It really shouldn't have been as big of a surprise to find the ground floor completely devoid of people - specifically Jimmy - but it was.
As soon as the lift hit the floor, I had half expected to see Jimmy Hall standing behind the register desk as he closed shop for the night. When I looked around the corner though, with half my body still hiding in the lift like a scared little girl, the main lobby was completely devoid of people. It was also quiet. The record player had been silenced and many of the lights had already been snuffed out.
Had Jimmy closed up the hotel early in preparation for whatever was going to happen tonight?
'If he still has a bit of his sanity left, he might have,' my mind thought as I slowly came off the lift.
"You mean if he has any at all left," I mumbled under my breath, moving silently toward the kitchen just in case the crazed proprietor was lurking in the halls. With the way things had been going on today, I wouldn't have been surprised if Hugo Punch had overthrown Jimmy's reasonable side completely.
I picked up a bit of a pace as soon as I had passed by both the two main offices as well as the register desk, walking into the long hallway toward the kitchen.
The doors were closed, but the was a note on a scrap piece of paper addressed to me:
Kylie-
I will be away from the hotel for most of the evening. Should you need anything to eat, please help yourself to whatever is available. All I ask is that you clean up after yourself and stay away from the second and third floors after 8 tonight. I will see you tomorrow morning.
Thank you,
JH
'You don't think he's hiding in the kitchen, waiting to jump on us?' my mind suddenly thought after reading the note over a few times.
"I doubt it," I answered, "but what's really worrying me is the fact that Jimmy did leave a note and knows what's going on tonight. I'm a little nervous to find out."
'And it says not to go to the second or third floors this evening,' my mind pointed out, 'Are we still going to see Rose at midnight as she asked?'
"We have to," I muttered, folding the note and shoving it into my pocket, "It's our only chance to figure out what happened to Jimmy's father and how we can help the spirits trapped here."
'And Jimmy?'
For the first time, I was second guessing myself. Could Jimmy even be saved?
I knew nothing about demon exorcisms - only that certain people ordered and decreed by the church of the lord almighty were able to do demon exorcisms. And, even if I tried; one, the demon would take a part that made Jimmy Hall who he was and cause probably great pain, and two, the demon would still be around. Demons were monsters not to be played with since they played the game their way and by their rules - with little to no hope of being able to counter any attacks they made toward their intended target.
And even if Jimmy and I were able to make it out alive - which is already a very slim margin to begin with - the fear and paranoia would forever haunt both of us.
I would always be listening, watching, and waiting for the monster to make it's return. To constantly cling to the door frames or lock doors and windows three times over to make sure that I was safe. Jimmy would always be looking at his reflection, waiting for it to snap at him - to hear the voice that lived in his mind for most of his life - and the memory of everything that had happened would come crashing down on him, the fear and torment of what that demon did using his body always chasing after him.
There would be little to no sleep for either of us.
I took a deep sigh. My heart ached for Jimmy - but it also ached for little Amy, who never got a chance to live out her life, for Dr. Bose, whose career was cut short by the lies resulting in him taking his own life, for Harvey, who had done his best to raise Jimmy and still lost him to the darkness that lived in the Hall family. It also ached for Rose, who I had just met - even though I didn't know everything that had entailed after Harvey's death, but knew that she had also taken her life some time later.
Helping the spirits to rest in peace was just a part of the large puzzle that made up the Sea View Hotel. But did the puzzle include helping Jimmy find that balance? Or was it a lost cause to save a man who had become much like his demon counterpart in the past twenty-four hours?
I could give no answer to myself or my mind.
***
It had taken me a while to prepare something halfway decent to eat. Every time I thought I heard a creak of the floor or a rustle of paper, I jumped out of my skin out of fear that Jimmy - Hugo - had snuck up behind me and would hit me on the back of the head with a cricket bat again. With the paranoia at its height, I had actually burned several eggs and slices of bread while trying to make "eggie in a basket."
I finally was able to make two of them - slightly overdone - but was grateful not to have burned anything more.
Talk about trying to explain that to Jimmy in the morning if I survived the night.
I scooped the two successes onto a plate with slices of apples and a large glass of water before standing at the cutting island in the center of the kitchen and working on my meal. The hunger that was now roaring in my belly over took my wish to remain quiet, my hands shaking as I scarfed down the food like a starving man who hadn't eaten in weeks. The hot egg yoke dripped from the center of the toasted bread, spreading onto the plate and apples like a river of gold, loud crunching noises echoed in the still silent room as my teeth clashed together with each bite. Sweet apple juice remained caught on my chin until I forced myself to wipe at my lips with the back of my hands, feeling little regret at my lack of manners.
"Hey, there, slow down!" a voice called, "You'll get a stomach ache if you swallow everything whole like that!"
My head shot up, my eyes wild with the fear that Jimmy had snuck in on me.
To my surprise, however, the ghost of Dr. Bose was standing in the doorway - his shirt still ruffled and the noose still hanging around his neck. His hands were tucked into the deep pockets of his trousers as his tired lifeless eyes watched me.
I swallowed hard, "Dr. Bose?"
The spirit smiled, "Surprised to see me again?"
"Well, yes... Of course! I thought you had gone back to your haunting on the second floor."
"Rose made contact with all of us," Dr. Bose explained, pulling his ghostly body from the door frame and entering the kitchen, "She told us that tonight was the night - the last chance for any of us to see the other side instead of being trapped here. We're all taking precautions tonight - one wrong step or course of action could be lethal."
I set the food in my hands down, the fear no evident, "What do you mean that tonight is your last chance? The last chance to see the other side?"
"I'll be blunt, since Rose wants to keep secrets from all of us," Dr. Bose said, "and I doubt little Amy understands the gravity of our current predicament - but Harvey and I know that tonight is the last chance for us to escape. The hotel itself has started to collapse with the four of us spirits living in these walls, danger lurks in every corner of this place - even deep under the ground. Rose fears that if the mistakes of the past are not resolved soon, the hotel will bury us and our stories in the dust - each of us forgotten by the world until we are forced to walk among the human race without any hope of being seen or heard any longer. Our voices will disappear on the wind and we will remain on the earth until the end of days."
"I don't want that," Dr. Bose's eyes had turned mournful, pleading, "I don't want to be trapped here in the world of the living because of something that happened to me. And Amy didn't deserve that either. She needs to be home, with her family - she needs to be surrounded by those who love and care about her, not be with an old psychiatrist, a former proprietor who went mad, or a woman who had turned a blind eye for so long to what was happening."
"I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you," I gripped the ghost's hands, though faded I could still feel the cold intake of air where they were, "I made a promise that I would help you, that I would do my best to get you the peace you need. And I'm a woman of my word, I never go back on that."
Dr. Bose looked relieved, but for only a moment, "Then you must listen to everything Rose is about to tell you in a few minutes. After you enter Room 223, all the choices you make going forward will have an impact on all of us."
"Is there anything else that you can tell me?" I asked, suddenly very nervous about the fact that I might have to face the Asmodai on my own.
"I know that there will be an attempt on Jimmy's part to keep you here," Dr. Bose answered, "He tried the same trick on Maya, promising her everything and offering what he had. She was able to see through it, locking him in the boiler room for a short time in order to save herself and her friends."
"Well, that's wonderful to know," I muttered.
Dr. Bose snickered softly, "But you're a strong girl. Just remember that it's all a trick in the mind."
I nodded as Dr. Bose finished, "Eat up. I'll escort you to the lift once you are finished."
***
The ride up to the second floor felt like a death sentence. Dr. Bose, clearly, was uncomfortable about riding up with me - the two of us unsure if Jimmy would be waiting by the lift as we exited.
When the doors opened, the spirit of Harvey was waiting for us.
"Rose sent me," the spirit spoke, his blood still lingering on his throat and his shirt from the attack years ago, "She wanted me to escort Kylie to the next area. Amy's been keeping Jimmy busy on the third floor. Get him down into the lower level if you can - we all have to keep him as far away from his room as possible while Rose and Kylie speak."
Dr. Bose nodded.
I couldn't help but wrap my arms around the psychiatrist - I felt truly terrible for him and wished I could go back and fix everything.
But, that was the past. I needed to focus on everything that would happen going forward, now. Hopefully, I would make the right decisions that would help all of them - Amy Bell, Dr. Oliver Bose, Harvey Hall, Rose Hall - even Jimmy.
Dr. Bose stroked the back of my head comfortingly before I released him.
"Good luck, Kylie," he smiled, the doors closing between us.
I turned to look up at Harvey, who smiled at me and offered an arm out, "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be," I answered, curling my own arm around his as the two of us walked down the dimmed hallways.
I had asked Harvey about what he meant when he said Amy was keeping Jimmy busy. Harvey explained that Rose had taken notice of Jimmy pacing back and forth a lot more than usual on the first floor - specifically outside my room. She had gotten in touch with the other spirits and the three adults had devised a plan to lure Jimmy away from my floor long enough for me to slip out and grab some food from the kitchens.
Amy - ten years old and afraid of Jimmy - was able to bring up a bit of bravery and had mimicked my voice to lure Jimmy up to the third floor. Dr. Bose and Harvey would escort me as close as they could get to Room 223 before joining Amy in keeping Jimmy occupied during the meeting with Rose.
After that, it was all up to me and the choices I made that would decide my fate.
Harvey sighed, explaining that he had wished Maya had made the choice they needed her to make for them when she was here. She chose to run - like any sensible woman who had been trapped in a hotel with a psychopath chasing her through all the hours of the night. She couldn't be blamed too harshly for that.
She was still a kid - even if she was eighteen years old. No child should make that decision. I couldn't help but laugh a little at that. It was exactly like what Amy had said.
These spirits needed an adult who had the same gifts that Maya had. They needed someone who could live with these choices, no matter the outcome. I may not have been as brave as I was before, but I knew that I had my head and heart in the right place. I could see through the webs of lies and I wasn't afraid of the cost - no matter what followed.
Harvey stopped outside of Room 220, turning to look at me.
"This is where I leave you, Miss Martin," the ghost sighed, "you'll have to continue on alone, I cannot go any further as Rose's spirit prevents me."
"Is her spirit as powerful as Hugo's?" I asked, curious.
Harvey could only shake his head, "Rose was the last to die of all of us. By all accounts, Amy should be the strongest as she was the first. All I know is that Rose has the ability to shield and protect another spirit for a certain amount of time. As long as you are within her reach, her motherly instincts will form a barrier around you."
I nodded, thanking him again before his spirit vanished - no doubt to go find the others and help them with keeping Jimmy at bay.
I headed down the long corridor, the walls bleeding red like the plush carpet. It no longer felt warm or inviting, it felt like a murder scene.
When I came around the corner, there was a small spool of copper wiring on the ground outside the door. It was Rose's sign that it was safe to enter.
I picked it up and placed it in my jeans pocket, the spool bulging like a lump. The door was open and Rose was sitting on the bed, hands clasped together as her head raised for her ghostly eyes to meet mine.
"Miss Martin," Rose greeted, her voice soft and warm, "please come in and have a seat. There's much we need to talk about."