The Tower 25

I wondered what it would be like when I returned to the hotel room where the noises from the freeway traffic were constant.  I left the silent clock and continued to the stairs.  I had only walked up three or four steps when I felt a wave of nausea sweep over me. I stopped, reaching out to grab the railing, and fell to my knees.

I turned around and sat down on the steps to catch my breath. As soon as I turned I felt much better. I sat for a moment to let the sick sensation depart then I stood and began up the stairs again. I only made it two steps this time before the nausea returned.

I sat down again and waited until it passed. Clearly I had a choice: either there was something up there that I wasn’t supposed to see or there was something that someone didn’t want me to see and I had to decide what to do about it.

I’m definitely not someone who enjoyed pain, discomfort or danger, so I wasn’t really jumping on board with running up the stairs to some horror, but I also hated being told what to do and being left in the dark. If I didn’t find out what was up there it would torture me for the rest of my life.

“I’m tired of being left in the dark,” I muttered out loud if only for the sake of convincing myself.

Taking a deep breath, I turned and ran up the stairs as quickly as I could. I made it about halfway up to the next level before I had to stop and still my heaving stomach. I paused for several minutes catching my breath and trying very hard not to throw up. Since I hadn’t heard my guiding ‘voice’ I figured this was where I had to go.

With another deep breath I dashed up the remaining steps. Not only did I feel sick to my stomach, but I also had waves of dizziness sweep over me. I reached out to grab the railing and felt myself sinking to the floor. With my last conscious thought I wondered what time it was.