, who were alone right alongside me. Then, one night, when I came back home from work, I noticed a chair rocking. Back and forth, it moved. What was funny was that it was not a rocking chair. It was not even supposed to do that.”
My therapist, whom I had to see for two whole months about this event, had assured me that it was just a hallucination. And by all means, being someone who believed in science, I thought the same. My brain was messed up because of the separation, and was cooking up the wildest daydreams. None of those explanations, still, could change the fact that it was horrifying.
“It rocked front, then back. Front, then back. Creak, creak, creak. My bag fell to the ground, and I walked to the chair. Someone was sitting in it. Nobody else was supposed to be able to get into my house. But someone was in it. An old woman. Wrinkled face, rotting hair, a bleeding nose with fungus growing on its tip. She looked at me with a crooked smile and laughed.
“As she laughed, someone ran behind me. I turned to look, but saw only the dress of a little girl vanish behind a corridor. I turned once more, but the lady was not in the chair. She was standing in front of me. Her mouth was widened into a smile, and her broken teeth were right in my face. Her gouging eyeballs leaned in towards me, and she opened her mouth. A small, disgusting breath escaped her. I steeled myself to hear what she had to say.”
Bella had leaned back in. The beginning with the part about family had clearly reached her, but the horror had allowed her to drop her guard once more. Perfect. That was precisely what I needed to do. This was the outcome that would allow me to get through in the end.
“Her mouth opened further, grew wide, and the sting of her breath made me choke. But then my eyes closed out of fear. I could feel her presence in front of me, but no more vision. When I finally opened my eyes, she was no longer there. Instead, there was the little girl in her dress. Two plaited braids, some blood in her mouth, and eyes as wide as the old woman's. She grabbed onto my shirt and started sobbing.
“I asked her what happened, hoping that it was just some lost child. But she didn’t reply. Her sobbing became louder and louder until she was wailing. Every one of her cries pierced my ears and made them sting. I started to shiver, unable to move. Then, she stopped crying, opened her mouth, and screamed a single word – ‘Mommy!’ – before tugging really hard on my shirt until I fell down to the floor and lost consciousness.”
I paused and took a breath, letting that part settle in. Tray might as well have merged with his brother. Old Man Dom had been enjoying the tale, and so had Bella. Poltrick was just inches away from the fire, probably hoping that the light from it would save him. I was sitting right beside Nathan and Fera, so I could not quite gauge their reactions.
Earnest and Carol, meanwhile, had gotten cozy, leaning on each other. So much for their relationship being a secret. I gave them a teasing smile, just to rile them up. That immediately got them to drift apart a little. Them hogging the third couch is what had caused Bella and Poltrick to not be sitting right now.
Anyway, since the mood had settled, I looked at Bella and concluded my tale.
“Turns out the little girl and the old woman were the same person. She had run away from her home when she was that young and found work at that house. It wasn’t allowed for a young girl like her to work, so they acted like she was their daughter. But that was only for the people outside. In reality, they never talked to her. So, when they died, and she inherited their property, she stayed there until her death.
“Until her death, she did not contact a single member of her family. And now, seeing me do the same, she was trying to haunt me. I think she was trying to correct my mistakes. Anyone who does not try to reach out to the people they love, or runs away from them, they’re cowards. That’s what I learnt. It takes nothing to reach out, and we often forget to do it. Right? That is what she was trying to teach me.”
That got her. It pained me just as much to see her like that, but it had reached the elf. Covering her face as she tried to hide in the darkness, she was clearly uncomfortable. Her face looked like she was about to burst into tears. As if my words had been a personal attack on her.
Shuffling on the spot, she took a step backwards. The girl was trying to leave. I could read it in her movements.
Thankfully, Poltrick backed me up unintentionally with a light clap.
“Alright, alright. That was just middling. But you are not going to be prepared for my story, I assure ya. You’ve never heard anything like it!”
For some reason, that made Tray go back to his usual position. That very declaration by the dwarf had made him comfortable. Honestly, I couldn’t even complain. Poltrick’s words had made it quite clear that it was going to be more of a chill, resting kind of story. Not really scary.
“I…I think I’ll go to my room now. Sorry. Bye.”
With that, Bella took her first step. Shaking a little as she still tried to process the words I had said, she tried to leave.
“Well, then, you can go next.” Poltrick offered, making her stop.
“N-no. It’s alright. I’m really sleepy, and-”
“But it is the rule. Come on, now. You must stay, Ms. Garlove. Look at Nathan and Fera. Those two are still here. Tell us your story, please.”
“No. Please. I want to go up. I am so sorry.”
“I think that’s alright.” Fera tried to interrupt. “You can rest, Ms. Garlo-”
“No! All of us are telling stories here, and that’s what the event is. You cannot just leave without telling us a story!” Poltrick grabbed her hand as she tried to sneak past the dwarf. His intentions were not really wrong, but he was clearly overstepping his boundaries here.
“Let me go!” She cried. “I don’t want to tell stories. Just let me go!”
“It’s just a story, Ms. Garlove. You stayed here for theirs, and now want to quit when it’s your turn.”
“I’m not quitting, I’m tired. I want to go!”
“Gregson, let her go. It’s fine.”
“Ay, I’ll do that. But at least she can tell us what she was planning to say!?”
“I wasn’t planning anything!” Bella whimpered as her eyes started to moisten. I felt a creeping sense of guilt rise in my heart again. I hadn’t been that rude, had I? I had tried to be as normal as I could.
“Of course you did. How could you en-”
“Let me go!”
The next moment, without ever intending to, Bella let her hand glow blue. The emotions in her came blasting through at once. Getting her hand out of Poltrick’s grasp, she let it fly up towards the main door. The glow got stronger, and I prayed that she could bring it under control.
But there was no such luck. Her own face was one of shock as the blue color lit up the dark Lobby. The yelp that came out of her mouth was louder than any of the gasps or screams from the side of the guests. Bella Garlove, the one who had been so adamant about hiding her powers, let an attack loose.
The uncontrolled ripple of energy, as bad as my own, flew through the air and hit the Receptionist’s Desk. The resulting blast cracked it into two and sent the papers flying everywhere. The white of the sheets contrasted against the pitch black of the surroundings, and was accompanied by some rushing footsteps.
My attention, which had been captivated by the unfolding scene, completely missed when its originator disappeared. By the time I looked back at her, Bella had already left the Lobby, run up the stairs, and made a run for her room. By the time the papers fell back down to the floor, scary story night had officially come to an abrupt end.