Kristi jumps out of her bed and walks across the hotel room.
And jostles her sister awake.
Sarah groans and rolls over.
Sarah
Ugh. What do you want?
Sarah
Geez Kristi, it’s 3 in the morning.
Sarah
What the — what are you doing?
Kristi points to the ceiling.
Kristi
Up there. You don’t hear that?
Sarah
But it just sounds like someone pacing back and forth.
Kristi
It doesn’t make any sense.
Sarah
Haven’t you ever had loud upstairs neighbors?
Kristi
There aren’t any bedrooms above us!
Kristi
It’s just an abandoned ballroom.
Sarah
How do you know that?
Kristi
I toured the hotel when we first got here.
Kristi
Explored each floor.
Kristi
We’re the last floor that holds rooms.
Kristi
Above us is the ballroom. It's huge! But abandoned.
Kristi
Or at least it looked that way.
Sarah
Is that what you were doing when you disappeared for like, an hour?
Sarah
Why? It’s just a hotel in the middle of nowhere Montana.
Kristi
It’s been in use since the 1800s!
Kristi
To me, that’s pretty cool. I had to look around.
Sarah
I could’ve used your help unpacking…
Kristi
Whatever. That sound has been going on all night.
Sarah
It’s probably just the staff or whoever.
Kristi
At this time of night? And for this long?
Sarah lies back down and pulls the covers up to her chin.
Kristi
Plus, I already told you it's abandoned.
Kristi
They aren't storing anything in there.
Sarah
If it concerns you so much, go check it out.
Sarah
If it’ll shut you up, please, do it.
Kristi
What if it’s a ghost or something…
Sarah
You can’t be serious.
Kristi
I don’t know…old places like this…
Kristi
Usually they’re haunted.
Sarah
Like I said, go find out for yourself, then.
Kristi
Leave me in peace.
Sarah
Hallelujah. Finally, some quiet.
Kristi
Hopefully I don’t get possessed or killed!
Kristi sneaks out of their room and tiptoes down the hallway.
The wooden floors creak beneath her weight and are cold on her feet.
She takes the elevator up to the top floor and comes to the door of the ballroom.
She presses her ear up against the door and hears footsteps inside.
Someone is definitely in there.
She takes one last deep breath and slowly pushes the door open.
The ballroom is pitch black.
She curses under her breath and fishes her phone out of her pocket.
Suddenly, from the ballroom, there’s the sound of someone running toward her.
She fumbles with her phone and finds the flashlight setting.
She shines the light in front of her.
She slams the door shut and runs back to her room.
Sarah groans and rolls over as Kristi frantically locks their door.
The pacing upstairs continues.
And Kristi, wide-eyed, listens the entire night, unable to sleep.
Sarah
I see you survived.
Kristi is sitting up in bed, terrified.
Sarah
You okay? No offense, but you look like crap.
Kristi
I didn’t get any sleep last night.
Sarah
Don’t tell me it was because of that stupid noise upstairs.
Kristi
Someone was up there last night, I swear to you.
Sarah
Did you actually go and check?
Kristi
YES! But when I looked, there was NO ONE!
Kristi
We can’t stay here another night.
Sarah
I think you’re overreacting.
Sarah
Calm down. Let’s go talk to one of the staff.
Sarah
I’m sure they know who or what it was.
Sarah
Maybe we can switch rooms.
Sarah forces Kristi to go with her to the front desk.
Mark, one of the staff, is there.
Mark
How can I help you two ladies?
Sarah
I’m wondering if you can’t help us solve a mystery.
Sarah
My sister heard a noise above us last night.
Sarah
I heard it too. Like someone was walking around or something.
Kristi
It went on all night! Then when I went to investigate—
Sarah
What Kristi is trying to say is that she had a hard time sleeping because of it.
Mark
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. What room are you currently staying in?
Mark types something on his computer.
Kristi
What?! Did you find something?!
Mark
It slipped my mind, but Room 421 is the last floor with bedrooms.
Mark
It doesn’t make sense that you heard footsteps above you.
Sarah
Well you see, my snoopy sister took herself on a tour of your facilities yesterday…
Sarah
She found the ballroom you have on the fifth floor.
Mark’s expression darkens.
Kristi
I’m sorry. I just wanted to take a look around.
Mark
No need to apologize, I’m just confused…
Mark
Well, I was the only one working last night.
Mark
And I can assure you I stayed behind this desk the entire time.
Kristi
You sure the cleaning person or someone wasn’t up there and you just forgot?
Mark
Unless it was another guest, I can guarantee you no staff went up there.
Mark
The staff tends to avoid that area.
Mark
For some reason they find it…unpleasant.
Mark points to a large black and white photo hanging behind him.
3 men stare stoically ahead.
Mark
That man in the middle. That’s Daryl Korver.
Mark
He and the other 2 people beside him built this hotel.
Mark
Daryl’s the only one that actually lived here, though.
Mark
Folklore has it that something about this place drove him mad.
Mark
Some think it was an evil spirit, that took possession of him.
Mark
Whatever it was, he used to take 1 guest each month…
Mark
Lead them to the ballroom…and then.
Mark
When the other 2 founders realized this, they showed up with the authorities to arrest him.
Mark
But Daryl set the place on fire.
Mark
With himself inside.
Kristi and Sarah sit in stunned silence.
Mark
It’s a truly unpleasant stain on our establishment.
Mark
But ever since then, the hotel has been under the Landry’s ownership.
Mark
And it’s just urban legend, after all.
Mark
I assure you all is well.
Kristi
Sarah, we can’t stay here.
Sarah
You heard him, it’s just a story.
Mark
Oh my…I probably shouldn’t have shared that.
Mark
I promise you everything is okay!
Kristi
Let’s leave. We can stay somewhere else.
Mark
No. No. No. You know what? I’ll offer you a free night if you stay.
Mark
I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Sarah
Holy cow! YES! We’ll take it.
Kristi
Listen to me. We need to go—
Mark
I’ve got you down for a free night.
Mark
Please let me know if there’s anything else you need.
Sarah
Enough! We’re staying.
Sarah snores as Kristi lies awake, staring at the ceiling.
Sure enough, footsteps can be heard above her…
It actually sounds like heels clanking on a hardwood floor.
Kristi, sweating, white-knuckles the top of the comforter.
She decides to find out once and for all what’s REALLY happening.
She makes her way to the ballroom’s entrance, flicks on her flashlight, and walks in.
She doesn’t hear anything.
The footsteps have stopped.
Kristi
I know someone is in here.
Her light shines across the empty room.
Maybe she was imagining it all.
As she turns to leave, the footsteps return…
Running toward her like the first night.
Something knocks her off her feet.
Knocking the wind out of her.
She shines her phone in front of her, nothing.
But she quickly clamps her hand over her mouth—
Realizing that the figure…
Mark
Apologies. I just came to check on that noise you mentioned.
Mark
I’m afraid not, I just wanted to be thorough.
Kristi
Oh. Well, I guess I’ll head back to my room then…
Kristi
Since you have this under control.
Kristi begins to walk toward the door.
But Mark grabs her arm, stopping her.
Kristi looks at Mark, then down to his hand, clamped on her wrist.
Mark
Well since you felt the need to poke around.
Mark
Stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.
Mark
I thought I’d let you see this thing through.
Kristi
What are you talking about?
A cold breeze blows against Kristi’s skin.
Kristi
What’s going on here?
Mark
That urban legend I told you?
Mark
There is a spirit that lives here…
Mark
She takes possession of the weak.
Mark
Not like my ancestors.
Mark
And if she can’t have me.
Mark
Then she needs to feed.
Mark releases Kristi’s wrist, pushing her back into the ballroom.
He spins around and runs out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Kristi finds her footing and chases after him.
She tries to open the door…
She feels another breeze.
And the hair on the back of her neck stands up.
And standing in the center of the ballroom…
Is a woman in a white dress.
She’s wearing heels and staring blankly at Kristi.
The woman’s eyes are dark.
Something throws Kristi to the ground again.
There’s a bright flash in the far corner of the room.
And smoke starts to fill the ballroom.
Kristi can’t stop coughing.
Through the smoke, she can see flames climbing up the walls, spreading across the floor…
She frantically tries the door handle again—
Slamming her entire body against the door.
Suddenly, the door opens from the other side.
Sarah
Hey. I thought I’d find you here—
And doesn’t need to be told twice.
Sarah grabs Kristi’s hand.
Newspaper Headline
Montana hotel evacuated after fire.
Article
Last night a Montana hotel caught fire.
Article
Most of its upper ballroom burned before fire personnel could put it out.
Article
The cause is unclear, but luckily no one was hurt.
Article
Kristi and Sarah Southerland, sisters, were caught upstairs but managed to escape.
Article
Unfortunately, no staff were available for comment…
Article
As the only employee scheduled to work that evening was Mark Korver…
Article
And his whereabouts remain unknown, despite efforts by local authorities to track him down.
Article
This fire marks the 100th anniversary of the Great Fire, which destroyed most of the original hotel. An ironic turn of events.
