Chapter 4: The Old Hotel Forced Me To Face My Forgotten Past
Chapter 4: The Old Hotel Forced Me To Face My Forgotten Past
I didn’t sleep that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same hallway.
Dark carpet.
White walls.
A red EXIT sign glowing above a door.
And Emily.
I still couldn’t see her face clearly.
But I could hear her voice.
“Daniel, whatever happens, don’t trust him.”
I woke up at 3:17 in the morning, breathing hard.
Claire was asleep beside me.
Or at least she looked asleep.
I stared at her for several minutes.
Then I noticed something on the nightstand.
Her phone.
The screen lit up.
A new message.
From Tyler.
I reached for it.
The message was short.
“Tell Daniel not to go to the hotel. If he goes, everything ends.”
I slowly put the phone down.
Everything ends.
That wasn’t a warning.
It was a threat.
By seven in the morning, Claire was awake.
“You’re still going,” she said.
I didn’t answer.
She knew.
“Daniel, please.”
“I need answers.”
“You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
“Neither do you.”
She looked away.
I stood across from her.
“You told me you were afraid of Tyler.”
“I am.”
“Then help me understand something.”
“What?”
“If you’re afraid of him, why did you keep seeing him for six months?”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because he had something.”
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Something that could destroy you.”
I felt a chill move through me.
“What could destroy me?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because if I say it out loud, there’s no going back.”
“There hasn’t been a way back since last night.”
She looked at me for a long moment.
Then she walked to the kitchen counter and opened a drawer.
She pulled out a small envelope.
“I kept this because I knew someday you might ask.”
She handed it to me.
Inside was a hotel key card.
The old-fashioned kind with a printed number.
Room 614.
I looked at her.
“What is this?”
“Your room.”
“My room?”
“At the hotel.”
Nine years ago.
I stared at the number.
“Why did you have this?”
“Tyler gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“He said you left something there.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
I clenched the card in my hand.
“Then why did you keep it?”
“Because Tyler told me that if you ever remembered Emily, I should give it to you.”
That sentence stayed with me as I drove toward Chicago.
I didn’t tell Claire where I was going.
I didn’t tell Mark.
I didn’t tell anyone.
The hotel was nearly abandoned.
The sign above the entrance was missing several letters.
The parking lot was cracked.
The windows on the upper floors were dark.
I parked across the street and watched the building for almost twenty minutes.
Then I went inside.
The lobby smelled like dust and old carpet.
A man sat behind the front desk.
He looked up when I approached.
“Room 614?”
He stared at me.
“You know the room?”
“I have the key.”
I placed the card on the counter.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was given to me.”
“By whom?”
“Tyler.”
The man immediately stood.
“I think you should leave.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the hallway.
Then back at me.
“Because some rooms should stay closed.”
I picked up the key.
“I’ve been told that before.”
I walked toward the elevator.
“Wait.”
I stopped.
The man came around the desk.
“You were here before.”
I turned.
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
My heart stopped.
“What do you remember?”
“You came in with a woman.”
“Emily?”
He nodded.
“And another man.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall. Dark hair. Expensive coat.”
Tyler.
Maybe.
Or someone else.
“What happened?”
The man’s face became pale.
“You were arguing.”
“With Emily?”
“No.”
“With the other man.”
I stared at him.
“What were we arguing about?”
He lowered his voice.
“You kept saying you didn’t know where the money came from.”
Money.
The word hit me like a physical blow.
“What money?”
“I don’t know.”
Then he walked back behind the desk.
“Go upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because if I tell you more, I’ll be involved again.”
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside.
Sixth floor.
The doors opened.
The hallway looked exactly like the one in my memory.
White walls.
Dark carpet.
Red EXIT sign.
My breathing became shallow.
Room 614 was at the end of the corridor.
I inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Nothing had been changed.
The room was almost empty.
One bed.
One desk.
One broken lamp.
And a dark stain on the carpet near the window.
I walked toward it.
My head suddenly hurt.
A memory flashed.
Emily standing near the desk.
“You promised me.”
A man behind me.
“I never promised you anything.”
Then my own voice.
“Stop!”
I grabbed the edge of the desk.
Another flash.
Emily holding something.
A small black drive.
She looked directly at me.
“Daniel, you have to take this.”
I blinked.
The room returned.
My heart was pounding.
I searched the desk.
Nothing.
Then I noticed a loose panel underneath the drawer.
I pulled it.
A small compartment opened.
Inside was a black USB drive.
I stared at it.
Emily had given me this.
I knew it.
I didn’t remember everything.
But I knew.
My phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
“Now you remember the drive.”
I looked around the room.
Someone was watching me.
Another message arrived.
“Ask Claire why she was at this hotel the night Emily disappeared.”
My blood went cold.
Claire had lied.
She hadn’t merely known about Emily.
She had been here.
I called her.
She answered immediately.
“Daniel?”
“Were you at this hotel nine years ago?”
Silence.
“Claire.”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“You were here?”
“Yes.”
“With Tyler?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She started crying.
“Daniel, I didn’t come here because of Tyler.”
“Why did you come?”
“To find you.”
I froze.
“You were looking for me?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I found Emily.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“Was she alive?”
Claire didn’t answer.
“Claire!”
“I saw her alive, Daniel.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“When?”
“That night.”
“Then why did everyone say she died in an accident?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do know.”
“No.”
“You’re lying again.”
She whispered:
“I left before it happened.”
“What happened after you left?”
“I heard a gunshot.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“A gunshot?”
“Yes.”
“Who fired it?”
“I never saw.”
Then she said something that made my blood turn cold.
“But Emily wasn’t the person they were trying to kill.”
I stared at the black USB drive in my hand.
“Who were they trying to kill?”
Claire’s voice broke.
“You.”
The call ended.
I stood alone in Room 614.
Nine years ago, someone had tried to kill me.
Emily had witnessed it.
Claire had found me.
And somehow, everyone had agreed that Emily was the one who died.
I looked down at the USB drive.
Then the door behind me slowly opened.
I turned.
Tyler stood in the doorway.
He wasn’t smiling.
He looked terrified.
“Daniel,” he whispered.
I took a step backward.
“How did you get here?”
Tyler closed the door behind him.
“Because I was the one who saved you that night.”
I stared at him.
“And Emily?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“She never died.”
Then the lights went out.
