Is This Smart? (Under editing and revising)

Chapter 12

I blot up in bed. All I hear is those screams over and over again. I can't see anything either. I lean over and click the lamp on. A shadow is moving throughout our room. Without thinking, I ask, "Jenn? Is that you?"

The figure turns and the glow of the light spreads over its face. Jennifer. Then, she replies, "Is what me?"

"Was that you making that sound?" I elaborate.

The answer I receive is no more that the shake of Jennifer's head. For the second time today, I feel the color of my face turn from rosy to pale. Jennifer must see it too. Her face turns to fear, sadness, and over all confusion. Trying to get more information out of her, I ask another question, "What did you hear?"

Before she can answer, Maggie rolls over in bed, "Why are you guys talking? It's late!"

"Guys..." Ann pipes in now. But, she is cut off; by another scream. Just the sound of it makes my eyes water. Then, I begin to think about the screams that we encountered on our last vacation. At this thought, a chill runs through my body. I scoot closer to Maggie and ask in a shaky voice, "Wh-- what was that??"

Ann stands and walks over to Jennifer, then she whispers, "Do you know about this?"

"I have absolutely no idea." She answers with the shake of her head. Then, she heads to the door and speeds out of it.

"Jenn! Don't go!" I call after her, knowing that it won't work. She is still stubborn enough to ignore me and do what she wants. I hug my knees. So many thoughts are running though my head, it's starting to hurt. I look up when I hear the door click shut again. Ann must have left. Now it's just Maggie and myself.

"Come on, Chels. It'll be okay. Let's go see what's going on." Maggie tries to convince me. Eventually, I give in and we hurry out into the hallway.

The scene is not as chaotic as I thought it would be. Peoples are wandering about the hall and just looking around. The carpets are normal and so are the walls. A pair of workers enter the hallway through the stairwell. They begin directing hotel guest towards the stairs. It's Steven and Sean.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, please make your way to the stairs. Please! Single file. Single file."

Maggie pulls out her phone, "I'm calling Colin."

Before the workers reach our group of people, I let go of Maggie's hand and dash back in our room. I grab my backpack and begin frantically searching around the room for my important things. I rip my phone charger out of the outlet and stuff it into my bag. Next, I slide my phone off the bedside table, it goes in my bag too. My wallet is already in my bag, so are my earbuds, and iPad. The last thing I do is dig through my suitcase. I'm looking for a certain thing. My hairbrush. I feel around, then my hand brushes over something; something plastic.

The bag from the gift shop! We forgot all about it! I quickly stuff it in my bag too. I find my hairbrush and that goes in too. I sling my bag over my shoulder and run to the door.

Just as I close the door, someone starts speaking. "Come on, girls. That means you too." They move behind us, usher us down the hall and to the stairs.

Frantically, Maggie snaps her phone case close, "He's not answering!"

Then, calmly, Ann comforts her, "It's okay, Maggie. He should be still at the front desk."

Just then, we squeeze through the double door opening, which is packed with guests.

"Look, there's Colin! Colin!" Jennifer shouts over all the hub bub. She grabs Maggie's arm and pulls her through the crowd, they slam into the front desk. Ann and myself follow, but not shoving our way through.

We meet up with them when we here Colin saying, "I don't know! I keep getting complaints of someone screaming in Room 209!"

"Just screaming?" Jennifer asks him.

With a sideways glance, he copies her in a reply, "Just screaming."

Jennifer is trying to pull out the investigative side of her; last time she did, our vacation, well, you know.

"Is there footage?" She asks smartly.

Colin must be nervous, because every time her speaks, he just rambles on and on, "Yeah, there's a security camera in the middle of the hallway, and there's also a room back in the back where all the cameras are located. Security is trying to figure things out."

Then, Jennifer says, what I know she should keep to herself, "Do you mind if we or I, went back there? We've all gone through this type of thing before so I might have some answers."

Confusion spreads across Colin's face, "You've gone through this before?"

"It's a really long story, believe me. Do you think security would let us in?" Jennifer covers without revealing to many details. We all agreed to never speak of that summer again, if at all possible. We were only to bring it up for official government business.

"I don't know, I don't think so." Colin begins his rambling again, "But, since you guys may have answers, they may let anyone in. I could go see."

All of us follow Colin behind the counter and done a gray hall. A guard stands by the door to a room, where, I'm guessing, the camera footage is kept. The door is standing wide open, the walls are covered with tv screens showing different parts of the hotel. The lobby, the pool, the hallways of each floor, and the cafe. I'm broken out of my intense scrutiny of the security room, but a booming voice, "Hey! What are they doing here!?"

Colin turns to the guard, "It's okay, John; they might have answers to what's happening."

With a glance at us the guard continues, "Well, I'm on my way to the second floor right now to figure out what the heck is going on around here!"

Then, he storms down the hallway, leaving his pounding footsteps behind. Colin opens the door and holds it for us while we all file in. I stand near the back, trying to stay out of the way. I just listen to whatever the huge, burly, security men are blubbering about. I look up at the biggest screen. Nothing moves. Until a ghostly white figure crosses the screen. Without looking any closer, I turn, and close my eyes.

Nightmares. The nightmares begin to replay in my mind. Screams. Knives. Cabins. Woods. Trees. Animal skeletons. Ghosts. Blood. Spirits. All of it is coming back. I do my best to push them down, but it's not good enough. Also, I realize that my breathes are short and quick. I focus again on slowing them, but the nightmare still remain. Forever I'll be haunted. Haunted by a vacation.

I leave my eyes closed. They don't open until moments before we leave the security room. But, they never float up to the screen again. I study the gray floor as we walk back to the lobby. No one talks. So, I decide to break the silence.