The Invitation for April Fools

At the break of dawn, enigmatic invitations materialized without trace of delivery. Stark white envelopes, sealed with deep crimson wax, silently slipped beneath apartment doors all over New York City.

"You're Invited: The Ultimate April Fool’s Day Party! One night only—The Carter Hotel, 8 PM. Come if you dare."

No soul knew who orchestrated this morbid summons.

The Carter Hotel, a decaying husk left to crumble for nearly fifty years, stood as a festering wound amid the garish neon of Times Square. Once a bustling lodge of elite gatherings, it became infamous when entire families vanished without a trace—leaving behind immaculate rooms marred only by a solitary, blood-red smudge on the bathroom mirrors. In the basement, the mutilated bodies of the staff were discovered, their mouths pulled grotesquely into emaciated smiles and tongues horrifyingly absent.

Yet, on April 1st, the hotel's dilapidated doors creaked open once again.

Arrogant curiosity drove twelve unsuspecting guests inside. They chuckled and snapped pictures, convinced they were part of a grand escape room challenge or an elaborate prank. However, the air was a choking blend of acrid mildew and a rancid, ancient miasma. Above, a dust-caked chandelier swayed ominously, though no breeze stirred the stagnant air.

At the front desk lay a single, trembling note penned in quivering ink:

"One door for each of you. The rules are simple—enter, endure, escape. Fail, and you stay. Forever."

Without warning, the doors slammed open on their own.

Their tentative laughter dissolved into a suffocating silence.

One by one, they stepped into the abyss.

And the hotel devoured them whole.

Room 301 – The Feast

Marissa’s breath hitched as she entered the room. A lone table awaited her, impeccably set with gleaming silverware and a steaming plate of meat that exuded an almost magnetic hunger. As ravenous desire clawed at her insides, a voice, as soft and venomous as honey, slithered into her ear:

"Eat."

She lifted the fork, only to find something writhing beneath the savory gravy. A closer look revealed a horrifying chunk of flesh harboring tiny, twitching fingers — a grotesque child’s hand.

A scream tore from her throat as unseen, monstrous hands clamped around her jaw, prying it open. The fork was forced past her lips. In a nightmarish twist of fate, she chewed because escape was a luxury she no longer had.

Room 406 – The Reflection

Ethan came face-to-face with his reflection — or so he believed. In the mirror, his twin form twitched unnaturally; pupils dilated, teeth sharpened into serrated daggers.

Then, it moved. Not as a mirror image, but as something entirely separate.

The glass shattered, and his doppelgänger stepped out with a sinister grin. Ethan stumbled back in horror as his perfect copy raised a rusted, cruel razor.

"Your turn."

The cold metal pressed against Ethan’s lips, slicing it upward in a gruesome etching of terror.

Room 502 – The Whispering Flesh

Mia felt their presence before she saw them — the walls themselves were alive. They pulsated with a disturbing rhythm, exhaling a foul breath. Beneath the peeling wallpaper, grotesque appendages emerged, twisting into clawed fingers and gaping maws that murmured intimate, bone-chilling secrets.

"Mia, let us in."

The walls convulsed cruelly, distorting as a repulsive face, her own face with hollow, eyeless sockets and chattering, jagged teeth, forced its way through.

Desperately, Mia clawed at the door, but it remained immovable, an eternal prison.

The Aftermath

At the stroke of midnight, the cursed hotel doors swung open once more. The lobby lay barren, suffused with the stench of copper and decay.

Only their abandoned clothes remained, methodically stacked as if mocking the vanished souls.

The invitations evaporated into nothingness.

And in another dark corner of another city, beneath another set of forbidden doors, fresh, pristine envelopes appeared.

"You're Invited: The Ultimate April Fool’s Day Party… Come if you dare."