Room 1038, a horror story, written by Sandie May Joyce: As the story continues, Miss Sarah Richardson continues to target Simon with her mysterious phone calls, Simon made up his mind to find out once and for all what is happening with this mysterious woman who seems non-existent to others but only to himself. He has decided to confront this woman...
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Chapter 4
It was now ten minutes to the end of the shift, and Simon was getting ready to pack it in for the day. The staff for the next shift had already arrived so he was quite happy to end this first day of his job.
Then suddenly, the phone rang again. He saw on the screen that the call had come from Room 1038.
Well, this is absurd! I can't take it anymore! I've got to find out for myself!
"Front desk, Simon speaking," he responded to the call.
"Hello, Simon!" spoke the person on the other end of the line. "This is Sarah Richardson in Room 1038. Remember we spoke earlier this afternoon about the baby in this room and you said you were going to get in touch with the previous occupants. Have you got in touch with them yet?"
"Oh, Hi Miss Richardson! As a matter of fact, I was about to come and see you. I'm not able to find the occupants that were prior to you. They don't seem to be showing anywhere in the system. Do you know if they have left something behind that would give us a hint as to where they may be heading next after this? Perhaps an address or phone number or something that may give us an idea of where to find them."
For a moment, there was dead silence on the other end.
"Hello! Hello! Miss Richardson? Are you still there?"
Simon heard nothing, except for this creepy dead silence. Then he heard heavy breathing and it seemed as though the person on the other end of the line was crying.
"Please, Simon! I need someone to take this baby from me. I am not feeling well. I'm hurt! I need to go to see the doctor. Please help me find the baby's parents, please! This is an urgent matter," the voice spoke once again.
"Okay, Miss Richardson," Simon said. "I might as well come to get the baby from you. If the baby does not belong to you I don't see why you have to be stuck with babysitting it. I'm coming up to get the baby now. Please hang in there for another few minutes."
Simon hung up the phone, turned around and found a young man in the hotel uniform was already there on the spot ready to take over his shift. He had jet black hair, a full face chubby, but a muscular-built body. He was about Simon's height. He looked like someone who was in bodybuilding.
"Hi, I'm Simon. I'm starting my first shift today," he extended a hand to shake the young man's.
"Hi, you can call me Andy. I will be taking over your shift all through this week. Is there anything you wish to tell me before you leave?"
"Well, as a matter of fact, I need to go and see a woman on the tenth floor before I leave, you mind taking over the front desk now?"
"Sure! No problem! Let me know if I can be of any help," Andy seemed very helpful and began to take over.
Simon left and went to look for the key from the board where he saw George had hung them earlier. He got hold of the unmarked keys and proceeded to go up to the tenth floor.
The hallway was just as George had envisioned earlier. I was dimly lit. He walked down the hallway and tried to look for a room that was marked 1038, but just as George had said there was no room marked 1038. Simon came upon the unmarked room that George had visited earlier.
Well, isn't it strange? Simon thought.
"Hello!" He gave it a solid knock with his knuckles. "It's Simon from the front desk. Is Miss Richardson in?" He asked loudly.
He waited, but heard nothing from inside the room. No one had come to open the door either.
"Hello! Miss Richardson!" He tried once again but was only greeted by silence. He began to insert the unmarked key into the lock.
He heard a click and proceeded to open the door cautiously. No one was in the room. Simon looked around and found that all furniture was in place, but the room did not seem to have been occupied by anyone.
Obviously, this isn't the Room 1038. He thought. But as he turned around to leave a young woman stepped out from the bathroom.
"Hi! Sorry, Ma'am! I didn't mean to intrude. I knocked earlier and no one had answered, so I let myself in. I was supposed to meet with a Miss Richardson in room 1038. Am I in the right place?"
"Yes, this is 1038, and I'm Sarah Richardson. She smiled and shook Simon's hand. Simon thought Miss Richardson's hand seemed cold to the touch. Perhaps she's just been washing her hands with the cold water. Simon thought.
"I have come to take the baby, Miss Richardson. May I see the baby please?"
Suddenly, Miss Richardson seemed frightened. She looked worried.
"No, you can't take the baby! I need you to find the couple that was occupying this room. I had been waiting for them to come to get my baby. Please! You MUST find them. They were supposed to have been here already for the baby and I was supposed to get forty-thousand dollars from them. Please, you must find those two people for me. My baby and I are in danger!" Miss Richardson pleaded.
The young woman was beautiful. She could not have been 20 years old. She was more likely to be only in her late teens. She had curly shoulder length blond hair and a very fair skin type that looks flawless. She was still fully-dressed with what seemed to have been a Sunday dress, with red and pink little flowers, and a pair of red high-heeled shoes. She looked to be someone who is dressed to go to church on a Sunday morning. She looked just like the way he had seen her early in the day when she checked in with the baby. What puzzled Simon was that while she was talking with him over the phone she kept denying that the baby was hers, but now it seemed she was fabricating yet another story which was too impossible to be the truth. Both George and Simon himself had checked through the system this afternoon and found no one had ever occupied this room for the past many years. Room 1038 was not even in the system. He wondered where had this woman and the baby come from in the first place. Of course, he remembered he had checked her into 1038, but that was only after she told him that she had booked a reservation for the room. But why was that information not showing in the system when he and George check it later in the afternoon? Yet, now here he is in this room - talking with this woman. He thought perhaps being a newbie and this is the first day on his job his co-workers were playing a joke on him. If so, then he thought he might just as well play along.
"So, what would you want me to do? I cannot find anyone, or any names in the registry. No one had occupied the room before you. It seems that no one had even enquired about room 1038 for the past many years until you arrived today," Simon told the young woman.
"No! Please, Simon! You need to find a couple whose names are Paula and Donald Cunningham, as they are the ones whom I have been waiting to come to fetch the baby. They have agreed to adopt my baby for forty-thousands," said the young woman.
"Oh, but Miss Richardson! That is selling your baby! That is highly-illegal! You are not supposed to do that. Not in this hotel! You need to go through the proper channel for the baby's adoption. This couple, Paul and Donald Cunningham need to be screened by the adoption agency," Simon said. What he was hearing took him by surprise. He wondered why he had to deal with all of this on the first day of his job. He needs to go find George quickly and report this. There is no way that he would get involved in this kind of illegal activity. No way! He thought.
"I can't do that! See? I cannot let my boyfriend know about this because if he knew, he would kill me and the baby. My boyfriend is very abusive towards me. and on some occasions he was hitting the baby, causing my little girl to cry painfully. I need to run away from him with my baby girl, but I have no money to do that. The couple whom I have mentioned I have met them online, and they told me they are willing to come and get my baby girl and helped me to get away from my boyfriend. They told me they will give me forty thousand dollars for the adoption of my baby. See? With the forty thousand dollars I can move away from my boyfriend, and my baby girl will have two parents to love her. I really need to get in touch with the couple. Please, Simon, you must help me find them."
"Yes, but how? Miss Richardson, I'm only the front desk clerk. My Crew Manager, George and I, have both looked into the system this afternoon and we've found no one had occupied this room for many years. In fact, this room 1038 is not even in our system anymore."
"That is odd, Simon!" Miss Richardson said. "You have booked me in earlier today, and I saw you put my name into the system as you were doing the registration for me."
"I know, I can't explain all this. My Crew Manager will be on duty again tomorrow at noon. Perhaps you can wait 'til tomorrow to decide what to do with the baby, but if you want me to take the baby from you now, I will..."
Before Simon could finish the sentence, Miss Richardson spoke again, "No, Paula and Don will be here soon, or have they come already before I arrived? I remember calling them on my way over and told them I will be waiting in room 1038, so they would know exactly what room I will be in and where to find me, except there was an accident on the highway as I was coming over, and I was delayed in arriving. I wondered if they had come to this room already but didn't see me, and thought I have changed my mind. I think had they come before I arrived they would have asked the front desk clerk about me. Perhaps they have arrived earlier but could not find me in the room. That was why I need to get in touch with the former occupants of this room. At least they may have seen them, or perhaps someone was in this room when they arrived. Someone could have seen them and spoken to them and they might have left a message with them for me."
"THAT I am not quite sure!" Simon responded. " I will have to check with the staff who came before me, as I've only begun my shift at noon today. Perhaps you can phone to check with the staff in the morning. I tried to help, but it is out of my hands now. I don't seem to be able to find the couple that you have mentioned. I'm really sorry, Miss Richardson!"
"No problem, Simon! I will do that in the morning. Perhaps, with the accident on the highway, Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were late as well."
"That could be a possibility too! So please do check with the morning front desk clerks. Hopefully, they will be able to assist you further," Simon said, and he was really tired from all that has happened. He just wanted to leave and go home.
In his mind, he wondered if he should let Andy, who was working downstairs at the front desk, know about this woman and the baby. He remembered him saying, "Let me know if I can be of any help" to him as he was on his way up here.
What about George? George must have gone home by now. Simon wondered if he should report the illegal activities and the money transaction that was about to take place in this room. What if George thought he knew about this and didn't report it to him? Selling baby amounts to human trafficking, no matter who is selling it. Simon was quite worried about his job! He was undecided on what to do about this woman and the baby. He thought he might as well shift the responsibility to the morning staff. Hopefully, they will be able to find the proper solution to deal with this woman.
Just let this woman call the morning staff and see what they have to say. Perhaps they would have more information for her about the former occupants. He was reasoning with himself for shifting the matter to the morning staff.
Suddenly, out of curiosity, he asked Miss Richardson, "Oh! But may I see the baby girl please?"
"She's sleeping right now in her crib. I'll walk you over." Miss Richardson stood up from the couch and proceeded to walk over to the baby's crib.
As she walked passed Simon he could feel a chill coming from somewhere, yet the windows of the hotel room were closed. He wondered where the cold wind had come from.
He proceeded to stand up from the couch as well to follow Miss Richardson to the crib, but as he turned around he was shocked to find out there was nobody there! Miss Richardson had simply vanished!
What? Where on earth has she gone to?
"Miss Richardson! Where are you? Miss Richardson!" Simon could not believe what was happening. One minute he was talking with Miss Richardson who seemed like real a person in front of him, and yet, the next minute, she had vanished into thin air! How could this be happening?
Where could she have gone to? What has just happened? Who was that really whom I was talking with just now? Simon couldn't believe it!
Simon's heart was pounding. Could he be talking with a ghost? Are there really ghosts in this world? He tried to strike out what he thought was a spirit and began to look around the room. There were no signs of other living humans in this room. The only one who was breathing heavily was himself through his fear. He tried looking for a baby's crib, but could not find one in the room. He went to the washroom to look for Miss Richardson, but there was no one there either!
What was it? Was I hallucinating all of that? It couldn't have been because I was actually talking with the woman face to face just now before she disappeared! How strange it is now that she is nowhere in this room? Simon thought.
He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and saw the dark circles under his eyes, he began saying to himself, "Oh, boy! Simon, you are really in some deep shit now!" He felt the hair rose from every inch of his body. He was scared half to death!
He turned around to walk out of the bathroom and thought he must get out of there as quickly as possible. As he came out he saw the most frightening scene!
A large young man had just busted in through the door of the room. He was tall and muscular, with tattoos on both his arms and chest. His eyes were full of anger! He busted in and walked straight into the room! Uninvited! Now Simon could see Miss Richardson standing at a corner of the room beside the baby's crib. She seemed very frightened. Both she and the baby girl were crying! The young man marched towards them shouting obscenities!
"You bitch! You're not going to get away with this! You're not going to sell my baby!" he shouted.
"You don't think I know anything, do you? How dare you try to sell my baby? How dare you try to run away? You have no idea I've bugged your laptop and I know everything and everyone you've talked with! You don't know about that, don't you? Bitch!"
The young man walked towards Miss Richardson. He picked up an ashtray off the coffee table and tried to bash Miss Richardson's head with it.
"NO!" Simon screamed at the big goon. He rushed over and tried to body slam him out of the way with headbutting and his shoulder, but he reached nothingness and fell to the floor. The big guy was like a transparent figure that wasn't really there! Simon got up from the floor and started hitting the big guy's jaw, but his fist had also met with nothingness! It was like the guy was not even there!
What's going on? Are they all really here? Or am I hallucinating again? Simon wondered.
He watched helplessly in horror as the big guy with the tattoos bashed Miss Richardson's head over and over again. Miss Richardson cowered in the corner, screaming in pain. Simon could not do anything to stop the horror. Blood was oozing out off the top corner of her head. Simon knew she was seriously injured.
Whether or not this is a hallucination, Simon knew he needed to report this and call for the police and ambulance. He ran out of the room quickly, but as soon as he stepped out of that room, it fell quiet once again. He turned around to look inside. There was nobody once again, the room was just as quiet as when he first stepped in.
Eerie! Simon is in quite a predicament--confronting Miss Richardson, then her abusive boyfriend, both in the flesh and nothingness.
Reviewed by May Yu
9/21/2018
WHOA!!! Sandie! What a story! I am a fan of horror story, and I tell you, this story rocks!!!
Oh, BTW... about the word "busted": Sandie, it is okay to use the word for breaking in the door. To bust means to burst, to make a break into something, and in this case, it's the door.
Thank you for the review in which you are entitled to your opinion! Stephen King IS my inspiration and I LOVE his stories! However, I guarantee you my story has nothing in similarity to The Shining which I doubt you have even seen the movie, nor had you even read the book. I think "busted" is the right word for crashing in through the door.
My story, which feeds the readers' mind with sound and imagination, also actions, is unlike some of the stories I've read that progress in a very slow process that is "non-challenging" and over-length without any storylines which the readers would easily forget after reading them.
My stories are built on good storyline. I suggest you to read some of Stephen King's work if you wish to be a reviewer of horror stories. He is a wonderful writer and his stories would remain inside your head for a long time after reading them, even if you were not a fan of his. His stories are memorable and cannot be forgotten. An author does not get famous and continues to be for no reasons. Read his books and learn his craft. That will make you a better writer or a better reviewer of horror stories. In my opinion, your imagination is badly in need of an awakening or reawakening.
Some of the scenes the readers only need to imagine when led by the authors. It does not need any specifications. When I said "busted" the word has already made a sound, this word is actually a sound word. I don't need to tell the readers about the sound since it has "already happened". No one can bust through a door without a sound (give me a break already). My readers have already got the sound in their heads when they read the word "busted", and this was a time traveller story, the sound had happened many years ago, not now. The scene was there only to let Simon know what had happened long ago. Simon did not have to hear that sound because when he first saw the scene, the door was already busted and the boyfriend was already in the room.
About the crib and the baby, if you have read my story well you would have noticed that he had actually looked for the crib and the baby before entering the washroom.
"Imagination" is the key! It is what you need more to be a good reviewer for stories.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my work! I appreciate comments - good or bad! Comments always inspire me as they help me to reach into the minds of the reviewers as well.
Unlike the others, I wasn't impressed with this chapter. Simon was assuming too much and his actions were strange. For example, Miss Richardson suddenly disappeared, but he said nothing of the baby and the crib. And then, she conveniently reappeared when the apparent husband and father "busted" (wrong word) the door without a sound. You are rapidly making this into a ghost story. It is vaguely familiar to Stephen King's famous, The Shining, that I found totally ridiculous although it has been a big success with two movies made so far.
There are too many small editorial changes and a tightening up of repetition in this chapter for me to make them for you. But I would highly recommend get someone to do that for you to make the chapter better.
Also a long time between chapters. I had to go back to see if I had read chapters 1, 2, and 3… I did and read my comments.
I really got caught up in this chapter, dear Sandie! You and the way you use words got me going! I hope I will be able to sleep!
Love ya!
Jane
Reviewed by Danny Underwood
9/19/2018
Sandie, you have EXCELLENT story-telling technique. This captures my attention from beginning to end of the chapter, and makes me want to read more. Miss Richardson should have gone to the authority if she thought she and the baby were in life-threatening situation, but it's too bad in most cases of abusive spouses the police does not seem too anxious in doing anything to protect the innocents. They would always want to wait for something awful to really happen before they would do anything. This law has got to change!
Pray for the light. Pray that you last that long. The Long Hour Before Light is a classic collection of Horror tales, re-mastered by Champagne Book Group
WEIRD RHODY is a short story collection featuring five strange tales all set in Rhode Island and written by five Rhode Island authors. The anthology is a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft, the Ocean State's famed author of pulp horror.
Chapter 4
