The Halls of the Hotel Cedric (SyreneXMsBloom)

[Syrene]

There was a tremble to her hands as Alice wanted down the dimly lit street. They were held partially a loft in front of herself as if she were trying to reach out for something that wasn't truly there. The petite form of the young woman, who barely stood at 5'1", was also trembling. Her eyes glossy with the shine of tears that were either about to fall or recently stopped falling. Her cheeks and nose were red, flushed from her bodies attempt to warm herself up at the cold that permeated the night air. Alice was wearing a slightly oversized flannel shirt, but it was think unlike the traditional flannel some would find at a proper outfitters. The green and black pattern on it broken up in her chest as it was fully unbuttoned. A black camisole was revealed below and some loose denim hung from her hips. The shoes she was wearing, Converse sneakers, were completely soaked through. The dampness of the previous rainfall still clung to the air, mixing with the cold fall temperature to create a dangerous and misty environment.

Alice trudged forward, dragging her feet a bit as she turned her head periodically. There it was again. She felt it again. That presence. That foreboding sense that something was following her. She had been feeling it for weeks. Sometimes she'd enter a room and swear that she felt something coming up from behind her. Something watching from just around the corner. She would turn, trying to see what was behind and yet there was never something there. Never something there, but it always felt as if it was just waiting for her to turn around...waiting so that it could continue to hunt her.

This is what was led the nineteen year old out into the streets that night from her disheveled apartment. That biological sense had raised inside of her that led her know that she was being hunted. That she needed to escape. Those that she had felt comfortable in trusting with what she felt began to grow increasing concerned for her. At first, they had all thought it was just a bout of anxiety or maybe depression. Neither condition was exactly knew to Alice, forever known as an anxious person with a disturbed youth. The fact that she was a fine arts major almost seemed to comically add to her story. Yet no amount of painting or sketching would bring peace to what she felt. Not the charcoal nightmares that she sketched at school or at home that disturbed her fellow students and her friends.

'This is what I see', she would tell them and before long the rumors were getting around that maybe she was schizophrenic. After all, didn't it appear often during the late teens?

Yet if you asked Alice, she was not schizophrenic. This was quite real. That feeling of dread that led her to the doors of a hotel where perhaps she could feel safe for the night. She didn't recall this place being open. Now it seemed as if it had always been there. Like a subtle change that you had failed to notice because you never had to bring your attention to it. Those outstretched hands grabbed at the heavy doors, worn brass, and pulled one back. She walked through, letting it close behind her. Her shoes squelching against the carpet as she walked the halls.

Alice stopped, turning to look over her shoulder as she saw the faint stencil on the glass of the door 'Hotel Cedric'. She turned, taking the time to walk walk through the opening garden of the Hotel. She was too focused and scared right now to worry about her surroundings. All she could really pull forth at the moment was the faded art deco style of the hotel. The sharp lines and dramatic height of decor. The golds, chartreuse, and reddish hues of the décor.

Her vision finally settled on what looked like the check-in desk. Slowly, Alice trudged forward to it. Her lower lip quivering from the cold. A hand came up to shake her short-hair and let the rain fall somewhere other than her face before she wiped it. The hand then reached out and rang the bell for service before looking down to rummage through her pocket for her phone case where her ID and cards were kept.

 

[MsBloom]

Hotel Cedric, built in 1901 on commission by Jasper Cedric it was once a grand hotel, taking up an entire city block, of the most exquisite luxury imaginable where only those of the top 3% could afford to stay. Now, nearly one and a quarter century later, it stood no more than a few steps removed from being condemned to be demolished and had become home to a wide assortment of seemingly random characters from the shadier walks of life. Its Art Deco interiour still hinted at the luxury it had once offered. Its bold interiour design had since long faded and been worn down. It would be obvious to anyone, when walking through the lobby, that the hotel was in serious disrepair and had been in serious need of renovation since at least the turn of the millenium. Once it had been filled with people but now there was barely a shadow beyond those cast by the elaborate crystal chandeliers suspended from the high ceiling.

Over its many years The Cedric had of course seen its fair share of tragic events and deaths. Jasper Cedric's daughter had, for instance, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in the family's private penthouse suite, that covered the entire top floor, within a decade of the hotel's grand opening. Allegedly because there were suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, as the case would be with many other death's and disappearances in the years to come.

One such case was the 17 year old girl that had been found dead from a drug overdose in suite 55 (the largest of the five suites located on the second top floor). At least that was the official version. It had taken almost an entire year and a nationwide missing persons search to finally identify her as Madeleine Thomas, the second oldest child of a wealthy family from Providence, Rhode Island who had been missing for three months.

---

Sorrow

Sorrow watched the obviously distressed young woman entering the hotel from the shadows of the mezzanine above the lobby with curiousity. It seemed her new plaything had arrived. It had been months since the last new arrival and she was bored out of her mind.

She had been trapped in the hotel since the early 1980s when she had woken up after a drug and alcohol fuelled party, on a damp bed in one of the suites on the second top floor and found herself unable to leave the hotel. She had tried sneaking out through the delivery entrance, the same way she had entered twenty four hours earlier but found herself back in the same room where she had woken up.

While she was anything but stupid, in fact she was highly intelligent, it took her almost a full year to realise she was no longer among the living. By then she had of course already accepted that would never leave The Cedric, or as the case was, her flesh and bones had left in a body bag but her spirit was trapped forever.

For a good number of years after that realisation she kept to herself, avoiding all the other guests as much as she possibly could, except in the rare cases when she had tried to attach herself to a temporary guest in the hope that she too would be able to leave the hotel when they did. She gave up this plan after three attempts that all ended with her back in that same room in which she had apparently died.

The new arrival was cute, even in her dishevelled state, and dressed in a way that suggested she had simply walked out of her former home without a plan. Perhaps she had been in the process of preparing herself for bed when she finally submitted to the pull, the call Sorrow had sent out through the hotel.

---

Aurora Raskolnikova

New guests were a rare sight at The Cedric. It happened perhaps once or twice every year and were almost exclusively so-called Dark Tourists drawn to the hotel by its reputation for being haunted by malevolent spirits. She had seen them come and go, some carried out in straight jackets by men in white coats and taken to the nearest asylum, others had left through death's door, either by their own hands or by the hands of one of the permanent residents. Only a handful had been allowed to walk back out the front to door to add their story to the legend. After all a haunted hotel must promote itself.

The one that had just rung the bell at the front desk certainly did not seem like one of those. It was a lot more likely that she was one of Sorrow's guests, Aurora thought to herself.

"Welcome to The Cedric," Aurora said as she appeared, as if out of nowhere, in front of the young woman shaking the rain from her hair who would not be able to say for sure whether the receptionist had been there all along, just waiting in the shadows, or not.
"How may I help you this dreary night?"

 

[Syrene]

Alice Mackenzie

By the time that Alice lifted her gaze from her pocket, there was a presence standing before her. The girl, having already been on edge to begin with, was visibly startled by the appearance. She had neither heard nor seen anyone here. How did she get there so quickly and so quietly? If she were in any better state, perhaps she would have more seriously considered this. Though even if she did...did it matter? After all, it's not like there was anything more to the eye here. This was a safe place for her, right?

That's what she had told herself as she walked into this hotel. That is what she felt as she walked the damp, cold night. This hotel would be a place where she could rest. Where she could be safe and free from whatever that malign presence she felt was doing. Yes, this would be somewhere where she could rest, at least for tonight. Her vision settled on the woman before her. The woman was taller than her own petite form, so Alice found herself looking up at her, looking up at those scarlet lips and intense make up. If she were perhaps in a more stable mind, she may have complimented her on it. Her own hair and the choker around her neck hinted at the more alternative attire and likely lifestyle that she adhered to, but Alice was in no condition to do such a thing.

The trembling teen swallowed hard, as if her throat was dry and she began to speak. "H-hi, sorry to bother you. I was wondering if you...had any vacancies? I need a room for the night." She said as her dainty fingers reached for the ID and the credit card for the room. Her hand trembled as she reached out, laying them on the desk as she gently slid them over to her. It was rather clear that she was in some form of distress, but person before her seemed perfectly stoic and indifferent. As soon as she finished putting down the cards, she immediately looked over her shoulder.

She felt it again. She felt that sensation again. Her eyes scanned the lobby of the room, wondering if it was just her. If she was safe now. It wasn't like before. It felt...different now that she was inside the Cedric, but she wasn't sure why. Her attention shifted back to the woman in front of her as she sucked in her lower lip, nibbling nervously on it. Her foot bouncing a bit in place as she shivered from the cold she still felt.

 

[MsBloom]

Aurora Raskolnikova

The receptionist looked at the ID and credit card laid down in front of her and then at the barely clad young woman in front of her and gave a subtle nod. Without another glance at them she swiped the two pieces of plastic off the desk and as she did they both seemed to disappear. There was nothing to suggest she had stored them in a drawer or even checked them, much less credited any room to the credit card.
"Follow me then," she said in a monotone voice that only partially seemed to come from her and partially from every other direction as if she had spoken through a hidden surround sound system.

As she walked to the elevator her hips moved with a casually seductive sway from side to side. She pushed the button and stepped inside when the door opened with a loud ding. She waited for Alice to follow and then pushed the button for the fifth floor where she got out, still not having spoken another word.

At the end of the corridor she stopped in front of a door, marked with the number 55 and, in much the same way Alice's ID and credit card had disappeared, a key appeared in her hand which she used to unlock the door. She opened the door and stepped inside. When she turned on the light an old fashioned room appeared with dark green plush walls an overhead lamp that when lit cast a complex geometrical pattern of light and shadows across the ceiling, a very soft looking red three seat couch against the foot of a double bed with a rounded headboard with an intricate pattern on it.

In front of the couch was a black footstool and two black armchairs with a pale floral pattern on them. In a corner by the window was another armchair in burgundy leather and a lamp behind it, presumably intended for reading. In front of the other window was a small writing desk with a wooden chair. A large red and beige carpet covered the dark hardwood floor where the bed, the couch and the two armchairs stood.

There was a reason She had chosen that particular room for the new arrival, a reason she was sure would soon be revealed to Alice by someone other than herself. She handed Alice the key and, in the same monotone voice that still seemed to come not only from her but from the walls as well, informed her that breakfast was served at seven in the dining room.

She then walked out the door without closing it but should Alice look out into the corridor when going to close the door she would find no trace of the receptionist, as if she had just vanished into thin air the moment she came out of Alice's line of sight.

---

Sorrow

Sorrow had followed the young woman with interest, watched as she stepped into the elevator behind Aurora, as the receptionist's name was. She then took a short cut to the fifth floor and hid in the shadows of the dimly lit corridor as Alice and Aurora exited the elevator and walked to the end of the corridor. Something that might have been intended as a smile drew briefly across Sorrow's black lips.
My room indeed, she thought to herself.
That meant that Aurora knew why Alice was there and gave her approval, not that she had ever refused Sorrow any of her playthings.

The two might not communicate much but they knew and respected each other. And it wasn't exactly as if Aurora could evict Sorrow, at least not as far as Sorrow knew. As far as Sorrow knew she had become a part of The Cedric the moment she had woken up dead there.

After Aurora had left and the door was closed Sorrow knocked three times and waited for Alice to open the door. Playtime was about to begin with a simple introduction.

 

[Syrene]

Alice Mackenzie
Alice wasn't focusing on what the receptionist was doing. She wasn't focusing on the fact that she just simply seemed to know things without having to check systems. There was a brief moment of lucidity to that fact as Alice's eyes suddenly focused on the environment of what was on the desk. She didn't see a computer. She didn't see anything that could process the card she had given. When she noted that, her cards were already gone and the receptionist told her to follow her. Alice didn't have the time to question anything further as she silently followed the command. Each of her steps squelching in her shoes as she walked forward.

Once more, she looked over her shoulder, trying to make sure she was safe as she was led deeper into the hotel. There was a confident swagger to the receptionist who now played hostess in taking her to her room. She walked with the careful confidence of someone who had all the time in the world. The elevator was called and dinged. It dinged loud enough that Alice jumped, still skittish all in all, as the pair went into the elevator of old brass. There was an awkward silence between the two as they went up. Her hazel eyes glanced up and over at the receptionist. "Is it...a quiet night? I didn't see anyone else." She said, trying to cut the silence but received no response in the elevator as the door opened up.

The building itself was beautiful. It has this classic feel to it that evoked old Hollywood. If she were in a better mental state, she could appreciate it better. Her eyes looked around, making notes that she would need to take a closer look at it once she was rested and...not feeling like she was being hunted.

Soon enough they were at the door to her would be room, unlocked with a key she hadn't noticed and stepped inside. She let out an exhale of wonder as she saw the room, trying to make light out of her plight as she said, "I hope I my card can cover this." She said with a deadpan voice in her attempt at humor at the seemingly humorless hostess. She was distracted, looking up at the plush features of the room before she noticed that the hostess was gone. "Hey...wait, how much..." She said as she went out the door but...but she was gone.

"How...the..." She said, gulping nervously, now finding herself a bit more unnerved. Alice tried not to think of it, closing the hotel door. Feeling...safe? She went to the rest room, washing up her face and drying her hair as best as she could. She was still disheveled when there were three knocks on the door. Alice jumped again, stopping what she was doing. Her heart raced a bit as she put down what she was doing. She took careful steps towards the door. She cracked it open a bit as she said, "Can...Can I help you?" She was short, standing at 5'1" and without her shoes on, she definitely felt shorter like that. A young woman, clad in black clothing and black and white make up was at the door. It startled her but...but she felt compelled to speak to her as she said , "Can...Can I help you?".

 

[MsBloom]

Hotel Cedric

Because of the age of the room and the lack of any deeper renovations or renewals the pipes rattled and protested when Alice turned ont he faucets in the bathroom, which was fitted with an antique bathtub but no shower. The tiles, arranged in a pattern that with a bit of imagination might resemble eyes, in the bathroom reflected the colour scheme of the rest of the suite, dark greens, black and just a hint of red. There was also a toilet of the obsolete model with the tank mounted on the wall that was flushed by pulling a chain rather than pushing a button.

The water that came out of the faucet was clean, though it might have a bit of a metallic taste, a hint of iron and of copper, to it if Alice opted to drink it.

As she explored the room Alice might also notice a faint but sharp scent that seemed to emanate from the bed as well as from the couch, though she would not be able to identify it.

---

Sorrow

"This used to be my room y'know," Sorrow said, as the door opened and the still as scantily clad young woman asked if she could help her, and without an invitation stepped inside.
She too was of a fairly small stature, an inch maybe two taller than Alice and not weighing all that much more.
"They call me Sorrow," she continued and threw herself onto the bed with her arms at a 90 degree angle from her shoulders.

Perhaps an attentive observer might in that moment notice that her chest didn't rise and fall as it would have if her lungs had inhaled and exhaled air.
"Anyhow. I just wanted to say Hi and Welcome, and like ... introduce myself. I am, as I said: Sorrow."
She bowed her neck slightly to look at Alice with a twitch in the corners of her mouth that might have been an attempted smile.
"And you are Alice but believe you me Alice, this is no wonderland, even if it might perhaps be just as weird at times."