Hotel for Ghosts

The Message

Mark sat on the couch, the house still all dark corners and shadows in black of the early morning. He was nearing the completion of his usual morning rituals. Getting himself together for the hour-long commute to the city, performing one task at a time beneath the light of the closet, the far light of the master bathroom, or the dim lights over the kitchen bar. Strategically switching between lights to avoid waking up his wife Jane or his daughter Robin. Neither of them was graceful, or merciful, when they woke up, and he didn’t want to disrupt the all too brief peace of his dark world. It was the only time in his day that truly felt like it belonged to him.

Mark had just finished adding the sugar to his coffee and had absent mindedly turned on the tv to see some music videos, the one part of his morning routine that had been a constant since childhood, before heading out for the day. But, instead of the flashing lights and reverb drenched throwbacks to the 80’s, there was a low, steady hum of static. It took a few seconds for Mark to register that something wasn’t right. He sipped his coffee and then looked over at the tv, expecting to see some kind of error message or a black screen and began to feel agitated at the thought of having to call the cable company on his lunch break. But when he looked at the tv, he saw a message written out in bold letters across the center of the screen. Behind the words was a black and white biohazard symbol. Every few seconds the screen would flicker, but Mark couldn’t tell if it was some kind of interference or another image. It reminded him of one of the messages he’d see on tv during a test of an emergency system as a kid. The kind Robin would say made him, “so old.” He began to approach the tv to get a clearer look at the message. As he did, a series of four high pitched tones played, a brief sing song melody, and then the voice of a woman, professional yet delicate, though not kind, read the message:

“Hope’s View is under strict quarantine. Nobody may leave or enter town. Do not approach the personnel manning the barricade. Failure to obey directives from personnel manning the barricade may result in the use of force.”

Then, she read the next part. Mark didn’t see it at first, but his eyes searched frantically across the screen, the same panicked way he scanned books in class when he lost his place during group reading. He found it near the bottom of the screen, in a slightly smaller font:

“Stay calm. This will all be over soon.”