Enchanted and Real horror in room 17

Enchanted and Real horror in room 17

Introduction:  

The Allure of the Abandoned

There is a pull, to the places that have been left behind. I go to the abandoned buildings. I go to the forgotten roads. I go to the hotels. The abandoned buildings, the forgotten roads and the old hotels whisper stories to anyone who will listen. I feel a fascination with the decay with the lives that once filled the spaces and with the ghost stories that cling to the walls like ivy. The ghost stories cling to the walls, like ivy. The tales tap into a fear of the unknown. Of what might be waiting in the shadows.

The story of Selim is a tale, with a twist that begins when Selim is stranded by a broken down car on a stormy night. Selim looks for shelter in the Al-Nakheel Hotel. The locals say the Al-Nakheel Hotel is cursed. Selim finds a spot, in Room 17. In Room 17 the normal rules no longer work.

I think the story is not a ghost story, about things that go bump in the night. The story is a built trap. The story’s terrifying parts are not the apparitions but the ordered rules of the haunting. The story’s rules feel like a machine. I will look at the four truths from Selim’s stay, in Room 17.

 I notice that the scariest warnings sit in sight. 

1.The scariest warnings cannot be ignored.

I watched Selim walk into the hotel. Selim felt the hand guide Selims steps. Selim saw a board, behind the reception desk. The board listed the room numbers. All the room numbers were dark. One room number glowed with a red light: 17. Selim went to the desk. Selim opened a cracked leather guest register. I watch him flip through the pages. He finds that the last entry is, than fifteen years old. He finds that Room 17 appears once and the Check‑Out column for Room 17 is blank. Then he looks at the metal rack. He sees one hanging by itself. The tag, on the key shows the number 17.

The horror of the sequence is its nature. I feel the story gives its warnings not as quiet signs but, as a series of careful invites. The glowing number shines like a light. The register gives the rules of the game. The single key is the offer. The horror of the sequence is not a haunting. The system is smart and hunting. The system wants people to find the system. I think the danger is not a ghost. I think the danger is a process that's always present and does not let you escape and the danger looks for the victim.

2. The Perfect Trap Looks Like a Sanctuary

I watch Selim walk through a lobby of glass from a broken chandelier. I see water drip, from the ceiling in a hallway. The hotel is a ruin. When Selim reaches Room 17 Selim sees a scene. The door of Room 17 is newer and darker with a shiny brass handle that shines oddly in the dark. Inside Room 17 the room is clean, with a made bed and clean curtains. Selim feels safe.

The stark contrast feels like a lesson, in horror. The room has a look that's a deliberate trick, designed to lure a desperate person in. The room takes advantage of the desire for safety, warmth and relief from the storm. By showing a place, in the middle of ruin the hotel takes away the victim’s guard making the later supernatural events more shocking and dangerous. In my view the trap works because the trap first offers what the victim needs.

3. True Horror Isn't a Ghost; It's the Collapse of Reality

After Selim settles in Selim hears whispers, from inside the room. The whispers say, "He should not have come…" "The room is not his…" "The last one… still has not left…”. I feel a chill as Selim watches Selim’s shadow on the wall change. The shadow becomes thinner taller the head tilted at an angle. Selim checks the phone. The phone shows the time frozen at 12:05 a.m. Later after an encounter, in the dark the phone screen lights up on its own. I notice the time has changed. The time is not going forward. The time has gone back, to 12:00.

Under the time a word appeared. That word was one I had never seen on my phone before:

“Reset.”

After the reset I watch the room change around him. The cracks, in the walls become deeper. Dust fills the air. The curtains are torn. The bed is old and rotted. This is the part of the story. The entity in Room 17 is not a spirit. The entity, in Room 17. Rewrites the world. The horror is not the changing of time. The horror is the collapse of the world. I have tried to escape. Escape feels impossible. The walls, around me can. The clock can turn back, to midnight whenever I want.

4. The Haunting Is Not an Event; It's a Vacancy

Selim runs through the room trying to get out. Selim finds the door stuck. Selim shouts for help. The shouts come back, to Selim distorted like an echo from the bottom of a well. Selim struggles. Dark smoke like shapes slip under the door and coil, around Selim’s arms. A rough voice whispers the rule of the hotel.

“Whoever enters stays here. Whoever enters stays until someone else takes the place.”

I felt the chill of the revelation. The final revelation changes the nature of the haunting. The final revelation shows that the haunting is not an act of violence or a spirit bound to a place, by tragedy. The haunting is a never ending trap that needs a person inside. The haunting is a condition, a space that must always be filled. Selim is not a victim; Selim is a replacement. The story confirms the truth, at the end when the police investigate Selims abandoned car and find the hotel guest register. When I look at the page I see a name, freshly written. The new name is Selim and the number 17 sits beside Selim. The Check-Out column stays empty.

Conclusion: The Door That's Always Open

I have felt that the horror of Room 17 is not, about jump scares. The horror of Room 17 lives in the logic of the place. The terror of Room 17 builds when it hides invitations in sight. The safe place of Room 17 turns out to be a trap. The power of Room 17 does not just haunt a room. The power of Room 17 changes the rules of life, inside the room. The story of Room 17 reminds me that the scariest jails are the ones that run on rules we only see after we are locked inside.

The story ends with a vacancy waiting to be filled. I see the vacancy as a chance, for something. The time you face a door that seems welcoming in a storm will you open that door?