The Inn 🛣

Chapter: 2 When Someone Looks Around

Dedicated to SolsticeNua

Stiles woke up with a loud banging. He rubbed his eyes as the crisp sun rays penetrated through the window panes. It took him a moment to realise that the windows were now completely shut. Throwing his jacket on the bed, Stiles got up and went near the windows. He gently pushed open the window on his right with the tip of his fingers. He pushed and pulled the window multiple times to check it. It was now in a perfectly functional condition.

'I suffered the whole damn night,' he said as he stared at his reflection in the glass of the window. 'The window with superpowers. Well, I can always write about that.'

Allowing the window open, Stiles headed towards the bathroom when he got jumped by a pop sound. He instantly moved around on his spot and found the window close.

'I can count this as weird, right?' Stiles massaged the back of his neck with his right hand.

He went back and opened the window to lean over. The dead tree looked even bigger in the light, its arms hanging down like human arms. Stiles stood on his toes to expose his face to the sunlight. Shutting his eyes, he breathed in the clean breeze.

Suddenly, he felt someone else's fingers on his face. He opened his eyes and began running his hands all over his face. Stiles could see black blood dripping from his face in the reflection. He took a step closer to the window to see his face when a human hand soaked in blood came flying against the window.

Stiles woke up and found himself back on the bed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stretched. He felt much better knowing it was a mere dream. His gaze quickly moved to the windowpane. The window was still in the same spot it was last night.

'Oliver and his stupid horror stories are now haunting me in my dreams,' he thought.

Trying not to think about the window anymore, Stiles got out of the bed and opened the cupboard. He opened his bag to take out a pair of jeans and a yellow T-shirt. Luckily, he remembered that he kept the toiletries in the outer pocket of his bag. He took a quick shower and got ready.

To act the role of a naïve tourist, Stiles took out the brand new Nikon DSLR from his suitcase and hung the camera strap around his neck. The red italic font on his T-shirt said, 'Holiday Time.' He thought it would assist him to make people believe that he was simply another tourist and not someone looking for a story. He checked his reflection one last time in the small mirror attached to the wall next to the clipboard before going downstairs.

Stiles put his phone in his jeans pocket. He walked downstairs and stood in front of the reception desk. He saw a wooden key rack with multiple brass hooks.

'I forgot the car keys again,' the thought came to his head.

Stiles waited five minutes for Morgan to arrive. His stomach made a growling noise after every five minutes.

'I need to eat something,' he spoke aloud.

'I hope you weren't waiting for me to fetch you a meal, young guy.' Morgan appeared from the back doorway.

Morgan was wearing the same white sweater, but with a different shirt. It was green this time.

Stiles held the camera strap with his hands on either side. 'Don't worry, I don't expect such a thing from you. Why would I? It's just an inn.'

Morgan attempted to look busy flipping the pages of his empty register. 'There is an eatery just ten minutes away from here. Just take...'

I know exactly where the place is. Thank you so much,' he spoke in between. 'Where is that guy, Billy?'