Ghost Town
Ghost Town - Story
All was still and quiet in the frigid town that had no name. White, fluffy snow had just fallen, leaving the ground, hilltops, and houses covered in a blanket of white. No one lived in this town, rumours say it was a ghost town; all the people wiped out by a plague, others say the townspeople just vanished one night, but the real reason was unknown.
Yet each evening, at a quarter to ten, every light on every street, in every house, hotel, and workplace began to flicker slowly, turning on and emitting a soft, eerie glow among the town.
One night, a young couple had driven into the town unaware of the curse that haunted it. The man was getting tired from having driven all day, insisting that they should stop for the night. The man’s wife protested, claiming that she didn’t like the town – that it gave her a bad feeling and they should keep moving, stop at the next town and rest there.
The man shook his head, going on about how he was too tired to drive any longer and that he had to pull over before they got in an accident.
The couple pulled into an old hotel, which had a wooden, hand-painted sign hanging up on the front of the old brick building, reading, “Johnson’s Inn, The Home of Beer, Friends, and Family.”
Once in park, the couple exited their car; a fire red mustang with a convertible top and chrome detailing. They walked up to the doorstep opening the creaky, wooden door.
“Damon... please…” The girl murmured, pulling at Damon's arm, hinting that she wanted to go home.
Damon sighed, “Myla, you can’t drive and I’m exhausted. Nothing is going to happen, I promise.” He kissed her cheek softly, and walked inside the hotel, holding her soft hand in his.
Walking in, they were greeted by a very loud, well-rounded, balding man. He had a silver handlebar mustache, and oddly grey eyes. He was wearing a large soft red, orange, and brown plaid shirt, with a name tag spelling, “Jack” pinned on the side, and a pair of khaki’s.
“Why, hello there! Welcome to Johnson’s Inn! The home of beer, friends, and family!” The large man shouted, chuckling heartily.
Damon laughed, walking up to the front desk to accost himself with the man, “One room please, with a double bed. We’d like to stay for the night.”
“Of course my lad! That’ll come to $10.95!” He smiled a large, false, almost frightening sort of smile.
“How cheap,” Damon said, setting a 20 dollar bill on the counter, “Do you have food services here as well?”
The strange man smiled, twirling his mustache, “Yes, yes we do my fine man. What would you like? Chicken, steak, soup, crackers? We’ve got it all!”
“Hmm… I think I’ll take two vegetable and chicken soups, please.” Damon smiled.
As the two men talked, Myla looked around the room, noticing many other people scattered all around, laughing and talking, but when she looked, she noticed they were all dressed quite strangely. The women wore large dresses, fitted with corsets and even some with bonnets! While the men, they were dressed in the finest of suits, but they all were very, very pale. Almost as if they were translucent.
Staring off into the crowd of oddly dressed people, she almost didn’t notice her husband tugging at her arm and singing, “Mylaaaa, Myyylaaa, come back to Earth my sweet, sweet Myla.”
She gasped, and giggled softly, blushing a light shade of pink, “O...Oh right, sorry dear.”
She quickly followed behind her husband, feeling out of place dressed in a red short sleeved top with a V-neck cut, black straight leg jeans, and a pair of black heels, along with her breast length chocolate brown hair, which was down and not up in a bun like the other girls. Fortunately, she hadn’t applied to much make up this morning, just some BB cream, a clear coat of lip gloss over her baby pink lips, and very minor mascara that brought out her baby blue eyes.
Following her husband to the room, she whispered in his ear, “Something isn’t right… the people here, Damon... they’re dressed weird. Please, can we just drive to the next town?”
Damon opened the door to their room and sighed, “Oh honey, stop being a baby. I’m sure it’s just a theme the hotel has. Besides, I’ve already told you, I’m too tired to drive.”
He pulled Myla in for a hug, and held her close to him, rocking gently and kissing her head softly a few times.
“They won’t hurt you, I promise, I won’t let them hurt you." He whispered, comforting her.
After fifteen minutes, two girls dressed in matching maid outfits which consisted of large black dresses, white aprons with lace detailing tied around the skirt and a bonnet to match scurried into the room, wheeling along a cart with two bowls of soup.
“We have soup for a miss and mister Parker?” One woman chirped.
Damon waved them over to the bed, asking for them to set the soup on the nightstand when they both started giggling, “Oh no… no, no, no dearie, you're dressed all wrong! Didn’t old Jack tell you? You’ve got to play the part to stay and sleep! We’ve supplied different outfits in every closet, you're welcome to pick from any of those! Just make sure you’re changed and washed up before 12am, when the ball ends!"
The two maids left as quickly as they came, leaving soup and water on the nightstand for the couple.
"See honey? They get their guests to dress the same! I told you, it was a themed thing! Can you relax now?” Damon smiled, slipping off the bed to go open the closet.
Inside the closet, there were four different outfits, two for women, and two for men. Damon took out an outfit which included; a pair of dark brown trousers, a white button up dress shirt, and a matching brown vest. At the bottom of the closet, Damon even found a pair of polished, dark brown dress shoes. They were his size too, size ten!
“C’mon honey! Don’t be a sore thumb, pick an outfit! I’m sure you’ll look lovely!” Damon grinned, folding the outfit over his forearm and heading into the bathroom to change, “Wow! Sweetheart, they even have the bathroom done up to look old!” Damon almost squealed like a five year old boy, causing Myla to laugh, and ease up a little.
She got out of bed herself and wandered over to the closet, looking at both the dresses. In the end, she decided on an elegant, soft pink dress. The dress came with a corset that had silky white strings, and short, mildly puffy sleeves. The skirt of the dress flowed out, the first layer was silk, the same soft pink as the rest of the dress, with a covering white lace layer, that had a flower pattern on it. She contemplated on putting on the white bonnet which was provided, and ended up taking it. She knew if she didn’t, Damon would make her wear it anyway.
After about ten minutes, Damon exited the bathroom, letting Myla in to go change.
She giggled, “Well, doesn’t someone just look handsome in his suit?” She kissed him softly, and entered the bathroom to change.
It took her twenty minutes to get dressed, but when she walked out she looked like a princess. The dress seemed as though it was fitted just for her, showing off her curves in all the right places. Damon’s mouth dropped into an “O” expression, gapping at how beautiful she looked.
“Myla… you look… well… you look… gorgeous.” Damon stammered, staring at his wife a moment longer before going to the closet and pulling out a pair of white high heeled shoes.
“I’ll bet you ten bucks, that they are your size.” He winked, handing her the shoes.
She laughed, taking them and sticking out her tongue, “Mmhmm, and I’m sure you didn’t check the size while I was getting dressed.”
She put on the shoes and smiled, liking the way they fit.
Damon smiled and stood up, having put on his shoes while Myla was changing.
He offered her his hand and said in a terrible British accent, “My lady, will you give me the pleasure of escorting such a beautiful gem as yourself, to the ball downstairs?”
“Hmm, what happened to being, ‘too tired.’?” She sneered, placing her hand in his and letting him pull her up.
“Ah, too tired to drive, not to dance. Especially when I'll be dancing with such a beautiful woman.” He said grinning, letting his emerald green eyes sparkle in the light, he kissed her cheek.
She smiled, walking down the stairs with Damon, admiring how handsome he was with short dark brown hair, hypnotizing green eyes, and even naturally soft pink lips. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, he led her into the bar which looked as if it was pulled out of a scene from an old, Victorian-styled movie.
The bar had a large, light brown oak counter, countless rows of wine, beer, and different alcoholic beverages. The floor was a matching light brown, waxed recently. You could hear each and every click from everybody’s shoes as they danced around, or just tapped their feet while drinking. The walls had been dressed with beautiful, red silk curtains, bringing out the best of the dark coloured walls, along with the every-so-often found oil lamp hung on the wall, flickering slightly. Finally, in the very middle of the room, on the tall ceiling there was a huge, black chandelier, emitting a soft candle-light glow among the room.
Instantly after entering the bar, the old music filled their ears, their brains, putting them in a trance, making them want to do nothing but dance.
Abandoning the idea of getting a drink, they headed straight for the main floor, holding each other and beginning to engage in a slow dance, swaying back and forth, back and forth continuing in this motion, hour after hour, not noticing the time slowly ticking by…
At 12 am precisely, the lights in the hotel flickered out, the music died down, the people all vanished, the room, the hotel, the town, all seemed to be melting away… taking the dancing couple with it, dragging them too, into the illusion of the town, a town that may very well not even exist…
*I have pretty terrible grammar, so if you could point out any mistakes, especially grammar ones, I would be grateful!*
