Chapter 4 3

A popular song from the 1950s said it was love that kept the world going, but coincidence might be a better replacement for love.Rufus Dearborn, who was staying that night in room 1414, near the elevator, was a salesman for the Singer Sewing Machine Company and had come from Texas to discuss a promotion to manager.What a coincidence that some ninety years after the first guest in room 1408 jumped, another sewing machine salesman rescued the man who came here to describe the haunted room.That might be an exaggeration, because even if no one was in the hallway at the time—especially someone walking back from getting ice—Mike Enslin probably wouldn't have died.But shirts on fire were no joke, and if Dearborn hadn't been quick-sighted, Mike would have been burnt to pieces.

Dearborn couldn't remember exactly what happened either.He told the story clearly in front of the journalists and cameras (he wanted to be the hero, which certainly didn't hurt his promotion to manager), and he clearly remembers seeing the man on fire from the room and into the hallway, but I don't remember much of what happened after that, and it's as difficult to recall as it was to recall the most drunken episode of my life. One thing he was sure of, but didn't tell any of the reporters because it didn't make any sense: The man on fire screamed louder and louder, like a stereo turned up.He was right in front of Dearborn, and the pitch of his screams remained the same, but the volume rose and fell.As if the man was something that happened to pass by here, and it could make an unbelievably high-pitched sound.

Dearborn rushed over with a bucket full of ice.The man on fire—"I saw his shirt on fire the first time I saw it," he told reporters—slammed on the door across the way, stepped back, stumbled, and fell to his knees.Just then, Dearborn rushed forward.He stepped on the shoulder of the screaming man's burning shirt and pushed him onto the hallway carpet.Then he dumped a bucketful of ice cubes all over him. He can't remember these things clearly, but he can still recall them.He saw the shirts on fire as particularly glaring—the scorching orange light reminded him of a trip to Australia with his brother two years ago.They rented a four-wheel drive and traveled across the great Australian desert (which, the Dearborn brothers discovered, what a handful of locals call it "Australia's ghost gate") was memorable, but somewhat mysterious. , especially Ayers Rock in the desert.The sun was about to go down when they got there, and the sun was shining on their faces just like it does now... hot, weird... not what you'd expect sun on Earth to be.

He crouched down beside the burning man, who was smoldering and covered in ice.He turned the man over and extinguished the flames that shot up the back of his shirt.At this time, he saw that the skin on the left side of the man's neck was blackened by the smoke, and there were red blisters, and the earlobe on that side was also a little burnt, but it was okay... okay... Dearborn looked up, and to his disbelief, the door that the man just rushed out seemed to be covered with the scorching light of the Australian sunset. The scorching light came from nowhere. s things.It's scary (and the low hissing sound, like an electric hair clipper can't wait to talk), but it's also intriguing.He wanted to go in, wanted to go in and see what happened.

Maybe Mike saved Dearborn's life too.He must have been aware that Dearborn was on his feet—Mike never seemed to notice him—and his face was filled with the hot, flickering light emanating from Room 1408.He remembered it better afterward than Dearborn, and of course Rufus Dearborn didn't have to have to set himself on fire to save his life like Mike did. Mike grabbed the cuffs of Dearborn's slacks. "Don't go in," he said hoarsely, "going in is death." Dearborn stopped and looked down at the man's red and blistered face on the carpet. "It's haunted," Mike said.The words were like a talisman, and the door to Room 1408 slammed madly, the light was gone, and the hissing sound like an electric hair clipper eager to speak was gone.

Rufus Dearborn—one of the rare talents at Singer Sewing Machine Company—runs to the elevator and rings the fire alarm. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ ① Located in Lulu Park (World Cultural Heritage) in northern Australia, it is the largest boulder in the world. When the sun shines on the surface of the rock from different angles, it will produce different colors, especially at sunrise and sunset.