Hotel Midnight // Shawn Mendes (✔️)

Epilogue

I woke up with a killer headache and a pain in the chest.

"About time you woke up. We're almost there!" I turn my head away from facing the window to notice that it was my mother speaking to me.

"Huh?" Is all I'm able to say in reply, as the pain in my chest slowly subsides away, along with the headache I had.

"Honey, are you okay?" My mom says, and I nod my head, unable to identify the strange feeling I had gotten once I woke up.

"Probably just a bad dream." My sister says from the front seat, busy on her phone. I end up shrugging, mainly because I had no idea what I had dreamed of.

"Anybody need to use the bathroom?" Mom asks, and I watch as my sibling nods her head.

"How far until the nearest one?" She asks.

"Not far. Exit 38, there's a hotel. I'm sure you and your sister can go and ask the manager or any other worker there if you're allowed to use the restroom." Mom tells us, reading off the sign we had passed.

I noticed the sign looked pretty old, and McDonald's, Speedway, and the hotel (which I found out was called Hotel Midnight) were all on the sign.

"Do you think we can go to McDonald's instead? Food and a bathroom break are both available there." I say to my mother, my stomach growling.

"Sure, but don't stuff yourself too much. I promised your grandma that you would be ready to eat whatever buffet she gave to you two, and you both know how much she just loves to cook."

"Deal." I say, as we exit the highway and start on out way to the McDonald's. As we drive, we pass by a tall and glamorous building, which I assume has to be Hotel Midnight.

I can't help getting a small weird vibe from the place, as amazing as it looks.

"You know, I'm really happy you got to join us on this trip, honey. It means a lot, especially since you have a everything going so great for you these days."

My sister smiles, but I find myself frowning slightly. I hated how my mom sounded like it was an honor to have her join us. She was my sister, and her daughter. Nothing was absolutely royal about that.

"Mom, it's nothing. You guys are family." She replies, and my eyes widen when I notice she had put on her tv smile.

My sister's tv smile is the type of smile that's tight and clearly fake to anyone that can tell. Not one she should be giving to her family. But I guess I couldn't blame her, the way Mom was acting.

Ten minutes later, we're parked in front of McDonald's, and I find my stomach grumbling again. It felt like I hadn't had their fries in a year.

"I'll order the food." I offer, and my mom hands me money before my sibling and I get out of the car, and head for the entrance of the restaurant.

"Hi, welcome to McDonald's, how may I help you?" The worker says to me when it's my turn to order, and as I begin, I notice my sister walk out of the bathroom with her hood up, and look at me for a second before walking back to the car.

After I get my food, I begin to walk back to my mother and sister, noticing a black Jeep pull up in front of McDonald's, filled with college looking boys. I don't bother checking any of them out though, knowing that none of them are probably going to see me again. I was saving all my sight seeing for when we had put our suitcases in Grandma's huge house, and make our way down to the beach.

California surfer boys? Yes please.

After snacking on my fries (I knew I had to save stomach space for when I got to my grandparent's house, because they feed us like crazy), I decide to totally zone out for the rest of the trip, until we were finally at our destination. And after a solid hour of driving, and another of waiting at stoplights, we had finally reached it.

"Nora! You're so grown up now, I can't believe it!" My grandmother says, squeezing me into a hug.

"Still childish at heart, though." My sister comments, and I smile. She couldn't be more right.

"Alright, well how about we get you something to fill your stomach's, and then I can walk you down to the beach." My grandma says, pointing out to beach at the distance, where I could already see people surfing.

I knew me and my sister were both in need of some Cali boys to look at, so we both rush inside, eating what our grandparents had given us until there was barely any left.

"Well, I'm stuffed, and if I eat any more I don't think I'll be able to fit into my swim suit." I tell everyone, walking over to my suitcase.

"I second that." My sister says, and we both pull out our bikinis before rushing into a room to change.

I decided to wear a dress over my swim suit, knowing that I would still be walking to the beach, and would rather not hear honking as we walked while my grandmother was next to me.

"Ready?" my abuela asks, and we both nod our heads before saying goodbye to our mom and grandpa, then being led out the door.

"The sight seeing here is amazing girls." She tells my sister and I as we're much closer to the beach. The walk was much shorter than we had originally thought, so we decided that we wouldn't need Grandma to wait for us to be done at the beach so she could walk us back.

"Really?" She asks, and Grandma nods.

"Oh yes, especially for you two." She replies, and discreetly points to the lifeguard nearby, who I swear came straight out of a Hollister photo shoot.

"Yum." I find myself saying out loud, before clamping my mouth shut.

When we say good bye and begin to walk into the beach itself, I noticed that the lifeguard that my grandmother had pointed to was now looking at me, turning away when we made eye contact.

My expectations for this vacation just got a little better.

For about an hour or so, my sister and I are swimming, and actually having a great time. But she notices that the sun was starting to set, and we should probably get back before it's completely dark and we're completely screwed.

We decide on ten more minutes of swimming, and after our time is up, I notice that the sun was practically half out, so I quickly slip my dress on, and begin to rush out of the beach with my sister, before noticing something.

"My phone. Oh my God, I forgot my phone." I say, panicking.

"Then go quick and get it! We were by the blue umbrella with the family all wearing neon orange." She tells me, trying to refresh my memory. I nod my head and sprint like I was running for my life, realizing that with the way I'm running, I should probably try out for the track team.

Finally, I reach the blue umbrella with the neon family, and notice my bright pink phone case instantly, laying in the sand.

I grab it and feel my heart beat begin to pace normally again, before turning around to go to my sister, realizing that because of how dark it was now, we would need someone to pick us up. As I continue to walk, I feel something (probably a beach ball) hit my head hard, causing me to fall down.

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry!" I hear, and either my vision was leaving me, it had gotten a lot darker, or both, I couldn't see who was talking to me for half a second before they reached a hand out to help me up.

"Are you okay? I- Nora?"

I blink a couple times before I can see who I'm talking to. He was much taller than me, and had chocolate colored hair. He wore extremely tinted sunglasses, and had a wide smile, as if he was reliving a moment. My eyes widen, and after being in shock for a while, I finally speak.

"Sorry- but do I know you?"

go read the sequel bitches (more info in the next two chapters, but it's called Travel)