CHAPTER ONE: Walter and Emily's Journey: Entrapment

[Kadael]

"Walter!" Emily screams, clawing at the walls to scramble up the stairs. "Walter, help!"

If she can find him... if she can just get into the light...

[Laraqua]

Walter can hear Emily's screams as she scrambles up the stairway and into the ambiently lit corridors of the 2nd floor. As she glances around wildly, she sees him back out of the hall and slam the door shut before him, his body sweaty, sooty, and his muscular hands firmly gripping a rather gore-slick fire axe. The shadows play around him, giving him a rather menacing slant. The floor chars beneath his feet as he turns to face her.

[Kadael]

"Oh, Walter, thank God..." Emily allows herself to slow down a bit as she jogs up to him, panting heavily. "We have to leave, there are... things here..."

The axe catches her eye, some kind of orange light shining on the blood. She takes a step back, eyes wide.

[Seon]

"What?" Walter said, annoyed. "Leave? Are you crazy? What about her? And did you get the key?"

Walter jogged towards the place where he had been impeded by the locked door before. Even if she didn't have the key... the axe should be more than sufficient to break down this door.

[Kadael]

"What 'her,' Walter? All I know is, there's something down there!" Emily chances a quick look over her shoulder. "It almost got me. We're not safe! Can't you see? This place is practically falling apart under our feet!"

[Laraqua]

There's no one in sight as they pass down the corridor toward the door, finally coming to a halt before it.

[Seon]

"Yeah, I know," Walter said glumly. "I picked up this axe buried inside a guy's cranium. The guy wasn't dead yet and he tried to get back up as soon as I tore it out of his head. Oh, did I mention the two guys used as chandeliers yet, because, I don't think I did."

He raised the axe and gave the door a loud thwack.

"But I'm not giving up. Ohhhh no. I won't give up. I've been reliving this moment in my life countless times, you know. What could I have done to change things around? Well, forget that. I'VE GOT AN AXE THIS TIME. I was surrounded by murderers and monsters in human skin then before, why the hell should I worry about them now?!"

He gave the door another swing.

[Laraqua]

The wood cracks under the first blow, then again under the second blow, but it has yet to give way under the mighty blows.

[Seon]

A crack. Well, that was promising. At least it wasn't made of some wonder material like the window.

Walter sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry. I know you are frightened but..." he gave the door another swing with the axe.

"But I've been waiting for a chance to see Alessa for... such a long time... and I know she's here... Does that sound too crazy? Well, they did say that I was always a bit odd..."

Yet another swing, weaker this time.

[Kadael]

"If you say that you know, then... I believe you." Emily stands some feet away from him and the axe.

She doesn't remember her days as an elementary student too well. But she never thought that Walter (didn't he go by something else back then? His last name was Kaufmann...) would grow up to be so, uh, remarkable. That's a good word.

"But what do you think you'll find?"

[Laraqua]

More wood splinters with each blow. It appears to be made of a weaker wonder material, but it's still no easy task to break through it.

Show,I'm giving someone a chance to add a few final touches to something before I bring them in, so feel free to gas bag until the time is right. Assume that the door is coming apart, slowly, but that you can't see anything inside it yet.

[Laraqua]

The wood shatters beneath the heavy blows of the axe revealing a hotel room much as the one they had been trapped in.

There is a heavy darkness behind the window glass, almost oppressive as it presses in against the sides, and there's no ambient light conveniently clearing the place of its dark gloom, only that which filters in through the corridors.

As Walter steps inside, his shoes touch carpet rather than charred wood, and the charring effect ceases.

There is a colouring book, heavily coloured, and some pencils before the television, and a surprising amount of baggage and used tissues around the room.

[Seon]

"Maybe nothing..." Walter muttered to Emily, spitting out the words. "But I have to try... I had to try..."

"Is... Anyone here?"

[Kadael]

The burning just stopped... Emily walks over to the split-open door, looking in. "It's just a room, Walter. It doesn't look like anything special. I don't think this is where she'd be."

She frowns at the coloring book. A little kid's staying here, from the looks of things, but they're obviously out with an adult.

"I think we should leave. We don't want to be here when the family... or that thing... comes back."

[Seon]

"No, I heard somebody inside. I'm sure that she's here," Walter muttered. "She has to be... Everywhere looks burnt except this one... There has to be some meaning... I..."

He dropped the axe beside him and grasped his forehead. "Just... Just indulge me for a second. I... Just want to take a look around..."

[Laraqua]

The room is dark and gloomy. It'll be hard to see anything with only the vague, ambient light from the hallway.

[Seon]

Walter dug through every bags, cabinets, and nooks and crannies in the entire room. There had to be something here, right? Some kind of clue... some kind of...

Well, he probably was kidding himself... but at least he may know why this room wasn't burning like everywhere else.

[Laraqua]

Before Walter can begin his search, there's a rumble in the wardrobe before the doors burst open and a tear-streaked little blonde girl comes rushing out towards them.
"Help me! I've lost mummy!"

She sees a young woman standing in the doorway, behind her is a corridor snaked with scar-like lines that give out an ambient glow, and closer to her in the room is a muscular man who stands in the darkness, the shadows clinging to his face, and giving him an unwholesome and dangerous air. The bedroom itself is without any light source and is plunged into gloom.

The television switches on with a burst of static, providing some light into the gloom.

Show,You can retain Walter's roll if you wish to still search the room.

[Kadael]

Emily brushes past Walter and into the room. She crouches down so she's at eye-level with the girl, smiles, and offers a hand.

"Hey, it's okay. Can you tell me where and when you last saw your mommy? I'd like to help you."

A little girl bursting out of a wardrobe. Was she playing hide and seek, or is she a refugee from Narnia? Seriously, though, what kind of mother leaves their child alone in a hotel room?

[Raiko]

Tears pour down Katie's cheeks as she takes the lady's outstretched hand.

Her body shakes and she needs to gulp for air for a few seconds before replying to Emily's question, and even then her answer doesn't make much sense, "Mommy was having an important phone call in the car park, and I went on the rides with Laura, and then Laura said that mommy would be here, and all mommy's bags are here, but Laura locked the door, and no one came, and it's been and ages, and Laura said she'd come back and teach me to be magic, and I tried to open the door and to shout for mommy and Laura and, and, and..."

Katie pauses to gulp in more air.