After one more hour of driving, we were on a deserted road in the middle of a cornfield. I had rested my head against the window for the entire ride because I couldn't stand to see Alison. I hadn't looked at her even when she called my name and wrapped her hand tightly around my arm. I was running my fingers over the screen of my phone, contemplating whether or not to message one of the other girls, but I quickly knocked those thoughts because I didn't want to get them in the same mess that Alison had gotten me into.
"I guess we're here," Alison announced faintly.
We were parked in front of a dilapidated building that looked like it was built in the 1800s. For the first time in an hour I looked at Alison, but I wasn't happy to do so.
"This is where we're staying? How did your GPS even find this location?"
"Emily, please, can you be a little more supportive?" she asked imploringly, and then did the one thing people weren't used to see Alison doing. She started sobbing and begging me to be on her side. But I had always been on her side, I just wasn't sure if she was still on mine. At that point Jason got out of the car, and started walking around the small parking lot. As the good friend that I always had been, and the girl who inexplicably still had feelings for Alison, I hugged her tightly and stroked her hair, while repeating that we will help each other through this and that everything will be fine. However, I hadn't the faintest idea if there was even a chance we would be fine. She eventually pulled away from my arms and looked at my mouth. In one quick motion, she locked her lips onto mine, but I gently pushed her away.
"Jason doesn't know" I whispered, then continued, "… does he?"
"No, but I don't care."
"Well I do. We need to keep our heads clear; we can't act anything but friendly around anyone in this hotel. Or whatever this creepy place is."
Jason knocked on Alison's window, and we took that as our cue to get out as well. He took his bag from the back seat and threw it over his shoulder, and just as I was about to grab mine he also reached for it, and our hands synchronized in the most awkward of ways so that they touched, his hand over mine. I quickly retreated my hand, and looked up at him shyly. When I did so, I was surprised to see that he was smiling at me, or half smiling, because the right corner of his mouth was turned up.
"I can get that", I said quickly, in an attempt to interrupt the staring contest.
"You sure? Here, I'll get it." And without leaving me any time for a reaction, he took my bag and threw it over his other shoulder.
I looked in Ali's direction to see if she had witnessed my conversation with Jason. But she hadn't; she was fumbling with some papers in the car's glove compartment. Then she closed it, stood up straight and walked to the car's trunk, where I assumed she put her bag. A moment later, she opened it, and 2 pink bags of medium size were revealed. She grabbed one of them, then yelled over at Jason, who was heading for the reception area.
"Can I please get some help with this?"
He didn't reply.
"Here, I'll get it, I don't have anything to carry."
An old gray-haired woman checked us into 2 separate rooms: one for Jason, and one for Alison and me. We walked up old wooden stairs that sounded hollow, and arrived at our adjacent rooms.
"I'll see you girls later" Jason said, and I grabbed my bag from him without looking at his face, scared that he might surprise me with another mysterious smile.
"Stay close" Ali told him, "We'll all be sleeping in the same room tonight."
I turned over to Alison. "Why do we all need to sleep in the same room?"
"We're taking turns at sleeping. Someone has to be watching at all times, just in case A decides to show up", she said matter-of-factly as she turned the key into the lock of our room. When she pushed the door open, the first thing I noticed was the king-sized bed that took up almost the entire space. Beside it there was an old looking desk and on it an even older looking lamp. I walked inside and threw my bag on the bed, which instantly squeaked as if I had thrown the heaviest weight on it.
"Don't make yourself too comfortable…" Ali said sarcastically.
"So how long do you think we'll be here for?" I asked, hearing desperation in my voice.
"Probably until tomorrow morning. If A wanted to give us another stupid message, there is plenty of time in one night."
I attempted to check my phone, but there was no reception.
"A can't even text us here. I've lost all reception", I explained.
"I wouldn't be too worried about A. He, she, it, is probably in this same hotel spying on us."
"That's a comforting thought."
Later when we started getting hungry, Ali grabbed my hand and we went out on the hallway and she knocked violently on Jason's door. A minute later, he showed up with a towel wrapped around his waist, water dripping from his hair. His gaze shifted to our hands, at which point I felt obliged to retrieve my hand from Ali's grasp.
"I'll be out in 5 minutes, we can drove someplace nearby", he said, then looked at me and held the stare for longer than I was comfortable with.
"Fine", Ali scoffed, and we went back into our room.
"If I didn't know you weren't into boys, I'd almost feel jealous for my brother checking you out like that."
She'd noticed too.
"He's probably just had a long day", I tried giving an explanation that I myself didn't believe.
"Come on Em, you're hot, of course he's starin' at you."
My mind lingered on the word hot for a few seconds. It was a good feeling to know Alison thought that about me, but in the given circumstances I couldn't afford to spend too much time thinking about it. 5 minutes later, as promised, Jason showed up at our door.
"Ready?"
We all went back in the car, Jason in the driver's seat this time, Ali next to him and I in the back. He pulled onto the lonely narrow road and started driving in the opposite direction from where we arrived. Ali told her brother something about the road reminding her of the one to an old family friend's house. But before he could reply, he looked in the rearview mirror and yelled out SHIT at the top of his lungs. Instinctively we turned around to see what he saw, and I instantly wished I hadn't. A black car was following us, driven by a masked person in a black hoodie. A was following us.
