Exiting The Rooms

Joanne suddenly felt her gut turn, as newfound panic set in. "Oh my god... I locked myself out of my room..." Joanne thought to herself, bringing her hands up to cover her body. Joanne looked around the hallway desperately for something to cover herself with, only to lay eyes on an empty hotel hallway. Joanne gulped, as adrenaline took over. "Someone could pop out of the doors at any second! I have to hide!" she thought to herself, sprinting full speed down the hallway towards the main elevator.

Joanne was halfway there, when a door closest to the elevator shaft opened up. A dazed and tired looking young couple lazily made their way into the hallway, only for the girl's eyes to widen at the site of Joanne. She tugged on the man's arm, causing him to shoot a lazy side eye in Joanne's direction.

Joanne froze with shock, her heart skipping a beat for a second when she finally noticed the couple caught between her and her destination. The three locked into an awkward stalemate, neither willing to either move along or speak. Finally, after several long seconds of aching silence, the drowsy girl was first to speak up.

“...Are you alright? You’re not hurt are you?”

Joanne shook her head no, unable to speak as embarrassment gripped her like a vice grip. The girl breathed a silent sigh of relief, before raising an eyebrow. “Do you need any help? I can get you a coat from our room.”

The man behind her reached into his pocket, only for his eyes to squint, as he reached into the other pocket of his sweatpants. “Err... I may have left it in the room...” the man stated bluntly, rubbing his temple. The girl shot him a glare, and tried ineffectively at the door.

Joanne quickly deduced she wouldn’t be able to get help from either, and tried her best to remain calm and make an exit. “...I’ll just... I’ll just go.” Joanne reasoned, turning back and sprinting towards the stairwell at the end of the hall. The girl and her male companion couldn’t help staring as Joanne made her awkward, naked exit.

“Do you think we should go help her?” The man asked, pointing in her direction. “She seems lost. Like something isn’t right. She might get herself hurt.”

The girl pondered for a moment, before shrugging. “I think she’ll be fine. She probably just got scared and locked herself out like us.”

After panicking and sprinting down the hall, Joanne encountered another exiting resident, this time an elderly man who moved slowly out of his door. Joanne didn’t give him time to speak, and instead sprinted right past him. “I’ve got to get off this floor!” Joanne thought to herself.

Once she finally reached the stairwell, Joanne sprinted through the doorway, and prepared to take a deep breath. Unfortunately, the stairwell possessed even greater traffic than the hotel floor, with a group of several dozen already rounding the corner. Joanne’s instinctual reaction took over, and she immediately resumed sprinting full speed down the steps.

The sounds of footsteps seemed to be right behind her, and Joanne could only hope that she was continuing to stay just out of sight from the approaching group. “Not like this!” She thought to herself, desperately wishing for an escape. Her hand briefly tried a door handle on the second floor, only for Joanne to remember that without her card key she wouldn’t have access to any of the hotel interior.

The realization didn’t hit her until it was too late, and Joanne had sprinted full speed through the outdoor exit. The sudden change of lighting from a dimly lit stairwell to a dark sky caused her to blink a few times as she adjusted to the light. Once her vision had recorrected, her stomach formed a knot as she came face to face with a crowd of hundreds of tired, and angry hotel residents. Several immediately noticed Joanne, and attention slowly shifted from the smoke exiting a singular room’s window, to the naked woman near the front entrance.