Sixteen

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The first thing I did was grab Shawn's hand. He held onto mine, squeezing it once to show that it was going to be okay.

But never had I ever seen Mother Reenie freeze up the way she just did.

I watch as she slowly gets up from her seat, breathing deeply. Then, without a sound being made from her, she stands by the door for a few moments.

I can't help but feel absolutely terrible when she turns to look at me and shakes her head.

Mother Reenie quietly walks back over to Shawn and I, and leans over to whisper in my ear.

"They're coming to take you."

My eyes widen, and I feel my heart drop to the floor. All the color had drained out of my face, leaving my tan skin ghostly pale.

"But, Mother Reenie, my time isn't up yet. I still have time." I whisper, my voice shaking and stuttering.

Mother Reenie doesn't answer, and inside goes to the closest wall and starts speaking, not in English or Spanish, but in a language I had never heard before.

The only possible thing she could be doing at the moment is speaking to the Hotel.

"It will give you time to spare, darling, but you must go through my balcony now. It says that you two will both be safe there." Mother Reenie says to me, and I shake my head.

"Come with us then. You know that they won't hesitate to hurt you to get to me." I tell her, but she shakes her head.

"The Hotel will take care of me. I know It will keep me safe."

I stare at her as Shawn slowly gets up from his chair, and I do the same. As we begin to walk towards the door in the back, Mother Reenie walks to us, and taps my shoulder.

"In exactly fourteen days, the door will be back. I hated lying to that poor lady, but I knew I had to. Don't forget to pack food, and water, because time moves differently when you're stuck in floor Zero. An hour in there could be a year out here, although the Hotel promises not to make it too long. The Hotel will take care of you two for me. It tells me that it will guide you to the staircase.

"Also, two of you can not go into floor Zero at the same time. Or else she will take one of your prisoner. She's kind, but if she asks you, she can't be trusted, Nora. You may think she's perfectly fine, and you're doing the right thing, but you're wrong. Whatever you do, you must leave her there. Don't touch her hand." Mother Reenie spills the details quickly, and I nod my head.

"One more thing," She says, and I listen carefully as Shawn begins to unlock the back door.

"Yes, Mother Reenie?" I ask.

"The Secret Garden." Is all she tells me, and before I get the chance to ask what she meant by that, I hear the front burst open, and Shawn pulls me into the balcony, shutting the door behind him.

I look at Mother Reenie through the glass of the door and watch as she walks over to the front of the room, slowly. I notice her hands shaking a bit, which only hurts me to see.

"Come on, Nora. We've got to go now." Shawn urges me, and only then do I notice the thunderstorm going on. The rain drops were harsh as they hit my skin, although it doesn't hurt.

I stand there for just a moment, ignoring Shawn's words. The world was silent as I watched the dark sky, staring as the lighting crashes down.

Finally, I snap out of it, and look at Shawn to notice his facial expression being extremely worried and concerned. I take a deep breath as I notice the balcony had gotten longer, and at the far side there was another door.

I take a look at Mother Reenie's door one last time, noticing a new red splatter and gasp loudly.

I know I said that you couldn't die in the hotel without getting ashed, but when it came to them, it was a completely different story.

Shawn notices it too, and I watch as his face drops, before grabbing me and bringing me to the other door, pulling it open and taking both of us back inside the hotel.

It took me a moment to realize where we were, but I soon found out.

We were in the Reading Lounge. It was basically a room with a couple comfy chairs near a fire place that was always lit, and the walls were shelves of books.

My face can't help but soften a bit when I see two towels and a long blanket.

I walk over and grab a towel, wrapping it over my soaked body. Shawn does the same as I stare at the fireplace, completely silent.

"Nora," Shawn says softly, and I turn to face him, curious on what he was about to say.

"Mother Reenie will be fine, I swear. The Hotel will take care of her, she said that it would. I have no doubt that what we saw on the window belongs to whoever was knocking at the door."

I give Shawn a soft, small smile, and nod my head. I can see in his eyes that he wants to know who exactly Mother Reenie and I were both scared of, but I didn't have the heart to tell him.

"Yeah, you're probably right." I whisper, and he watches as I begin to attempt drying my soaked hair. After a while I sit by the fireplace, thinking about how the Hotel was going to get me to floor Zero, and how soon I could check on Mother Reenie.

I start to feel something soft wrap around me, and smile slightly when I noticed that Shawn had put the blanket around me and sat down. I scoot over and put the other half of the blanket around him. Which causes Shawn to stare at me, not saying a word. Instead of saying anything, I just stare back at him.

And we stay like that for a while, just looking at each other, until we both lay onto the floor and shut our eyes, then falling into a deep sleep.

A/N

mother reenie is my spirit animal

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