8 - Vampire the Masquerade
Haunted Hotel
After a good night"s ; err ; day"s rest I located my cab driver and headed to the Ocean Front Hotel. The place was old, surrounded by a high fence with a wide gate, and looked as though half of it had been badly damaged by a fire. I picked the lock on the gate and entered the grounds. There was a lot of construction equipment. I entered through the front door, went into the lobby, and looked around.
The place looked as though it had been new around the turn of the century. The 20th century, that is. And the poltergeist was waiting for me. He started tossing stuff at me right away. It didn"t hurt; it was just a pain in my ass. I checked for his aura, but could not find one. I guess ghosts, who are completely dead, don"t have auras. I wandered up to the second floor, and then I saw another ghost.
This one was a woman. It seemed as if she was trying to communicate with me. She started leading me around the second floor on some sort of crazy chase. She would appear and disappear, trying to get me to follow her. Occasionally I would hear her whisper things like "He"s coming" and "Be careful." The poltergeist kept tossing junk at me.
Well, I finally gave in and followed her. She led me to a waiter"s station, and pointed to a dumbwaiter. I squeezed into it, and I let it drop one floor. When I opened the door, I was in the kitchen. It was full of old, rusty pots and pans.
The woman pointed to a shelf. I looked, and there was an old diary there. I grabbed it, and the poltergeist began tossing the pots and pans at me. I bolted out a door and into a corner of the restaurant. I left that and emerged into the lobby. This damned poltergeist was getting to be a nuisance.
I exited the hotel and decided to read the diary. I figured that was why the female ghost led me to it. It was old, dated 1901, and the ink on the yellowed pages was really faded. But I could still read it. It told the story of how a family of four, mom, dad, brother, and sister, came to the hotel for a vacation. The dad somehow got the idea that the mom was fooling around with another guy. He killed the kids, his wife, and then set fire to one wing of the hotel. He died in the fire. No wonder the place was haunted. Two ghosts, not one. And the guy was the poltergeist.
I reentered the hotel. The woman guided me up the stairs and to an elevator shaft. I yanked open the door and looked down. It was empty. I dropped down and there was a section where there was a ladder. Then I heard it. The elevator was in free fall. That bastard of a poltergeist was dropping a damn elevator on me!
I jumped on the ladder and watched the elevator fly by, hitting the floor with a loud BOOM! I worked my way up the ladder to the fourth floor, saw the door was open, and jumped across. I was on the fourth floor, and there was the lady ghost.
The lady led me around to the burnt-out portion. She pointed to room 412. I opened the door, and the walls were charred and blackened. I walked around a bit, and then, on the coffee table, I saw it. It was a necklace with a locket of some sort. It was all dirty and covered with soot. I picked it up. As I turned to leave the room, the female ghost smiled and disappeared. I began looking for a way out, and the damned poltergeist began tossing things at me with more energy and vehemence than before. I retraced my steps, went down the elevator shaft to the second floor, exited the shaft, ran to the stairs, down to the lobby, and out the front door. On the whole return trip that bastard was tossing everything at me but the kitchen sink. And I think that was because it was bolted down.
I found my cab driver waiting. I had him take me to the Asylum. I wanted to give this locket to Therese as soon as possible. What I didn"t know was that, with Jeanette and Therese, some poop was going to hit the fan.
Comments
Don Roble
Darkfire
Madhatter