Hotel Midnight // Shawn Mendes (✔️)

Twenty-Six

I didn't walk back over to everyone in Hotel Midnight instantly. Instead I sat in the room for a while, my mind completely blanked out.

What had just happened?

Staring at the old wallpaper surrounding the room I was in, I find all my thoughts completely gone, the only thing roaming around in my mind being the fact that I could have saved her.

This was a lie of course, because she was long gone before I could even reach a hand out. But still, I could have warned her about how dangerously close her feet were before it was too late.

Despite the fact I had just met Coraline, I felt like drowning in a pool of my own guilty tears. But no matter how terrible I felt, not one tear drop went down my cheek.

After a while of sitting in complete silence, I finally decide to get back over to Shawn's room, and tell him I had the key.

The thought of Shawn made my heart race, and only then had I realized that I hadn't had a complete thought of him in a long time.

Well, it was more like a few hours in floor Zero, but still. Time moved differently, which meant it was a lot longer out of that floor.

What could Shawn be doing right now?

As I begin to walk, I realize something that made my heart beat faster than ever.

Mr.Rush was gone.

Well, he wasn't gone, but he was stuck in floor Zero, and that meant one thing.

As long as he was down there, no one would be ashed.

I take a long, deep breath before shutting my eyes tight and reopening them. The sentence "Mr.Rush is gone." sounded way too good to be true. But somehow, I knew it wasn't. He was stuck in floor Zero.

I silently thank Coraline for tripping him, although I know she won't be able to hear me.

After a few more minutes of endless walking, I finally reach Shawn's hotel room, and make sure to feel the figure of the key in my pocket before raising my hand to knock the door.

However after one knock, the door becomes ajar, and I raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

Why was his door open?

"Shawn?" I ask quietly, opening the door all the way and walking in. My heart begin to race a little more as I found the room completely empty, Shawn nowhere in sight.

Maybe he was in my room? Unlikely, I know, but where else would he be?

As I'm walking, I hear a familiar voice behind me, that causes me to turn around.

"Hey, long time no see! Where've you been, Nora?"

"Hey, Sam." I say, turning my face to look at him. When I do, he stumbles back, a concerned look on his face.

"Nora, are you okay?" He asks, purely worried. I raise an eyebrow at him. Sam was all party, no stress. What would cause him to be like this?

"I'm fine Sam. A little tired, but fine."

My friend states at me for a moment, like he's solving a puzzle, before going completely still, his eyes slightly watering.

"Oh no. Oh, Nora, not now. It can't be today." He whispers, a tear visibly threatening to pour down his face.

Never in my Hotel Midnight existence have I ever seen Sam cry.

"Sam, what's going on?" I ask, but instead of getting an answer, he wraps his arms around me, engulfing me in a hug.

After a moment of shock I gently push him off of me, looking around for something I can see myself in.

I rush to the picture hanging on the wall, and stare at my reflection in curiosity of what Sam was crying over.

Oh no.

My face was draining color. I was extremely pale, and that wasn't the worse part. At the outer crease of my left eye, was a black line, shaped like a thunderbolt with other lines coming out of it.

My time was up.

"What time of day is it?" I ask Sam, extremely worried.

"Morning. I'm having a bunch of friends over at my hotel room right now, you can come if you want." Sam offers.

I had until midnight. Well, 12:01, but a minute wouldn't matter.

I needed to get Shawn and get out of here.

"I need to go to my room first, I'll be there in a few. Anybody new today?" I ask Sam, for once hoping that he would say yes. We needed someone who could see the door to unlock it for us.

"No, sorry."

With that, I say goodbye to Sam before rushing over to my hotel room, praying Shawn would be there.

He wasn't.

The moment I opened the door to my room, it was completely dead inside. But the strangest thing was that my bed was made (something I never did) and I had my "Do not Disturb" card on my door.

Only then did it strike me that I had been gone for two weeks, and who knows what could have happened between Shawn and Mr.Rush in the two weeks I was gone.

Instantly, my heart begins to beat rapidly, and my breathing quickens. The thought of Shawn being ashed had just occurred in my mind, and I didn't like it at all.

I knew I had to ask someone about it, and Sam was the first person to pop in my mind. after checking to make sure Shawn's watch was still hidden, I take a quick look in the mirror, only to see that the lines had grown slightly longer.

Taking a deep breath, I rush to Sam's room, hoping I could find him without being questioned about my new tattoo by other people.

The moment I open the door to his room, I can't say I'm surprised by what I see. Despite it being morning, I could see a large amount of people all in his room, smiling and talking in groups underneath his dim lights.

No one noticed when I walked in, which was fine by me. I just needed to find Sam.

I turn my head to spot a teenage girl pressed against a boy, his hands on her shoulders. She pulls away from him and begins to start a conversation, which means I could now ask them if they knew where Sam was since they were no longer pressed against each other.

As I walk closer to them, I begin to wonder who they were. I tried my best to memorize all the faces and names in this hotel, but because of the lack of lighting, it was pretty hard to know.

The girl must have said something pretty funny, because the boy tosses his head back and laughs. I watch as he looks around the room briefly, obviously searching for someone.

That's when I get a good look at him, and my heart begins to sink.

Shawn.

The moment we make eye contact is the moment I run away.