Chimes

Thump.

Johnny winced at the noise the bags made as he set them on the hotel lobby floor. The lobby was large and morose, its faded crumbling cream painted walls silently crying to guests, spilling out tears of the lonely history it had been through. The carpet was designed with intertwining leaves and vines, with a small white diamond shape everywhere the vines intersected. The red base color made it appear as if the vines were bleeding, choking on themselves.

Thump.

This time it was Johnny’s head that made the dull throb, and he rubbed at his temples achingly. He sighed and picked the bags up once again. He walked over the counter to see the face of a lovely young American woman. Her dirty blonde hair hung just past her shoulders, and her green eyes sparkled at Johnny wondrously. He briefly wondered what the woman would be like in bed.

“May I help you?” She asked.
“Um, yeah…” He glanced at the name tag, “Laurie, my name is John Matthews, and I have a reservation here for tonight.” He slipped her his credit card.

“Okay, one second…” Laurie said, turning toward her computer and typing in his information. He had just enough time to take a peek at the swell of her breast before she turned back to him.

“Alright, Mr. Matthews, you have room 821, enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you,” Johnny said, taking the key and his credit card. He turned around and took one last look at the crying lobby, and then headed toward the elevator.




Johnny dropped the bags on his bed and moved to the window. He drew the curtains and took a long gaping look at the view. It was nothing special, across the street there stood a bank, and beyond that a long plane of residential housing. Johnny sighed again, closed the curtains and turned toward the television. Taking the remote, he flipped on the power and looked at the menu.

There was a list he could choose from including movies, games, television and the like. He decided not to fiddle with any of it and turned the TV off. He looked at his watch. It was going to be a long night. Johnny hated hotels, hated everything about them. Despite what any commercial might say, there was nothing warm and cozy about them. None were homey at all. Hesitantly, he got up from the bed and decided to find the vending machines. A Coke never sounded better.

Sluggishly, he stumbled across the room and out the door. Things were quieter out here, lonelier. Not one person roamed the halls with him, not one sound impacted his ear. At the end of the hall, there was one door facing him, the stairwell, he supposed, and unbelievably, things would be worse in there.

He looked at the sigh posted on the wall, hoping vending machine was on there. According to this, it was at the end of the hall, right next to the stairwell.

He started his slow shuffle/stumble again down the hall. When Johnny finally reached the vending machine, he pulled a dollar from his pocket and put it in. He pressed the button for Coke, but, to his dismay, it was sold out. He scanned the other choices once or twice, and then tried for another one, also sold out.

“Just my goddam luck…” He muttered, when suddenly the hairs on his neck stood up and he whipped around, and for one brief second, he swore… he swore… he saw eyes in the window of the stairwell door.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have any caffeine right now…” He said to himself, “Make me even more jumpy than I already am…”

Johnny decided to go back to his room, a little quicker than he had come here. He reached the door and pulled out his key card. Looking from right to left rapidly, he shoved the key into the slot and pulled out again. There was a small click from the door and he shoved down on the handle. The door did not budge.

“God damn it…” Johnny muttered and tried again. Once again, the door did not move. Johnny could feel the walls closing in and the air getting thicker around him. His paranoia turned into a slight panic as he could feel the hall becoming smaller… and then the door unlocked and he flew into his room. He slammed the door shut and immediately turned on the TV.

I could probably use some fresh air. He thought and went to the window, whipping open the curtains. The window was gone. Where it should have been there was just empty plaster, that horrific sad cream colored wall. Johnny gave out a small involuntary cry and turned back toward the door to leave.

He ran at the door, and behind him heard the TV turn itself off. He sprinted out the door and down the hall. It was still silent. Johnny wanted to scream but felt he shouldn’t… couldn’t…

When he reached the end of the hall he shoved his face against the stairwell door, looking for anything. He could see nothing, it was pitch black. Johnny turned back to go to the elevators, and he hit the down button hard, perhaps breaking it, he thought.

After what seemed like hours, the elevator chimed and the doors opened. He flew inside and hit the button for the lobby over and over again. The doors closed. The elevator dropped.




The cart fell faster and faster, gaining speed and momentum as Johnny screamed in the prison it had become. The elevator dropped at insane speeds, but still within every second, the maniacal chimes screamed into Johnny’s ear, screeching louder and louder until he thought his head must burst.

The elevator finally crashed into the ground with an excruciatingly loud crash and one final chime. Johnny thought that he was dead, he had to be dead at the rate he was moving, but somehow, he was not. Slowly, the now tilted doors slid open.

Johnny found he was in the lobby. Insanely, he screamed at it, at its sadness and loneliness. He jumped from the elevator where he sat and ran into the lobby, screaming blindly at everything.

That was when it wrapped around his legs. He looked down to see the vines coming up from the ground and snatching at him, the things that were once diamonds now eyes, staring at him greedily, lustily, wanting him.

Johnny fell and tried to hang onto one of the pillars holding the building itself up. The vines slowly wrapped themselves up his legs, then to his chest, and then his arms, pulling him down. Finally, before he was completely devoured, he saw Laurie, the desk clerk, lying dead over the counter, vines feeding in and out of her decaying body. Johnny screamed, and was enveloped.

Slowly, the vines crept back to their places, and shut their eyes. The lobby was silent, except for the elevator, singing, chiming…