My work requires that I often go on business trips. I like the job. I like meeting new people. I like visiting new cities. But for this story, that's neither here nor there.
I'd just arrived in Chicago and settled down in a place that you could probably call "high-class." I'd personally never shell out the exorbitant funds required for these sorts of things, but if the company's paying, then I won't complain.
One night, I'd come back, drunk as hell after a night out with clients. At some point during the AM hours, I went into the bathroom and slipped on some water, falling into the wall-space between the toilet and the shower. I stuck out my arm, but it actually went straight through. I wasn't sure why such a fancy place used such fragile materials for their rooms, but this oddity really didn't seem right.
The fall wasn't that hard. I couldn't understand how it broke so easily. I stepped back, staring at the gaping, newly-formed hole. Now, I wasn't exactly sure how hotels were designed in relation to how much space there is between the rooms, but I was under the assumption that they were built side-by-side.
If that was the case, then there must've now been a hole in my neighbors closet or something, which was rather concerning. It was late as hell, so I decided to wait until the morning to tell them about it, so they didn't freak out and think I was some weird asshole making holes in the walls.
Te morning comes and I knock on their door. They open up and are mostly understanding about what had happened. They take around each of their rooms but... there's no hole anywhere.
Alright. I thought to myself. Don't have to worry about anything there. But I still had to tell the front desk or something. I wasn't really prepared to pay for the damages, though. Stop being so fucking cheap with your building, you know?
However, I decided to put it off until after all my work was done. I come back the following night and take a look at the hole again. It really was big. Out of curiosity, I took my phone flashlight and shined it through. If this didn't lead to a room, then what was it? Just random space in between?
The first thing that I saw was an old-looking notebook lying around. Interesting. I reached in and picked it up, wiping a thin layer of dust off of it. It wasn't really distinctive looking. Just a plain red notebook you could probably buy anywhere.
But it was the contents inside that were... disconcerting. It was just pages and pages of messily scribbled nonsense. At least, that's what I thought it was at first. There was definitely a pattern in the haphazard symbols on the pages. Another language? Maybe? I didn't know.
Occasionally, there would also be diagrams. These were easier to understand, but still rather cryptic. They looked like detailed outlines of a building. After a few seconds of looking it through, I came to the definitive conclusion that it was the hotel. What caught my eye was the fifteenth floor, which was labeled more clearly than the others.
There was what looked like a staircase descending down from one of the rooms, cutting through the floor below. It didn't really show or describe where it was supposed to lead. The only word at the end of the staircase was...
"Zone: CK-X9"
Now, I'm not sure how many "Nope" situations you've been in, but this probably fit the bill. Despite that, I kept looking through the hole, just in case there was anything else.
And there certainly was.
With dead candles scattered all around it, there appeared to be a Trap door.
My blood kinda of froze there. Was I supposed to deduce that it led to a fucking staircase? On the fifteenth floor?
Eventually, I kind of just forced myself to laugh at it. I mean... there was no way. Right?
I made a decision right then and there. I started tearing down the wall some more, just so that I had enough space to crawl through, into the hidden room. It really wasn't bigger than a walk-in closet. Unfurnished wooden floors, walls and ceilings, with that weird trap door in the middle.
I took a moment of hesitation before opening it. I mean, if there was actually a stair-case, there was no chance in hell I was going down there.
I reached down and grabbed the metal handle. I searched around for a lock, but it wasn't there. I finally lifted it up, not really knowing what to expect.
There was only blackness at first. And then I shined my light down.
Stairs
Inexplicably, there were stairs. It shocked me so much that I instinctively closed it. I sat there for a moment, astounded. I started believing that it was just some weird illusion. With that in mind, I opened it up again and carefully stuck my hand down. Not a solid surface. They really were stairs.
I spent the next few hours trying to figure out what could've been underneath my room. I asked around, did the research, and even went down a floor to see for myself. But everything yielded the same conclusion.
It was just supposed to be another room.
I knocked on the door of the person that I'd mapped out to be right below me, but nobody answered. I even did some research online. No similar experiences to mine.
In this situation, I did the one thing that I thought was appropriate. I went to my co-worker, Jacob's room, and told him about it. At first, he was a bit bothered that I was knocking on his door at 1 AM, but I knew he'd be interested in this. He was one of those brash, paranormal aficionado guys. A bit annoying at times, but I'd say that we were friendly enough.
After I'd explained the situation to him, he let out a skeptical, and somewhat obnoxious laugh. He still elected to come check it out. During the walk up, I was slightly concerned that it was going to be one of those situations where it disappears or some shit.
But when we got up to my bathroom, it was still there. Still weird as ever. When I opened it up and revealed the stairs, I could see a look of sheer shock drawn across his face. I doubt he'd ever actually experienced anything paranormal before, despite the stories he always tells. This was uncharted territory for the both of us. We mused for a few more hours, deliberating on whether or not to go down. Well... it was actually just Jacob trying to convince me to go down with him.
"C'mon." I remember him telling me. "What a fucking story."
For whatever reason, he was adamant about going through with this insane bullshit. Eventually, I agreed to go down like ten steps and then right back up, just to see what was going on. We opened our flashlights and he went first.
As soon as my body descended into whatever the hell this place was, I could feel the atmosphere shift around me. Hard to explain, but it wasn't like when your ears pop at high altitudes. It was... something else.
I went down the ten steps that I'd promised before stopping and analyzing my surroundings. It wasn't like I could see much, though. It was just dark. Incomprehensibly dark. I watched as Jacob went further and further down.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I say to him. "None of this makes any sense."
He goes down probably around 8 steps further than me before turning. "Dude, this is crazy. You coming?"
"Fuck that." I told him. "What kind of place is this?"
As I say this, his expression drops. "What?" I asked him.
"Do you hear that?" He responds. I strained my ears, trying to figure out what he was referring to. It was faint but... there. Water? I couldn't really tell if it sounded more like somebody was sloshing around ankle-deep, or if they were flat out swimming. But it was extremely far down, causing me to wonder how deep this place was.
And then Jacob did the stupidest fucking thing anybody could've done in that scenario.
He yells out "who's there?" and in the near-utter silence of this apparently massive room, it echoes like hell. It was quiet after that. Quiet. No more movement. Whatever was down there had reacted. What happened next nearly gave me a heart-attack. Heavy, wet footsteps began sprinting up the stairs. They were still faint at first, but they gained at an inhuman pace. Jacob and I followed suit, scrambling the hell back up.
We stumbled back into the room, closing the door behind us. As soon as we did this, the footsteps ceased again. But we didn't have peace of mind yet. There was no lock. And the door isn't so heavy. Jacob quickly lugged the coffee table through the washroom, back to the hidden room, and then placed it upside down, over the trap door.
After that, we just stood there, breathless. We glanced at each other, both of our minds probably on the same page. There were still 3 days on this trip.
I didn't really get much sleep that night, even with the drawer barricading the bathroom door. I kind of wish that I'd grabbed the book back there, though. Maybe I could've analyzed it further, uncovering any possible answers. But for obvious reasons, I don't think going back down there is the best idea right now.
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Credits
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