It just had to be my luck that my car would break down on the side of the road in Sea View. Thankfully, there seems to be a hotel about a mile up the road. Maybe they have a phone to call a tow truck...
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"What's this?" I asked, my finger grazing the mark.
Jimmy shrugged, "I've always had it. I think it's a birthmark of some sort - at least that's what mum told me when I asked her about it when I was a kid."
He pulled his hand away, turning back to his food.
Even as I returned to my food, which no doubt was going cold, I kept thinking about the strange mark. If Jimmy was born with it, it had to be the mark of that demon that the manager had mentioned. And if it was, did Rose and Harvey also know about it? Or were they just as oblivious as the rest of us?
***
I decided to take extreme caution going forward.
My plan in whole was to pretend to be oblivious, then later - when the hotel had settled in for the night - take the opportunity and make my way to the third floor and search for the ghost of Harvey. As of now, I hadn't any encounter with the man's ghost - but knew that his spirit may have lived on the third floor. It wasn't going to be easy, especially with another guest on that floor - not that I minded, it was nice that Mr. Hall had another guest and would be making a bit of extra money with them staying here for the night. For the remainder of the day, I sat in the main lobby with my two books and a notebook - jotting down my experiences thus far and ideas for my next project. After all, if I was going to be a writer, I should at least take everything that I was experiencing thus far into account.
But, that wasn't my only reason.
I heard Jimmy scuffling about in his office - filing and filling paperwork as well as making a few calls here and there. He would leave the office once or twice to pull something from the desk in the main lobby, a file folder or a scrap paper, before disappearing back into the office. His movements seemed erratic and nervous - like he knew that I was watching him. I kept my ground, keeping my eyes on my book and on the notes on the paper.
It was only a few moments later that I heard a voice that wasn't Jimmy's.
"I don't like that Kylie girl, Jimmy boy," the voice all but grumbled through the paper thin walls, "She's a bad egg."
"You say that about everyone," Jimmy answered, "She's just reading and making notes. It's not like she's watching us."
"You might think that, but I know better," the other voice snarled, "You should've let me deal with her when I had the chance."
Deal with me? I lowered my book, now thoroughly interested.
"No! She's done nothing to cause me worry," I heard the chair move and feet going to another part of the office, "She's been on the bad end of everything like me! And you're always the one to cause these problems! Not me!"
"You're wrong Jimmy," the voice was taunting again, "You need me, as I need you. We've been together since the beginning, you and I. I've never abandoned you when you needed help, I was the one who had protected you from all the monsters in the world! Those monsters like Oliver Bose!"
