A Distorted Vengeance

I had just stepped into the Castle Hotel when, suddenly, I felt a strange presence surrounding me. The lobby was nearly empty; save for a little girl who couldn’t have been more than ten years old sitting on a sofa, the only other person in the room was the receptionist, but I still couldn’t brush off the feeling that something was crawling around the corners. The receptionist himself was a young boy who looked barely eighteen.

My mind suddenly returned to the tales I had heard about the castle before it was recently turned into a hotel. Even though the events were over two centuries into the past, the gruesome history of this place was still known by many: a nobleman kills his daughter, and his son then wreaks vengeance upon his abusive father and neglectful mother.

However, the fear that grew in the back of my mind slowly disappeared as I conversed with the receptionist. He was a polite young man, explaining everything I needed to know in great detail. It was already midnight, so I decided to head straight to my room. I wanted to sleep until the next afternoon.

Two hours later, I suddenly woke up to the air around me freezing. Peering into the pervading darkness, I felt as if the room was closing in on me. I sprung to my feet and rushed to the light switch. Once the room was illuminated, I looked up at the AC unit; it was the same as I had left it earlier, yet I was feeling the cold down to my bones.

I wrapped myself in a jacket and headed downstairs. The lights in every hallway were dimmer than before—and that same presence I felt the moment I stepped into this place was emerging once more. It was as if an invisible force were crawling along the walls and up the ceiling. I rushed downstairs and found the entire lobby empty.

I called out to the receptionist. There was no answer. Then, a voice whispered in my ear. “Please, go back to your room and you’ll be safe.” It sounded like a little girl.

“What? Who are you? What’s happening?” I looked around, frantically trying to figure out who was talking to me. There was no one there.

“Hurry! My brother will be here any moment!”

“Who—”

The ground began to rumble, and the windows started to rattle. The air around me grew denser and cold—so heavy that I could barely cling to my breath. I fell to my knees whilst clutching my arms, failing to rub them warm as I felt my vision begin to blur.

“There’s nowhere for you to run. No place you can hide…” A new voice rose from behind. A growl followed its words, echoing throughout the entire space as a sudden shadow spread forth to engulf everything around me. My vision faded to black; the last thing I heard was an ominous whisper in my ear: “This is what you deserve.”