10

I brought a telephone up the stairs. Apparently the telephone in the next room wasn’t working. I opened the door, and inside was a forest.

Every tree was in a perfect row. Every tree was a hundred feet tall, but seemed like they had been pruned for a long time. I took a step into the room to look around. Behind me, the wall connected to the door seemed to extend infinitely upwards, painted sky blue, almost blending in to the sky surrounding it. I suppose I was no longer inside the hotel. There was a small, empty strip of land between the wall and the tree line.

“Hello?” I called out to seemingly no one.

Suddenly, a centaur galloped out from the trees. Up to this point, I had yet to come across a guest that wasn’t human, though I had no doubt I’d probably run into a talking dog or something next door. The horse-man had a strong appearing body, but thankfully he was wearing a dress shirt. I took a mental step back to determine why my one reservation about seeing a centaur was about whether or not he wore a shirt. As I became lost in my thoughts for a moment, the centaur spoke.

“Why are you here?”

“I brought this telephone for you.”

“Do I look like I need a telephone?”

The statement didn’t explain the call to the front desk, but then again, if the telephone wasn’t working, how could anyone call the front desk? That was beside the point. Clearly anyone in this creature’s position would have their affairs sorted out by this point.

“Yes, I mean, no. You’re right, sorry to bother you.”

“Be sure not to touch anything on the way out.”

It was a curious statement, but the centaur had actually been the first person to provide me with any warning about the state of the room. The creature galloped back into the woods, as I walked toward the door. Just as I was about to reach for the knob, I stumbled and dropped the telephone on the ground. I picked up the phone quickly but it was too late, that small patch of ground burst violently into flame.

Instinctively I stomped the ground to put the fire out, but that only made it worse. Only a few seconds later, the fire had spread to the forest. I ran inside the forest to find the centaur, but I looked down only to see my footprints outlined in flames.

“Are you there? Hello!”

There was no response, so I ran out into the hallway to get some help, and the door clicked shut behind me. I quickly opened the door again, and there was just a wall right behind the door. I ran outside the hotel, running around the perimeter, looking desperately for a fire, but there was nothing there. There was no alarm going off. There was no evidence that the room even existed, so I ran to the front desk.

“There’s a centaur and his room is on fire!”

“I know.”

“Well?” I said with my voice raised.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Go on your lunch break.”

I stood in front of the desk with my mouth agape. I needed to get out of this place. I took my baloney sandwich and sat on a small stone bench outside the hotel, wondering if I should just leave.