MCR ReWritten: Chapter 23, The Trascuri Hotel

    Mikey looked up at the dark and eerie windows of the vast hotel in disbelief. The curtains mimicked the swift movements of a ghost so accurately Mikey got goosebumps with every window he looked in. The place looked old and rickety, he got the feeling some of it could collapse any second. He turned around and looked at Gerard as though he were a madman.

“No way.”

“Yes way.” Gerard turned him around and pushed him towards the hotel. “Now get movin’ or I’ll get Bob and Ray to move you for me.” Mikey paused in mid step. He’d rather risk an encounter with spirits than a tangle with Bob and Ray. Still, at least it wasn’t Worm, Bob, and Ray…
    Once Mikey had made the decision that he wanted to retain his physical health the rest of them followed him inside.
    As they neared the haunted building, Mikey’s fear began to wash over about everyone except Gerard.
    As for why they had chosen this place: their manager, Brian, had suggested they stay in a haunted hotel for “Inspiration”.

“So uh—w—what exactly happened here?” Frank asked, rubbing his arm nervously.

“A bunch of people were killed here in their sleep by this maniac who stayed in one of the 3rd floor rooms. He hung himself afterwards.”

“How did he kill the other people?”

“Oh a whole bunch of ways…..But I doubt you want to know, and for the sake of you staying inside I’m not telling.”

“Lemme guess…we’re getting the loony’s room aren’t we?” Mikey asked. Gerard looked at him and smiled evilly, making Mikey groan.
    They entered through the hotel doors to find the interior much more eye pleasing than the exterior.
    The walls were of wood and white paint, leading up to a golden ceiling. The furniture matched the room with it’s white, burgundy, and golden glow. Most of the objects in the lobby looked old-fashioned, they could as well be the originals.
    They approached the counter and leaned against it, Gerard did the talking.

“Reservation for Way please.” He said to the brown haired man behind the counter.

“Yes sir one moment please….Ahh yes here we are, three rooms party of six?”

“Yes.”

“Here you are.” He handed them their keycards and some pamphlets. As they made their move towards the hall they heard the man call back again.

“Excuse me sir! The manager would like to speak to you before you head up to your rooms. I’ll go get him if you’d wait here please…”

    He headed back down a short hall and out of sight. Mikey turned to Frank.

“What room number you got?”

    Frank grinned. “237.” Mikey punched him.

“Stop kidding around dude, seriously. Unless—unless it really is 237…?”

“Come on Mikey of course it’s not! Trust me I know very well about what would happen in that room.”

   He returned less than a minute later with a middle-aged, well-groomed man in a gray suit. The other man went back to the front desk and the hotel’s manager walked over to them. He shook Gerard’s hand first and proceeded to the rest of them smiling warmly at them.

“Hello there, welcome to The Trascuri Hotel my friends! Excellent to meet you all, shall I lead you up to your rooms?”

“Yeah sure.”

“You can leave your luggage here, our staff will take them up for you.”

“Oh okay thanks.” They set their stuff down. Mikey began staring at one of the doorways. Gerard noticed this and asked what was up.

“I swear I just saw a little girl standing there!” He pointed at the doorway. The manager chuckled.

“I afraid there are no little girls or boys staying in our hotel at the moment. Please follow me to your rooms.”

    He began to make his way up the grand staircase and they followed. They went down the halls and up another staircase, and then another. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, causing them to wonder if he had personally picked their rooms.
    The hotel was much more elegant inside as they went through more and more of it.

“There are many supposedly haunted rooms in this hotel Mr. Way but I chose these particular rooms for you because of their…uh…”activity”.” The manager said as they went up the stairs. He continued. “Of course you’ve heard of all the horrible murders that occurred here, and our ghost that still wander these halls. The little girl Mr. Way here says to have witnessed is our little ghost that searches the lobby for her deceased mother.”

“Told you there were ghost…” Mikey mumbled to Ray. Ray elbowed Mikey and made him shut up.

“And here are your rooms.” The group stopped at the end of the hall. “Now let me warn you, room 372 is the one where a man committed suicide. There’s been reports of strange sounds, voices, and some sights of the man…very strange…and these other rooms belonged to murder victims, similar haunting reports have occurred there.” He looked gravely at the doors before shaking his head. “Well I suppose that is it. I hope you get some interesting experiences here today and thanks for choosing The Trascuri Hotel…” He walked away quickly.

“Okay so uh let’s see here….” Bob looked around. “Gerard and Jordan get the psychopath’s room, Mikey and Frank get a victim’s room and Ray and I will take a victim’s room.”

“Great…” Jordan said sarcastically. The only up was getting to stay with Gerard.

“Alright then, I’ll see you guys in a bit.” Gerard said before they left for their rooms.

    Jordan went in with Gerard at the same time. It was a beautiful and quite large room, with the same color scheme as that of the rest of the hotel. Jordan and Gerard went to investigate the rest of the room. She followed him closely as her shield. He looked back at her.

“Umm Jordan, why so clingy? Your not afraid of ghost are you?” He sneered.

“No.” She stopped walking for a moment to give him some space. When Gerard walked into the bathroom there was a knock on the door, making Jordan give a tiny scream.

“What? What is it?!” Gerard came running out to see why she’d screamed and she pointed at the door. Gerard crept over to it and opened it slowly.
    
“Your luggage sir.” The boy said. He was standing with a cart full of bags. Gerard and Jordan sighed. They took what was theirs and left the rest for the rest of the guys. After setting her stuff at the end of the bed Jordan sat down and started looking out the window.
    Gerard couldn’t help himself, he snuck up on her and glomped her. She gave a tiny yell after he startled her but soon realized it was just Gerard. She began hitting him teasingly.

“Gerard. You. ASS!!! Frank must be manipulating your brain and making you get his ideas.”

“Nope, Frank was no inspiration.” He stood up and helped her to her feet. She looked at him and knew he was lying. He’d watched Frank and her for years; he knew Frank’s tricks as if he’d memorized a manual on annoying her, as written by Frank.

“Sure…” She walked over to his carry-on bag and pulled out a spiral.

“Oooo what’s this?” She asked, flipping through its pages.

“Song lyrics.”

“For BP?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Cool.”

    As she was reading through it Mikey came bursting in through the door, sweating from his extreme nervousness.

“Dude that room is flippin’ haunted! The closet is opening and closing on it’s own and the shower keeps turning on!” He waved his arms at them like a referee.

“Really? Because the same thing’s been happening over here!” Gerard said sarcastically.

“Really?!”

“No.” Gerard started laughing and Jordan walked over and began pushing Mikey back into his room by the shoulders.

“It’s all in your head Mike, now get back in there okay? Frank’s not afraid.”

“Frank’s hiding in the cabinet.”

“Alright tell ya what: We’ll leave this door open and see if anything happens okay?” She finally moved Mikey back into his room and left the door between their rooms ajar. While Mikey went to coax Frank out, Jordan returned to her room.

“I’m going to take a nap…”

“Okay, I’m going to take a shower. Make’s you feel human again…” Gerard trudged off to the bathroom and Jordan grabbed some pillows and a blanket. She headed for the couch but as she passed the huge cabinet, she couldn’t help but get the urge to climb up there.
    She threw the pillow and blanket up and began to scale the relatively tall cabinet. The top was quite wide enough for her to lie, and at least it would keep her out of Frank’s reach for a while.
    When Gerard came out of the bathroom, dressed in fresh clothes and his hair dripping wet, the first thing he spotted was the heap on top of the cabinet. At first he guessed it might be his brother, hoping to get someplace high to somehow get out of reach of the ghost. But it turned out to be no more than the calm curled up form of Jordan. It was an odd place for someone to sleep, unless you were a cat. Then again, Jordan was an odd person sometimes.
    Gerard smiled at her once before going over to the window and looking out. It was getting steadily darker outside; the sun was dipping into the horizon slightly. Gerard’s eyes focused on the reflection of the surroundings behind him in the window. He could see Jordan and just about everything else. His eyes went back to the sunset until an odd, dark figure could be seen in the window’s reflection. Gerard focused on it and was stricken by fear.
    A raggedy-looking man with dirty, straggly white hair was reaching up towards Jordan’s neck with cracked gray hands. Gerard instinctively turned around and expected to see the man more clearly but he was gone. He looked back and forth from the window to the room but Gerard and Jordan were the only to occupying the room. He put one hand over his racing heart and let out a long breath.
    Gerard walked over to Jordan and regretfully woke her up to tell her about what he had seen. She climbed down off of the cabinet and gave Gerard a comforting hug.

“It’s okay, ghost can’t hurt people.” She whispered to him.

“Yeah…” He whispered back in an unsure tone.

    They held each other a few moments before Gerard looked up to see the same horrifying man standing behind Jordan, reaching for her again. Gerard pulled Jordan close and began to back away from the room’s deceased occupant.

“Get away. You don’t belong here.” Gerard said as strongly as he could so that his commands wouldn’t sound feeble. The man lowered his hands and looked at him with wide yellow eyes, almost in an apologetic way. One blink and the spirit was gone again.

“It was the murderer wasn’t it?” Jordan asked shakily.

“Y—yeah.”

“Gee?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“You can let go of me now, I’m okay.”

“Oh! Sorry heh heh…” He let her go and began to feel slightly feverish. He’d been holding onto her as if their lives depended on it.

“I’m going to go hang out with Bob and Ray, see what’s going on over there.”

“Alright, I’ll stay with Mikey and Frank.”

“K.”

    Gerard shut the door between the rooms behind him as he entered Mikey and Frank’s room. But what good would it do? Couldn’t ghost just walk through walls? Still, the spirit could be attached to that room only and if so they’d be fine.

“Any scary shit?” frank asked as soon as he walked in.

“You don’t wanna know.”

“Can’t be as creepy as what just happened here. Mikey was talking to Alicia when his chair flipped over and slid halfway across the room on it’s own.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a poltergeist.”

“Yeah it sucks dude. I thought they were kidding but this is some scary ass shit!”

“A ghost keeps trying to strangle your sister but I told him to stop and he did.”

“Don’t tell Mikey, he’ll freak.” Gerard had just noticed Mikey was in the bathroom.

“He’s already freaking out.”

“Ah well….wanna watch TV?”

“Sure what the hell.”

    Meanwhile Jordan was playing Guitar Hero with Bob and Ray. She found it extremely fun to play games with them, even if sometimes Bob would get a bit emotional when he lost.
    After a few rounds of game play they sat around and talked to each other. It was another thing she enjoyed doing with them, for she secretly admired the two but wasn’t completely sure why, but she did.

“So any creepy stuff goin’ on?” Jordan asked conversationally.

“Some damn crazy shit, yeah. You?” Ray replied.

“Same. Apparently the ghost isn’t done murdering yet.”

“Whaddaya mean?” Bob asked, leaning forward.

“Well,” She started. “It keeps trying to strangle me but Gerard can ward it off somehow.”

“That’s good.”

“What time is it?” Bob asked all of a sudden.

“Like uh….” Ray looked at his wrist. “I don’t have a watch.”

“Ugh…go check.”

“Fine.” Ray got up lazily and checked the clock on the bedside table. “It’s around 7.”

“Already?” Bob stopped slouching in the chair.

“Why, you gotta be somewhere?”

“No I was just wondering.”

“…”

“What?”

“Nothing I was just thinking about something.”

    Jordan let Ray and Bob continue their weird chat.

“What were you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

“But nothing’s not something and you just said something so obviously nothing is actually applying to nothing which is what you claim to be thinking of but you are actually thinking of something because something was what you first claimed to be thinking about before claiming it was nothing so obviously you’re thinking of something but you don’t want to tell us so you said it was nothing when it really was something.” Jordan entered uninvited. They looked at her in confusion.

“What?”

“Ray was thinking about something.” She summed up for them.

“You could have just said that.” Ray got up and went to crash on the bed.

“Yeah but what fun would that be?” She stood up and started towards the door, Bob looked at her.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my room.”

“Okay.”

“Goodnight Ray! Goodnight Bobbykins!” Bob stood up, almost infuriated.

“What the hell did you just call me?” Bob could hear Ray laughing his ass off in the other room. Jordan was giggling in the doorway.

“B—she called you—b—bobby—haha---oh my God—dude--BOBBYKINS!!!!” Bob’s face turned beet red, he was steadily getting more pissed.

“How about—“ Jordan dared herself to do it. “Bobalicious? Bobby-Boy? Bobberty Bear?”

    Ray had rolled onto the floor cracking up. “B—BOBBERTY BEAR?? HA oh shit dude that’s your name for life! Cute fluffy little Bobberty Bear….or Bobbidy Bear!! Aww sweet wittle Bobbity Bear’s pwabably gwetting mad at me!”

“YOU’RE DEAD TORO!! I’M GONNE SHOVE THESE DRUMSTICKS SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL GET FRIGGIN BRAIN DAMAGE!!” Bob threw himself off the chair and into the bedroom, grabbing his drumsticks on the way. Ray got up off the floor as fast as he could and went flying into the other room.

“Oh shit!”

    Jordan decided it was best to stay out of the fight right now. She returned to her room to find Gerard laying on one of the beds, staring at the ceiling drowsily.

“You alright?” She asked, making him snap beck to focus.

“Yeah I’m just a bit tired. What’s that noise I hear across the hall?”

“Bob killing Ray.”

“Oh I see. I’m going to go watch since I have nothing else to do right now.” Gerard left for Bob and Ray’s room, leaving Jordan alone in the haunted room. The door to Frank and Mikey’s room was closed at the moment, so she couldn’t stroll right over there. She could still hear them though.

“Mikey turn the Goddamn lights off so I can GO TO SLEEP DAMMIT!!!” Frank screamed.

“NO WAY DUDE I’M NOT LETTING ANYTHING GET ME!!! AND ITS TOO DAMN EARLY TO BE GOING TO SLEEP DUMBASS!”

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY?”
    Jordan ignored them and began to get dressed in her pajamas, consisting of one of Frankie’s shirts and some red shorts. As she got dressed she got the odd feeling a pair of eyes were on her the whole time, it was an eerie feeling indeed.
    When she turned around to climb into bed and turn on the TV she saw one of the most frightening men she’d ever seen.
    He had gray skin, yellowed and crooked teeth, bloodshot eyes, and dirty white strands of hair. He looked a tiny bit transparent in the lamp’s light, so he must have been the spirit. He began limping his way over to her, the noose on his neck swaying slightly with each step. Jordan couldn’t find her voice to scream. She backed away too quickly and tripped, hitting the floor on her back hard. She crawled backwards as the murderer approached until her back hit the wall.

“Please please leave me alone! Leave here and go on!” The man leaned down and made eye contact with her. She could see the room faintly through his head. He shook his head sadly.

“I can never leave here… I can only still try to finish what I started…” He began to reach for her neck again and Jordan was too overwhelmed with fear to do anything. This was the scariest experience in her life, never had she encountered a situation like this one.
    His hands were slowly closing around her neck and getting tighter. She was losing breath fast until---

“Jordan?” Gerard had opened the door and the ghost disappeared before Gerard could spot him. When Gerard saw Jordan on the floor, looking severely pale and shaking like hell he took it for the worst.
    Gerard ran over and sat on the floor with her. The first thing she did was throwing her arms around him and hold him close like he was her guardian angel. He embraced her in return and rubbed her head gently.

“It was him wasn’t it?”

“Y---y—yes Gerard I thought ghost couldn’t hurt people! What the hell was that?”

“Maybe it was just your imagination he was hurting you.” He knew it probably wasn’t, but  maybe she’d feel better thinking it was.

“If that’s the case, the imagination is much more real than I thought.”

    Gerard held Jordan like a child for a long time until she calmed down, rocking her steadily and cooing words of comfort into her ear.

“I’ll always be there to protect you from anything…..always….”