𝐇𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐍 (𝙰 𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕)

❼ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐩 𝐎𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡

⚠️ CONTENT WARNING ⚠️

•••

Vinnie

"Mason?" I called from the bathroom.

No response back. Of course, there isn't.

I wipe my eyes and clean myself up before opening the door. Mason had run away and now I am completely on my own. It takes a few moments for me to understand that.

I open the hotel door and exit into the hallway, which is empty and barren. No ginger-furred fox here. I run down the hallway a little, looking left and right down each corridor. I didn't care that I left our hotel room door open.

"Mason?" I called once again, my voice echoing down the hollow dimly-lit hallway, ricocheting off the walls and doors.

I run to the elevator. I jam the button to descend to a lower floor. The doors open and I step in, repeatedly jamming the elevator buttons to get into the lobby, which, upon entry, is also empty. Not even the receptionist was at his booth.

The double doors slide open as I run out. I can hear thunder, it's going to rain soon, and at such a perfect time. The parking lot, just like the last few places, is devoid of Mason. He's gone.

He ran away.

Shit.

I immediately race back inside of the hotel and reverse my actions, finding my way back to the hotel room, closing the door behind me.

I pace back and forth across the room. I brush my paws through my fur. I try to channel my breathing, but it's just too heavy. I look around the room, trying to find something, anything, that can point me in the right direction.

What do I do?

What can I do?

Where do I go from here?

Do I find Mason, or...

Do I go on without him?

No. I can't leave Mason.

If he was the lock that trapped us in... He's gotta be the key to get out.

I grab the luggage and the backpacks. I grab the car keys.

I strip the bed of its blankets and the pillows, tossing it into the luggage along with our clothes. I go into the bathroom and snatch the provided toiletries, supplying myself. I couldn't stay here any longer, so I made sure that I could survive the next few days if I didn't find Mason.

I make my way back down to the hotel lobby and head back out into the empty parking lot. The cold air hits me harder than it has before, and when I look up, I realize, it's beginning to snow. Tiny flakes sliding down. Not a snowstorm or anything, nothing big that could cover the landscape with multiple inches of frozen rain, just tiny flakes.

I click the button on the car keys and the car lights up in the vast lot like a life preserver in a desolate ocean. I race to the car before anyone sees me leaving without paying the checkout fee. After the murder, other crimes seemed easier by comparison.

I open the car door and it's freezing cold inside. The leather on the seat and the steering wheel feels cold enough, that if I were to touch my tongue to it, I'd get stuck like Scott Schwartz in A Christmas Story. I rub my paws together and jam the keys into the slot, engine running, turning up the heat.

I'm coming to find you, Mason.

The issue is, it's freezing. And snowing.

I really hope you're safe.