I looked out the frost bitten window as we rode down the bumpy road which led us to the terrifying looking hotel that stood tall on the top the hills, which were coated with layers of snow. The look of it sent chills down my spine and not the ones the good ones, but the complete opposite. Something inside me told me to run as fast as I could and not look back at the abandoned building.

When I tried to calm my own nerves, I fixed my eyes on the man who was sitting next to me admiring the hotel. The look on his face convinced me that we were on different sides about the decision on staying in this place. The car finally came to a stop and the engine went silent.

"This place is gonna be unbelievable. We got it for three days. We have the whole place to ourselves." His wide, blue eyes looked for approval in mine. I tried my best to fake a smile. It must have convinced him because he looked back at the hotel once more.
"There’s not going to be another f*ing soul here. We can take a little time off," Jared squeezed my hand reassuringly "relax. Get lost."

Something about this man’s presence and the warmth of his hands did make me calm down a bit, but at the same time he could be the one who kept me on my toes at the most simple occasions. And this might be one of them. I could only imagine what these three days will do to us and me in particular. What kind of fantasies poisoned his mind, when the opportunity of us being alone was right in front of him?
We entered the hotel in silence. Still being concerned, I moved as slow as possible in fear of setting foot on the creaking floorboards that covered the huge lobby in front of me. It’s white walls were closing in on me and sound of the wheels on the suitcase rolling echoed, showing how empty this place actually is.


Jared’s voice interrupted the silence "There’s something about this place that seems so familiar, as if it was a faded memory or a dream. I can’t really put my finger on it. It’s more like a-"
"Déjà vu." I finished his thought and he nodded in approval.
"Do you feel the atmosphere that’s surrounding us, dear?" he sent a wicked look my way. Eyes so wide and glowing, like a child’s which gets his hands on a new toy "It feels like the house has its own personality, a mind of its own"

When I stopped looking around, Jared was already at the dark, wooden desk, paying his attention to a letter that was placed on it. A moment later, his laugh filled the room.
"It seems like the one who wrote this, is quite the joker." When I walked up to him, I looked at what he meant. The letters of the small note were written in a curved handwriting and the strange symbol in the corner of the page had slightly faded.

I read the words out loud in confusion. "Enjoy your stay and please stay out of Room 6277." Even saying the number myself, made me feel uncomfortable. By this moment I was sure that I won’t be able to wait for the moment we leave. "Well, that’s a way to welcome someone." I said. Jared put his arm around me and nudged me closer. "Remember what I said? Relax, the place is fine. The only thing you should be worried about is what I am going to do to you once the sun goes down." He whispered in my ear.

Hearing his voice so upclose, made my breathing harder. My reaction made him grin against my own neck.
"Now, you go take a look around, get used to it and I'll just bring the bags to our room." I obeyed.

The hallways felt endless, I am almost certain that I have been walking around in circles for the last twenty minutes. Right when I started doubting this useless journey of dragging myself from one hallway to another, a door that was swung open completely, caught my attention.

"This can’t be right." I said to myself frozen in place. There was a key stuck in the door which number was the exact same one that was on the letter we read earlier. I don’t know what, but something inside me pulled me closer and closer to the room. My mind was screaming no, but my legs moved by themselves towards the door frame. I looked around once I entered. And there was nothing, absolutely nothing unordinary about it. Just a room, as simple as it could be. But before I could assure myself that this all has been a joke just like Jared had said, I heard footsteps in the hallway. And not only footsteps, which I would have taken as Jared’s, but they were tiny footsteps of children running around, and voices, children giggling. Girls, to be precise, but when I finally found the courage to look at what was going on, there was nothing but me and the empty hallway. The sound of my own pounding heart and the voices of children were drilled in my mind for good.

I felt my legs move as fast as they could over the screeching floors and trough the doors of the hotel’s kitchen. Right now I couldn’t even figure out how I knew where it was, but it didn’t bother me at this moment. Once I took the whiskey bottle in my hand, nothing bothered me. I took a long swig of the strong liquid. I felt it slide down my throat and leave a burning trail after it.
I realized what I just did and dropped the bottle. It fell to the floor and shattered, leaving pieces of glass all over the kitchen tiles. What am I doing? I don’t drink. I promised Jared I wouldn't, a long time ago.

"Breaking the rules already, huh?" I jumped not expecting the voice that interrupted my own thoughts. I turned to see a man in his late forties with a wicked grin on his lips. He was sitting behind the counter that separated us. I clenched to a knife in fear.

"Who are you?" I asked, the words barely leaving my mouth.
"How nice of you to ask. I’m Jack Torrance." The strange man stretched out his hand for me to shake, but I just kept staring at him with fear in my eyes. Once he realized I’m not here for small talk, he put it down and started engraving something in the counter with a key of some sort.
"What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here." I said with my voice becoming louder by every word.
He slammed his fist against the counter which sent the key flying over the counter. I jumped.
"Who are you to say where I should and shouldn’t be?" He said through gritted teeth. His soulless eyes burned into me and my breath caught in my throat. No one spoke a word and silence surrounded us.
He interrupted it with a crazy, hoarse laugh.
"Now be a darling and hand me that key."
I didn’t think twice and bend down to pick it up, but when I looked up, the man was nowhere to be seen.
Before I left terrified I looked at the engraving that was left on the counter top "6277"

I was still shaken by the rendezvous I just had with the strange man, by the name of Jack Torrance. There was no sign of Jared in our room so I was running around the hotel like a mad man hoping to find him soon. When I stopped in my path to take a breath, I heard the ticking sound of a typewriter being used. After following the sound, it leads me to a room I haven’t seen before. My eyes went searching for the source of the sound and stopped at the sight of Jared sitting at a table at the far end of the room.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god. You have no idea what happened to me in the last hour." I said hoping to get his attention, but without any success.
"Jared?" I asked quietly wondering why he’s acting this way.
"JARED" I yelled out with my fists clenched. He finally looked at me with a dumbstruck look.
"Oh, hey there. I guess you finished looking around. Look what I found." He pointed at the typewriter happily. "Isn’t it a beauty? It reminds me of my childhood, my mom used to own one of these. This one works like a charm too." When I didn’t reply he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to writing.
"Could you put it down for a second, I have something to tell you." I finally found my voice.
"But I’m working." He said with his eyes fixed on the machine.
"I understand, but-"
He looked at me with a look that scared me in way that I couldn’t finish the sentence. Something about the way he acted was terrifying, his tone and expression were foreign to me. During the years we've been together I have not witnessed him this way.

It’s been a week, a whole week in this goddamn hellhole. I can feel my sanity slowly going down the drain and I can’t help, but wonder, why I haven’t questioned Jared’s. I’ve tried calling someone, but the phones in here don’t work and mine has mysteriously disappeared. I tried blaming Jack Torrance once I had a chance to tell Jared about the day I encountered him, but he convinced me that my mind was playing tricks on me. This might be true. I don’t know what’s real anymore. I haven’t slept, I haven’t eaten, and this weird desire for pain has overwhelmed me more than ever.
I’ve been sitting here in the kitchen for an eternity; at least that’s what it feels like. The fingers of my hand that held the key, moved subconsciously. Engraving lines, one after another, symbolizing the minutes I have wasted sitting here. I froze in a second and looked at the key in the palm of my hand. The desire was irresistible. Next thing I know, a trickle of blood was going down my arm and was soaking the sleeve of my sweater. I didn’t feel pain, I didn’t feel anything.

The blood had stopped coming, but my wound had left a few drops of blood on the floor of the hallway I was now standing in. How had I gotten here so quickly? I had stopped thinking straight and it seemed like my mind had missing pieces in it. One second I’m there, the next I don’t remember. I looked back up and saw Jared with his back turned to me. Something in me clicked and tears were forming in my eyes. I shrieked when I saw the huge gash on my wrist and cried out in fear.
"Jared? What’s happening to me?" I cried out trying to control my breathing.
When he turned around it wasn’t Jared who was facing me, it was a stranger in the form of my loved one. His eyes were empty and his skin ghostly white. I didn’t notice before, but the clothes he was wearing weren’t his, far from what he usually wears. It was a black, tailed tuxedo and white satin gloves.

He moved closer and closer to me, but when I tried to move back I couldn’t. It felt like my feet have been nailed to the floor.
"Jared this isn’t funny. Stop playing!" I panicked. My heart was racing and cold beads of sweat went down my forehead.
A laugh escaped his lips that were formed in a devilish grin.
"This is not a game, my dear." He said casually.
He grabbed my now sore wrist and I winced in pain. The wound opened once again and the deep red blood stained his white glove.
His lips moved closer to my ear and I shut my eyes hoping that I would wake up from this horrible nightmare.
"But rules have been broken." Jared whispered, his usually angelic voice now sounding so hoarse.

I frowned and my forehead furrowed, not understanding a single word that came out of his mouth. And then it suddenly dawned to me. A huge rock fell off my chest, but an even bigger one formed.
"The- the room?!" the words left my lips with a shriek. "No. I-I didn’t mean to. I didn't want to go in there. We can forget all of this happened and leave, right? Jared, please. Let’s leave now." I was begging for mercy, my arm now felling numb and my head beginning to spin. How could all of this happen because of one silly mistake, which I am now starting to believe? At this moment I would blame anything for the things that had happened to us, even entering a forbidden room in an abandoned hotel.

He laughed again and I squinted my eyes. How much it hurt to see him like this and realize, that he isn’t the Jared I know. It looked like he was possessed, but who am I to know.
"It’s too late. You can’t leave."

Something after hearing those words woke up in me and I could move my legs. I ran, as fast as I could. I don’t know where, but somewhere far away and looking for a way out. There had to be one. Every time I ran down the stairs, a hallway appeared. And again, and again, and again. I was losing it.

When I stopped out of breath, I heard the giggling from the first day of being here.
"Come play with us." The voices said.
I turned around in shock and saw twins holding hands, looking straight at me. I shook my head which now felt dizzy.
"This isn’t real. No." I rubbed my eyes that were now bloodshot red. I wish I hadn’t because, when I opened them again I looked at the bloody scene in terror. The girls, now laid lifeless, bloody, chopped up on the ground. I screamed so loud, it started ringing in my ears. My vision went blurry, but I had to keep on going if I wanted to get out of here alive. I ran in the opposite direction of what I just witnessed, but came to a dead end.

And there I was confused and sweaty and crying, not understanding on where to go now. I saw the man from the first day move towards me with a fire burning in his eyes. What caught my attention the most was the ax that he lazily dragged across the floor.
"Here’s JOHNNY!" I saw him yell before I clumsily stumbled in the bathroom that was the only room next to me.
I locked the door behind me and looked around the bathroom. There was nothing I could use to protect myself and the only way out was a small window above the bathtub. It was too small. By now my hands were shaking and I realized that this was the end.
I slid down the bathroom wall and buried my face in my shaking hands.
How could this all come to such a shocking end?
My thoughts were interrupted by Jack chopping the door to bits, trying to get in. I jumped every time he hit the door with the axe.

I gave up. I gave up on everything and waited for my end to come.
"Dear, are you all right? Oh my god, your arm." I looked up to see those bright, blue eyes look at me concerned. With so much warmth in them. Not like the ones in the hallway.
I smiled weakly and spoke "Jared. You’re really here."
"Of course I am." He crushed into a hug in which I could barely breathe.
The tears made my sight go blurry and I shook my head.
"We have to leave. Now!" I said with the last bit of strength I had in me.
His lips crushed mine so passionately I closed my eyes to savour the moment.
"We can’t. It’s too late." The deep, hoarse strangers voice repeated itself in my head over and again.
And those blue eyes were replaced once again, by the soulless monsters from the hallway. I screamed until I couldn’t hear my own voice anymore. The world went numb and then the darkness surrounded me.