Soulska Hotel (English)
Post-war Russia was a completely deserted country, the hard years of war led the country to complete exhaustion of its resources, and soon murderers, torturers, rapists, and looters began to appear. But the collapse of the economy, insurgencies, famine, and disease were not the main reasons the Russians abandoned their homeland.
Nobody understood the dark phenomenon that took possession of the main Slavic cities, it all started in Moscow. What followed was the massive flight of citizens, outcasts were seen in countries in different parts of the world, and absolutely no Russian refugee could explain in words what led them to drop everything so desperately.
Not everyone managed to leave.
Joshua Keith, a freelance journalist, dedicated himself to investigating the terror that took hold in that part of Europe. Using his sources, he was able to connect with survivors who shared on deep web forums information about symptoms of people who were supposedly possessed, weather anomalies, which paths were safe to travel, and which establishments were still functioning. That’s how he discovered the Soulska Hotel.
Without thinking twice he managed to get to Moscow, he didn’t want to take any equipment other than his notebook, the objective was just one, collect reports from survivors and take this information to the rest of the world. The first thing he noticed was that the weather anomaly was true, in the middle of the afternoon you couldn’t see the sunlight, the car headlight was the only thing that lit the way and some rare poles that worked were interspersed, he didn’t identify even a single live soul on the streets all the way.
Suddenly he identified an illuminated facade, he had finally arrived at the Soulska Hotel. He parked, grabbed his suitcase, and headed straight for the entrance. As he took the first step through the door, he felt a macabre atmosphere. Suffocation. Darkness. Immediately a chill shot up his spine. Some lights were on and he managed to catch a glimpse of a receptionist. She appeared to be a normal woman, not a survivor, with black hair, seductive eyes, lipstick, and an eerily perfect posture.
— Good night, Mr. Joshua, we’ve been waiting for you.
— I finally found someone, I have a lot of questions.
— Calm down, your trip must have been very tiring, let’s leave our conversation for tomorrow, we have a lot to share with you. — Here’s your room key, I’ll wait for you tomorrow in the same place.
Feeling really tired, Joshua decided not to insist, visualized the number 23 on the key, and headed towards the stairs as he didn’t see any elevators. Halfway to the second floor he couldn’t contain his fear and anxiety anymore, paranoia took over and he started to wait for the moment he would start to hear screams, scratches, or moans. Anything. Absolute silence.
He continued down the dimly lit hallway until he found room 23, the musty smell permeated his nose, the peeling walls made him uncomfortable and all he wanted was to enter that room and finally rest. He puts the key in the lock, turns, and nothing, the door wouldn’t open. He wondered if the room was occupied and not knowing what to do he decided to look through the lock. Red, all he saw was red, the purest shade of red, he was confused because in the doorway there was no light, let alone red. He decided to go downstairs and solve the problem with the receptionist.
— Excuse me, that key doesn’t open room 23.
— Mister Joshua! I apologize for the misunderstanding, your room is 22. Room 23 has been closed for many years, since the tragedy that happened during the war.
— Tragedy? What happened inside?
— During the war some soldiers were stationed at the Soulska Hotel, unfortunately, a young woman could not escape in time and was brutally murdered after being raped by a platoon. For a long time, they called her “the girl with the eyes of blood”.
