DISCLAIMER: I do not own WWE or any of its superstars.
Chapter 1
Mrs Ouellet sobbed uncontrollably as she clutched onto her locket. Inside was a picture of her beautiful and only daughter, Maryse. How could this have happened to her? She'd always seen stories like this on television and in newspapers, but it wasn't supposed to happen to people that she knew, especially her own daughter. Mrs Ouellet looked up at the camera, which she could barely see through her tears, and tried her hardest to finish what she had started saying.
"Please, I beg you, do not harm my daughter." She pleaded. "Maryse has such a bright future and is loved by so many people. She wouldn't run away, she's too happy with her life. I know some monster out there has my daughter. Please, just return her to her family. I just want to hold her and tell her how much I love her. How can you keep a mother from telling her child that she loves her? Please, I'm begging you, don't hurt her, bring my Maryse back to me."
Then, unable to hold it in any longer, she broke down in front of everyone. A reporter for the local news team, who was standing no more than four metres away, slowly turned and looked into the camera sadly.
"The third appeal of Mrs Ouellet, mother of Maryse Ouellet who vanished two weeks ago now. Police continue their search with the help of many local volunteers, but so far the search has produced no clues of what might have happened to the missing teenager. Authorities involved in this case remain baffled as the desperate search for Maryse Ouellet continues. This is John Bradshaw Layfield reporting for WCC news, asking you to spare a thought for the Ouellet's as they pray for their daughter's safe return."
20 years later…
"This is it." Melina told her four friends as they pulled up outside the Grange hotel.
"It doesn't look as good as I thought it would." Mickie said, a little disheartened.
"Never judge a book by its cover." Melina shrugged as she stepped out of the car. "It'll probably be better inside, come on."
Melina, Mickie, Candice, Torrie and Maria all stepped out of the car and collected their luggage from the trunk. As they did so, Candice looked around, wondering whether Melina had made a mistake.
"This place seems pretty dead." She said as she stared out onto the beach opposite the hotel.
"It's only Friday remember." Melina replied. "People are still in work and school and stuff."
"I guess." Candice followed Melina as she made her way to the hotel, with her other three girlfriends not far behind. As they stepped through the front door, they briefly studied the lobby with their eyes. It didn't seem too bad. Everything seemed clean and well kept, and it wasn't too badly decorated either. Still, it was hardly the Four Seasons.
"Can I help you?" Asked a woman sitting behind the reception desk.
"Yeah, hi, uhm…" Melina walked up to the desk. "I have a reservation."
"Name?" The woman, whose name badge said 'Stephanie', turned to the computer, which was gently humming beside her.
"Perez." Melina answered. Stephanie clicked the mouse a few times.
"Melina Perez, party of five, staying one week?"
"Yeah."
Stephanie stood up and turned to the cabinet where the keys were hung. She reached out to grab a key, to find that it wasn't there. She turned back to Melina and sat back down.
"It appears that room service are still putting the finishing touches to your room, you know, clean sheets and stuff, if you want you can sit in our restaurant and leave your bags here while you're waiting. I'll keep an eye on them as I'm not doing much else."
"Um, sure, ok." Melina smiled, but felt a bit weird.
"I'll send someone for you when your room's ready." Stephanie flashed a smile that Melina knew all receptionists had to fake.
"I don't like this place much." Maria said quietly as they made their way over to the café.
"Me neither." Candice agreed.
"It's just because we only just got here and you don't know it yet." Melina shrugged.
"Know what?" Maria asked absent-mindedly.
"Here." Melina answered, rolling her eyes.
"Oh."
The fivesome entered the café and sat at the nearest table that would fit them all. The place was quite basic; metal tables with metal chairs that had a red padded seat and bars on the backrest. Each place had a red napkin that was wrapped around a knife, fork and spoon. On the far side of the room was the till. Behind the till stood two waitresses, one dark and slim with long blonde-streaked hair, the other shorter and more filled out, with dark curly hair. They watched Melina and her friends walk in and sit down. Other than them and the two waitresses, the only other person in the café was a middle-aged man, who was sat in a corner, staring out of the window.
"I'm with Candice and Maria," Mickie said, "I don't like this place either."
"We haven't even been here five minutes yet!" Melina replied.
"She's right." Torrie chimed in. "Never judge a book by its cover."
"Can I take your order?"
All five heads turned to see the taller waitress stood at the end of their table, pencil and notebook in hand.
"We're just waiting, thanks." Melina told her.
"Ok, no worries." The waitress tucked her notebook and pencil into a pocket on her blouse. "If you need me I'll be over by the till."
She turned to walk away, but Maria had already spotted the girl's name that had been stitched onto her blouse. 'Kristal'.
"You have a really pretty name." She said.
"Why thank you." Kristal smiled, and Maria guessed that she didn't receive compliments a lot.
"I know this may be an odd question," Mickie rested her head on one hand and leaned into the table so that she could see Kristal better, "but do you get much business here?"
"We get enough to stay open." Kristal admitted.
"So not a lot then?" Mickie was even more disheartened than she was when she first arrived.
"Well, it's about the same as we've always had since the hotel first opened forty years ago."
"That's a lie!" The middle-aged man shouted from the corner where he was sat. "This hotel's not nearly as popular as it used to be!"
"What have I told you about interrupting my conversations?" Kristal said, putting her hands on her hips and clearly annoyed.
"Are you not going to tell them why this place isn't as popular as it used to be?" The man asked, lowering his voice.
"And what have I told you about scaring the customers?" Kristal crossed her arms, even more annoyed.
"I'm not scaring them, I'm warning them!"
"Who-"
Before Mickie could finish her question, Stephanie had entered the café.
"Your room is ready for you now."
"Thanks." Melina said, as she stood up hastily along with everyone else.
"Mr Layfield, I hope you're not causing trouble?" Stephanie said, glaring at the man, who was slowly sitting down.
"Not at all." He replied moodily.
"Good." Stephanie led Melina, Maria, Torrie, Candice and Mickie back into the lobby, where a bellboy was standing next to their luggage.
"If you would like to take your bags, Shane will show you to your room."
The girls grabbed their bags and followed Shane into an elevator. As the doors closed, he tried to make conversation.
"I see you met JBL."
"JBL?" Candice asked.
"The man in the café." Shane replied. "He used to be a reporter for the local news station. Now he just sits in our café and rants about random things."
"Right." Mickie said throwing a glare at Melina, who threw one back.
"He's not crazy or anything." Shane added quickly, seeing the look that could kill on Mickie's face. "He's just very opinionated."
"Why does he sit in the café?" Maria asked curiously.
Shane shrugged. "Must enjoy the scenery I guess."
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Shane led the way down the corridor before stopping at their room.
"This is your room." He told them as he unlocked the door and let them in. "Five beds, an en suite bathroom and a balcony."
"Thanks." Melina handed Shane a tip.
"Thank you madam." He smiled gratefully before starting to back out of the room. "If you need anything just call room service." He closed the door as he left, and the girls listened to his footsteps get quieter and quieter until Melina strolled over to the window and out to the sea.
"It's a really good view from here isn't it?" She asked rhetorically, seemingly not having a care in the world.
"That's the only good thing about this place." Mickie said, placing her hands on her hips and scowling. "What the hell possessed you to bring us here?"
"It's not all that bad." Melina retorted, moving over to her suitcase and lifting it onto her bed.
"She's right." Maria said, lying on her bed. "We've only been here for about five or ten minutes."
"Have you never heard the phrase 'Start as you mean to go on'?" Mickie asked. "So far we're off to a pretty bad start."
"Then things can only get better, right?" Candice replied. Mickie chose to ignore her.
"Mel, what made you choose this place?"
"Well," Melina began, "I wanted to go somewhere different for spring break, so I asked my mom where she went and she said here."
"You asked your mom?" Mickie shrieked in disbelief. "Mel, she was our age twenty-five years ago!"
"Yeah. So?"
"So the place that might have been cool then might not be so cool now! And I think that may be the case!"
"Oh lighten up!" Melina answered. "I have my doubts too, but we're here now, and I don't know about you, but I'm going to try and make the best of it!"
"Can you guys stop arguing?" Torrie interrupted before Mickie could say anything else. "Mick, I know we haven't had the best of introductions to this place, but I think Mel's right, we're here now, and we might as well try and have a good time." She watched as Mickie turned away sulkily and paced to the window, gazing out at the sea. Deep down, Torrie agreed with Mickie, but she wasn't going to admit that. She didn't know what it was, but there was something not quite right about this hotel.