Snow At The Gemini Hotel

II

*Gasp

"Am I dead? Where am I?"

She had no recollection of the night before.

Stirring hours after blinding rays begged to be basked in, Martha awoke, her knees stiff and precious lips torn to shreds by the blistering cold weather. The tiny hairs on her spine stuck to the chair as her backless, wine-stained dress ripped when she stood up. What a disgrace she was, hungover in the snow, contaminating nature's purest element with orange bile. The rush slowly morphed into a wicked migraine that gnawed on her insides, causing distress as she struggled to function. She wanted to leave but couldn't; not until she came to her senses.

"T-The Gemini Hotel?" she asked herself, barely recognizing the balcony from all the family trips that she'd been on. It was dilapidated, crumbling beneath her feet.

The world spun around her, forcing a shaky pause at the chrome doorway. Resting on its frame, her eyes peered through the frosty pane as her vision settled from double to single.

"This can't be real," she said, placing pressure on her forehead.

The wallpaper in the living room slouched over, the television was gone and, in its place, stood chipped wood and termite overran shelves. Fumbling inside, around her was a jungle of nature and pests that shouldn't have been able to survive the cold, shouldn't have been able to amount to the heights of the Gemini Hotel. Moss and alien greenery infested room 327, obliterating what the rats failed to salvage.

It was a wreck. How could all of this happen overnight? This had to be a prank of some sort, a practical joke too serious for her enjoyment. It was too scary to be real. Slipping past rats and cockroaches that bred and laid excrement beside the dinner table, Martha investigated other rooms in search of her family, vowing to invoke her wrath on whoever she found first; but the bedrooms were empty. So was the kitchen, the bathrooms, so was every other space and sinkhole in their apartment. Her only companions; algae and rats.

"Max!?" She shouted, her eyes shut as the lids pressed hard against her pupils.

No response.

"Shelby? This isn't funny!" She yelled, straining already sore vocal chords.

Nothing.

They were gone. The only thing heard was the echo of a desperate mother that didn't know what to make of it all. Was she really all alone? There had to be someone here to suggest otherwise. This was madness. It had to have been her mind playing tricks on her. Hurdling away from the wreckage, she stumbled into the hallway, ramming through the locked door and landing on the stained floorboards outside of her hotel room.

"There's over three hundred and fifty rooms in this hotel, someone has to be here," she said to herself.

"Someone has to be able to explain it all. Someone has to know where they are, tell me what the fuck is going on!"

Rushing to the next suite, she banged on their door until it collapsed into snow and asbestos.

The same scenario awaited her.

Black moss and trees taking refuge where they didn't belong, ruining the fortified structure, the cobblestone, twin tower castle as vines devoured the walls, tangling around light sockets on the ceiling, cutting off the flow of electricity.

Hyperventilating, Martha barged through every door she could get her hands on, only to face the same disappointment. She was all alone at the Gemini Hotel. Fiddling with countless corded phones in rooms she never saw the inside of before, all lines were dead. Putting the pressure to an already pulsating brain, her last resort came as she glanced through the window in room 316.

"The parking lot!"

Setting her sights outside, she stormed down flights of stairs to the ground floor, scorning the dysfunctional elevator. With planks of wood away from the decimated lobby, she swiped a handful of keys and made her way to the revolving door. Despite the hotel's emptiness, vehicles remained stationary in the snow. Smashing windows with her elbow and hopping from car to car, none came to life as her mediocre experience was incapable of remedying any of their complications. Her attempts at debunking the current climate, futile. Chances of getting away? Slim to none.

Not only was she alone, she was stranded miles away from civilization where no-one could hear her, in a place that was no longer habitable, a place that lacked food, lacked company.

She was left for dead on Christmas.

"Why is this happening?" she wept, kneeling on the icy parking lot, screaming at the world. As her nasal voice ricocheted off the mountains, it spawned a sonic boom that made the ground beneath her quiver in compliance. It was a sign from God that he still had the last say. It was humbling yet effective. Rising up from the stone-paved lot, the shaking continued even after the snow settled from the rocky terrain. Squinting over the fog infested bridge, yellow headlights glared from the other side.

Someone was coming.

"HEY, OVER HERE!" She yelled, flagging them down as the vehicle came closer. Someone stuck their head out of the window when they saw her.

"OVER HERE! I'M OVER–

A gunshot echoed throughout the mountain tops as a bullet sent her flying backwards.