Cut! That’s a wrap!

There was only one rule: don’t open the door. It was written on poster board just above it. If you could last 24 hours and not open the door, you would win something major.

Ryan felt he had it in the bag. He knew little else about the contest, just that he was in a hotel with a loaded mini fridge and endless entertainment on the TV. He just had to keep the door closed. He wondered if they’d try and scare him out. He’d been on plenty of ghost tours and they didn’t phase him. They could send bugs in, make him eat dirt, make the bathroom unuseable… he couldn’t think of anything that could make him open the door.

He settled down with a beer and a bad movie. Easy enough!

He wasnt far into the film when he heard something at the door. He shifted off the bed to investigate.

“It’s your fault,” a voice growled.

Ryan stepped back, remembering the rule. He stepped forward again to look through the peephole, only to find it was blacked out.

The voice roared, “ALL your fault.”

Ryan was flooded by memories of his late father. His sickly father, stuck in a routine of medications & misery. Ryan’s last moment with him was showing up late to care for his father and finding him on the floor. The guilt Ryan carried because of it was suffocating.

The voice continued to taunt him, causing Ryan to open the door in frustration.

“MY FAULT???? You were sick!”

No one was standing on the other side and the air became thick with a strange gas causing him to fall to the floor in the doorway.

“Cut!” The man watching on camera sighed, “That’s a wrap on 217… I thought he was the winner!”