Paradise Blvd. Year One

Chapter Twenty

Wednesday

They left late Tuesday night. It was rainy. The boys took the bus and the girls took Troye's car, because the car was safer for them. The luggage and the necessary supplies were in the car to make a nonstop route to the hotel Marion had told them about possible. The hotel was named Beach House and was, unironically, on the beach front.

Throughout the entire bus ride, Marion clutched his Sony Walkman WM-101 to his side with Sex flowing softly into his ears. He had his head against the bus window, watching the raindrops trickle down slowly while the lights outside moved by like flashes. It was a cold summer night and the entire atmosphere was dark and melancholy. The bus was full of empty and miserable people and the most upbeat thing in the bus was Marion's music, but that was confined to him and only him. Forest was asleep next to him. Troye was sat with a sex worker across from Forest and Marion. He reached for one of Marion's earpieces, but Marion slapped his hand away.

"Ouch," murmured Troye.

"You can't feel pain," Marion muttered.

"I can." Troye clasped his hand against his chest. "I can when it's in here."

Marion smiled before he lost himself into the music again.

"I hate you, Marion Flynn." Troye took out a cigarette. Someone who was sitting way too far to have just noticed gave him a scornful look. "I'm not gonna smoke it, Jesus!" Troye cried defensively. Anyone who was conscious enough to react turned their heads to him. He slouched into the seat and played with the cigarette in his fingers. The mental withdrawal symptoms were doing their work on him and the professionals suggested - with his parents' approval - that Troye should smoke a cigarette every two days to create a placebo effect for his brain. He felt downright disrespected by that and felt that his brain was smarter than to believe that, but it was working. He had little urge to smoke since he'd started three days prior.

He put the cigarette back into his pocket once he started feeling a little drowsy himself and gave in to the tiredness. He was woken up by the bus hitting a pothole, but Marion had been trying to wake him up all along. He frowned. "What?"

"I've been meaning to ask, how does it work?" asked Marion. It was daybreak outside and Troye had to blink a few times to adjust. "Your powers, I mean. Do you, like, not feel pain or you don't feel at all?"

"Now, what would I be if I didn't feel at all?" Troye asked. "I might not know much about these powers, but I think they're supposed to give and not take from us and if they took one of my senses, it would be pretty fucked, right? I feel everything. I honestly think I haven't been in touch with my sense of touch like this before. I just don't feel pain and I don't get hurt. No bruises or wounds or broken bones."

"Lucky bastard."

"Is that all? Anymore questions?" Troye asked.

"No, we're here," said Marion. The bus stopped.

"Walker!" Marion exclaimed once they were out of the bus. His scream pulled Forest out of his half asleep state that he very much would've liked to stay in.

"I hate you," said Forest as they started the longish walk to Beach Hotel, the unironic hotel. "Why the hell you shouting?"

"I have a question, how does it work? Your brain vibe thing," said Marion.

"It's called telepathy, Flynn," said Troye.

"I know."

Forest sighed. "He knows. Okay, it's like a corridor. A long corridor, that fades away at either side. It's full of doors and those doors have names. They change in relation to whom I'm in close proximity with, but when I open a door with your name on it, I step into your mind."

"What?" Marion stopped walking.

"Doors, Marion!" Forest bellowed. "The doors I'm closest too are the people I'm closest to and the further away someone is from me, the further down their door is from my mind corridor thing."

"No, I get that. I just thought there'd be more to it than that," Marion said before he continued walking.

"There is," Forest stated. "The corridor is just a way for me to be able to perceive it and control it."

Marion nodded. "That's profound."

"That's very profound," Troye added.

•

Marceline parked the car on the side of the road and looked up at the three story, inn theme hotel. "Fancy," she remarked bitterly.

"You ever read Treasure Island?" asked Tulip from the passenger seat.

"No," Marceline replied.

"It's a sad life you're leaving, Marceline," said Tulip.

Marceline nodded. "I can't disagree." She nudged Lucia who had slept almost the entire ride in the backseat. "We're here."

"I don't think I can do this," Tulip said, almost out of nowhere. The other girls turned to him. "Seeing Forest... I don't know how I can look at him after what he did. He'll just remind me of Lucien and ever since last Saturday, every time I think about Lucien I just want to curl up and die." It felt like a weight being taken off her chest, speaking her mind - a rare occasion.

"You think about Lucien when you're around Forest, but not Lucia?" Marceline chuckled. Lucia gave her a warning look and she immediately apologized. She put her hand on Tulip's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll be fine, Tulip. He'll apologize. We've given him enough time to learn that you need a friend out of him and not a hero. If he hasn't learned that lesson yet, I'll teach him myself."

"Please don't burn him," Lucia pleaded.

Marceline winked. "I do what has to be done, lady. Now, let's unpack before the dudes show up and have to feign chivalry."

They got out of the car and Lucia looked up at the horizon. It was sunrise. "Look at that," she said.

"What?" Tulip asked.

"The sunrise. It's so much more meaningful than sunset and I think that makes it more beautiful," Lucia explained. "The sun's rising. It's a new day." She looked at Tulip and took her hand. "It's a new opportunity to turn over a new leaf."

"Right?" came Marceline's sarcastic voice. "I think the new you should help me unpack." She threw a duffel bag at Lucia and handed a trolley bag to Tulip. She remembered something as the two girls started walking towards the lobby entrance. "Oh, and merry Christmas."

They smiled at her. "Merry Christmas," they replied in awkward unison. After they entered the hotel, Marceline went off to look for parking.

They had three double rooms, so they had to divide themselves into pairs as soon as the boys arrived. Tulip stayed with Lucia, Forest stayed with Troye and Marceline would have to stay with Marion.