In the same second that Tasi extinguished the last of the fire, she heard the shotgun go off. She hadn't been paying any attention to the others; she knew from her smoky peripheral vision that they were all fighting, but she was too focused on her task of not letting the hotel go up in flames to keep track of who was beating who. It wasn't about the hotel itself -- it could burn down for all she cared, just not with them in it. She could've ran away and saved herself, but she knew Tally wouldn't let Luke and Elsie -- whoever it was she was beating the ever-loving daylights out of -- out of her grasp. Tally would kill herself in the fire if it meant taking one final victim with her, and so Tasi had to do her part and extinguish.
With the last of the flame smothered, she whipped around to see Elsie standing behind a fallen tree, Luke breathing hard with the shotgun in his grip, and Tally on the floor. Or, what was left of her. Her body was half under the branches, half outside of them, and her head was splattered all over the carpet.
Tasi sprayed the last of the extinguisher over the tree, just in case, and put it down. She took the shotgun from Luke's hands, put it next to the handgun on the floor, and gently made him sit down. Elsie sat next to him, and they sported equally blank looks. Tasi wanted to sit with them, too, but she had work to do first.
She propped the front door open and slid the windows up a few inches to let fresh air in. Then she put on some gloves and carefully untied Margaret and straightened her on the floor, placing her hands over her stomach. She straightened Tate, placing his hands over his wound, and then she covered each of them with extra sheets from storage. They were her guests. She had to take care of them.
When she was done, Tasi took off the gloves and left them next to the guns for the forensics team. Then she took her seat on the lounge couch next to Luke, and now all three of them sported equally blank faces, staring out the windows as the rain continued in the dark night, and the smell of smoke was slowly replaced by the earthy scent of mud and the surrounding forest.
They were silent for a long time before Elsie suddenly inhaled. "He's gonna find me," she whispered.
Tasi leaned forward to look at her around Luke. "What do you mean?"
Elsie shook her head slowly. "I...I thought I could have a fresh start. Run away. But that's all over now." She chuckled and gestured to the carnage around them. "The police'll ask for our testimonies. Our names will be in the papers. Documentaries in the future, maybe. The people I tried to leave behind will know. The people in New York will know. I don't have anything to my name, nothing to fall back on, and now all I'll have is a crazy history. Who's gonna wanna hire or have anything to do with that?"
She didn't say it like she expected anything to be done about it. She said it like there was no stopping it from happening, and she was ending the new chapter of her life before she got to start it, and her only emotion over it was a dry, tired acceptance. Tasi struggled to come up with a response; she didn't know who Elsie was running from, and if she wanted to tell, she would've already.
"Well..." Luke leaned his head against the couch, wincing. "Why would the papers or the cops have your name?"
Elsie looked at him sideways, confused.
"I mean, as the federal agent here, they'll trust my testimony without doubt, and I sure don't think I remember anything about a guest in a wedding dress." He shrugged. "And when we leave here in the morning when the rain's let up, well...there might be a stop at a bus station before Tasi and I, and no one else, go to the police. Not that I'll remember that stop, either."
Elsie blinked a few times, and then she looked at Tasi, and so did Luke. Tasi went to the reception desk to grab the guest book and a pen, and as she returned to the couch, she scribbled over Elsie Reese.
"There certainly wasn't an Elsie Reese here," she said, flipping the book over to show her the page. "Elijah just messed up writing his name and had to scribble it out and go to the next line, is all." She paused. "And I messed up writing his name in the private record, to. There was no one in W3. My mistake."
Elsie nearly started crying. "Thank you," she choked out.
Tasi smiled. It felt good to make someone happy after all...this. She sat back down and gently took Luke's hand, and he took Elsie's. They stared out at the rain as it drummed against the parking lot. The smoke was all but gone now, blown away by the wind entering through the door and the windows. Tomorrow, Tasi -- as the only healthy one among them -- would drive Tally's car to the bus stop and then to the police station. She and Luke had a a lot ahead of them: testimonies, interrogations, and whatever else came with an investigation, but she was okay with that. She was just grateful she was alive.
The End
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Trouble in Paradise | ONC 2024
Mystery / Thriller[Original Story] In the dreary, short days of late January, 1970, strangers arrive at the Paradise Hotel in Arkansas. Some are here for respite. Some for work. Some for trouble. The holidays may be over, but the murders aren't.
