Take a Chance Challenge Task # 8

If you haven't checked out the Take a Chance Challenge yet, please click on the button in the sidebar and check it out. There are 10 tasks to be completed for this challenge. You are free to complete any or all of them for a chance to win a prize. Each task you complete means one entry into a prize drawing. I have decided to complete these out of order. I did task #8 first "Lit Riff" I chose the song lyrics by the Eagles "Hotel California". This is my story:

Delusions of a Madman


The last thing I remember I had been driving down the highway. I remember feeling the cool air blowing through my hair. I was suddenly so tired. Tired of running. Was I running to or from something. I saw lights in the distance and decided to stop for the night. What I didn’t remember was if I was running to or from something.

I approached the door and rang the bell. I saw a lovely vision dressed in white. She led me down the hallway to a room. I passed many doors. There were many men here. She spoke to each. The voices were loud and would not stop. I covered my ears. Suddenly I heard someone cackle, “Welcome to the Hotel California.”

She took me into a room full of men. Some wandered around, some danced to a beat that only they could hear. I heard the voices louder. It was as if everyone was staring at me. I covered my ears. I could still hear the voices.

I looked for the woman and asked her for some wine. She smiled at me and said there was none but she would bring me something to drink. She brought me a cup which I tipped into my mouth. She handed me a glass of something that looked like pink champagne. I swallowed it quickly and handed back the cup.

Once again I heard a bell. I followed the other men to a room. It looked like a cafeteria. The voices were louder here. They placed a tray of gray food in front of me. It seemed to move and undulate. The more I heard the voices the more the food moved.

“Stab it, kill it”, I heard the voices scream. I stabbed and stabbed and stabbed it and still it would not die. I screamed, throwing my tray across the room. I began to run. I ran from passage to passage. I had to get out of here. I saw the woman in white at the end of the hallway. What did she have in her hand?

Two men suddenly jumped out and grabbed me. The woman in white injected me with something. They wrapped me in a warm white jacket, and with my head down led me back down the hall. I tried to look in the mirrors as I passed. A ghostly gaunt face looked back at me. They placed me in the room where I could try to run for the voices. I bounced off of the padded walls.

I begged the men to let me go and one of them replied. “You can check-out any time you like but you can never leave.” I sat down on the floor of my room and leaned against the wall. As they walked out of my room I heard the voice again.

“Welcome to the Hotel California.” I decided I had died and this was definitely Hell.