The Woman on the Balcony
Nobody breathed after seeing the woman smile.
The entire lobby fell into a horrible frozen silence while thunder rolled above the resort and weak orange lights flickered softly across the rotting walls.
Nora Vale stared upward at the balcony trying desperately to convince herself she imagined what she saw.
But she didn’t.
God.
No human mouth could stretch that wide.
The woman’s jaw looked wrong somehow, pulled unnaturally downward beneath pale skin while dark liquid dripped slowly from the corners of her smile onto the balcony floor below.
Then the lights flickered again.
Darkness swallowed the upper floor for one second.
When the lights returned—
the balcony stood empty.
Selene immediately stepped backward.
“No.”
Her voice sounded close to panic now.
“Nope. Absolutely not. We are leaving.”
Kai looked toward the locked entrance doors behind them.
“With what boat?”
Fair point.
Another loud creak echoed somewhere deep inside the resort.
Not floorboards.
Something heavier.
Like massive pipes shifting behind the walls.
The sound traveled slowly upward through the building before fading again.
Nora’s skin crawled.
Because this hotel didn’t feel empty anymore.
It felt awake.
Jace forced himself to move first, tightening his grip around the flashlight while scanning the lobby carefully.
“There has to be other survivors here.”
“Or monsters pretending to be survivors,” Kai muttered immediately.
“Very helpful.”
“I’m trying to emotionally prepare us.”
The group slowly moved deeper into the lobby together while rain hammered against the tall cracked windows surrounding the entrance hall.
Dust covered almost everything.
Old suitcases sat abandoned beside overturned chairs while faded paintings hung crooked along the walls. A thick layer of mold spread across sections of the ceiling like dark veins.
But strangely—
certain things looked recently disturbed.
Fresh muddy footprints crossed the marble floor near the front desk.
A lantern burned weakly near the staircase.
And somewhere deeper inside the hotel—
water dripped steadily.
Like somebody moving through flooded hallways.
Selene noticed the footprints too.
“Someone’s been here recently.”
Kai stared toward the upper balcony again.
“I don’t think we wanna meet them.”
Then suddenly—
the front desk telephone rang.
The sharp sound exploded through the silent lobby hard enough to make everyone jump.
RING.
RING.
RING.
Nobody moved.
The old black telephone continued ringing steadily from behind the reception desk beneath the flickering lights.
God.
There was no way the phone line still worked on this island.
No way.
Kai slowly pointed toward it.
“Absolutely not.”
The ringing continued.
Louder somehow.
More impatient.
Jace swallowed hard before stepping carefully toward the desk.
“What are you doing?” Nora whispered.
“If someone’s alive—”
“OR DEAD.”
Jace ignored Kai and reached slowly toward the receiver.
The ringing stopped the second his fingers touched the phone.
Silence returned instantly.
Everyone stared.
Then softly—
the line crackled alive.
A woman whispered through the speaker.
“Don’t let them hear you upstairs.”
Jace froze immediately.
“What?”
Static hissed loudly.
Then another voice interrupted.
A man’s voice this time.
Panicked.
“They come out when the lights die—”
The line suddenly exploded into screaming static before cutting off completely.
Dead silence filled the lobby again.
Selene looked genuinely terrified now.
“We need to leave.”
“WHERE?” Kai snapped louder than intended.
The sound echoed through the resort.
And somewhere upstairs—
something moved.
Heavy footsteps crossed the second floor balcony slowly overhead.
Everyone immediately went silent again.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Not human footsteps.
Too heavy.
The ceiling groaned slightly with each movement.
God.
Whatever walked upstairs sounded massive.
Nora slowly backed away from the front desk while staring upward into the darkness above the lobby.
The second floor remained mostly hidden beneath shadows now. Only occasional flashes of lightning through the cracked skylight revealed brief pieces of the upper hallways.
Broken railings.
Rotting wallpaper.
Open doors leading into darkness.
Then suddenly—
another flash of lightning illuminated the balcony again.
And the woman in white stood there once more.
Closer now.
She tilted her head slowly while staring directly at the group below.
Then pointed one pale finger toward the hallway behind them.
Not toward the stairs.
Not toward the exit.
The hallway.
Like she wanted them to go there.
Kai noticed immediately.
“No.”
The woman smiled wider.
Then the lights flickered violently overhead.
When they stabilized again—
she vanished.
God.
Nora physically hated this island.
Another distant sound echoed somewhere deeper inside the hotel.
A scream.
Human.
Faint but real.
Everyone froze instantly.
Selene looked toward the hallway.
“That sounded alive.”
Kai looked emotionally exhausted already.
“That’s exactly how horror movies trap people.”
“But what if someone needs help?” Rowan asked quietly.
Another scream echoed through the resort.
Closer now.
Followed immediately by loud banging noises.
Like doors slamming repeatedly somewhere below them.
Jace made his decision first.
“We’re not leaving people here.”
Kai stared at him in disbelief.
“You’re gonna get us murdered because you have morals.”
“Probably.”
“Fantastic.”
Thunder exploded outside again while the resort lights dimmed briefly.
And somewhere above the ceiling—
something scraped slowly across the floor directly overhead.
SCRAAAAAPE.
SCRAAAAAPE.
Everyone looked upward automatically.
The sound stopped.
Then came a wet cracking noise.
Like bones shifting inside a body.
Selene grabbed Nora’s arm tightly.
“Oh my God.”
Then suddenly the elevator at the far end of the lobby dinged softly.
Every head turned instantly.
The old rusted elevator doors slowly creaked open by themselves.
Inside, weak yellow light flickered across stained walls.
And standing motionless in the center of the elevator—
was a little girl in a soaked white dress.
The same girl Nora saw earlier in the forest.
Dark hair covered most of her face while seawater dripped quietly from her small bare feet onto the elevator floor.
She slowly lifted one arm.
And pointed toward the underground level button glowing beneath the panel.
B3.
Then the girl whispered softly through the lobby:
“They’re awake below the hotel now.”