[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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIGfDqh7ng
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The corridor was full of “people.” 39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDH4nHlK5R8
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People, if being people-shaped was enough to qualify. 39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CHXX2StI3
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLYq2xoLgJ
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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”.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmO8CPCKmrj
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLULsjhzlPL
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By the nearest doorway stood a little boy.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hy8IFbV5r
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He wore a shirt and short trousers, pressed far too neatly.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcQQDfpd9Q
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He was pale, but otherwise looked almost like any ordinary child.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdmFokG8KA
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9FIdwoxKr
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He clutched something roughly round to his chest.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzg1Yhb95d
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHwcffG2xo
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From the doorway opposite, a little girl in an old-fashioned dress leaned halfway into the corridor.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRIDhl42CV
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyp1kbX55W
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AWl41B0e3
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuL9t6GFjbI
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The teddy bear in her arms was watching Ryan too.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61bB7cEO3z
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YzxvRGYP0
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The teddy bear looked considerably more awake than the child holding it.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rNLR3n79R
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Farther along, an old woman stood just inside a doorway, stooped over a walking stick. 39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uOPWdCRnh
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnAFVYfqWi
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The “guests” farther down the corridor were less complete than that.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tE5g7NVSK
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeV2h7PE5VX
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With every step Ryan took, their faces and necks turned a fraction farther.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAT2ID6gUib
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Some fast, some slow.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmQt6PJTV2
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Not in unison.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbK0FzUMvgO
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But not one gaze ever left him.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ybVdaQ6ly
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The faceless shadows lined both sides of the corridor, stretching from Room 626 to the elevator at the far end.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6L1ZOt1FhJ
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUo9MRzVrh
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Behind him, the telephone was still ringing.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Hd5ETS1JJ
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BRRRRING—!
(The fifth ring.)39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5rHq62zwb
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The nearest shadow slowly turned its head toward him.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlIF2ToOZP
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJyLessiwz
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIxE2EdDAw
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The shadow did not move.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsEq04wxgr
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Ryan's palm was slick around the handle of his suitcase.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgvHhwjVXB
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One second.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzKUlXcyQQ
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Two.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonLjd0W0LO
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Then, to his surprise, the shadow stepped back half a pace and withdrew behind the doorframe.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1xaMGcfca
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2YJSPR0UW
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A path opened before Ryan—exactly wide enough for one man and one suitcase.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKbbeKROcX
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“Th-thank you.” 39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnpda0rbia
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Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ryan thought: “…they're weirdly polite about this.”39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucn7ak9a0F
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He started walking.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mZwmFc7YA
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Hopping, more accurately.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTpomJeJLP
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The shoe on his right foot came down on the carpet with a dull tap.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsi7jLtMkJH
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The bare sole of his left foot followed, with only a soft ‘pff’.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvhyG9ZZWQ
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Tap, pff.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnBRPdbu61
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Tap, pff.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdk0mKo3QX
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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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePgzcp0Cx3
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Each time he passed a door, the shadow figure hidden within each hotel room turned gently after him.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaTNEPniRT
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The cold white eyes remained fixed on him.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA806z2ei5N
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Even after he had passed, they did not look away.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cFmyrTkUN
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They simply kept watching his back in silence.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IVKgjVBW9
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and then Add to home screen.