“Either I was getting paranoid or that call was a forewarning of what was to come.”
-Ethan
------------
Something wasn’t sitting right with me. The whole time we went from motel to motel, there was a little nagging voice in the back of my mind that just wouldn’t leave me alone. Yet I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was trying to tell me.
I could sense the whole car ride that my brother was thinking about me. He felt hurt, and probably even guilty. My attempt at trying to hide something for his benefit only turned into Matt feeling guiltier and his ex-girlfriend being kidnapped.
The movie, I should have known. If only I had realized that the truck driver wasn’t the end of it; that the kidnapping of the girlfriend would somehow play into all of this. I coughed as the smoke from Tim’s cigarette wafted into the back of the car, and I gestured for Johnny to roll down a window.
“Shut the damn window,” Tim demanded from the front.
“The smoke’s killing me,” Amy muttered. “Literally.”
“Well it’s cold out.” Tim pressed the automatic window roller on his car to shut it. Johnny again pressed the button to open, but Tim locked the feature so he couldn’t. I sighed and sat back in my seat. Tim. Words couldn’t even describe my hatred for that guy.
“Here we are,” Matt sighed, and I could sense the fear in his voice. I knew exactly was his thoughts were. This was the last motel, this was our last chance. And what if we didn’t make it in time?
“Again, he’s putting everyone’s fate into our hands,” I swore to myself as Mr. Grey’s face popped into my mind.
“What?” Johnny asked.
“Nothing.” I shook my head and got out of the car along with the others. At last, all of us stood outside of the car except for Tim.
“You coming?” Matt poked his head back into the car with a reluctant sigh.
Tim swore to himself and stepped out of the car. Standing in the parking lot, I took in my surroundings. The motel had the typical run down, haunted motel that one would see in the movies. The ‘E’ in ‘motel’ was flickering on and off and the disappearing daylight sent a shiver up my spine. It was a one floor motel, all lined with tinted windows that were rusty and covered in grime.
“Let’s hurry,” I whispered to my brother.
Matt started heading towards where the lobby would be, but Amy caught his arm. “Matt.” She gave him a look I couldn’t read. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“What do you mean?” my brother hissed. “She’s going to be fine. Kelly will be fine. Everybody will be alright.” But I could tell he was trying to convince himself more than he was the rest of us.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Amy replied. I saw her hand subconsciously slip to her phone in her pocket as she let go of his arm. “Nevermind.”
There was something in the way she said it that made the nagging sensation come back. There was something… something I was forgetting. If only Johnny and I had watched Joyride all the way through… Well, there were a lot of “if’s” these days. Letting them get to me wasn’t going to help.
Matt led the way to the main lobby. Our steps sounded too loud for my own ears as we plodded through the run-down, greyish green grass. From afar I could hear a bird caw in the distance. Either I was getting paranoid or that call was a forewarning of what was to come.
What was I forgetting?
Matt went in to do the talking to the manager. He came out looking troubled and gestured for us to all come in. “There are only a couple of people checked in here,” he told us. Then to the manager he said, “Could you by chance tell us what rooms are occupied?”
The manager was a grumpy looking man in his fifties, wearing a shirt that said ‘Bazinga!’ and holding some Chinese take-out in his hand. He just gave Matt a look before answering, “Against motel policies. Now do you want a room or not?”
Matt glanced at us. “Sure. Any room is fine.”
The man sighed and got up. “Let me go get you the key.” When the man left the desk, Matt ran behind to look at the computer.
“Matt, what the hell?” Amy exclaimed. “We don’t have any money on us to even buy a room!”
“Rooms 9, 17… 19… 22… and 23 are taken. Come on, let’s go!” He hit escape from the computer and bolted for the door before the manager could get back to us with the key.
As we ran after it, the sky was darker than I remembered it was.
What was I forgetting?
“Which room do you suppose it is?”
“Let’s just go knock on every freaking one and see, why don’t we?” Tim sarcastically suggested. “That’s normal.”
“It’s room 23,” Matt said without looking back.
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.”
As we passed room after room, I tried to think about how Matt could have known what room she was in. Maybe it was a secret they shared about something.
Rooms 1… 2… 3…
We were clearly running out of time. Especially when we didn’t know exactly how much time we had when “two days” were up.
9….10…11…
Room 23… Room 23…?
14…15…16…
And then it dawned on me. Cabin 203. Of course. It hadn’t been something Matt and Kelly shared, it was between us and Mr. Grey.
19…20…21…
Something was about to happen. And it was up to me to stop it. If only I knew what exactly my brain was trying to tell me.
22…….. 23.
Matt put his hand to the door knob. “Ready?” he mouthed to us.
For some reason, a flash of when my father was about to drink a can of coke came to my mind. There was a feeling in that moment, one of helplessness when I wanted to do something but couldn’t. But this time I could.
“Wait!” I yelled, maybe a little too loudly.
Matt glared at me, but slowly took his hand off the doorknob.
And it all came back to me.
“In the movie… The killer set it up so that if the person turned the door knob, it would trigger a gun inside that would shoot the girl.
Matt stepped away from the door.
“How do we get in?” He struggled to get the words out, the shock of what could have nearly ended drastically hitting him.
“Not a clue.”
____________
Haii guys. I've realized there a lot more Ethan chapters in this book O.o
Hmmm.
Thoughts on the chapter?
It's 11:30 so I should probably go to sleep... I'll upload this weekend!
Love you guys<3
Peace, and hallelujah tomorrow is Friday.
xx
Ella
Comment, vote, fan<3