Day 755

At first it didn't seem like the mountainside was inhabited at all, let alone home to small hotel. They'd found it by pure chance while trying to find a campsite just outside of the city for a quiet week away from everything before university started up again.

Finding it in person happened by just as much random circumstance as the online search as someone walking three greyhounds trotted up to them looking concerned. After an obligatory reassurance that they meant to be in the area, confusing directions were passed before it was mutually decided that the dog walker - who gave the name of Mindy - would escort them - who gave a fake name of Sybil - to the hotel which turned out to be half way up the mountain, near the entrance to a natural cave.

It seemed that the hotel's name "Last Chance Spa and Secret Getaway" was well founded as the front was covered in what appeared to be natural rock that allowed it to blend perfectly with its surroundings. To the sides it was panelled with roughly cut wood to give it the kind of homely, rustic aesthetic that only worked during the day. At night it just looked like a pile of splinters with jagged window-eyes peering out into the seemingly never-ending decline of the mountain.

Sybil felt on edge before they even walked in, something about the starch-white, minimalistic interior was too contrasting to the outside. It was like a hospital hidden in a cabin, not what they expected at all and not what they wanted either, hoping for an utterly rustic and cosy vacation full of books and quiet chairs by a fireplace.

The receptionist was an older man dressed in a pale grey uniform that they saw buttoned down one side as he stood up to greet them with a smile that looked painfully stiff. At this point the thought of leaving against the cost of booking the week wasn't quite enough to make them want to leave and they told themself they would stay the night, just in case they were having nervous kind of day.

Their room was just as sparse as the reception area with one grey sheeted bed, a navy blue wardrobe and matching single bedside table standing out against the barely pastel blue walls. At the time Sybil was thankful that their room was at the top of the hotel with a gorgeous view of the mountainside by day that faded to a sheer drop and faint flickers of light against the cave entrance by night.

That first night was one they wouldn't forget in a hurry and one they wouldn't mention again to friends who asked how their week off had been and if they'd gone anywhere fun. No, they wouldn't mention the sounds of water falling onto rock at night or the free cave tour that allegedly led to natural hotsprings but instead led to a large pool of pitch black water reflected no light.

Nor would they talk about Mindy the dog walker who they saw being devoured by her little greyhounds as she lay half tangled in their leashes at the doorway to her own room in the hotel. Over the two days they managed to stay at "Last Chance Spa and Secret Getaway" they witnessed almost eight deaths, some of which they felt personally responsible for.

They felt responsible for the young boy who'd asked them to play tennis with him only to trip over and fall head first onto a nail that had come loose from a floorboard in the recreational area. Sybil convinced themself that they'd seen the loose nail the second they'd come in and they never said a word. The boys parents didn't look at them once throughout the whole ordeal.

They felt responsible for the elderly woman who asked for them to help her walk down the mountain so she could walk around the woods, only to head off before Sybil had the chance to put their boots on. Her broken body was found near the base, her face a caricature of surprise. If they had moved sooner then she might still be alive.

There were six other times, six other people Sybil felt they could have helped and over the next few months they let this consume them until they got an email from the hotel offering them a free week's stay as compensation for the "unfortunate and tragic circumstances" of their last stay. Sybil understood now. They were being offered one last chance to right their mistakes, to notice more, to move faster, to use the right fire signals and prevent more deaths by their own hands.