Alphas: Child's Play

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Ten

The Bad Room

Nicky remained rooted at the doorway. He took a step forward, but stopped. Looking sad he whined, "Not fair, you're not suppose to be in here. No one is." He remained at the doorway, not daring to come in. The entire hotel seemed to be shaking. A deep rumbling was heard coming through the hallways.

Ronald took in a deep breath, and tried to sound stern with him. "Nicky, this has to stop. Let them go, I'll forget this ever happened, and I promise I'll let you come down here, if that's what you want."

Nicky slowly shook his head. "I don't listen to you anymore. I told you, I make the rules now. I am not going back to the attic."

Ronald slowly walked towards him. "Nicky, please listen to…"

Nicky's eyes flickered, the floor Ronald was standing on began to splinter. He jumped back just before it opened up. Ronald couldn't believe what just happened. "You tried to hurt me, you made something happen in mom's room. You know what she strictly forbid."

"Yes, never to hurt family. But I hurt family before, and I will do it again."

"Nicky," Rosen said. "We mean you no harm, we only want to help you."

Nicky angrily glared at Rosen. "You don't know me. If you did then you'd know that you don't want to get me mad. You won't like me when I'm mad."

"Nicky," Doctor Rosen said. "You put Ronald and Mary in a very dangerous situation." He had to find a way of driving back the paranoia. The only thing he could think of was to use his attachment to the few people in his life.

Nicky frowned, "What did I do?"

"The Guests, when their family finds out what happened, that you killed them, the police will be sent here. The police will want answers, they'll take Ronald and Mary away. If they're taken they won't be able to look after you anymore."

Nicky's eyes began to soften. "But they didn't do it, they won't take them." The rumbling in the hotel began to grow softer.
"Yes they will," Gary said. "People have died, they will want answers. If they take Mary she won't be able to make anymore fried Chicken."

"No more?" Nicky sobbed. Ronald's heart was breaking. Right now Nicky looked so innocent, so sweet. There were times he was very loving and caring. He loved his brother so much, but he knew that a line had been crossed tonight. Nicky killed, and if he didn't do anything to stop him, he would kill again.

"Ronald and Mary are your family," Rosen said. "And family look out for each other. Like your mother, she watches over you all the time."

"I know," Nicky said. "She sings to me at night. 'Goodnightsweetheart,goodnight,goodnight…."

"Yes, Nicky," Rosen said. He began to have a glimmer of hope that perhaps he would be able to talk the anger out of Nicky. "Your mother loves you, so does Ronald, and Mary. They don't want you arrested. If the police come here, they'll take the blame for the deaths. They'll end up going to prison because they love you and don't want to see you hurt."

Nicky's eyes suddenly went dark. "Then I'll go there and get them out. No prison can hold me."

"No Nicky," Rosen said. "That will only make things worse."

Nicky began to fumble with his fingers. "I'm sorry for what happened, really I am. It's just I really liked Gary being here. I didn't want him to leave."

A sick smile creased his lips. "Wait a minute, it's not his fault. You're the problem, he won't go because of you and the others." He glared at the others in the room. "Well if you're the problem, I have to fix it."

The stove in the room began to wiggle, the ceiling started to drop. Gary could see hundreds of Nicky's signals flowing into the room, touching everything. He was going to use whatever was in the room to attack his friends. He had to stop him, he knew there was only one way.

"No!" Gary shouted. "I'll come with you, just don't hurt my friends."

Nicky smiled, "You promise?"

"Gary, no!" Rosen shouted.

Gary actually looked at Rosen, in the eyes, "I have to Doctor Rosen, you're my friends, my family. I can't let him hurt you."

Gary looked back at Nicky, "I'll stay, but only if you promise to let them go, unharmed."

Nicky pushed his hands behind his back, grinning he said, "Okay, I'll let them go." He stared at a wall, a large door appeared in front of them. "Go ahead, open it."

Bill immediately opened the door. He looked back at Nicky, "I can't see anything, its pitch black."

Ronald stared at Nicky. He knew his brother well enough to know he could never be trusted. Once he saw him thrust his hands behind his back, he knew Nicky was up to something, something bad. "Nicky, where does that door lead?"

Nicky pointed to it, "It leads to the lobby. Once they walk through, the outside door will be open, promise. Gary's friends can leave, but he has to stay, just like he promised, forever."

Ronald shook his head, "Nicky, tell me the truth. What's really on the other side of the door?"

"I told you, the lobby," he tiredly sighed.

"Fine," Ronald began to walk towards the door, "Then I'll go through first."

Nicky giggled as Ronald walked towards the door. He stopped giggling when he smelled the strong scent of gardenias. Just as Ronald was about to step through the door the darkness changed, he could clearly see that on the other side of the door was open air. Tightly gripping the doorjamb he looked down. He saw the ground three floors below him.

"Thank you mother," Ronald whispered. The door opened up outside, somewhere near the top of the hotel. If they had stepped through the door, they would have all fallen to their deaths.

Nicky angrily kicked the floor, "Mommy, you spoiled it."

"You promised you'd let them go," Gary said. "You broke it, I never break a promise."

Giggling, Nicky brought his hand out from behind his back. His fingers were crossed. "It didn't count, see," he laughed. "I was just kidding."

The door slammed shut, and shifted into the floor. "This is fun, I'm going to have so much fun with all of you. I'm so glad you came here Gary, we're going to be the bestest of friends."

Nicky stopped his giggling when he saw something spinning on the floor. It was the top, its bright green colors and yellow stripes whizzed across the floor.

"Mommy's top," Nicky sighed. "But Mary got rid of it, she told me so." He was about to enter the room, when the top skipped towards him. A click was heard, and everyone could hear 'Goodnight sweetheart' playing down the hallway.

"That's mommy," Nicky said. He enthusiastically jumped up and down, "She's here, she's here!" The top flew down the hallway. Nicky quickly ran after it. As soon as he was gone, the walls of the room began to grow, filling in the gap left from the broken doors. In seconds it was a solid wall.

"Thank you, Katty," Rosen said. He heard her sigh in reply.

"Now Nicky can't get in, but we can't get out," Rachel said.

Bill immediately ran to the stove from the kitchen. He struggled to move it but it just wouldn't budge.

"Sorry," Bill panted. "Been using my strength to much tonight. Just don't have it in me right now."

Hicks joined him, together they managed to push the stove far enough to expose the dumbwaiter. Their heart's sunk when they saw how much damage the stove made once it hit the wall. The dumbwaiter was completely caved in. There was no possible way they could use it.

"Katty, can you help us?" Rosen shouted. He waited for some sign that she heard him, but received none.

Gary searched the room. He saw no sign of the golden threads, or Nicky's signals. "She's gone, Doctor Rosen, and so is Nicky. How do we get out now?"

His answer came when he saw a lone golden thread snake into the room. Touching the door to the bad room, it slowly creaked open. They all turned and looked at the door.

"Don't tell me," Nina said. "There's another way out, but we have to go through the bad room."

Ronald slowly nodded his head. "I told you not to tell me," she moaned.

"He didn't, Nina," Gary pointed out. "He just nodded."

"As much as it pains me to say this," Rosen said. "I think we're going to have to go through that room."

Ronald took in a deep breath. "Better let me go first, I know what's in there."

Reaching the door, he turned around. "I just want you to know, you may see things inside that you won't like. For your own good, try to keep your head down."

"Gary, don't look, okay?" Rosen told him.

Gary mutely nodded his head. They slowly walked into the bad room. They walked through a long hallway first. Ahead they saw several tables and chairs and a large couch. A thick curtain hung on the wall. The first thing they noticed when they entered was the smell. Bill immediately recognized it, it was the smell of death.

Looking ahead, Bill shouted, "Gary, you keep your eyes down, you hear me?"
"Okay, Bill," Gary replied. "I'm keeping them down." Hicks was ahead of him. He leaned forward, his forehead touched his back. Hicks reached back and grabbed the arms of Gary's jacket. He slowly walked forward, he cringed when he saw the dark secret of The Butterfield hotel.

Rachel and Nina had to look away, the room was filled with decaying bodies. They saw animal skeletons everywhere. Some were crushed, others had no heads. Sitting on two chairs were human skeletons. Broken ribs were obvious on one. The other's head was cracked. They also saw something hidden under a blanket on the lone bed in the room. They could see that it was clearly shaped like a human.

Ronald stood at the foot of the bed, staring down at the blanket. "My father," he whispered. "Ronny killed him when he was just four. We had to hide him here, couldn't even bury him. The other two on the chairs was a cook and a salesman. My mother said if anyone found out what he did, they'd take Nicky away. Put him in a crazy house. She knew that more people would die if that happened. No house or prison could hold him. We made a pact that day, to hide them in 'The Bad Room'. We told everyone that our father ran out on us. That the hotel was to much for him."

Ronald reached out and gently touched the blanket. "I miss him, he was a good father. All he did that day was tell Nicky to stop playing, it was time to eat. But Nicky didn't want to. What happened next, well…" Ronald spun around, his eyes was filled with tears. "Let's get out of here." Wiping his tears with his sleeve he pointed to the left.

"There's another sitting room over there. In there you'll find a door that leads to back stairs. They're service stairs, they go to the basement. We can get to the lobby from there."

They quickly left the room, Hicks didn't let Gary go until they were standing in the other room. Gary curiously looked back, the scent of the room seemed to be in his clothes. Bill saw large curtains hanging, pulling them back he exposed two double doors. Outside the doors he saw a balcony.

"Can we get down from here?" Bill asked. Opening the doors they were immediately struck by a strong wind that whirled into the room. Outside the expected storm was hitting with full force. Lightening flashed across the skies. A mist of rain flowed into the room.

Bill, Rosen and Hicks rushed outside, they ran to the edge of the balcony. The giant Catalpa tree loomed in front of them. Looking down they could see they were on the third floor.

"There's a way down," Hicks said. He pointed to the tree. "We can climb down."

"You can," Bill said. "In this storm, I don't see the rest of us getting down that tree alive."

Rosen searched the balcony, he saw another balcony to their left. Unfortunately, there was a large gap between them.

"I think I can make it there, Doc," Hicks said.

"Only if it's necessary, Cameron. Ronald," Rosen shouted. "Where does that balcony lead?"

Rosen saw Ronald start to take a step forward, his foot actually froze in mid air, just inches from the doorway. Pulling back he shouted, "It's to the bad room. My father loved sitting on that balcony, watching the sun rise."

"So balcony jumping out," Hicks said, with a relieved sigh. Gary searched the room, it was empty of the golden threads and Nicky's signals. "No sign of Nicky or Katty, in the room, Doctor Rosen," he announced.

"Good," Rosen said, as he walked back into the hotel. "Let's hope Katty keeps him busy long enough for us to get to the lobby."

Ronald led them down a hallway, at the end was a large wooden door. Opening it they saw stairs leading down. "The builders of the hotel made this apartment separate from the hotel. That's why my mother lived here. She would sneak out without Nicky knowing. He was strictly forbidden to do anything here. This was Mom and Dad's place."

They quickly walked down the stairs. Every so often they would come to a landing with a door that led to another floor. Climbing down four floors they came to the bottom of the stairs. Ronald pulled out his ring of keys and unlocked the door. Opening it they were met with darkness. Bill pointed his flashlight ahead. Walking into the room they found themselves in what looked like the laundry room. Several washing machines were lined up against the wall.

They smelled damp dirt and the strong scent of a chemical. "That's kerosene," Rachel said, as she covered her nose. She always hated the scent of any flammable liquid.

"My mother liked to have a backup ready, in case the electricity went out," Ronald said. "We keep kerosene lamps down here, that's what you smell."

They moved through a very crowded basement. They passed by boxes covered in dark mold. Hicks saw a shelf filled with mason jars. He could just make out pickles and peaches inside.

Ronald led them to a staircase. Climbing up it, he was about to open the door at the top when Gary shouted for him to stop. It appeared to Ronald that his eyes lost focus, not knowing that Gary was seeing something no one but he could see. Gary saw Katty's golden threads slowly drift through the door.

"Katty, I see Katty in here." He searched for Nicky's signals, so far it was only Katty. "None of Nicky's signals, just Katty."

"Mom," Ronald whispered. "Help them get out of here."

He opened the door and they entered a small room. Gary saw more threads in this room. They swarmed inside until it was so full, he felt smothered by them. "She's in here," Gary said. "All of her."

"If she's in here," Nina said. "Then where's Nicky?"