This one probably left me the most unnerved of anything that happened. It happened some months after the first story I posted, with a few minor incidences in the interim.

It was a Saturday night, I remember this distinctly because the amount of incoming and outgoing guests we see on this particular night of the week is directly related to what happened.

Me and another employee were working the front desk, taking the incoming reservations. There were people around the lobby chatting, either coming back from or on their way out to the next bar. It was about 1am, so people realized they had an hour to do their livers as much damage as possible until they returned to the hotel for the night. I don’t blame them for going elsewhere to drink since our bar in woefully overpriced. Even so, our bar was at about 75% capacity.

Anyways, I got done with my guest at the desk, and noticed there was no longer anyone waiting, as my coworker had just started taking care of another guest. I walked to the room behind the front desk to get something to drink and to check my phone out of the line of sight of the guests lingering in the lobby. We play music which is broadcast through speakers throughout the hotel, including the room I was in. It comes from a playlist on a computer whose only purpose is to fill the hallways and lobby with elevator music. Being that it came from the computer, I was slightly taken aback when static came through the speakers.

I listened for a moment as a hint of white noise hissed through the speakers, then completely cut off. I checked the computer, which was working just fine, and showed the current song as playing as it should be. So I checked the cord which led to the receiver, all was fine there as well. I decided the problem was out of my control and ventured to return to the front desk. But as I opened the door, a sudden wave of deafening silence flooded over me. It actually startled me. I opened the door all the way and stopped dead in my tracks. I had been in the room for no longer than 20 seconds, and apparently, in that time, each and every of the probably 20+ people in the lobby, including my coworker, had vanished.

I felt a drip of cold sweat run down my back. I gazed across the lobby to the bar, only to find it deserted as well. All I could hear during this time was the sound of my own heart beating. There had to be some kind of rational explanation for this. I ventured out into the lobby, each step echoing through the high ceilings. I knocked on a random room door, got no response. Another, no response. Just for shits and giggles, I checked the second floor as well.

I heard a door creak at the end of the hallway. I assumed it was open as I didn’t hear it close. So I trudged down to the end of the hall, and as I got there, the door to room 202 clicked shut. I politely knocked on the door and got no response. I pounded on the door harder and yelled “Hello?!”. Finally, I used my master key to unlock the door, and burst in (in hindsight, probably not the smartest idea considering I had no idea what awaited me on the other side). I was met by nothing. The same ear-shattering silence as before continued to plague me. I check the main room and the bathroom, and found no one. I exited the room, struggling to make sense of what was going on around me.

Then, that horrible silence was broken by the familiar *ding* of the elevators. I looked up and to my right at the numbers above the door, which told me that this particular elevator trip had originated on the floor above me. It was coming down, and once I noticed it go past the second floor, I rushed downstairs to try to meet whoever it was, to see if they had any idea of what the hell was going on. I made it to the first floor and waited a cautious distance from the elevator. For what felt like an eternity, I nervously tapped my foot on the ground. Then, the elevator door opened. There was nothing. No one was inside the elevator.

This thoroughly scared the bejesus out of me, and I ran to the room behind the front desk. I gathered my belongings as quickly as I could and prepared to leave the hotel. I felt disoriented from the sheer silence that filled the walls I so desperately did not want to be trapped in. As soon as I turned the door handle to exit the room, a cascade of noise hit me like a ton of bricks. The music, the chatter of patrons in the lobby, my coworkers voice informing the guests he was helping about our breakfast hours. Everything was back to normal. It was as if what had just happened, hadn’t happened at all. I stood there, frozen, until my coworker turned to me.

“You okay?” he said.

I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

“Are you leaving or something?” he inquired, noticing my coat on my arm. His tone told me he was on the brink of annoyance, pending my answer to his question.

I snapped out of it.

“Oh, uh, no. I just…I…” I offered no real explanation before I turned around and went back into the room. I set my coat down, took a deep breath, and walked back out. I noticed a new guest had just entered the queue behind the ones my coworker was currently assisting. I pressed my shirt down, and stepped up to the computer.

“Welcome, I’m Nick. what can I do for you?”