by Amy Cross
“Nice try,” I say as he heads around to the other side of the car, “but Annie has the keys.”
He stops and turns to me. “Please tell me you're not serious.”
“She must've taken them when we arrived. You know how possessive she gets about this car. So until we find her, I guess we're stuck here.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
He stares at me. “Seriously seriously?”
“Sorry, babe. Looks like she's stranded us here.”
Sighing, he puts his hands around his mouth and turns toward the hotel.
“Annie!” he yells, so loud that I flinch and take a step back. “Get your sorry ass back here right now!”
I swear, his voice actually echoes slightly, but the only reply is silence.
“She can't have gone that far,” I point out, “so she must be able to hear us. Which means she's deliberately pissing us off. Can you try your cell? I don't have service up here.”
He takes his phone from his pocket and checks the screen.
“Me neither,” he mutters. “What's wrong with that girl? Seriously, why does she have to do the most annoying thing possible at every opportunity? It's a skill. It's, like, almost impressive how irritating she can be. Sorry, I know she's your little sister and I shouldn't say that, but right now I could put my hands around her throat and...”
He pauses, before smiling.
“Well,” he adds. “You know what I mean. I wouldn't actually strangle her. She deserves it, though.”
“Annie!” I shout, stepping around to the front of the car. “A joke's a joke! We're ready to head off and go to the beach now! There'll be guys at the beach! And alcohol! And parties! Does none of that appeal to you?”
I wait, but now the only sound is the faint rustle of nearby trees as a cold wind blows in front the lake.
“Well, she'll come back,” Steve mutters. “I mean, she has to. The more we yell her name, the more she'll enjoy pissing us off. So I vote we just head back inside, chill for a bit, and wait for her to grow the hell up. She's probably hiding in a bush somewhere, watching us and finding the whole thing hilarious. Then again, I could always try hot-wiring the car. That'd show her.”
“It's a nice thought,” I reply, patting his arm as I head back toward the steps, “but we can't actually leave her here.”
“We can pick her up on our way home!” he calls after me.
“Tempting,” I mutter with a sigh, making my way up the steps. Frankly, I'm so angry at Annie right now, I feel like I want to finally say some of the things I've been keeping bottled up over the past few years. I get it, she thrives on attention now that Mom and Dad live separately, but there comes a point when I actually need to be able to rely on her. I work two jobs to get myself through school, and a week off is a rare and valuable privilege. I want to hang out with my boyfriend and have fun, not run around after my whiny, self-indulgent little sister.
As I reach the hotel's large, bare reception hallway, I stop and listen to the silence, hoping against hope that I might hear some hint of movement far off in the distance. All I hear, however, is Steve coming through the door behind me a moment later, and when I turn to him I can't help seeing the frustration in his eyes.
“I'm really sorry about my sister,” I tell him. “Please don't hate me.”
“Forget it. She won't hold out for long. She's not the only one who can mess with people's heads.” Stepping closer, her puts his hands on my waist, and I can tell he's planning something. “I guess that's settled, then,” he announces loudly, clearly putting on a show for the benefit of anyone who might be eavesdropping. “We're going to stay a night at this place. It might be cold and empty and creepy, but I'm sure one night won't kill us. There's no turning back now.”
“Steve,” I whisper, “what are you -”
“It's to freak her out,” he replies, grinning mischievously. “We're staying the night!” he says loudly. “I mean, if we can't drive away, we have no choice! Right?”
We stand in silence for a moment.
“She won't fall for this,” I tell him.
“Well, I'm sure she'll come running soon,” he mutters, setting the framed photo on a nearby table before putting an arm around my shoulder and leading me toward the grand staircase that leads up to the hotel's upper floors. “So shall we go and choose a room, my dear? I hear the presidential suite is absolutely delightful. Assuming the mattress hasn't been devoured by bedbugs.”
As we head up the stairs, I can't help glancing over my shoulder and looking back down at the reception area. I'm not superstitious and I don't believe in ghosts, but I have to admit that this hotel is genuinely a little unnerving. If I did believe in ghosts, I'm sure I'd be much less willing to even set foot in the place.
Chapter Three
Pulling open the door, I find myself at the top of a set of steps that seem to lead down into a dark basement. It doesn't look very inviting down there, although I kind of like the idea of exploring a spooky old hotel. After all, Steve's off checking the upper floors, so why shouldn't I do some poking about of my own?
So, reaching into my pocket, I take out my phone and use the screen to light my way as I head down the stairs. The air at the bottom is noticeably much colder than in the main part of the building, although I guess that's due to the bare brick walls. Still holding my phone up, I look around and see nothing but an empty room with a dusty concrete floor and an open doorway at the far end. I guess the basement must run beneath the entire building, and it's definitely creepy to think of all this dark, abandoned space.
“Hello?” I call out, enjoying the buzz of excitement in my chest. “Any ghosts around?”
There's no reply, of course, so I make my way across the room and look through the next doorway. Tilting my phone, I see another bare room, although this one at least has some old metal pipes running along one of the walls. Still, the excitement is starting to fade a little and I'm not sure I want to go exploring empty room after empty room. It's not as if I believe in ghosts, and I'm not too keen on the amount of dust in the air. Or the cobwebs that are hanging down from the arches.
“Okay, then,” I mutter, turning and heading back to the stairs. “If that's your -”
Suddenly I hear a faint scuffing sound over my shoulder, as if something is being dragged across the dusty floor of the next room. I turn and hold my phone up high, but the sound immediately stops and there's no sign of anyone or anything. I head back to the doorway and take another look in the room, just to make absolutely certain that I'm alone down here, and all I see is a cracked, dirty concrete floor with a few dubious dark patches.
I wait.
Nothing.
“Hello?” I whisper.
Silence.
“Annie,” I continue, “if that's you, I want you to know that every second you waste here is another second we lose at the beach. Is that seriously what you want?”
No reply.
Either Annie is hiding somewhere close by, trying not to laugh, or I'm talking to myself.
“Okay. Whatever.”
Turning, I head back to the stairs again, although I half expect to hear the sound again. This time, however, the basement remains silent, and I tell myself that I'll go crazy if I try to track down the source of every unexplained noise in this crumbling old building. And the last thing I want is to amuse my dumb-ass sister and reward her stupid antics.
Making my way back up the stairs, I can't help smiling as I think back to how I briefly let myself get creeped out just now. All I heard was a very faint sound, but at the back of my mind some part of me was just very slightly scared. This place would definitely be a ghost-hunter's paradise.
Once I'm at the top of the stairs, I head out through the door and then push the door shut. I think I should probably leave the exploring to somebody else. Right now, I'm cold and tired and hungry and thirsty, and I really hope Steve has managed to sort out somewhere for us to take a rest. Or, even better, may
be my dumb-ass sister will show up and we can get out of here.
***
“It's going to be dark soon,” I mutter, staring out the window and watching as the sun's light breaks through the tree-line. “What if she calls our bluff? Annie can be stubborn sometimes. What if she won't give up until we break and beg her to come back?”
Turning, I listen to the sound of Steve still banging about in the en-suite. A moment later, he comes back into view and stops in the doorway.
“The toilet doesn't work,” he announces. “None of the plumbing does. I guess all business has to be conducted outside, if you know what I mean.”
“I'm getting seriously pissed off with her now,” I continue. “She's wasting our vacation time! Like, this time is actually valuable to me!”
“She has to show up soon,” he says as he comes over to join me at the window. “It's freezing in this place. I mean, we've got each other for warmth, but what's she got? Maybe she found some moldy old duvets hidden away somewhere, but your sister seems like a girl who likes her creature comforts. As soon as she finds there's no running water, she'll be begging us to leave.”
Staring out the window, watching the light of the sunset as it glitters on the lake, I can't help thinking that this time Annie has really gone too far. She's always had a sense of humor, and she's always delighted in pissing people off, but there have been occasions in the past when she's gone way overboard. Once she even left home for the entire summer, refusing to tell anyone where she was going. I eventually discovered she was staying with a friend across the street, camping out in a spare room and watching our house while Mom panicked. Now she's done a runner again, and I'm worried she's trying to make some kind of point.
“She won't keep this up all night,” Steve tells me, before kissing my shoulder.
“She might,” I mutter. “You don't know her. Not like I do.”
“Well, then maybe we should give her a taste of her own medicine.”
“How?”
“That lake looks pretty inviting, and it's only about a mile away. Why don't we go for a sunset swim?”
“It's probably cold.”
“So? You'll soon warm up, and it might do Annie some good to be left alone for a few hours. That way, she'll realize how boring this place is, and she'll probably decide it's time for us to leave. Like I said earlier, we have to beat her at her own game.”
I pause for a moment, before figuring that he might be right. Just as I'm about to agree to his plan, however, I remember a stumbling block.
“The car's locked,” I point out.
“So?”
“So our stuff's in the car. I can't get my bikini out.”
“It's a deserted lake in the middle of nowhere,” he continues, kissing my shoulder again. “Who said anything about needing a bikini?”
***
“Argh!” Steve screams as he races naked into the water, splashing wildly. “It's cold! It's cold! It's so -”
Suddenly he dives forward, crashing against the lake's surface and disappearing in a shower of spray. A moment later he comes back up, gasping for air and holding his arms across his bare chest, rubbing his shoulders. Splashing about, he's really breaking the silence of this vast, deserted place.
“It's really cold!” he shouts. “Like, really really cold! Get in!”
Dipping a toe into the water, I realize he's right. The water's icy, and I'm not even sure I can bring myself to go all the way in. Looking out across the lake for a moment, I see the hills beyond the farthest shore, silhouetted black against the darkening blue sky. There's something very calm and peaceful about this place, and I honestly don't know that I've ever been so far from civilization, but I'm still not certain that I want to swim in such cold water. Turning, I see an old wooden jetty just a couple of hundred meters away, and I'm tempted to just go sit there and watch while Steve swims.
“It'll be fine once you're in!” Steve calls out to me. “Take off the rest of your clothes and come in!”
“I'm not sure I -”
“I did it! Now it's your turn!”
I pause for a moment, before realizing that I can't exactly chicken out now. The last thing I want is for Steve to tease me again about not being fun and spontaneous. I'll show him. Well, within reason, anyway.
“Turn around,” I tell him.
“Why?”
“Turn around!”
He laughs. “It's nothing I haven't seen before.”
“Turn around or I'm not doing it!”
Sighing, he turns his back to me. Figuring that it's now or never, I quickly slip out of my underwear, and then once I'm naked I start making my way into the water. At the same time, I keep my hands in strategic places, covering my modesty just in case somehow somebody can see me. The water is so cold, each step sends a jolt through my system. Finally I tell myself I need to take the plunge, so I dive forward and plunge deep beneath the surface. To say that the cold is a shock would be an understatement, and by the time I come back up for air a moment later I feel as if every muscle in my body has suddenly tensed.
“You'll get used to it,” Steve says as I smooth my hair back. “Besides, it's good for you.”
“Is that right?” I ask as I swim slowly toward him. I'm still freezing, but I guess I guess I have to be more patient.
“The cold gets your pores exercised or something,” he continues. “Makes them open, or close, or it just helps your heart-rate. I don't remember the details, but this is definitely healthy.”
Turning, I look back toward the hotel and see the main building silhouetted at the top of the hill. The place is pitch-black against the darkening blue sky, and it's strange to think of Annie up there all alone. Then again, I've got a sneaking suspicion that she probably followed us down to the lake. I thought I heard a few twigs snapping behind us as we walked through the forest, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if my sister is lurking in the bushes, watching us right now as we swim.
“Come here,” Steve says, placing a hand on my waist under the water. “Is that warmer?”
“Slightly,” I admit, turning to him.
“And how about this?”
I feel him place another hand on my side, with his wrist brushing against the curve of my left breast.
“Steve...”
“And this?”
Leaning closer, he kisses me on the lips. I try to just kiss him back and pull away, but he clearly wants more, so the kiss quickly becomes fuller and deeper, with his tongue slipping into my mouth. Losing the will to resist, I put my arms around him and let my inner thigh bump against one of his legs, and I know it's only a matter of time before I feel a different part of his anatomy brushing against me. I'm really not sure how far I want to go here, but the kiss feels good and overdue so I let it continue, and finally he moves one hand fully onto my breast and the other down to my hip.
“What if someone's watching?” I whisper, as he starts kissing the side of my neck.
“Lucky them,” he replies, his hot breath making my shoulder shiver against the cold water.
“What if Annie's watching?”
“Then she's a pervert.”
“But -”
“Just relax, Beth,” he continues, kissing the side of my neck again. “Please, for once, don't over-analyze everything. Empty your mind and listen to what your body wants.”
I open my mouth to protest again, but it's very clear that we're past the point of no return here. Steve and I haven't made love in a long time, so I guess any time now he's going to want to go back to the shore and seal the deal. Telling myself that I'll probably get more in the mood once we've started, I place the side of my face against his bare shoulder and focus on the feel of his touch as he runs a hand across my breast and down onto my belly. Another hand is curling across my inner thigh, edging higher, and I swallow hard as I feel a knot of anticipation starting to tighten in my chest. As one hand slips its fingers around my ankle, I kiss Steve on the side of the neck, enjoying the feel of his
thumb against my nipple, and the soft stroke of his fingers running up my thigh toward my -
“Wait!” I gasp suddenly, pulling back as I feel a rush of shock.
Steve pulls his hands away, and the hand on my ankle also slips loose and drops into the depths.
Looking down at the surface of the water, I try to figure out exactly what just happened. Steve had one hand on my breast, another on my thigh, and another on my ankle, but that doesn't make sense. I tell myself I must have been mistaken, but my mind is racing and I feel as if something's wrong here. It's almost as if there was someone else, someone reaching up from the depths.
“Babe?” Steve asks. “Are you okay?”
“Can we go to the shore?”
“Why?”
Turning, I look around at the calm, smooth lake, but there's absolutely no sign of anybody else. Of course there isn't. Even if Annie was nearby, there's no way she'd start pranking us while things were getting hot. I mean, my sister's sick, but she's not that sick. At the same time, I can't help feeling deeply uncomfortable, and finally I realize that I really just want to get back on dry land.
“Doesn't this place seem quiet to you?” I ask. “Like, completely silent?”
“Is that a problem?”
I pause for a few seconds, and I really don't hear anything at all. Like, not even the kind of faint background buzz or hum that you usually hear during moments of supposed silence. It's as if there's nothing for miles around, not so much as a bird hopping along a branch or even an insect scurrying across the ground. Just absolute, complete silence, the kind that seems to almost dare you to break it. The kind it feels wrong to break.
“You're letting yourself get freaked out, aren't you?” Steve asks after a moment. “I can see it in your eyes. Come on, I told you, you need to shut your mind off and let your body make decisions for a while.”
“I just thought -”
Stopping myself just in time, I realize there's no way I can tell him I thought I felt three hands touching me while we were making out. One on my breast, one on my thigh, and one on my leg. Steve'd just think I'm losing my mind if I told him, and he'd probably make fun of me for the rest of the trip. I'm sure it was nothing, but at the same time I really just want to get out of the water.
