by Amy Cross
“Let's head to dry land, yeah?” I say, turning and start to slowly swim ashore. “There's nothing out here.”
“Why would there be anything out here?”
Not really wanting to stop and talk about it, I swim to the shore and then make my way up, ruing the fact that I don't have a towel. I don't like the idea of getting dressed while I'm wet, but at the same time I definitely don't like the idea of standing around naked while I wait for the cool evening breeze to dry me. Reaching down, I grab my clothes and start slipping into my underwear, and then I turn and see that Steve is still out in the lake, watching me.
“Hey, come on!” I call out to him, watching his silhouette against the rippling water. “We can do stuff, but not in the water. Sorry, I just got freaked out.”
I wait, but he doesn't respond at all. He seems to be just staring at me, although after a moment I furrow my brow as I realize that his silhouette seems a little -
Suddenly there's a loud splashing sound just a few feet away, and I let out a startled gasp as Steve bursts up from beneath the surface and clambers ashore, laughing as if he thinks he's hilarious. Shocked, I look past him, but now the silhouetted figure is gone and the lake looks completely calm. I have no idea how Steve managed to do that, and I can't help staring at the spot where – just a few seconds ago – there was a figure in the water. If the silhouette wasn't Steve, then who was it? I wait, in case Annie shows up, but the ripples in the water quickly fade away, leaving the surface clear and calm again.
“No jokes about shrinkage,” Steve says, dripping wet as he comes and places his soaking hands on my shoulders. “There's no rush to get back to the hotel, is there? Let's just have some fun down here.”
He kisses the side of my neck.
“Have you ever done it outside?” he asks, dropping his voice to a whisper. “I have. It's kinda fun, looking up and seeing the sky as you -”
“Let's get back to the hotel,” I reply, pulling away from him and grabbing the rest of my clothes. I don't want him to know that I'm freaked out, but at the same time I really just want to get back to the car, find Annie, and get out of here. “I'm sure my dumb-ass sister has decided to stop being an idiot.”
“Are you okay?”
“Of course. Why wouldn't I be?”
“I thought we were getting in the mood for something. Come on, you're -”
“Don't tell me I'm over-analyzing things again!” I reply. “Please, Steve, I'm sick of that.”
Already dressed again, I turn and see him standing naked, dripping just a few feet away. It's very clear that he's ready for some fun, and I feel like I definitely owe him. If we were anywhere else, I'd go right over to him and give him what he's after, but the shore of the lake just feels like the wrong place.
“I guess the cold water doesn't do it for me,” I tell him, forcing a smile in the hope that he'll get the message. “Tomorrow we'll be somewhere warm, and we'll send Annie out to get drunk at the beach, and we can make up for lost time. I promise. Please, Steve, just... Let's get out of here.”
“But -”
“What do you think that was?” I ask, pointing toward some charred wooden posts that are rising up above a patch of high grass just a little way along the shore.
“Beth, seriously -”
“Fine,” I continue, turning to him and realizing that my attempt to distract him was a bust. “Can we please just not let things get all stressy right now? I'm really not feeling this place, and I know you're trying to make the best of it, but I just want to get it over with. Can you try to understand that?”
He hesitates for a moment, before sighing and heading over to his clothes.
“I'm sorry,” I add, already feeling like I've let him down. Our sex-life has been non-existent for weeks now, and I'm sure he's starting to have doubts. The truth is, Steve always seems to want to try new, adventurous things, whereas I kinda prefer to keep things simple and safe. Even doing it outside seems too risky for my tastes, but I guess eventually I'll have to experiment a little.
Just not now.
Not here.
As Steve continues to get dressed, I look down at my ankle, at the spot where I swear I felt a third hand touching me in the water. To my surprise, I see that the flesh is very slightly discolored, as if I've developed a faint bruise. Reaching down, I touch the sore spot and feel a flush of soreness. Whatever touched my ankle, it definitely can't have been a hand, but it sure was real.
Looking back out across the lake again, I see that the water is so completely, utterly calm. Already, it's as if we never disturbed the surface.
Chapter Four
“Hey Annie, you pervert!” Steve yells as he drags a rotten old mattress into the room. “We're calling your bluff here! If you wanna stay the night, that's fine by us! You're the one who's gonna be shivering all alone! This is your last chance to admit you're a lying little bitch!”
“Hey, don't call her that.”
“Sorry, but... You know what I mean.”
“I'm worried about her,” I reply, holding my phone up so that we at least have a little light. “She should've come back by now.”
“You said it yourself. Your sister takes pranks too far.”
“But -”
“And the more you worry, the more you play right into her hands.”
He throws the mattress down, and we both stare at its worn, moldy fabric. There are tufts of foam poking out through several holes, and even from here I can smell a faintly fusty odor.
“We can't sleep on this,” I tell him.
“Not posh enough for you?”
Turning, I shine the phone's light around the room. We're up on the top floor of the hotel, in what I guess must have once been one of the larger bedrooms. There's no electricity, of course, and the sun has finally set, so the place is pitch-black except for the light from our two phones. There's no heating, either, and I genuinely can't imagine how we're going to get through a night here. Unfortunately, since we came back from the lake, there's still been no sign of Annie, and it seems she really expects us to endure a night in this place.
“I'm going to kill her,” I mutter under my breath.
“She'll be fine,” Steve replies. “She has the car keys, remember? Once she thinks we're asleep, she can sneak in there and make herself nice and cozy. She'll be out there in the morning, laughing it up about our night in the hotel. She's gonna think she's so funny.”
“What if she's not playing a prank, though?” I ask, unable to ignore the niggling doubt in the back of my mind. “What if something happened to her?”
“Like what?”
“Maybe she's hurt.”
“Then she'd yell for us.”
“Maybe she can't.”
“Then we'd have found her when we took a look around the place.”
“Maybe she's outside.”
“Maybe aliens came and took her,” he says with a sigh. “Or maybe, like you said at the start, she's playing a joke on you and she knows how to push all your buttons. Come on, Beth, seriously, you have to beat her at her own game. If she wants us to spend the night here, let's make the best of it and try to have a good time. The last thing I want is to let her see that she's getting what she wants. She wants us to be miserable, and she wants us to argue. Let's not give her that.”
“But -”
“Wait right here. I have something to show you, something that'll make your eyes light up.”
With that, he heads back out into the corridor, and a moment later he comes back with a big bundle of sheets.
“Where did you get those?” I ask cautiously.
“They were in a closet.” He dumps them next to the mattress. “They smell a little old, but I think they're clean. And there are a couple of pillows, too. I swear, we're gonna camp out here in this room overnight and we'll be warm and comfortable. If Annie thinks she's gonna give us a crappy night, she's got another thing coming, because we're gonna make the best of this. And one day, we'll look back on th
e whole experience and laugh.”
He puts an arm around my shoulder, but I can't help feeling as if something might be wrong. No matter how much I try to tell myself that this is just Annie being Annie, I have this underlying worry that she might actually be in trouble. I guess I just can't help worrying about my little sister.
“What's wrong?” Steve asks after a moment. “Never spent a night in an abandoned, haunted hotel before?”
“It's not a -”
I pause, before turning to him.
“Haunted?”
“Just kidding,” he adds, kissing the side of my head. “Well, maybe. I mean, I have to admit, the place is pretty spooky. You know when I was searching for mattresses and sheets just now, all alone and going from empty room to empty room? I've gotta admit, I glanced over my shoulder a few times, just to make absolutely certain I was alone. And I'm a rational, level-headed kinda guy, so it's not like I was pooping myself every time I heard a creak or a bump.”
“You heard creaks and bumps?”
“Just one or two. But it's an old place. It's gonna be a little noisy.”
He hugs me tighter, but I still can't help feeling uneasy. I've heard a few creaking sounds myself since we got back from the lake, and at one point I even thought I heard a door swinging shut nearby while Steve was off in another part of the building. I've been putting those sounds down to the place being ancient and unloved, but each and every unexplained noise adds another little ounce of weight to my worries. Then again, I can't say anything about that, not to Steve, because then he'll just make fun of me the whole night. And as I keep reminding myself, ghosts aren't real and it'd be crazy to let this place get to me.
Besides, if Annie is listening to use right now, I wouldn't be surprised if she's planning to try freaking us out during the night.
“Let's just get this bed sorted,” I mutter finally. “It's cold over by the window, so we should drag the mattress to the wall over there. I just want to get this night over and done with.”
By the time we've made the bed and climbed under the covers, I've just about managed to start ignoring the fusty smell. Steve's body heat keeps me a little warm, although it's hard to focus on what he's saying as he tells me all about what we'll do when we get to the beach. After all, I keep expecting Annie to come bursting into the room. I'm seriously worried about her, but Steve starts trying to initiate sex again and I feel bad for rejecting him earlier. So finally I give in and try to fake some enthusiasm, and he doesn't seem to notice that I'm not really in the mood as he climbs on top and whispers in my ear about all the things he wants to do to me.
***
“What?” I gasp, sitting up suddenly with the bed-sheet clutched to my chest. My heart is pounding, and I swear I was woken from a light sleep by some kind of noise, but now the room is dead silent again.
I wait, shivering slightly in the cold air, and it takes a moment before I remember exactly where I am. Looking around, I can't make out anything at all in the darkness, except for the faint dark blue rectangles of the windows on the room's far side. For a few seconds, I find myself waiting to see a figure pass in front of those windows, but of course no figure appears. Still, I wait a little longer, just in case.
I heard a noise, though.
Something definitely woke me. A distant bang, maybe, or more of a brief rattling sound.
Reaching down, I fumble for my phone and tap the screen, before using the light to take a look at Steve. He's fast asleep, no doubt exhausted after his exertions a couple of hours ago, and I know from experience that it'd take a runaway train crashing through the room to wake him after we've had sex. I should probably -
Suddenly I hear it again.
A rattling sound, as if someone is trying to open a locked door out in the corridor. The sound continues for several seconds before stopping as abruptly as it started, but this time there's absolutely no doubt.
I know what I heard, and I also know there's only one person who can possibly be to blame.
Even though the room is freezing cold, I climb out of bed and get dressed, and then I grab one of the sheets, wrapping it around my shoulders for a little extra warmth. Part of me wants to just stay in bed, close to Steve, but I feel like this nonsense with Annie has to stop right now. Checking my phone again, I see that it's a little after midnight, which means that my plan to just sleep through the misery seems not to be working. Apart from Steve in his post-coital daze, I honestly don't get how anyone could sleep in a place like this.
Annie has to be just as miserable as I am right now.
Shuffling over to the door, I lean out and hold my phone up, but the light from the screen only casts a faint glow over the nearby wall. I know there's a long corridor running both left and right from this room, and there's a window at each end. Looking each way, I'm at least able to tell that there doesn't seem to be anyone nearby. After all, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to see them silhouetted against the window, unless they're crouching down to hide.
I wait, but the place is silent.
“Come on, Annie,” I whisper, as my teeth almost chatter in the cold. “Give me a clue. Where are you?”
A moment later, as if to answer me directly, I hear the rattling sound again. This time, I can tell that it's definitely coming from somewhere on this floor, although not particularly close. I know the hotel has a maze of corridors, and I'm not entirely sure of the layout, but as the rattling sound stops I'm pretty sure it was coming from somewhere past the end of the corridor to the left.
I open my mouth to call out, to let Annie know that I heard her, but at the last moment I decide to hold back. Why should I warn her that I'm coming? Better to sneak up on her, so she can't run away again.
Making my way along the corridor, with the sheet still wrapped around my shoulders, I'm already starting to shiver by the time I get to the next closed door. I keep going, however, with my phone raised so that I can at least see a few feet ahead. This whole situation feels ridiculous and I've already decided that I'm never, ever inviting my stupid little sister anywhere again, but I tell myself to stay focused so that I'm able to sneak up on her. Once I've tracked her down, I'll confiscate the car keys and go back to wake Steve, and then we'll get out of here straight away. There's no point waiting until morning. We're leaving Lakeforth Hotel as soon as possible.
By the time I get to the end of the corridor and look around the corner, I haven't heard the rattling sound for several minutes. I look along the next corridor, seeing yet more closed doors on the left, while the corridor's right side has several windows overlooking the grounds of the hotel. Stepping over to the nearest of those windows, I look out and see the moonlit patio area below, along with the pale rectangular shape of the covered swimming pool. The cover itself is rippling slightly, so I guess there's a breeze out there, but the thought of heading outside and taking a closer look isn't exactly appealing. It's cold enough inside the hotel.
Turning, I head along the corridor again, although I stop a moment later when the rattling sound returns.
It's closer.
Much closer.
In fact, I think it might even be in this corridor.
Thanks to the moonlight that's coming through the windows, I'm not entirely reliant upon my phone. Lowering the screen, I look along the corridor, but there's definitely nobody here. The rattling sound stops a moment later, but I'm convinced it was really close. So close, in fact, that I can't work out how I didn't see whoever was making it happen.
Stepping along the corridor, I keep my eyes fixed on the open doorway at the far end, just in case there's any sign of Annie. I'm managing to stay pretty quiet, so at least she won't be able to hear me as I approach, and I'm determined to sneak up behind her and make sure she doesn't get away. If I scare her senseless in the process, then maybe she'll finally learn from getting a taste of her own medicine. I won't even feel bad. In fact, I want to terrify her.
Suddenly there's a brief rattling sound right behind me, lasting for ju
st a fraction of a second.
Turning, I look at the closed door I just passed, and I swear this is where the sound must have come from. After staring at the handle for a moment, I step closer and give it a try, and I find that the door opens easily. The hinges creak loudly as I push the door all the way, and then I raise my phone to shine a little light into the room beyond, which turns out to have a window on its far side.
A window, and nothing more.
Tilting my phone, I'm just about able to see that there's no furniture in here at all.
Not even a bed.
I guess the hotel's owners must have cleared most of the rooms when they left, although I can't help taking a step forward and looking around. If the sound was coming from in here, then it must have been caused by something, although there's not even so much as a mouse-hole in the walls. The window's shut, too, so I doubt the rattling sound was caused by a gust of wind, and I'm starting to think that maybe I simply got the wrong room. Either that, or Annie's set up a far more elaborate prank than I expected. Maybe I'm just letting myself get easily tricked here. Reaching the window, I look out and see the empty courtyard at the front of the hotel, and I stare for a moment at the car parked out front.
I swear, if I knew how to hot-wire an ignition, I'd be sorely tempted to go out there right now and get that damn thing running.
Sighing, I turn to head back to the door.
And then I freeze as I see the silhouette of a little girl standing in the doorway, no more than ten or twelve feet in front of me, blocking my exit from the room.
I open my mouth to ask who she is, but somehow the words catch in my throat. I can't see her face, all I can see is the pitch-black outline of her shape against the window out in the corridor, but I can tell that she's definitely staring straight at me. I can also tell, without a shadow of a doubt, that this little girl is definitely not Annie.
