CHAPTER TWO ⚜ DOWN THE RUSSET CORRIDOR

[Illustration 03] A corridor in one-point perspective. Red-brown walls and French sconces run away into the dark. Human-shaped shadows stand in neat rows along both sides, featureless, with only a cold white light deep in the sockets of their eyes. Every one of them is looking at the young man in the centre of the frame — one shoe on, dragging a suitcase. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNQQevK8EE

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The corridor was full of “people.” 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwgt9WrvFZ

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People, if being people-shaped was enough to qualify. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Nkn8quW7w

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They looked as though someone had cut silhouettes from the night itself and propped them along the walls. They had shoulders. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpdnJ9jRZ9

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They had arms and legs, every part where it ought to be. Some even suggested the outlines of overcoats and top hats.

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What they lacked---- were “ faces ”. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrLSqEyiOn

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Where their faces should have been was only smooth blackness—except for two hollow sockets, each holding a cold white light. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpHutdqiUn

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By the nearest doorway stood a little boy. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2Qm3VTMqA

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He wore a shirt and short trousers, pressed far too neatly. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXEB1YtMIf

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He was pale, but otherwise looked almost like any ordinary child. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Z3iQx3hqT

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Only his eyes were wrong. A thin, cold light floated deep within his pupils, his gaze resting quietly on Ryan’s bare foot. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXGDxpYQlN

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He clutched something roughly round to his chest. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBaXLuG5MX

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Ryan was too far away to make out what it was. He could see only a few fine strands—hair, perhaps—clinging to its uneven surface. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQgwQqMVdU

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From the doorway opposite, a little girl in an old-fashioned dress leaned halfway into the corridor. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pc7FIM9dB

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She had a delicate, almost sweet face, pale curls falling neatly beside her shoulders, and a battered teddy bear clutched in her arms. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gLj53HItj

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The girl tilted her head and watched him.

As Ryan edged forward, her eyes followed him, and the corners of her mouth began to rise. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1WicrdQU5

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Her smile began faintly, almost politely—then curved wider and wider, as if someone had forced a dark-red crescent across her face with a paintbrush. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHY8La0MSN

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The teddy bear in her arms was watching Ryan too. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEOjxXtYS9

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One of its cotton arms had come unstitched and dangled by a thread. Tiny points of dark-red light gleamed within its button eyes. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCsIF5vgcW

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The teddy bear looked considerably more awake than the child holding it. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZunsB1GjY

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Farther along, an old woman stood just inside a doorway, stooped over a walking stick. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoPyAstLtU

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Most of her deeply lined face was visible, but her neck bent sideways at a stomach-turning angle. Her body never moved. Only her cold-lit eyes followed Ryan. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1jtkUiymf

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The “guests” farther down the corridor were less complete than that. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuiylcRoAu

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Gentlemen, ladies, married couples, well-dressed ones, and one enormous man whose shoulders nearly filled his doorway — all leaned out from behind their half-open doors. Their faces were flat sheets of black, with only those hollow eyes hanging within them. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkzAYgbUK8

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With every step Ryan took, their faces and necks turned a fraction farther. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOtX1BlEFN

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Some fast, some slow. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlml7d3hRls

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Not in unison. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwV29YTePXb

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But not one gaze ever left him. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzR4vuRzz0

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The faceless shadows lined both sides of the corridor, stretching from Room 626 to the elevator at the far end. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn68h3dETgw

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They stood like spectators waiting for a parade to pass, every head turned towards Ryan—as if he were the parade. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmi6qPm7q84

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Behind him, the telephone was still ringing. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98VyIw2c7t

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BRRRRING—!

(The fifth ring.) 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlHKukPMbM

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The nearest shadow slowly turned its head toward him. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsP3TbCim7

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In the space of a second, Ryan's brain supplied a hundred ways to die just by walking down the corridor. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTs8lv235z5

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Strangled. Stabbed. Torn apart. Dragged back into the room. Folded up and stuffed into one of the picture frames on the wall.

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Then he opened his mouth, and heard himself say something he had not planned at all.

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“E-…excuse me. Please let me… pass?” Ryan nodded towards the elevator and made a timid sideways gesture, asking the shadow for enough room to squeeze past. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaEzepk6cQ

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The shadow did not move. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjMOGc4KzX

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Ryan's palm was slick around the handle of his suitcase. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbDSKhp4jj

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One second. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ158K0NYHOQ

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Two. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyKHChVj37

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Then, to his surprise, the shadow stepped back half a pace and withdrew behind the doorframe. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5m0JdA6bUZ

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The other guests blocking his way drew back into their rooms as well. A long skirt was gathered through a doorway. A walking stick moved aside. An arm that had been reaching into the corridor slowly withdrew. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhwvYZprWf

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A path opened before Ryan—exactly wide enough for one man and one suitcase. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMfPQV40uU

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“Th-thank you.” 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJtj364Zap

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Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ryan thought: “ …they're weirdly polite about this. ” 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wH1HmuNs0

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He started walking. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdhoGJol87

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Hopping, more accurately. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7AiXbEF9g

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The shoe on his right foot came down on the carpet with a dull tap. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AUQRdk56L

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The bare sole of his left foot followed, with only a soft ‘ pff ’. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrZUhcYaFJ

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Tap, pff. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfG3pckQXKt

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Tap, pff. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWEmqzxNFg

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The suitcase wheels snagged in the carpet’s thick pile and produced a grinding, complaining rumble. In the dead silence of the corridor, the entire arrangement sounded absurdly loud. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCoYWrJTuB

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Each time he passed a door, the shadow figure hidden within each hotel room turned gently after him. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡye0JLPfTLd

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The cold white eyes remained fixed on him. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQ83zJ4nDi

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Even after he had passed, they did not look away. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgrDFHkzmG

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They simply kept watching his back in silence. 98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXCmUl3del

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