Erin wasn't paying attention to the hotel staff when he checked in. He was drunk out of his mind at 3AM in a city he didn't even know, so when he awoke to a man who had to be over 6 feet tall standing in the corner of his room.
He freaked out. Sure it could be waved off as room service, except this guy didn't have a cleaning trolley, or a broom, he didn't even have a duster. He was just standing there hunched over in the corner, breathing like a dog.
Maybe it's cause he was hungover, the guy in the corner wasn't real, he was just a figment of his imagination. "Hello?" He said, even though he was mostly convinced this man was fake.
The man's head twitched
"Who are you? What's going on?" He asked, a bit more freaked out.
It's head twitched again, and then it spoke. "You're in the Grandier hotel."
He freaked for a second before grabbing the phone number list from the bedside table.
The supposed figment of his imagination knows the name of the hotel he's in that he definitely did not just a second ago.
"Are you real?" He asks after a few seconds of silence.
"Yes." It answers a bit too quickly.
"Okay…" He murmurs before sitting up, swinging his legs to the side, and slips his feet to where he put his shoes last night.
They're not there. He looks down. No shoes. Maybe he just kicked them off? Right?
He looks around the room, no shoes.
He looks to the other side of the bed.
No shoes.
"Where are my shoes?"
"Room 205." It answers again a bit to fast.
"What room is this?"
"Room 512." It answers still at that uncomfortable speed.
"Why the fuck are my shoes in a different room?" His mind is reeling, what in the hell is happening?
"You wake up in a different room every time you go to sleep" It answers in that same tone it always has, like a machine.
"I'm leaving this damn hotel" He mutters as he gets off the bed.
"You can not." It says, this time with an edge of what seems like anger to it's voice.
"What do you mean I can't?!" He's getting really annoyed.
"There is no leaving the Grandier hotel." It says a bit faster, as if it's anger is building.
He stomps over to the door, swings it open and walks out, slamming it behind him. He marches down the hallway, steps into the elevator. And his mind goes blank.
There is an entire wall of buttons. He can't even see the end of the corridor.
"What the FUCK" He yells as he punches the seemingly endless button console.
The doors close, and the elevator begins going down. Its about 45 seconds in that he starts getting concerned.
Elevators don't normally take this long right? He thought to himself as he paced in circles near the door.
It takes another minute and a half before the elevator dings. Floor 32 the display says.
He looks down the hallway, the hallway he can't see an end to.
What the fuck is going on?
Erin looked back down at the button panel, hesitated, and pressed the button labeled 0.
The doors close, same as before, and the elevator begins to move down, the same as before.
It's not that long before it dings. The display above the door reads Lobby.
He walks out. The first thing to catch his attention is the lack of doors, theres windows, but they are just white, bright light. No doors though.
The second thing to catch his attention is the chatter from the room to the left, he walks over, and peaks in. There's people, a lot of people, and there seems to be just enough chairs for all of them. Save for as singular empty chair close by the door.
He walks over. Pulls the chair out, and sits down.
The people at the table turn to him, and all, in somewhat unison, ask. "New guy?"
"Yeah. What the fuck is going on?" He answers a bit delayed.
One of them, the woman across from him, giggles a bit before smiling warmly. "Welcome to the Grandier. Emphasis on the Grand."
The person to his right sighs. "It's infinte. She means its infinite."
He pauses for a second, staring down at the cold glass table below him.
"Lot more tame of a reaction than I expected." The person to his left comments.
"Sorry I just…" He sighs "My family is gonna do my funeral under my dead name…"
The person to his right grits their teeth "Yeah I can see why that sucks."
He sighs before sitting up. "Oh well, Emily Hawthorne died the second I got my tits and hair chopped off anyways."
"Thats a concerningly positive outlook." The person to his left pipes in.
"I'm Erin, by the way." He adds, realizing there were never any introductions.
The woman infront of him speaks next. "Scarlett"
Then the person to his right. "Jamey"
And finally the person to his left. "Dalia"
They sit in relative silence for a moment before Erin speak again. "So is there like… a government system?"
The people at the table exchange some glances before Jamey, the one to his right, speaks up. "We travel in groups of four set by when we get here. Sometimes groups will travel together and exchange members."
"So like… tribes?" Erin asks.
Dalia, the one to his left speaks. "No. Tribes are a different thing. Tribes are groups of feral freaks who live between the 200-500th floors and eat people."
Erin pauses for a moment, lips pursed. "Well, that's nice."
Scarlett speaks this time. "Indeed. So I'm assuming you've met Hilbert?"
Erin's face contorts for a second. "Who's Hilbert?"
Dalie smirks and points to the roof. "About yey tall, breathes like a dog, gets mad when you talk about leaving."
"Oh, Hilbert…" Erin says before staring into the distance.
"Hilbert" Jamey says, nodding.