butterflies ઇଓ matt sturniolo imagines

𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭

ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅ઇଓ

you did not expect to be the scaredy cat on this trip.

you and the crew were staying at the emily morgan hotel, which is said to be one of the most haunted hotels in the country. you were all for it- you loved spooky things, and you were hoping this might finally be the day you find proof of supernatural occurrences. even as a kid you loved trying to hunt ghosts and spirits, but nothing ever came of it. staying at this hotel was right up your alley, and matt's too. matt even said he wanted to walk the halls during the night and see if anything tried to snatch him into the underworld- jokingly, of course. you were the believer, and he was the skeptic, and the two of you were equally excited. everyone else, though... not so much.
the trip was comprised of you, matt, nick, chris, and madi. while your boyfriend was pumped for the stay, the others were scared to death. they'd made the poor decision beforehand to watch a documentary on the history of the hotel, and now they were afraid to even step foot inside.

     "it's built on a burial ground!"

     "there's dead bodies under it!"

     "the whole place smells like a fucking hospital!"

     the trip to the hotel was abridged by nonstop complaining, and eventually you and matt had to blast the music to drown them out. they did not like your attitude but listened nonetheless, and continued to freak out quietly in the backseat.
     when matt pulled into the hotel you instantly felt chills run down your spine. it was tall and dark, and every rough edge looked uninviting. you reveled in its negative energy and thought, oh, i'm definitely going to see a ghost tonight!

     it was a chore and a half to get everyone checked in. nick, chris, and madi insisted on having connecting rooms so you and matt- mom and dad, as they liked to teasingly call you- would be close-by for protection; matt had to jump through a million hoops to get an adjoined room. the woman behind the desk was very obstinate during the check-in, and something about her threw you off. her hair was unnaturally dark, but not black, and her eyes mimicked the color. the woman's uniform collar seemed too tight around her neck, and you watched her tug and pull at it during the conversation. something about the way she stared at matt with those dull eyes just did not sit right with you, and when he finally arranged for a proper room, you were relieved to walk away.

     "wasn't that lady weird?" chris asked as the group lugged their bags through the lobby.

     "she was definitely a shapeshifter," nick stated, as if he could ever actually know such a thing.

"oh, totally. she was freaky!" madi whined, linking arms with nick.

     the lobby was red and gold, with ornate damask wallpaper that peeled at the corners and wooden trim that was scratched to shit. there were a total of two employees and three random people in the room; the lady behind the desk and a janitor who was wiping the front windows, a woman and man sitting in two musty chairs with glasses of wine, and a bald man in a suit carrying what looked like a bag of dry-cleaned clothes. each of them looked in your direction, but not at you. it felt like they were looking right through your body. you didn't like that at all.

     once you reached the elevator at the end of the long lobby stretch, you nudged matt's elbow. "this place has a weird vibe."

     "one hundred percent," he pursed his lips, looking around with squared shoulders, "but it's all good. that's what it's supposed to be, piglet. haunted, remember?"

that warm, sunny feeling spread across your chest like little floods of sunlight filling up your lungs. matt started calling you piglet after he'd had a particularly bad day and you teased him with the nickname 'eeyore', because you knew how much he loves the character- and now he calls you piglet all the time, because you're quick to panic. it was a special thing you shared with him. you were so warm in the chest you didn't even hear chris and the others making puke noises behind you.
     you watched the boy wiggle his fingers and make little ghost noises, and you swatted at his arm in laughter. just as you were about to pile onto his banter, the elevator dinged right into your ear, ruining your fun. nick shoved in first, and the other two followed, wanting to be safely tucked in the corner, which left you and matt to stand vulnerable against the door. he was very unhappy, because everyone knows matt is not an elevator guy. you watched as he stiffly pressed the button for the sixth floor and grabbed his hand on the way back, bringing it up to place a soft kiss on the back of his palm.