It was supposed to be one last trip before graduation, a peaceful getaway in the mountains. A break. A breath. One last memory before the future pulled them all in different directions.
By sunset, they should've been at the campsite.
Safe, dry and far from here.
But then the rain came, sudden and unforgiving.
The roads turned to mud, slick and nearly impossible to navigate.
GPS kept rerouting.
Signal vanished.
And it brought them somewhere they were never meant to go.
It was a hotel.
Old. Traditional. Silent.
None of them remembered seeing it on the map.
None of them remembered how they'd even ended there.
And yet, there it stood.
No name. Just a weathered wooden sign, swaying in the wind, carved with a single word: "HOTEL."
"Looks like it's been sitting here for a hundred years," Noah squinted out the window.
Sofia leaned forward from the backseat. "Is it... open?"
"Well... let's hope so. It's either this or we sleep in the car. Again," Leo replied, forcing a smile.
Sofia swallowed hard. "Something about this place... it just feels off."
"Then we go in, ask if they have a room, and leave if it's weird," Serena offered.
"Yeah. I'd rather take my chances in there than freeze out here," Ryo muttered, unbuckling his seatbelt.
Emy, ever silent, simply stared at the front entrance. Her eyes fixed, not on the doors, but on something just beyond them.
They stepped out of the car, planning a quick look inside, just to see if there was a room available.
The six of them stood in silence for a moment, just outside the door, peering through the glass at the dim interior beyond.
"It looks empty," Noah murmured.
"If it's empty, great," Leo added. "Empty means quiet. Quiet means... unsettling...
"Serena shivered. "Let's just... hurry inside. It's freezing cold out here."
Leo exhaled and took the lead.
The doors opened slowly, like they hadn't moved in years.
Inside, the hotel was exactly as the outside had promised:
Dusty. Elegant. Still.
A grand lobby stretched before them, dimly lit by wall lights and chandeliers hanging overhead. A few plants lingered here and there, still clinging to life.
At the far end, a small fireplace cast an amber glow over two faded armchairs, untouched for years.
The wallpaper, once elegant, now peeled and cracked, curling like parchment left in the sun. The air carried the scent of wax, old wood, and something faintly metallic.
Heavy moldings framed the ceiling, dark wood panels lined the walls, and ornate red carpets swallowed each step.
It didn't feel abandoned at all.
It felt... paused.
Like someone had walked out yesterday and just hadn't returned yet.
Three elevators stood along the far wall. Directly opposite them, three more, perfectly mirrored.
Between them, stood a single pedestal sign, reading:
"For check-in, please proceed upstairs to the reception room."
Sofia frowned. "Upstairs? And... what are all these elevators for?
"Serena crossed her arms. "Six elevators... all for one floor?"
Ryo tilted his head. "Maybe some old ones. Out of service or something."
"Or maybe they just liked symmetry," Noah added.
Then Emy stepped forward.
She hadn't said a word.
Didn't glance at the sign.
She just... started walking... towards the closest elevator.
The others followed. Not because they wanted to, but because the idea of standing alone in that lobby felt worse.
They crowded into the elevator.
Six of them, squeezed into the elevator, closer than ever, yet parted by silence.
Sofia reached out over one of the buttons.
"Check-in," she said, pressing first floor, as an attempt to make the moment smaller than it felt.
The air was warm, too warm.
Not from breath or body heat, but... from somewhere else.
A slow vibration rippled beneath their feet, a movement that felt almost alive, rather than mechanical.
The elevator began to move.
Not up.
Not down.
Just... somewhere else...