black rainbow.

“Does anyone really believe this place is haunted?”

Amelie’s lip twitched. Her neatly manicured hands gripped down tight on the rim of an ornate glass full of room-temperature Coke, the can discarded in some faraway trash can. Having it anywhere in sight (god forbid) wasn’t disallowed, per se, but it was frowned upon. A strict set of rules had been ground into Seth’s head the moment he’d been hired, and the only thing more important than your actual job was maintaining decorum. Making sure you didn’t sully the reputation of such a fine establishment. Everyone seemed to conveniently leave out that people had died there.

Not necessarily… died, though. Just… gone missing. Within the hotel. Out of thin air. And remained that way for decades. They could still be alive, but no one ever found them. After the better part of a century, that was about as likely as the hotel itself shutting its doors.

The Grand Carnelian Luxury Resort and Spa was probably the oldest building on the far California coast. Opened in 1904, operated continuously for about 30 years until a string of disappearances within the hotel forced its closure, snatched back up in the 60s by some real estate mogul, and ran without a hitch ever since. Every once in a while, the place’d get gutted and have new fixtures installed, new insulation put in, wires replaced so the damn place wouldn’t burn to the ground, but that hardly put a dent in business. Even if they wanted to, Seth doubted that anyone could wipe the Carnelian off the map. He’d heard tales of a fire breaking out in a room because of some careless customer leaving a hair dryer on all day, but it never seemed to spread outside to the hallways. The fire just stopped at the door, like some invisible wall was forcing the flames back inside. No one even noticed until the poor guy returned to see his entire room go up in smoke.

“No, no, it’s all bullshit. It’s part of the whole… mystique around here. It keeps business rolling in, so everyone just goes along with it. Me? I just like keeping my job. I’m not really the kind to believe in something I can’t see.”

“But what about the…”

“The footage?” She snorted, not bothering to meet Seth’s eyes. “That can be doctored easily. Whatever people say is stuck in here or something has been around for a long time. The legend’s been spread around long enough that someone had to make a shitty student film out of it or something.” 

She was probably right. Amelie had been working at the Grand Carnelian for a little under 20 years now, long enough that the staff held more respect for her than for the actual upper management. A kind of “team Mom” in the surrounding uptight, bougie atmosphere. Stern, kinda scary sometimes, but with enough rapport to make sure no one fucked with the new hires. If there was anything to see around the ancient hotel, she would’ve seen it long ago. Seth thumbed at his nose, shrinking away from her and into the leather couch. If he looked at her, she might’ve bitten his head off. He was sure of it.

She noticed. The now-empty glass hit the side table with a dull thunk, just barely missing the coaster intended for it. A lump slid down Seth’s throat as she scrutinized him. Every second her eyes trailed up and down his slumped form, he mentally shaped himself into the ideal he thought she’d expect of him- until she snickered, leaning into the studded, dull-creme leather of the chair opposite him.

“You’re new here, yeah?”

“Yes- Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t work yourself up too much about it. You’ll learn eventually. Until then, you’ve got work to do. Carnelian standard and all.”

Seth nodded feverishly. Just like that, he was out the door.

===

Oscar was a member of the kitchen staff. Saucier or something, Seth was never sure. All of the titles and shit were a bunch of confusing gibberish to him- He’d never set foot in a professional kitchen in his life, and he never intended to. For how hectic the kitchen often got, Oscar always had a jovial aura about him. The kind of guy you could talk to whenever you had questions, or needed a shoulder to cry on, or just someone to ramble to. Nowhere near as outgoing as Amelie, with a name that didn’t hold anywhere near as much weight, but far less intimidating than the steely-eyed, probably-half-tiger woman.

“Where’d you hear about that?” A toothpick sat clenched between Oscar’s teeth, stained red and purple where it’d pinned fruit to some Instagram-ready pastry. Everyone sang of their praises, but they weren’t exactly affordable for the average joe. Staff privileges, he supposed.

“I was helping a guest with their luggage, and she, uh… She mentioned it. I think she was, like, some kind of model or influencer or something? She was taking pictures the entire time, but she didn’t shut up for a second. All this shit about history or whatever. Man, I don’t know. I’m just lucky I got the job. Whatever went down here, I have absolutely no idea.” Oscar nodded sympathetically as Seth spoke, stroking his chin with his free hand. Something about sitting in the gardens just made people overshare- just another part of the mythos of the Carnelian, perpetuated through the years by all the people who believed in it. Regardless of whether or not it was true, getting the heavy stuff off your chest was always welcome with the breakneck speed at which everything else progressed.

Humid as it was, the breeze made for a nice ambiance. The leaves of the topiaries rustled, the fountain gently burbled, and everything seemed just a little too tranquil to be discussing something so morbid. Oscar, though, kept a faraway look in his eyes, stroking his chin in silence. Silence that lasted a little bit longer than Seth would’ve preferred.

“Lotta ghost sightings around here over the years. I mean, a lot of ‘em are probably just pipes settling or the wind or some’a that cliche garbage. It’s an old building, it’s gonna make weird noises. The ones that people say they see, though, are always kinda different. Generic enough that it could be just… eye floaters or some shit. Guy in a suit. Lady in a dress. Weird thing in the hallway at night that’s probably just housekeeping.” Oscar went quiet, suddenly, staring out over the pond with a tight squint. Utterly still. Almost a statue. Seth opened his mouth, maybe to ask if he was alright-

“There is this one though. The one consistent ‘sighting’ this place has ever had. ‘N they’ve got records of it goin’ all the way back to the reopening. All of ‘em match up perfectly, even if they’d never heard of the thing before. Too perfect to be a coincidence, I think. Call me a skeptic, though, ‘cause I still don’t believe that it’s a ghost or anything supernatural like that. We’ve seen some strange visitors around these parts. Problem is, it never really leaves.” He gnawed a little harder on his toothpick, scratched at the part in his hair for a second. Despite the calming aura of the gardens, Seth couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“They call it the Stewardess or something. Some real ominous kinda one-word title, like a rejected fantasy villain. Kinda shaped like a person, but not really shaped like one. Almost like some kinda mannequin. And you’d normally call this off as just… that thing where people look at weird shit ‘n think it’s a face or a person or something, like the window that’s s’posed to have Jesus in it or something. It’s just…”

“Just what?” Oscar sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Everyone who’s seen it… they’ve gotten close enough ‘ta touch. All of ‘em say it’s big and solid and fleshy. Never did anything weird to ‘em, just let ‘em go after a while. You can’t believe everything you see, but if you can put your hands on it… I ain’t sure. If it’s out there, I think you’re best off leavin’ it be.”

Seth nodded.

===

He was a good, reliable errand boy. Young and sprightly and full of enough stamina to run supplies from building to building across the sprawling grounds of the Grand Carnelian from sun-up to sunset without breaking a sweat. He got around, talked to people, had a good reputation among personnel and patron alike. Enough that people came directly to him when they needed something delivered instead of taking it to a middleman- he took pride in the weight his name held, no matter how much more difficult it made his job. The Grand Carnelian was a high class establishment, and he was well and truly just some guy. He didn’t expect to ever set foot on its grounds to begin with. It always seemed like someplace only the rich and famous could ever hope to see, but there he was. Mr. Mediocre, ready for duty.

It was toiletries, this time. The fancy hotel soaps everyone liked to steal. They kept a stockpile just for that reason. The Carnelian’s coffers were deep, they could afford to buy more than was absolutely necessary without much issue. He wouldn’t tell a single soul, but Seth made a habit of snatching them up whenever he could- they were much better quality than anything he could afford on his own, and he wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass him by. Staff privileges.

“There ya go. Everything should be in there, with some extras just in case.” Stockholm took the bag from his arms with far more strength than should’ve been expected for a woman her age, grinning up at him from behind her Coke-bottle glasses. She hefted it a couple times. Seth held his breath. She could tell when there was something missing, and the shampoo in his trunk seemed to scream at him from across the lot. Despite his plunder, though, he’d still managed to leave extras, and Stockholm, at least, seemed pleased.

“Oh, thanks, hun. Sorry for calling you up on such short notice, but we’ve got a bunch of rooms getting filled tonight, and they’ve only just now been cleaned up. We’re gonna be on crunch time all night, and we at least want to get everything up to standard. The help’s appreciated.”

Seth nodded, a cornered-animal smile spreading across his thin lips. “It’s a pleasure, ma’am. Just doin’ my job.” 

She snickered. “You can call me Annie, y’know. Now move along. There’s probably someone else out there who could use your help.” The smile she offered him was plainly good-natured, but something in his chest nagged at him to not move another step from the doors of the South building. She was right, of course, but gut instinct usually wasn’t wrong.

He needed the pay, though.

With feet like lead, he started off on the path through the gardens to the main building, tugging at his cufflinks and trying not to look anywhere but the river-stone path in front of him. He’d worked a later shift than usual. The pink glow of the sunset was starting to fade into a pale dusk. Everything was shrouded in darkness, and the walls of the Grand Carnelian seemed to stretch into the sky like the walls of some grand labyrinth, just waiting to swallow him whole. He didn’t want to think too hard about it. He continued. One foot in front of the other. Ignored the weird rustling in the bushes, probably a squirrel. One foot in front of the other. The chatter in the distance wasn’t calling his name. One foot in front of the other.

The walls rose higher. The windows, dark and unblinking, scrutinized his shaking form. The path felt longer and longer and longer- he couldn’t remember the walk between the buildings taking this long to complete. Maybe time was just passing weird. Maybe he needed more sleep. Maybe he needed to eat something. He couldn’t remember the last time he had. His heart thrummed in his chest in time with his footsteps, the world around him pulsating in tandem. Beckoning him closer and closer, it had something to show him and he would be oh so pleased if only he would listen to its call couldn’t he see that it was trying to reach him what was he so afraid of why was he running why run from what loves you-

He banged his forehead against the french doors. Reached his destination. Scrambled inside before his heart could catch up with him.

===

“Seth, my guy? You getting enough sleep?”

He blinked. Bethany. Blonde hair. Green eyes. College friend. Liked pumpkin spice and schlocky surfer culture and sea salt ice cream. Trustworthy. Seth shook his head.

“Nah, nah, it’s fine. It’s just been… work, y’know?”

Bethany chuckled, stirring her frappuccino with her straw. He tried to look her in the eye. Watching her hands made him dizzy. 

“Oh, no, yeah, I totally get it! Dolly Parton was right. It is enough to drive you crazy if you let it!” She laughed for what could’ve been 5 seconds or 5 minutes at her own joke, as if it were the funniest thing on earth. Seth remained silent. “Seriously, man, it sucks having to work your ass off just to survive. But, like, the Carnelian has to pay well, right? They’re practically rolling in money over there.”

“Oh, it’s… It’s pretty alright, yeah. I’m not starving or anything, rent’s covered and I’ve still got some left over for, like, eating out or a new pair of joggers or something. I’m just not a really frugal guy. Most of it’s just a rainy day fund.”

She pouted. Something about it shot a bolt of embarrassment through Seth’s chest. 

“Boooo. C’mon, live a little! Splurge on something stupid as hell and regret it the next day or whatever! That’s what makes life worth living. Stupid shit. You’re too careful, man. Y’gotta go where your heart wants you to.”

Windows opened in his mind’s eye. They sang to him.

“... I don’t think I want to go there.”

===

Back to work. People were noticing that something was off. He had to lay low. He’d made the mistake of asking Amelie if she felt it too, and she looked at him like he needed therapy. Maybe he did. It was starting to interrupt his daily life, and he couldn’t have that. He had a job to do. It was getting increasingly difficult for him to think about anything that wasn’t his job. If he wasn’t darting from building to building, he just sat in anxiety until someone else needed him to haul luggage or run messages or deal with whatever. He wondered where upper management was, sometimes. Why they didn’t handle any of the important shit. Maybe they were busy in their mansions sipping martinis poolside. Weeks ago, he might’ve wanted that to be him. Now, he hardly left the grounds.

The day staff worried for him. He kept out of sight while they were around. The night staff was getting to know him a bit better. Didn’t know that he was ever any other way than twitchy and anxious and scared of his own shadow. They didn’t question the way he disappeared out of sight as soon as they’d given him the okay to leave. To them, he was just shy. He aimed to keep things that way.

He’d made up his mind days ago. When it was just him and the crooning of the wind in the shutters, he would find out just what was waiting for him. He knew it was there. He didn’t know what it wanted, or what it would do to him, but he was going to find out. When he knew he wouldn’t be missed, he crept out of the office of the main building, up the stairs, down the hallways. Past rooms, occupied and empty, past the gentle glow of the electric wall sconces, past the mingling groans of building and occupant alike. There was nothing for him here. What he sought was deeper inside. He’d have to continue until he could continue no more. There, he’d find it.

His head felt like it was full of cotton. His vision blurred around the edges. Maybe that was what Oscar was talking about. His mind was playing tricks on him. Regardless, he’d started, and he had no intent to stop. His heartbeat was like a metronome, pushing him on, keeping him in time. He swore the wallpaper pulsed along with it.

===

Words didn’t look like words anymore.

Maybe they did. Seth wasn’t sure. His vision had started getting blurry hours ago, and the headache wasn’t letting up. The environment shifted around him, from tight, almost claustrophobic to spanning wider than he had words for in matters of seconds. Maybe not seconds. It was hard to tell what that meant anymore, and he wasn’t going to waste energy thinking about it. He hadn’t found what he was looking for, so he had to continue.

He was supposed to have hit the far wall ages ago. There was no way the inside of the main building could be this deep. It usually only took him about 15 minutes to walk from end to end. It was big, sure, but it wasn’t infinite. Maybe his mind hadn’t stopped playing tricks on him. He wouldn’t give it the satisfaction of stopping. One foot in front of the other. Eyes forward. One foot in front of the other. Hands blindly groping into the darkness. One foot in front of the other-

He collapsed.

He tried to crawl onwards. See what was waiting for him at the other end of the hallway. But his arms were too weak and he was too tired and he should’ve stopped ages ago why was he doing this to himself stupid stupid stupid FUCK.

“Ah- Oh dear. Are you feeling alright? Why are you… on the floor?”

The voice sounded like it was being played over some faraway intercom. Rife with static underneath the honeyed words, oddly hollow, from somewhere far beyond him. Seth didn’t think the Carnelian had any kind of speaker system, but it had proved him wrong on many fronts so far. More thinking was more wasted energy. He didn’t respond. Just layed there, face in the carpet.

The voice tutted. A gentle, puppy-scolding, what are we going to do with you kind of sound. Almost endeared. Several pairs of hands slid up under him, lifting him from the carpet and onto something suspiciously soft and warm. Could’ve been a mattress, but no one leaves a mattress in the middle of a hallway, especially one that’s been recently used. Whatever he was on, it was moving, and it was moving a bit faster than he would’ve liked. His stomach rolled. He groaned. It paused.

“Apologies.”

It continued onwards. Slower. Steadier, this time. It wasn’t that bad. He could take it for the time being. He was exhausted. He needed some rest.

===

Seth awoke in what should have been a room. It had a bed and a side table with an ornate lamp and a nice little pleather sofa, and far more floor space than any room he’d ever been in. Beyond the entertainment center, the room opened into little more than a yawning black void, and he couldn’t see shit beyond that. He shuffled, his head pounded, and he buried his face back into the pillow.

“Oh, how promising! Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“Whuh- What’s-” A figure rose from the floor before him. Literally rose from it. Their body stopped at the torso, threads of blackened flesh attaching it firmly to the carpet. With his blurred vision, it appeared as little more than a mass of black and grey. One thing was immediately obvious, though.

The damn thing was huge. To the point that his brain didn’t want to wrap around what he was seeing kind of huge, especially considering its current addled state. It leaned in closer to him, and he tried to shrink back, but his body refused to let him.

Something reached out from what was probably its head, gently stroking his cheek. It was cold. Clammy. Like getting your face rubbed with a raw chicken breast.

“Forgive us for this, but you look absolutely awful. Have you slept at all lately?”

The fog in Seth’s brain started to clear as his brain started to process that he was being spoken to. The polite part of him said to sit up when he was being spoken to, but when he tried, he was quickly pinned back down by something large and heavy.

“We would not advise that you try and get up in your current state. What did you do to yourself? Why? You were doing so well…”

It sounded almost concerned for him. Looked the part, too. Some kind of… appendage covered the lower half of its face, and its brows furrowed as it looked him over. Every so often it would tilt his chin up or press a thin claw to his chest, letting out little huffs as it did so. Weird. 

“Something… Something wanted me here. I have to find it. I have to- It’s been calling me- there’s something in here and I need to find it before it finds me.”

Its face tightened inwards, restraining a laugh.

“It seems to be a little too late for that, now.”

“What do you-” Something bubbled up within him. Fear. Confusion. Maybe anger. It knew something he didn’t, and here it was, being all cryptic about it. His blood ran ice cold.

“Honey, that was us. We wanted to... We wanted to speak with you, but we wish you would have taken better care of yourself in the meantime. You had no reason to… tear yourself apart. It made for a lovely opportunity to introduce ourselves, but honestly… It was a bit stupid of you.”

He scowled. It stopped restraining that laugh, bursting out from them like a TV tuned to a dead channel.

“Sorry, sorry, we should have been more considerate. But really, why would you do something like that? If you had waited a little longer, we would have come to you instead. It was just a matter of finding the right time.”

“No- I- You don’t get it. You couldn’t get it. It wanted me in here. Every hour, every day, it… it grabbed me and it wouldn’t let go.”

The figure squinted. Put a warm flipper against his forehead, as if checking for a fever. It ended up covering most of his body, but the gesture was almost soothing nonetheless.

“Seth, dear, we think that was the sleep deprivation. Certainly nothing of our doing. We like to take care of our staff, not drive them insane. That would be pointless.”

“How do you know my name.”

“That is what they call you, correct? We hear everything that goes on within our walls. If you would like to be referred to by some other name, though, we would be happy to oblige-”

“No. No, that’s it. That’s the one. But I’ve never seen you in my life, and…” Something registered. Seth scowled. “Our walls? Are you the fuckin’... owner of this place or something?”

“Oh, no. No, you have it all wrong. Simple misconception.” It gave him that same stupid smile again, like it had just been asked the most obvious question in the world. Slowly it rose, a tower of mottled flesh rising from the floral carpet, tainting wherever it touched with pulsating black stains and leaving veins visibly throbbing underneath the floors. It made his head spin all over again, the ceiling rising to meet the crown of ivory horns atop its head. A flowing curtain of something blocked out his peripheral vision- nothing in the room existed anymore besides his frail body and the massive, snaking figure looming above it.

“We are ‘this place.’ Since our reopening, we have seen to it that our grounds are properly maintained and that our guests are provided with the best possible experience.” Without warning, it swooped in on him, cupping him in its strange flipper-sleeves as it curled its lips into an exaggerated pout.

“We were going to thank you for all that you have done during your tenure here, but it would be hard to do that while your state of mind is anything but stable.”

He wanted to scream. To writhe out of its grasp and tumble back to the floor, maybe breaking a bone or two in the process, still making it out alive. God, though, he was tired and woozy and whatever this thing was seemed to be treating him with hospitality, at least. Carnelian standard, he recalled.

“It would be poor practice, though, to release you in this condition. Since you are already here, we can give you our thanks after you get some decent sleep. Heaven’s sakes, it would be impossible to see you try and go on like this after that whole hallway debacle. Hurts our poor, tender heart.”

“... Right. Sorry.” Why was he apologizing. Why was he apologizing. Why was he apologizing. He didn’t even know who he was talking to. He didn’t know where he was or what was going on or if he’d even make it out by the time work started tomorrow.

“No worries.” It started moving again, deeper into the void beyond his bed, and he curled himself tighter against its chest in reflexive panic. It crooned- Christ, it crooned at him, mussing up his hair with another one of those weird claws. He couldn’t even bring himself to stop it. Maybe that was the worst part. “We have a 24-hour stream planned tonight. Your absence tomorrow will be automatically excused and we will cover your work for you. In the meantime, you will not have to lift a finger. You need the rest. Please, in the future, do not worry yourself over us so much. Take care of your own matters first. For now, we will take it upon ourselves to care for you.”

Seth didn’t question why it was streaming or how it’d cover for him or what caring for him even entailed. He was too exhausted to care. It pulled him closer, and he drifted off to sleep again.