The Jacobs Hotel (Haunted)

10: Ghost

Michelle stepped into the lobby and saw a huge gaping hole in the painting she had adored so much. Only bits of wood and canvas remained as her foot crunched over the mess.

“Mum?” Michelle called; she didn’t understand, what had happened here?

As she reached the reception desk she saw the old photographs strewn all over the floor. Her knees gave way as she beheld the contents of the pictures. The headline of a newspaper article that lay just beside her, caught her eye.

'Slaughter-house hotel’ the headline of the article read.

“Michelle” said Adam behind her, his voice was like a knife in her back “don’t read it.”

“How did you get in here?” Michelle said, putting the article down and turning towards Adam “where’s my mum?”

“It doesn’t matter. I just need you to listen to me.”

Michelle took in the sweet, angelic look in his face. His pine-green eyes, his curly blonde hair. “You look just like her. I should have known long ago. She was your mother, the woman from the painting.”

She picked up the black and white photos scattered around her.

“Please, don’t look at them.”

Adam made an attempt to grab them but Michelle was too quick.

“This baby, this little boy…is you. But, no. It can’t be…it’s not possible.”

Adam watched Michelle’s face go from confusion, to agony.

“I wanted to tell you…”

Michelle frowned, she didn’t understand. “How can it be? These pictures are from 1923, you would be dead.”

Adam was silent. He couldn’t say it to her, saying it would make it true. His muted reply was enough of an answer for Michelle.

“You’re not real…are you?” Michelle’s voice cracked “you’re dead. A ghost”

Adam closed his eyes “I love you Michelle.”

She sucked in a breath “none of this makes sense.”

“It’s just as weird for me” Adam confessed.

“How can you be here?” she could no longer fight the urge to cry, as she let the tears fall from her eyes.

"Doesn’t it just matter that I am?” Adam took a step towards her, he reached for her but Michelle flinched away.

“Please tell me it’s not you…you’re not the evil spirit.”

“Only you can be the judge of that” said Adam “I just want to forget about the past…everything that happened. You are all I care about. You and me together in this hotel. That’s all that matters.”

The second time Adam reached for her, she let him. He pulled her into him and relaxed into his arms, wanting to protect him and love him like nobody ever had.

"It’s okay, it will be okay” said Michelle, wishing it was the truth.

They sat there for a while until she eventually broke away “look at us, we’re a mess” she said wiping her tear stained face. “Hey, why don’t you…go run a bath upstairs. Make it special.”

Adam smiled and left Michelle alone in the lobby. She picked up the newspaper article, and began to read:

TEENAGE BOY KILLS FAMILY IN HOTEL MASSACRE. Eighteen year old Adam Roosevelt is thought to be the single-handed murderer of hotel massacre in Lakeside Village where he and his family resided. Hotel residents claim to have heard deafening screams of a woman, coming from inside one of the rooms of the Roosevelt Hotel in the early hours of yesterday morning. Herbert Miles was brought to the scene where all three family members were found dead along with four hotel residents who are believed to have tried to subdue the situation. The boy was also found dead at the scene where it is believed he committed suicide just after the murder spree. A machete discovered in his hand at the scene and numerous stab wounds on all victims including a slash across his own neck suggest that this was the murder weapon used. Police are still investigating as to why the murders had taken place but a source close to the family has revealed the boy had been disturbed from a very young age, poisoning rats with his own anti-psychotic medication and leaving them at the entrance doors of the hotel in a sadistic ploy to scare potential residents.’

Michelle put the newspaper down, her stomach knotted inside of her and she felt like she was going to be sick. She knew deep down it had been him, but the brutality of the murders were something she hadn’t expected. Standing up she felt for the small glass bottle in the back of her jeans pocket and headed towards the stairs.

As she entered the bathroom she noticed that Adam had turned out the lights and scattered candles around the tub so that the room flickered in the yellow glow. Adam lay in the bath filled with bubbles and smirked at her sheepishly “I found some candles, thought I’d be cheesy and make it all romantic.”

Michelle felt like her heart was in her mouth, she was using all her energy just to put on a smile. She took her time to undress herself, holding onto every second that was left. Holding the bottle tightly within her fist she stepped carefully into the bath and leaned against Adam’s open arms, in the water. He was so warm, she thought feeling his skin against hers, ghosts were supposed to be cold. He nestled his face into her neck whilst she thought carefully about her words.

“Adam” she said “tell me why you did it.”

“I just told you. I thought it would be romantic.”

Michelle run her fingers along his wet skin with her free hand “I’m not talking about that. Your family, those people. Why did you kill them?”

She felt his body become rigid and his warm embrace grew cold. This is the first time he’d ever felt dead, she thought. 

“I just want to know, Adam, please.”

Adam gritted his teeth “I told you not to read that article, its all lies.”

She turned to look at him, and the water rocked, spilling over the side of the bath.

"If you really loved me, you would tell me the truth.”

Michelle had almost given up expecting an answer when he finally began to talk.

“It was my dad…he tried to rule my life. He wanted me to leave this hotel, the place I had been all my life, and join the army. But my life was here, I had a girlfriend. Someone I wanted to marry and be with forever. She’d be long dead by now. It’s funny; I don’t even remember her name anymore. All I know is, the first time I saw you, it was like I was looking at her again. You look so similar. And then I found out you’d moved into this hotel. It was like it was meant to be. My second chance” Adam took in a deep breath.

“The day I was supposed to leave for the war, I just lost it with him. Something within me…I couldn’t help it. I grabbed the machete from his study and found him in one of the rooms and just killed him. He didn’t even have a chance to take a last breath. I hacked and tore through him like I’d always wanted to. It wasn’t until I realized somebody next to me was screaming, that I saw my mother was there. She had watched me murder my own father. Even after I stopped her screams continued. I couldn’t take it. I had to stop the screaming. The next thing, my hands were bloody and I’d killed her too. In a matter of blinks, there was bodies around me, dead. I couldn’t believe what I’d done. Without a second thought, I took that machete and cut my own throat. But I never really left, how could I? This was my home. I could never leave.”

Michelle stroked the blonde curls of his hair and uncorked the bottle under the water.

“It’s time to say goodbye Adam, to this hotel, to everyone.”

She felt the water leak out of the bottle and absord into the bath water.

“Goodbye, what do you mean?” Adam said, his face was creased with confusion.

“I love you. But you have to go. It’s time. You don’t belong here, in this world. You need to go and be with those who left you behind. Your mother, your father. Your true love. They’re all waiting for you.”

Adam began to shake and Michelle held him tightly in her arms, shushing him gently.

“Michelle. No, I’m scared.”

“I’m sorry Adam.” Michelle said, and she truly was.  

“Please…”

His voice was a distant echo by now. Tears ran down her cheeks and disappeared into the water. And soon the only boy she’d ever loved had disappeared too. It was so peaceful. He faded out of her arms like a transition, until he was gone. Just like that, Michelle sat alone in the tub.