The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

#11

Ashley woke up to her phone ringing at eight am the next morning. She groaned, reaching for her phone, and turning it off. Yawning, she looked out the window. The curtain was pulled over it, creating a dull darkness in the room.

"Good morning," Kris greeted her, her voice surprisingly awake. She was sitting on the couch, with a book in her hands. The light was dim, but Ashley could still see the dark rings under her eyes.

"Good morning," she said back, stretching and sitting up on the bed. "How'd you sleep?" Her voice was groggy and rough, and she felt a headache pounding in her head.

"Bad," Kris sighed. "Hardly got any sleep. You?"

"I slept like a baby." Ashley picked up the clothes she had planned for today from her bag and quickly walked into the bathroom to freshen herself up. After turning on the light, she couldn't help but laugh. The fog on the mirror from the evening before was gone, but there was still a trace of the smiley left.

Her smile wavered a little at the thought of the night before... and the thought of them leaving now. She sighed and took the small bag where she kept her hygienic articles, including her jewellery. The ring was still there. Her shoulders sagged a little in relief. She didn't know what she would've done if it had been gone again.

Ashley took one of the towels and wet it to wash her armpits. There was no time for a full shower, even though she hated the feeling of her skin being sticky and sweaty against fresh clothes.

After she had dressed herself and brushed her hair, she left the bathroom again and sat down next to Kris.

"You think the boys are up already?" she asked. Kris shrugged, her eyes almost closing.

"We need to get you some coffee, woman," Ashley chuckled. "Let's go and eat some breakfast." She got up to take her phone, wanting to text Sam and Colby. But as she opened the messaging app, she frowned. "Weird, there's no service," she said. Kris looked up.

"Yeah, not since six o'clock," she said, yawning again.

"You've been awake that long?" Ashley asked, clearly concerned. "You need coffee. Or sleep. Or both."

"I've been awake pretty much the entire night. Always slept half an hour and was waken up again," Kris explained.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. I have sleeping pills with me, you could've asked..."

"No, I tried taking some medication. Didn't help." Kris put away the book and stood up, stretching herself thoroughly.

"That's so weird," Ashley stated. She walked over to the boys' room's door and knocked twice. She and Kris heard muffled talking, and then steps. Sam opened the door. He was looking tired, but not half as tired as Kris.

"We're going to get some coffee," Ashley explained. The room behind Sam was only dimly lit as well, but she could see Colby lying in the bed, covering his head with pillows.

"Oh, good," Sam said. "Could you take a cup or two for Colby? He slept really badly."

"Me too," Kris chimed in. "I gave up at one point and just sat on the couch, reading something."

Sam frowned and looked back at Colby, then at Kris. "What about we call room service and get some breakfast up here?" he suggested.

"There's no service though. Do hotel phones work without service?" Ashley asked, glancing at the table next to the fireplace, where the black, old-fashioned phone was.

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? None at all?" She shook her head, showing him her phone.

"No service, no Wi-Fi, nothing."

Sam took out his phone. "Me neither. That's so weird..." His voice trailed off, and he glanced back into his and Colby's room. Colby was moving, slowly pushing himself up from the mattress.

"Good morning," Ashley chuckled.

"Morning," he replied in a raspy morning voice. "What time is it?"

"Eight thirty," replied Sam. "Me and Ashley are going down to get us some breakfast, yeah?"

Colby nodded and rubbed his eyes. "Bring coffee."

"Will do," Ashley said. She left the door between the rooms open and turned around to walk to the girls' room's door. Sam followed her and they quietly walked through the hallways. It was a comfortable silence, both looking forward to finally eating and drinking something.

"Why do you think they both slept so badly?" Sam then said, breaking the silence. Ashley shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe we were just more tired."

Sam hummed, not happy with the answer. "Usually, I'm the one having trouble sleeping."

"Me too, I didn't expect to fall asleep that easily. I literally just laid down and was instantly gone." In the lobby, they could already hear the noises coming from the ballroom. The curtains were all pulled to the side, revealing a beautiful snowy forest on the other side of the road. The intimidating feeling from the evening before, even the heaviness of the hotel had disappeared. They quickly made their way over to the doors of the ballroom, Ashley shuddering as she stepped in front of them.

"You alright?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "It's just the thought of yesterday. It all seems so hazy now like it can't have been real..."

He chuckled softly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I've never got used to the morning after an investigation. Sometimes I think it's even weirder than the investigation itself."

She smiled at him. "Let's go get the others some coffee."

They opened the doors and stepped into a loud atmosphere of exclamations and the sounds of cutlery hitting plates. Ashley frowned as she looked around. Most of the other guests who stayed here were on the left side of the room, surrounding a helpless-looking man. It sounded like he was trying to say something, but no one let him, they all were just shouting at the man, trying to get his attention. According to his suit, he was a worker here.

"What's going on?" Ashley asked Sam. He frowned.

"I have absolutely no idea."

An older man sitting near them had seen the newcomers walk in. He smiled at them, his warm expression seeming wrong in the heated mood of the ballroom.

"Good morning," he greeted them and laid his newspaper down. "I assume you haven't heard it yet?"

Ashley shook her head completely dumbfounded.

"Good morning," Sam replied politely. "No, we just woke up. What is going on?"

"Well, apparently the snowstorm of last night cut us off," the man explained, still smiling almost happily.

"Cut us off? What do you mean?" Ashley asked, frowning at the man. She didn't want to expect the worst, but...

"Cut off. The bridge gave away because of the snow and the telephone poles all broke down. Nothing is going in or out this hotel – not even signal." The man started opening his newspaper again. Ashley turned to stare at Sam in shock, who was slowly turning paler.

"You mean there's no way of communicating with... anyone?" he asked, wanting to be sure.

"Yes. We're cut off." The man was still smiling, leaning over to read his newspaper.

"Yeah, 'four more hours and we're out of here'," Ashley said, quoting Sam from the night before. "God, I can't believe this."

"But we won't be stuck for long, will we?" Sam asked the man.

"Oh, they promised to have it fixed by the evening. Tomorrow morning, worst case."

"Okay, thank you for the information," Ashley said before she turned around and started walking through the room.

"Where are you going?" Sam called out; his voice was barely audible with all the noise going on.

"Getting breakfast!" she shouted back. Sam quickly said goodbye to the man and hurried to catch up with the redhead. They both walked the counter with the displayed foods in silence, picking up different plates and bowls until they couldn't carry more, along with several cups of coffee.