Memory Documentation

chapter eighteen | documenting the perfect day with him

The car ride to the hotel we were staying at was a tired blur. With dark skies hiding our surrounding scenery, there wasn't much to look at except the headlights of our rental car shining down the highway. I think exhaustion had caught up to us all by the time we made our way up to our room, as there was little conversation between the four of us as we got ready for bed and promptly fell asleep.

The plush pillows of the hotel bed were heavenly. So much so that when I awoke the next morning, I nestled deeper into them. Annoyingly, there was a beam of sunlight that was sneaking its way between a curtain billowing in the draft of the air conditioning. I scowled at it and used my hand to block the light as I opened my eyes and surveyed the room.

While the bed felt like a perfectly fine sleeping paradise to me, there was nothing else dazzling or extraordinary about our hotel room. Dark brown curtains, a desk on the far corner of the room, and a small hallway that led to the bathroom, closet, and main door. I took the bed while Chris slept on the converted, bronze-colored couch bed. Across from me was the door that led to the other bedroom that Reece and Jessica were sleeping in. However, upon blinking the sleep-induced blurriness from my vision, I noticed both the couch and the room across from me were empty. Chris's blanket and pillow had been scrunched to one end of the couch, while Reece and Jessica's bed had been somewhat neatly made.

I sat up. "Hello?" I called out. When I got no answer, I swept an arm under my pillow and retrieved my phone. There were a couple texts from the group chat, three texts from London, and a voicemail from Papa.

I'd just finished listening to Papa's good morning voicemail when I heard the sound of the door opening. My heart leapt for a second, stupidly thinking it was an intruder, when Chris rounded the corner. He was half dressed with flannel pajama pants and his usual black hoodie on top. He was looking down at his phone with a scowl that dropped as soon as he looked up and saw me awake.

"Darce!" he cried, shoving his phone in his hoodie pocket.

"Yeah, hey, good morning," I greeted, releasing my hair from its disastrous braid. "Woke up and you guys were gone. Thought you all abandoned me here."

"Sorry, I wasn't out long. Though, it looks like it was me and you that were abandoned," Chris said, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. At my confused look, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a half crumpled piece of paper. It was a flyer colored in different shades of blue with an illustration of a guitar and paintbrush meshed into one. "We're in the downtown district. This local winter music and arts festival is happening today right around here," he explained.

I nodded slowly. "Okay, and?"

"And..." Chris pulled out another thing from his hoodie pocket. I raised a brow at the hundred dollar bill he placed on my lap. "Those two ditched us and left us this flyer with a hundred bucks. On the hotel notepad, Reece had written 'have fun.'"

"What?" I exclaimed, my eyes practically bulging. "They just left us?"

How could they just leave us? We weren't here for a festival. We were here for a funeral! That was all being held tomorrow, but where the hell did those two go?

I pulled out my phone and called Jessica immediately. She picked up after the second ring. "Good morning, Darce!" she greeted in her usual sunshine tone.

"Good morning? Jessica, where did you and Reece go?" I asked her incredulously. "You just up and left me and Chris here at the hotel?"

"Oh, sorry about that. Well, Reece ended up having to drive a couple hours away to a different city and pick someone up. Her flight had gotten canceled and she wasn't going to make it on time otherwise. And I'm with Josie – Sylvia's daughter, if you remember? We're running some errands and prepping for tomorrow."