Trenton

I woke up standing in our room. It was deserted, and the drapes were up, causing the room to be dark. I walked over to the drapes and threw them open. Pale red light spilled into the room. I turned around and saw that the room was a mess. The bed sheets were torn up, the chandelier was on the ground in a smashed mess. The table was overturned and the door was off of its hinges. I turned to see where the light was coming from. Outside was a horror unlike I had ever seen. The sun looked bigger and red. The land was cast in a red glow, and the ground looked scorched. Trees were burned and buildings were in ruins. It looked deserted. A few scattered cars lined the street. The grass was singed and looked red because of the sun. I turn around and see a note on the ground.

   "Dear Mr. Williams,

Hello. Is this real or fantasy? Your world may seem real, but that is not the case. How to get out? Be clever. You may find your friends along the way. Thank you and enjoy your stay at Sawgrass Mills Hotel.

                 Sincerely,

                    Sawgrass Mills Staff."

I stuffed the note in my pocket and continued to the door. I tripped over the chandelier and made a loud crashing noise. That was weird. I don’t normally trip over things. I peered out into the hall. Empty. I looked down the hall and saw a figure.

“Hey!” I shouted. The figure turned towards me. I was walking down the hall towards it. As I got closer, its features became more defined. It was a guy, about my age. He seemed pretty tall. Long dark brown hair, dark brown eyes. I got closer and got a look of his face. I gasped in surprise.

It was me!

The other me gasped in surprise. We stood staring at each other in shock. It was weird being in your body, then seeing yourself. It wasn’t a mirror; that I could tell. I realized I was looking up at myself. If I were in my body, I would be eye level. I looked down at myself. I was not wearing the same clothes as I had been earlier. I felt smaller, and when I looked at my hair, it was blond! I ran into a room near us and looked into a shattered mirror. Looking back at me was Eric! I ran back out.

“Okay. I know this is going to sound weird, but I am Trenton,” I say to the other me.

“No I believe you,” he says. “I’m Eric.” We both kept staring at each other, trying to figure out what had happened.

“Okay. So let me get this straight,” I say. “You are me, and I am you. We are stuck in some kind of apocalyptic world, and we’re in the same hotel.”

“Seems about right.” It was weird having a conversation with myself. Suddenly, the memories came rushing back.

“Slender!” I said.

“Where?!”

“No! Remember in the hotel room? We came back after having that talk and slender was in our room. And then I woke up here. I also found this note.” I showed him the note.

“Okay, this is weird. So, what do we do? Try to find the others? Or a way out?”

“Well, obviously, find a way out. We still need to stop slender in the real world. But if we find others along the way, I guess that’d be good.”

“Our powers! Maybe you can use yours to find the others!” I tried, but nothing happened.

“They’re not working,” I reply. “Let’s look around the hotel for the others.” We start walking down the hall. Most of the doors appear to be locked, but those that aren’t are trashed and have nothing special. After searching the whole floor, we find the stairs and go down another floor. We start searching the rooms on that floor, but to no avail. We go down another flight of stairs and end up on the eleventh floor. As we’re turning the corner of a hallway, I see someone at the end of the hallway.

“Kathryn!” I shout. She turns and sees us. She starts running down the hall towards us. She reaches us and embraces me. I find this weird, but hug her back. She pulls back and looks me in the eyes. She leans forward and kisses me. She holds for a while, and I’m stuck in an awkward spot.

“Uhhhh? Kathryn?” Eric says. She pulls away from me.

“Why do you guys keep calling me Kathryn? I’m Serena.” Eric and I look at each other, then start laughing hysterically. Serena (or Kathryn) looks at us with a funny look on her face. We stop laughing then look at Serena.

“So you’re Serena, not Kathryn?” I ask.

“Why do you guys ask that?” she asks back.

“Because you are in Kathryn’s body.” She starts freaking out and looks for a mirror. She finds one in a nearby room, then comes back out.

“I guess you’re right,” she says.

“Don’t worry about it,” Eric says. He leans forward and hugs her, then gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Trenton? What are you doing?”

 “I’m Eric. This is Trenton,” he gestures to me. “We switched bodies too.” Realization crosses her face, and her cheeks go a bright red.

“Oh… so I kissed… oh…” she says falteringly. Eric and I share a quick look, then look at Serena’s face. We stop and stay quiet.

“So now we’re looking through the hotel to see if anyone else is here,” I explain.

“Sounds great!” she says back. “Let’s keep looking!”