The Jacobs Hotel (Haunted)

2: Screams

The following day, Michelle Jacobs propped herself up on the receptionist desk, a hot mug of tea in her hand and studied the giant painting in front of her. How can mum just throw this out? She thought as she studied the craft, it looked almost life-like, a real work of art. Time and time again she found her eyes resting on the small, sleeping baby. She had been ordered by Mersey who was taking a nap to keep her eye on the decorators who were scattered around her, doing work on the old building. In other words what Mersey really had meant was make sure they don’t steal anything. Michelle looked around vaguely but had no interest in watching the men at work. Taking a sip of her tea, she gazed once more at the sleeping child when a voice behind startled her, jolting her mug in her hand as hot specks of tea fleck her leg.

“Michelle.” The boy from the drive-through, grinned from the other side of the desk. He looked different out of his work clothes, Michelle thought. Wearing dark jeans and a grey hoody, he looked pretty cute, his hair was blonder than Michelle had noticed before too, in much springier ringlets. “Woops. I didn’t mean to scare you, I just came to…”

“How do you know my name? I never told you my name” Michelle climbed down from the desk, and set down her mug to turn and face the boy properly.

“Oh” the boy scratched the back of his neck nervously “you’re in the local paper. I’m not sure if you knew about this. Mother and daughter buy ancient hotel, blah blah blah”

“Sounds like a killer story” smiled Michelle sarcastically.

“I’m Adam by the way” the boy stuck out his hand to shake but Michelle ignored it, crossing her arms; her mother had always taught her to be suspicious of boys when she was younger, so she always had an untrusting attitude when they approached her.

“Well Adam, as you can see we won’t be open for a few weeks” Michelle gestured around the room at the workers “so you’ll have to wait a bit longer to use your freebie.”

"Actually I just came by to say thanks for the generosity, but you don’t have to give me a free stay, I can’t take it. What you said last night was only because you care and I don’t need someone to apologise about that. My dad died of skin cancer three years ago, so I understand how you felt.”

Michelle didn’t know what to say, the boy, Adam was being so kind to her and she really didn’t deserve it. She had no idea about his father, but why should she, she didn’t even know him. This news just made her feel even more sorry than she had before.

“Adam…I….”

Adam brushed her off; waving his hands in front of him “I just came to say don’t worry about it, that’s all”

As he turned to head for the door, Michelle found herself blurting out his name “Adam.”

He turned towards her, those big green eyes full of sadness.

"Do you…fancy hanging out for a bit?”

*

Mersey Jacobs awoke shivering from her nap to see that she had forgotten to close the window. Getting up stiffly she walked over to the open pane and pulls down at it. To her frustration the window wouldn’t budge, she is surprised she had managed to open it in the first place, although she couldn’t remember doing so. With a forceful push, the window eventually slammed shut with a loud thud, making half the building shake. She’d be surprised if this place would even make it a year, it was so old and tired she didn’t have to question why the asking price had been so cheap. Rubbing her eyes she looked in the mirror of her dressing table and grimaces at the dark circles forming under her eyes. As she observed the gentle aging beginning to etch into her once lovely skin she heard something in the background. She bolted upright and listened nervously until she heard the sound again, a distant cry of a girl . In a sudden hurry she grasped the door handle and leaves the room finding herself in the corridor with no idea in which the direction of the cry came from. There it is again, a loud eerie scream. She’s sure it sounded from the left hand side of the corridor and hurried in that course, lunging into the dark unlit part of the hotel. Her heart is hammering in her chest and her once healthy lungs struggle to keep up with the pace of her breathing as panic takes over.

“Michelle” she calls out and begins opening the doors of the hotel rooms and looking inside for her daughter. Only painters and carpenters stare back at her bewildered "have you seen my daughter?" but their vacant expressions tell her all she needs to know.

She continued running, ignoring the burning inside her chest and the hammer of her heartbeat “Michelle answer me!”

“Mum, what’s going on?” A voice the other side of the corridor called out, the right hand side. Yet, she was sure the sounds had come from the left. Seeing her daughter standing in the hallway, hand on her hip and completely unscathed gave her the chance to let out a breath of relief.

“I thought I heard you screaming” said Mersey walking out of the shadow and toward her daughter.

“No, I wasn’t screaming” Michelle looked at her mother’s flushed and panicked face “are you okay?”

Mersey nodded her head distractedly trying to listen out for a sound, when a shadow appeared behind Michelle. Her face must form a look of stricken fear because Michelle turned to the shadow and then back at her mother and began to laugh. As the form came out of the darkness and into the light from the window, Mersey is surprised but relieved to see the boy from the drive-through and not some horrifying monster.

“Jeeze, mother, if I knew you would look so afraid for having a guy in my room I would have woke you and asked you first. This is Adam.”

Mersey took a deep breath and began to evaluate the situation. Her daughter is safe and well but she did indeed have a boy in her room, a boy a very similar age to hers and he was very good looking. Mersey trusted her daughter but she knew what teenage boys could be like.

“Well you should have asked me” she says trying to whip herself back into mother-mode but the fear from minutes before is still fresh in her mind.

“I’m eighteen now mum, come on.”

Adam walked forward and smiled so sweetly Mersey could not help but smile back at him, her strict parent exterior began to crack.

“Sorry Mrs Jacobs, I didn’t mean to intrude or anything. I totally respect it if you want me to leave.”

“That’s alright dear; I’m just not used to Michelle being with a boy...but of course, you’re welcome to stay for tea.”

“Mum!” Michelle snapped, glaring at her mother crossly.  

“So you really didn’t hear any screaming?” Mersey said bringing herself back to the subject to avoid an argument with Michelle.

Adam smiled guiltily “your daughter can get a little competitive on the PlayStation it seems. I think what you probably heard was the sound of me thrashing her”

Mersey thought she would feel relieved by this, as she watched her tomboy daughter acting girlish and swatting the young boy with her hand. That ear-piercing scream had just been the sound of her daughter getting heated over a video game, it was plausible, sure. But something within told her it wasn’t the truth….