The Hotel

Dreams or Memories?

Hotel verse: Robin is starting to have flashbacks from his former life.

Trees.

He was surrounded by trees, the sunlight filtering through the leaves and creating shadows on the forest floor. It was quiet, not even the birds were singing. Robin just stood there, taking in the tranquility and peace of nature.

It was broken by shouts and the sounds of hooves pounding the ground. Someone called out to him, beckoning him deeper into the forest and he followed.

A large, rotund man who resembled his friend Ian greeted him with a look of relief. "There you are, Rob! Cutting it a bit close, aren't you? The sheriff's men almost got you."

"Thought I would take pity on them," Bobby heard himself say, his voice full of confidence and cockiness he wasn't quite familiar with. "Make them think they have a chance of catching me even though they don't."

Ian chuckled. "And I bet you waited to see the look on old Nottingham's face when he realized you once again slipped from his grasp."

"I might've," Bobby said, though it felt more like some puppet master said it for him. "I just love how he looks when he's frustrated."

Another man slapped his back. "It don't matter. Old Nottingham is no match to our Robin here."

"Here, here!" several more men cheered.

"Come, men," Bobby told them, holding up a bag. "It's time to redistribute these riches back where they belong!"

The men cheered again and they headed deeper into the woods, singing as they went.

"Bobby?" a familiar female voice broke through the singing. "Bobby, wake up."

The trees started to disappear and Bobby frowned as darkness took over. He tried to open his eyes but was unable to do so. Consciousness pulled at him but he wasn't fully ready to give into it yet, even as he felt his body start to shake.

"Bobby, you're going to be late," the voice he now recognized as Regina chided him.

He finally opened his eyes, frowning as he looked up at his girlfriend. She stood next to the bed, leaning over him. Regina was already dressed in a black dress paired with a red jacket and her hair was straightened, just as she always did no matter how many times he pleaded for her to proudly display her beautiful curls.

"Late for what?" he asked, sitting up as his brain tried to fight the haze of sleep that still engulfed it.

She sighed. "The start of the Miner's Day festivities. Remember?"

"Right," he said, feeling foolish for forgetting the annual celebration. "Okay, I'll get up and get dressed. Are the boys ready?"

"Not yet. I was hoping you would help me with them," she said, walking away from the bed.

He nodded, rubbing his neck as he worked out a few kinks that had developed why he slept. "Sure. I'll be right there."

"Thank you," she said, looking at him with gratitude in her eyes. "And I'm treating at Granny's."

"Then we should get moving!" he joked, kissing her cheek as he passed her on his way to the bathroom. "Thank you, sweetheart."

He entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Pressing his back to it, Bobby closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he released it, he let the strange dream go with it. After all, it was just some weird vision conjured up by his brain as he slept. It meant nothing.