The Rain

three: a leap of faith

THREE

     “I will always find you.”

                    -Prince Charming, Once Upon A Time

“Room for one please?”

     I handed my credit card to the hotel receptionist. After driving for two hours straight, I was ready to collapse. So I had decided to get a hotel room for the remainder of the night. The receptionist handed my credit card back after a moment.

   “Your hotel room will be ready in twenty minutes.” He told me gruffly, “Take a seat if you like.”

      Nodding, I sat on the couch in the hotel lounge. Looking around, I saw two other people sitting in the lounge with me. A dark-skinned girl was on her phone, texting I assumed. A middle-aged man dressed in formal clothing was sleeping on the couch opposite from mine. I wondered if they were waiting for a hotel room as well.

      “Are you waiting for a hotel room too?” I questioned the girl, and she looked up from her phone in surprise.

  “I’m sorry. What was that?” The girl asked in a polite tone.

 “Are you waiting for a hotel room too?” I repeated my question once again.

  The girl shook her head. “Nah. I’m just waiting for an old friend.” A mischievous grin formed on her lips unconsciously.

   Why is she smiling like that? “You’re waiting for a friend in a hotel lounge−” I glanced at a clock on the wall, and cried in disbelief, “−at nearly two o’clock in the morning!”

   “Yup.” The girl nodded, seemingly unaware how weird that was.

     I just shook my head, not knowing whether to believe her or not. If she was here to meet a friend, why here of all places? And if she wasn’t, why was she really here? Whatever she’s doing here isn’t really any of my business, I told myself. Unless she’s here to kill me of course. My eyes grew wide with fear at the thought, and the girl raised her eyebrows questioning at me.

  “Miss, your room is ready.” The hotel receptionist called, pulling me from my thoughts. I stood up and walked over to the desk to get the keys to my room.

   “Thank you.” I told the receptionist, smiling warmly at him.

     With that, I walked towards the elevator. Pressing the button to go up, I waited impatiently for the elevator doors to open. After driving for so long, all I wanted to do was fall asleep on a comfortable and warm bed. Finally the elevator doors opened, and I entered it, letting out a sigh. It took me all the way to the tenth floor where my hotel room was. The elevator doors slid open once again, and I slipped out into the hallway, my eyes searching for the hotel room. I noticed a man in a suit and tie standing in the hallway, his back pressed against the wall. He looked suspiciously like the man I’d seen sleeping downstairs in the hotel lounge. But it couldn’t be him. I reassured myself mentally. How the hell would he get here faster than me? If he’d been sleeping when I had left the lounge, there was no way he’d get here faster than me.

   I found hotel room number 1003, the room they had given me. Unlocking the door and walking into the dark room, I shuddered from the cold wind that hit me as I entered. The balcony doors were open completely, exposing me to the nightly winds of Halcyon City. I closed the door behind me, moving to close the doors. But before I could do so, lights flooded the room and suddenly the open balcony doors were the least of my problems.