The Jacobs Hotel (Haunted)

1: Boy

Michelle Jacobs attacked the wall with her paint brush and frowned.

'Don't you think white screams mental ward?' She said, teasing her mother, Mersey Jacobs whose strokes of paint were thick, neat lines compared to her daughters unorderly splashes.

'I like white,' replied Mersey, eyeing her daughter's messy strokes of paint suspiciously.

Michelle yawned loudly, dropping her paint brush into the bucket of paint. Bits of paint flicked at the floor covered with protective plastic.

'It reminds me of a hospital,' Michelle stepped backwards and observed their work. 'Or worse–a mental institution.'

The wall was now three-quarters white, the rest a sickly shade of beige.

Mersey tilted her head to one side and sighed. 'I never thought of that. It was the only colour in the bargain bin at Home Base. Besides, it won't be me sleeping in it.'

Michelle laughed. 'That's alright then. We'll just let our residents feel like patients.'

Mersy groaned, swiping her daughter playfully with the paint roller. 'Alright missy, I've never run a hotel before. I've not got the faintest idea what I'm doing. I know one thing, though—I'm fed up with this decorating nonsense. Let's go get something to eat.'

'It's the middle of the night, mum.' Michelle nodded at the window. The sky outside was a deep blue, speckled with stars.

'There's got to be a 24-hour place somewhere in this town.'

Tearing off their overalls, they ventured down the twisting staircase, towards the hotel lobby.

'Oh, wait,' said Mersey, suddenly. 'You've got to see this.'

Behind the reception desk, a white sheet hung, covering most of the wall. Mersey pulled at the edge of the sheet, and it fell down gracefully, revealing a huge oil painting.

Michelle's eyes widened, 'Woah!'

The painting was at least five-foot wide and eight-foot tall, but it wasn't the size that attracted Michelle to it the most. It was an astonishingly impressive family portrait, the strangers appearing almost human in their likeness.

Three well-dressed figures smiled back at Michelle. A woman in a long white gown, her hair in short blonde ringlets, her face a delicate heart shape and her red lips in a perfect smile. The woman was holding a small baby in her arms. The infant was fast asleep, but from what Michelle could see, she had a very sweet face and a tuft of blonde hair. Behind them, a stern-faced man in a dark suit had his hand on the shoulder of the woman. His black hair was slicked back and he had a thick moustache that seemed to give him an essence of authority.

A family, Michelle thought to herself, a perfect family.

'This must be like a hundred years old,' Michelle called back to her mother who was now lingering by the front door.

'It's from the previous owners. The 1920's I think. Can you believe this place has been closed for that long?' Mersey swung her car keys in her hand. 'I think it's a hideous thing. I'm having it taken down tomorrow, when the workers come in. I wanted you to see it before it went.'

Mersey walked out of the hotel and Michelle followed her. She turned to give the painting one last look before she left.

Her heart was in her throat. For a moment, she was sure she had seen the woman's arm wrapped around the baby, flinch.