Again - James Patrick March

Checking In

Summer of 2000

My dad and I entered the "Hotel Cortez."  He was much more excited than I was. I knew that I would be thrown into a hotel room while he goes to drink at the bar and pick up a disgusting girl for the night. That's just how my dad was. I wouldn't necessarily say I hated him, but he isn't really my favorite person in the world. Every summer my dad would pick a different hotel for us to stay at.  Staying in musty hotels wasn't exactly my definition of a vacation, but when you're only 14 you don't exactly get the luxury of choosing what you do for a get-away.

The "Hotel Cortez"  was definitely the best hotel I've been to quality wise.  In the lobby there were very pretty lights that hung from the ceiling. The carpet was very intense, with red octagons that had a black outline and a yellow inline, but it pulled the whole place together. There were red sofas and chairs in the middle of the lobby to sit at. On the farthest wall of the lobby, there were stairs that led up to an upper deck of the lobby. Right under the stairs there was an elevator.

As I glanced around and took in the whole lobby my father was talking to a lady at the front desk. I pulled my rolling suitcase behind me to go and join him.

"So there is a bar here, right?" my father asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Nope. No bar. Sorry." the lady at the desk answered. I could hear sarcasm in her tone which made me smirk. My father crinkled his eyebrows together. He looked as though he found out the world was going to end. Running his hands through his dark brown hair, he sighed heavily. My dad adjusted the collar on his grey button up shirt and picked up his bag. "Sir, I'm just kidding. Of course we have a bar." the lady at the front desk finally disclosed as she slid my dad the key to our room . He let out the biggest sigh of relief I have ever heard and picked the key up. I smiled at the lady at the desk. She gave me a smile back and lit a cigarette.

I rolled my bag towards the elevator and looked up at the upper part of the lobby. Leaning against the banister looking down at me and my father was a woman with very frizzy blonde hair. She gave me an eerie smile so I looked away and quickly got into the elevator with my father. My dad pressed a button and the elevator began to ascend.

"So, Cassandra, what do you think of this one?" he asked curiously.

I looked up into his brown eyes and shrugged, "I don't know. It's better than the one we went to last year."  I answered honestly. My father nodded and the elevator door opened. "What room are we in?" I asked him. He dug the key out of his pocket and looked at the number.

"62." he mumbled and I began to make my way down the hallway to find our room. As I passed by rooms, I could hear obscene noises that made me cringe. I finally found room 62 and my dad tossed me the key and I unlocked it.

Inside our room, there was a full sized bed, a couch, and an armchair. I set my bag by the couch because my dad always gets the bed. My dad rushed over to the bed and set his bag down on it. He looked at me and grinned, and in return I gave him a small smile. My dad approached me and engulfed me in a hug which I awkwardly returned.

"Cas, can you try and be happy about this?" He requested looking down at me.

"I'll try." I responded quietly. He patted my head and made his way towards the door.

"I'm going to the bar, be good." he quickly informed me and walked out of the room.

I sighed and went into the bathroom to freshen up. I examined myself in the mirror. My dark brown hair, which I got from my dad, was a little messy from sleeping in the car prior to arriving at the hotel. I walked back into the main room and pulled out my brush from my suitcase and fixed my hair. Afterwards, I smoothed out the dark blue babydoll dress I had already been wearing. 

I decided that I might as well go explore the hotel to keep myself occupied. The only fun part about these mini-vacations was when I could roam around unsupervised and do whatever I wanted. I always loved getting into trouble. I made my way down the hallway and listened to the awful sounds that came from all the hotel rooms. Honestly, this hotel was a little strange but it captivated me.

"SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!" A woman's voice screamed from inside of the room I was currently passing by. I stopped and looked at the door. The door to the room wasn't fully shut, which was oddly tempting. I stupidly pushed the door open. Inside the room was a tall man with a long knife. He brought the knife down onto a horrified woman's chest and stabbed her. Blood splattered all over. She yelped in pain and he did it again, and again, until she eventually went limp.

I was frozen in fear. The killer before me turned around. He was wearing a black apron over a white dress shirt and brown dress pants. The strangest part about him was the headgear he wore. It had glasses that covered his eyes and other articles on the mask. The headgear came up just below his nose which restricted me from seeing his actual face. The sick man looked at me and cocked his head to the side. I could almost feel his eyes burning into me. I looked at him and then at the dead woman laying on the ground behind him. I backed out of the room slowly with my hands up.

Once I was in the hallway I bolted straight to the elevator and pushed the 1st floor button. As the doors were closing I caught a glimpse of the murderer standing just a few feet away from the elevator. The doors finally closed and I leaned against the wall to catch my breath. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed. Who was that? Why did he kill her? Why did I stay and watch him kill her? I could have tried to save that woman. No. I couldn't have. He would have killed me. But the biggest question that is circling around my head is why didn't  he kill me?