The House of Too Many Rooms
There is a place that I have frequently found myself in while I am asleep. I keep visiting it in my dreams and don’t know why.
I got to visit this place again last night. I understand that I am the owner of this house. I feel panicky because I am unsure of how I am going to be managing this place on my own and with limited funds. Each room has furniture and belongings left behind by the previous owners, or visitors. I always feel very eerie in this house, because I feel like I am being watched. It always feels like there is someone there with me that I am talking to, however, I can never get a good look at them to determine who this person is and they are always silent.
Exploring the Rooms
I rarely explore the rooms in the hallway to the right, as there is only a kitchen and banquet hall along with different closets. I spend most of my time in the left hallway, that is filled with various bedrooms and bathrooms.
The bedrooms and bathrooms toward the front are clean and tidy, and they appear really cozy and inviting. My favorite of these rooms is the room with blue walls with stars on the ceiling (actual, literal stars, not the stick-on kind), and a wooden loft bed. There is also a walk-out balcony occupied by various types of birds.
Another room I visited last night is a salon with spearmint green walls, where bubblegum pink sinks line one wall and mirrored booths line the other. The salon is operated by a stylist named Janet, who sports an equally pink bubblegum beehive hairdo, an equally spearmint green jumpsuit, and chain-smokes.
Her only customers appear to be the mannequin heads that line her shelves. She was giving one of the mannequins a perm when I tried to start a conversation with her. Sadly, I have determined that she is only an NPC (non-player character), due to her limited lines and responses.
No-Man’s Land
I always feel okay, until I pass the small walk-in galley that one might encounter on a boat or a plane. It can’t be used because it is filled to the ceiling with random clutter, and not even my own clutter. I feel the urge to remove this clutter, however, I cannot bring myself to do it, because I feel weird going through my own junk, and even more so with someone else’s.
The rooms past the galley always give me the shivers. Most of these rooms range from being a hotel room the morning after check-out to, to time capsules that have been closed off for at least a hundred years, to crime scenes right after the bodies have been carted off to the morgue (I was actually quite alarmed when I opened one of these rooms last night and there was someone laying very still in the bed with the covers completely over them. When I yelled to see if they would move, and they didn’t, I quickly shut the door).
The Options are Endless
My frustration stems from the fact that there are simply too many rooms in this hallway. No house should have this many rooms, period. I have also noticed that some of the bathrooms are very large and luxurious, with large bathtubs, claw-foot tubs, circular swimming pools, walk-in showers, walk-in tubs, while others are equipped with only a small cow tank, a sink, a washcloth, and bowl of water, a water hose, or no tub at all. I want to sample all of the ones with bathtubs or swimming pools, however, I usually wake up before I can make up my mind which one to try.
Last night’s visit brought me the feeling of accomplishment, because I finally got up the nerve to go further down the hall and explore more rooms. It is normally hard for me to continue further because I tend to feel my sense of dread intensify and I end up turning back to go spend time in the rooms I feel safest in.
A Moment to Relax
My effort to overcome my fear paid off, as I did discover a new room. This one can only be described as a speakeasy from the 1920s. I go in and sit at the bar and order an amaretto sour and I am able to really taste it, even the delightful maraschino cherry that garnished my glass.
The bartender starts talking to me. I ask him questions and get responses similar to what I normally get from Janet; including introducing himself as Arnold, bartender of the Tangerine Tortoise, a description of the room I am currently in, and a recipe for amaretto sour. Another non-player character.
I am, however, surprised when Arnold drops the smile, looks around us, as if to make sure nobody else is paying attention, and tells me that I need to be careful continuing down the hall. He tells me that many people pass through his establishment during their trip down the hall, however, he has only seen a handful of people come back. The seriously stern look he gives me tells me that he is definitely not an NPC.
I ask him for more details when my alarm clock goes off and I am pulled out of my dream and back into my bed on a cold November morning. I wake up wanting to throw my phone. I was finally making progress in a place I have felt stuck in for years, only to have it spoiled. I hit snooze and tried to go back into it, only for it to be gone. Next time I visit my white house with too many rooms, I will be sure to go straight back to the Tangerine Tortoise and talk to Arnold again.