by Voss Foster
ENTRY END
TO: Niels Evenstad
FROM: Magnus Evenstad
SUBJECT: The Inn and Season 4 Proposal
SENT: 2/3/2076 AT 10:08 a.m. EST
Niels,
Your proposal for season four was accepted, and the rest of the board is willing to increase the funding to cover all the necessary legal fees. I wanted to tell you myself. They also want a more complete rundown of the finances involved, the arena, all the normal things. But they are very excited about the direction we want to take this show. They think, and I agree, that this could bring back the innovation that you had with the first season. And I’ll be there alongside you.
But that’s the future. We need to discuss the present, right now. We’re down to three players, and they won’t last long. We might not even get another full week out of it. I think we need to set up a live poll for the final three. It’s the only way. We show Joy’s death, of course, then run the live poll. Social media, call in votes, texting. Everything. That’s what I want to see. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a good decision, and we should have plenty of time to set it up before the next episode airs. If, by some strange chance, it takes longer than the rest of the week to take care of them, I would suggest we do a delayed episode. I’d leave the public reasons to you, because they obviously wouldn’t be happy, if it came to that.
Of course, none of these are orders, but you know my experience, and I hope we can continue to work together going forward. At least as well as we did presenting the new proposal. It obviously turned out in your favor that time.
I hope you’re doing well. The short season should allow you ample time to take care of yourself. I’ll be here if you need a short sabbatical at any time throughout the year, so don’t feel as though the company has to rely on you one-hundred percent of the time. Your health is far more important, and the company can run fine without you for a few weeks, I’m certain.
Magnus Evenstad,
Chief Executive Officer, Evenstad Enterprises
JOURNAL 03MAX
ENTRY 011
DATE: 2/3/2076
I don’t have any family out there. Not really. I had Joy, and I had her husband and kids. That’s all that’s left, now that Mom and Dad are gone.
Is there really any reason for me to try and go out there and be the one surviving? What’s left for me? A bunch of people who probably hate me for letting their wife die, or their mother die. And do I really want to keep going, knowing that they’re right? Knowing that I let my sister die because I was too lazy to stay awake?
Maybe it’s just this place getting to me. Maybe it’s because it’s now been over a month in this shit stain of a hotel. I ain’t sure, but I’m damn sure of how I feel. I feel done. I feel washed out. I feel ragged. And I feel like there really ain’t any point to continuing on with this shit.
So I guess what I’m saying is that this is going to be my last journal. This is really going to be my last anything. Once I end this off? That’s it.
At least, if ending it all this way still gets you a ticket to go past the pearly gates, I’ll be able to see if Joy blames me. Maybe she won’t, no matter how much she should, and I’ll be able to get a little peace for my soul. But right now, the way things are? I ain’t finding any down here.
Bye, then.
ENTRY END
02
JOURNAL 09HIKARU
ENTRY 014
DATE: 2/4/2076
I went in to do what needed doing yesterday. I was ready, I was quiet, I was going to kill that man before he ended me, and I was sure I could do it, too. Maybe it was foolhardy to be that confident, but I was, and I don’t regret it.
It turns out it didn’t matter. He was already dead when I got in there. Laying out next to the woman’s body. Cut open his arms, slit his throat all the way across. He was determined, and he wanted it over fast. Of all the deaths I’ve seen in here, and all the deaths I’ve been a part of in here, this one just seems so wrong, so much worse than the others. Maybe it’s because he’s the only one who decided this place wasn’t worth it anymore, and he just wanted to give up and be gone, however he could.
I’m trying to keep from dwelling on it too much. I’m sure this is close to the end, but there hasn’t been any attempt to tell me that I’ve won. Which probably means there’s at least one more person still alive somewhere in the hotel. I need to start finding them. With freedom this close, I almost feel like I’d do anything to get out. Maybe I would do anything. I’m already planning on hunting and killing. Does it get much worse than that? Do you drop much lower down the moral rabbit-hole than that? I suppose maybe rape. I don’t think I’d go that far. I hope I wouldn’t. I worry that kind of a lapse in my moral judgment would be something I couldn’t excuse, no matter how bad the situation was that led me there.
Of course, I would have said that about murder a month ago, so maybe I’m wrong.
It’s not important right now, anyway. The only really important thing I is finding anyone who isn’t dead yet and ending my time trapped in here. Get my money and get back into some semblance of a normal life.
Sometimes, my mind does wander to what I could really do with that much money. I want to donate to charity. I want to take care of some of my family, as much as I can. I want to invest, so I can maybe try to quit my job. And the therapy I’ll need, of course. I don’t doubt that will be costly.
The money is right there, just beyond the freedom. It’s another shining light to guide me down this path. And I don’t intend to let anyone or anything else stand between me and that light.
ENTRY END
JOURNAL 12TERRENCE
ENTRY 012
DATE: 2/4/2076
Unfortunately, I don’t know where Joy went, exactly. It’ll take me hours to go through the whole hotel. I figure I can cut out the hallways where we were before the alarms all went off, since she wanted to see if there was anything new that we’d missed out on, something that might actually be safe. It was probably fruitless, even if she’d come back alive.
I’m heading out, so I hope I can at least find a for sure answer. Even though I know what happened in all the logical parts of my brain, there’s still some part of me that thinks maybe Joy and Max are somehow alive, just waiting out the end of the game together. Max was pissed. If she did find sanctuary, he probably wouldn’t want to come back and have me join them.
But that’s not what happened. I need to abandon those hopes, and the only way I’ll do that is to see their bodies.
Or die, I suppose. Then I wouldn’t care either way.
ENTRY END
The End is Nigh: The Inn
Posted 2/4/2076 at 1:23 p.m. EST
I’ve been watching the cameras through The Park: 24/7. Thankfully, they keep updating them to show us all the newest season, if we were roped into getting access to the cameras. Which I fully admit that I was. But right now, it’s coming in handy.
I think we’re seeing the end of this show in the next episode. A big end to this show. I can’t say too much, obviously. They make sure that you’re wrapped up in all sorts of non-disclosure clauses when you sign up for 24/7, and my blog has enough reach that they would notice if I said anything that violated that. Hell, maybe just this violates that. If so, I guess this blog could get a lot different very quickly.
But I digress. We’re nearly done, and it’s not at all what I expected. If you’d asked me to put money down on who would make it to the end at the beginning of the season, I wouldn’t have even come close. Which is what keeps bringing me back, and I’m assuming a lot of others feel the same way. Otherwise, the viewing numbers wouldn’t continually top themselves, right?
So, if you’re waiting for the big finale, I’d plan your parties for tomorrow night. Just trust me on this one.
Phil Boggs
Early News for Fourth Season of Evenstad’s Reality Show
2/4/2076 at 8:14 a.m. EST
/> We have recently gotten some insider information on the next installment of Evenstad Media’s reality show, and it’s liable to be game-changing.
Volunteers.
In the past, the contestants have always been chosen at random, then presented a contract and a decision on whether or not to play. But now, with season four, hopefuls will be able to apply for a chance to win the twenty-million dollar prize. Who knows, it could be you.
We’ll be updating this article as more information is made available to us here at The Cruise.
UPDATE: 2/4/2076 at 12:06 p.m. EST
We’ve been asked by Evenstad Media to advise people that there is no way to officially express interest in participating in the fourth season yet. While the staff is very appreciative of the turnout in such a short amount of time, they ask that you refrain from sending emails. A notice will be sent to all Evenstad Media customers when the systems are in place to process your information.
We’ll be updating this article as more information is made available to us here at The Cruise.
JOURNAL 09HIKARU
ENTRY 015
DATE: 2/4/2076
I’ve slipped inside a hotel room. Not much time. Footsteps are coming. I’m just behind the door, so if something happens, I can jump straight out. But whoever this is, they’re getting closer, and they’re not even trying to be quiet about it, which means they aren’t going to be prepared for me.
I hope this is the last straggler. I can’t count on that, but I can always hope. It would be much better than having to go through and keep looking for where someone else might be hiding. Twenty-million dollars served up right there for me.
Then I can finally go back to being a normal person who doesn’t plot murders. I can’t wait for that.
ENTRY END
TO: Magnus Evenstad
FROM: Niels Evenstad
SUBJECT: Live Poll
SENT 2/4/2076 AT 8:04 a.m. EST
Uncle Magnus,
The poll was set up just in time. It will be out with tomorrow’s episode.
Niels Evenstad,
Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Media
01
TO: Kadar Asad
FROM: Eddie
SUBJECT: Season 4
SENT 2/5/2076 at 9:15 p.m. EST
I know you won’t get this until morning, but that’s fine. We have some time before this becomes necessary.
Is it at all possible to meet in person with a few of us? We’d be able to cover travel expenses. We have something we want to bring up. I hope you’ll agree, but if not, I understand. We all understand. Don’t feel any pressure.
If you can come, respond and let us know when you’re free. The sooner the better. If you can’t come, let us know that, too. Then delete all the emails in this conversation.
Exclusive Interview with ‘The Inn’ Champion, Hikaru Maki
3/19/2076 at 11:17 a.m. EST
As you all surely know, Hikaru Maki has been very tight-lipped about his time competing in ‘The Inn.’ But finally, we’ve managed to break his silence and bring you tis exclusive, one-on-one with him. Mila Jacobsen sat down with him to ask him a few pressing questions.
MJ: Hikaru, everyone seems to want to know the answer to one question, so I’m hoping we can just get right down to it. Is that all right with you?
HM: It’s your interview. I’m here to answer the questions.
MJ: That’s a good attitude. So, what every single person in the country seems to want to know is what it was like competing in ‘The Inn.’
HM: It was hell. It was brutal. It was easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and there’s no amount of money that would get me to do it twice.
MJ: Everyone has a price.
HM: No amount of money. I meant that.
MJ: But the money must be nice. Is that why you were willing to do the things you did in there?
HM: I wanted out. I couldn’t spend more time in there. Yes, I have used some of the money, but by the time I reached the end of my stint there, I just needed to go. The money became secondary to my freedom, after a month locked away.
MJ: So you weren’t quite aware of what you were getting yourself into when you signed the contract?
HM: Apparently not.
MJ: And what about the public, or your family and friends. Are you treated any differently?
HM: Of course I am. I walk down the street and people recognize my face. The people close to me have had mixed reactions, to be certain. I lost a lot of connections while I was in there.
MJ: Well, a long absence can do that.
HM: No. It wasn’t about me being gone. It was about the things I had to do while I was in there.
MJ: Yes, let’s talk about that. Other interviews have spoken with people you’re close with, or were close with, but this is the first time you get to tell your story. So tell it. Tell everyone about what it was like to kill those people.
HM: It wasn’t an easily made decision, if that’s what anyone thinks. I’ve been in therapy to deal with it, but inside that hotel isn’t the same as the world everyone else knows. Things that are unthinkable become completely possible after long enough. That doesn’t mean I feel right. I’ve done my best to apologize to the families of everyone I could, even though it changes nothing. Mostly, I’ve been met with rejection, and I understand that. I can’t yet forgive myself for the things I did in there, and I doubt I ever will. It would be foolish to expect forgiveness from anyone else.
MJ: Don’t be too hard on yourself. You did what you needed to. I couldn’t imagine spending time in that situation. I’m amazed you held up.
HM: I killed people. Is that really holding up?
MJ: Maybe or maybe not. I’m afraid our time is running out, but you have time for one more quick statement. Would you like the public to know anything else about you?
HM: I’m not the person you saw on the show. I don’t enjoy murder. I don’t condone murder. That person was someone else, and I’m working to move past it. I hope you’ll allow me that time, but I understand if you look on me as a killer and nothing more.
Dear Valued Evenstad Media Customer,
You’ve seen The Park, The Mall, The Inn. Perhaps you’ve watched your favorites with 24/7, or even tried your hand at the experience with Live and Breathe.
How would you like to experience the real thing? Well, now you have your chance. Starting in July, we’ll be accepting applications for our next batch of contestants. That’s right, now you can finally have your shot at the twenty-million dollar grand prize.
The signup form is on http://www.evenstadmedia.com, right on the front page. Just fill it out, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we have an answer. But hurry! The application will only be open from July 1st to September 30th, so don’t miss the window of opportunity.
Evenstad Media
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you for reading The Inn. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review, so others can find and enjoy it as well.
If you'd like to stay abreast of the latest news from Voss Foster, including cover reveals, new releases, and appearances, consider joining his Mailing List or following his Blog. All mailing list subscribers will receive a free copy of The Mountains of Good Fortune.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Voss Foster lives in the middle of the Eastern Washington desert, where he writes science fiction and fantasy from inside a single-wide trailer. He is the author of Tartaros, Zirkua Fantastic, The Jester Prince, and Mythica. His short fiction has been published in several magazines and anthologies, including Apocrypha & Abstraction and Andromeda Spaceways In-Flight Magazine. When he can be pried away from his keyboard, he can be found cooking, singing, belly dancing, and playing trombone, though rarely all at the same time.
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