Chapter Text
The camera pans a busy Los Angeles street on a sunny day before settling on a dashboard, facing Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara in a small car with dark upholstery.
"Hey guys!" Ryan says cheerfully from behind the steering wheel. He's wearing a jean jacket over a gray shirt. "Today, we're driving to the Stay On Main, or as it was formally known, the Cecil Hotel as part of an ongoing series where I tell this guy true crime stories."
Shane waves from the passenger's seat. He's wearing glasses and a striped sweatshirt.
"And this time, we have the privilege of actually going there because it's in LA!"
"Gotta love local murder," Shane quips.
Ryan smiles while his eyes focus on the road. "You're saying we should support our local murderers?"
"No, no, of course not. I'm just sayin', if you're gonna get murdered, wouldn't it be nicer if it was, y'know, locally sourced, home grown...?"
"I guess, man," Ryan laughs. "Anyways, this place is the site of one of the most bizarre mysteries I've ever read about."
"Oooh, enticing."
"Yeah, buckle your seat belt, big guy, because you don't know what you're in for. This case will do the opposite of calm your tits. You better hold on tight, because they're gonna go wild!"
"HAH!" Shane grabs his chest securely. "You could even call it... titillating."
Ryan wheezes. "Shut up, Shane." He parks the car. "Alright, we're here."
Shane reaches for the camera and steps out of the car. He slowly pans a rectangular brick building. It doesn't stand out from its environment. The hotel is a sickly orange-brown with gold accents. The windows on the bottom three floors have red awnings. A shaky, rusted fire escape ascends down the corner closest to the boys. On the right side, a faded mural reads:
Hotel Cecil
Low Daily/Weekly Rates
700 Rooms
It contradicts the Stay on Main sign over the front entrance.
"Wow. Scary," Shane deadpans.
A car door slams. The view turns to Ryan opening the trunk. "Just you wait," he retorts. "This place was the inspiration for the fifth season of American Horror Story. You'll see why."
"Looking forward to it," Shane replies. "Alright, time for the crime boys to get set up! Stay tuned, everybody." He turns the camera off.
The camera rotates 360 degrees to display a small hotel room with blue walls, an orange polka-dotted bed, and a blood-red chair shaped like an outstretched hand in the corner.
"Gotta say, this is pretty ugly," Shane comments while zooming in on the chair. "You said this was built in the 1920's? They've done some hardcore remodeling since then."
"Yeah," Ryan agrees. He places the camera on a dresser. It faces the boys while they sit on the edge of the bed. "I guess they wanted to distance themselves from all the shit that's happened here. This place has a shady rep."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yup." Ryan picks up a manila file folder and begins reading in his theory voice: "The Cecil Hotel was built in 1924 as a high-class destination for business travelers. It didn't work out. Instead, it became a hang-out for those on the fringe of society. That's because the Great Depression took over shortly after its opening. The hotel is near Skid Row, which is known for its large homeless population, sketchy businesses, and high crime rate."
"There goes the neighborhood."
"In 2011, the hotel reopened as the Stay on Main. The owners were hoping for a new start. Unfortunately, two years later, one of the most famous unsolved crimes ever occurred within its walls."
"And that's where our story begins!"
"You got it," Ryan affirms. "On January 26, 2013, 21-year-old Canadian tourist Elisa Lam checked into the Cecil Hotel-"
"And never checked out," Shane says in a spooky voice.
"Well yeah, dude, she really didn't!"
"Whoops. Now I'm just an asshole, aren't I?"
"Yup. Now, back to the story: On February 19th, eighteen days from the last time she was seen, Elisa's body was found naked and floating in a four-by-eight foot water tank on the roof."
"Yikes."
Ryan laughs darkly. "Want to know what led to her discovery?"
"Uh..."
"Hotel guests were complaining about the low water pressure."
"Uh..."
"One couple after the fact reported the water would come out black before normalizing and it had a bad taste. But get this: they didn't complain at the time... because they thought that was normal for LA."
"HAH!"
Ryan nudges him playfully. "Oooh yeah, because your Chicago water is so pure?"
"Nah, not really," Shane admits. "No, I'm laughing because who the fuck drinks black water?"
Ryan wheezes. "Oh my gosh, I didn't really think about that."
"Hmm, this water kinda looks like it has dead body parts in it. Smells like it, too. Honey, can you come taste this for me?"
Ryan mimes taking a sip from an invisible glass. "Hmm..." He swishes it around in his mouth. "Could be death water, could be LA, who's to say?"
"... Are we going to drink the water?"
"What?! No-"
"I'm going to drink the water." Shane gets up and exits the screen.
"Hey! Come back here!" Ryan runs out of view. The screen goes dark.
"Hey guys, we're back, sorry. Alright, now that Shane's done putting literally anything in his mouth-"
"Dirty." Shane shoots Ryan a wink. He blushes.
"Shut it, corpse drinker."
Shane shrugs. "I'm just saying, it tasted clean to me. And it's been what, three years? I can't believe you wouldn't drink it."
"I'm not drinking death water! Alright, seriously, we gotta focus, or we'll have to edit out tons of footage later."
"Ugh, you're right."
"I always am. Now sit." Ryan points to the spot next to him. "Stay." Shane smiles and does so.
"3... 2... 1..." Ryan mouths. Shane nods. The theory voice returns: "Another interesting piece of info comes from the hotel manager. When Elisa checked into the hotel, she was originally in a hostel-style shared room, but later was moved to her own private room due to complaints from her roommates of certain odd behavior."
"Certain odd behavior?"
"That's all it says. Pretty ambiguous, right?"
"Yeah, because as far as roommates go, odd behavior can mean anything from walking around nude to cutting hair samples from you in your sleep."
"True, true. Speaking of..." Ryan looks directly at the camera. "Fuck you, Roland."
Shane cups his hands around his mouth and yells, "BURN!"
Ryan laughs and resumes reading: "Regarding the odd behavior, it's important to mention Elisa had bipolar disorder. We don't know the specifics of her condition, but if she was in a severe manic state at the time, she could've been exhibiting symptoms like rapid speech, not sleeping, and risky or impulsive behavior. She was on four different meds to manage it."
Shane frowns. "Was she taking them as prescribed?"
"We're not sure. The toxicology report indicated she was clean of any substances. It specifically said there was no, 'acute drug or alcohol intoxication.' But does that include the medication? It's not clear. Plus, this is after she spent eighteen days decomposing in water.”
"Okay..." Shane says slowly.
"Now, let's really get into it." Ryan places the file down on the bed beside him and speaks to the camera. "The last time Elisa was seen was on surveillance footage from the hotel elevator." He pulls something up on his laptop and shows it to Shane. "You gotta see this, dude."
The camera is located in the top corner of an elevator with tan walls and a black laminate floor. The metal doors slide open. A petite Chinese woman in a red sweater, black shorts, and sandals steps in. The film is too blurry to identify distinguishable facial features. She leans down to press the buttons.
Shane pauses the video. "Why is she getting so close?" he asks. "It's like she can't see."
"She did wear glasses, but she doesn't have them on here, so that's possible..." Ryan answers. He presses play.
After pressing several buttons at once, Elisa peeks outside. She looks left and right before retreating back in. The film skips. Elisa is standing in the right corner with her back pressed to the wall. She squeezes her hands together tightly in front of her abdomen.
"She has to be hiding from someone..." Shane remarks.
The film skips again. Elisa cautiously steps outside and looks both ways. After a moment, she steps to the side and then backs into the elevator. She leans down and jabs at the buttons randomly. The film skips a third time. Elisa is standing to the left, outside the doors. She crouches over and gestures wildly with her hands. Her fingers twist unnaturally in the air.
"Doesn't it look like she's casting a spell?” Ryan comments. Shane nods.
Elisa's long fingers are spread out stiffly. Her arms move in frantic circles.
"It's as if she's treading water..." Shane says in disbelief. "That's some serious foreshadowing."
Ryan nods. "The footage is too shitty to make out her expressions, but it looks like she's talking to someone directly in front of her. Begging them, actually."
"But no one's there."
"Exactly. And have you noticed the doors haven't closed yet?"
"Oh shit, you're right. Elevators aren't supposed to work like that." Shane looks off to the side for a moment. “She did press a lot of buttons. Maybe one of them was the hold function. Still, the doors shouldn’t have stayed open that long...”
Elisa turns and walks to the left, out of camera range. A few seconds later, the doors close. They open and close several more times. The screen fades to black.
The view returns to the boys sitting on the hotel bed. "What the fuck was that?" Shane asks.
"I don't know, man. That's really the key issue here..."
"And this was the last time she was seen alive?"
"Yup. That being said..." Ryan looks directly into the camera. "Let's get into the theories."
"Theory #1: Elisa climbed into the water tower on her own free will."
"Alright." Shane claps his hands together. "I gotta hear more about this water tower."
"Well, the roof should have been impossible to access without tripping an alarm, unless she climbed out a window and used the fire escape. Plus, it would've been difficult for someone to get into the tank by themselves and pull the cover back in place from the inside. Especially for someone so small. I don’t know if she would’ve had the strength. So, it’s tricky." Ryan pauses. "Tricky, but not impossible."
"Why would she want to be there in the first place? Was she suicidal?"
"Potentially. She had a history of depression. There's actually been multiple suicides here." Ryan flips through the file. "The most famous was probably in 1962: a woman jumped off the roof and landed on a pedestrian, killing him as well."
"That's rough... Jumping off the roof makes sense, but locking yourself in a water tower? Seems like a strange way to do it. And you said she was naked."
"She was," Ryan affirms. "All her clothes were thrown in with her, though. You know how your clothing gets heavy when you swim in it? Maybe she took everything off so it would stop weighing her down."
"That makes sense. So the cause of death was drowning, and she didn't have any other injuries?" Ryan nods. Shane rubs his chin. "I guess it would all fit, if it wasn't for that footage."
"Which brings us to the next theory..."
"Theory #2: Someone forced Elisa into the water tower.”
"This seems likely to me," Shane comments. "She was totally hiding from someone. And she probably couldn't have gotten to the roof by herself. Plus, it looks like some of the footage was edited out! A hotel employee could have done all that."
Ryan frowns and leans back on the bed. "The thing is, she'd been exhibiting odd behavior for days before this. And paranoia can be a symptom of bipolar disorder. Maybe no one was actually following her; it could've been a delusion or a hallucination, which would explain why she was talking to thin air."
"Good point," Shane admits. "Maybe the water tower was just a hiding place. It was meant to be short-term, but she got stuck."
"Could be. So what do you think, big guy?"
Shane scratches his head. "I don't know. They both seem likely. I'm stumped."
"Which brings us to..."
"Now, for the final theory. And the main reason we're here today..."
"HAH! The main reason we're staying on main." Shane jostles Ryan. "I see you, Bergara."
"Stop ruining the suspense, dude!"
Shane raises his hands. "Alright, alright. Go on."
Ryan huffs and composes himself. "The final theory? Elisa Lam was playing the elevator game." He lets the tension build before his voice drops an octave. "And tomorrow, the boys are going to play."