A/N: Sorry it's a little late things have been a bit chaotic recently and things are set get even more unsettled – so if for some reason updates aren't on time please don't stress! There will be an update every week at some point! (I just can't guarantee when) Also sorry if this chapter isn't that well written I've been half-asleep at the time of writing most of it :S As always thanks for reading!
Chapter Eleven
Stanley hotel – part four
I sat on the floor in front of Nick, he was still bewildered and adamant that we needed to get out of the hotel. Aaron still hadn't returned and we had no idea where Zak was. Things were getting creepier by the minute as we sat at the top of the basement stairs.
"W-What did you mean when you said this basements reminds you of Bobby Mackey's?" I asked quietly.
"Things down there just don't feel right at all…" he muttered "Something evil is down there…"
"Are you sure it's evil?" I whispered trying not to attract the supposed spirits' attention.
"Whatever it is; it's pretty dark if nothing else, I'm not going back into the basement – we need to get out of this hotel. Because we've opened the basement up we've released something into the ballroom if not the entire hotel." Nick replied quietly
I nodded and said nothing; could my outburst about the fireplace have caused this? I wanted to ask him this but he looked tired and stressed about this. We sat in silence waiting for Aaron to return from base with news of where Zak was – or wasn't. It seemed to drag for an eternity before we were both snapped out of our thoughts by a lot creek from the main door of the room.
"Aaron?" I called out. "Zak? Is that you?"
A familiar shape came towards us; it was Aaron panting for some reason. "Oh God I'm so glad I found you two, Zak's gone crazy." He puffed as he leant against the wall "Are you both alright?"
"Aaron. There's something bad in that basement – it reminds me of Mackey's. We need to get the hell out of here or get it cleansed, but I don't know how that's going to happen as we're in the middle of nowhere." Nick replied in a monotone voice
"Well Zak's currently not responding to anything I say to him – he's just sat on the floor in a hallway staring at the wall, every time I try to help him up he is really cold and then pulls away from me." Aaron replied
"Maybe…it's the thing that was in the basement affecting Zak" I mumbled.
"Don't even joke about it…" Nick commented
"Did I say I was joking about it?" I snapped. "Well shouldn't we go and attempt to help him then?"
Aaron looked at Nick who was slumped against the wall staring into the distance, it was pretty obvious that if someone didn't do something that we'd remain next to the never-ending basement for the rest of the night and not get anywhere.
"Well why are we sitting around then? Zak's obviously not himself and this isn't helping!" I said loudly.
"Yeah, come on Nick we need to find Zak." Aaron agreed as he stood up straight and started walking away with me following him, Nick slowly got off the floor and followed us out of the ballroom. We walked for a while in near pitch black darkness up and down flights of stairs and along corridors before Aaron stopped and stared at the floor;
"He was sat there...but he must've moved..." Aaron muttered. I looked behind me to see that Nick was in a daze again so I lightly poked him in the shoulder bringing him out of said daze;
"huh? Where's Zak?" He asked
"Have you not been paying attention?" I asked him "Zak's walked off somewhere and you had some crazy shit happen in the basement which you won't tell me about!" I said getting more and more hysterical.
"Calm down, sheesh..." Nick mumbled "I don't remember what happened - the last thing I remember is going into the basement, after that it's all blur..."
"Wait...so you don't remember anything about what happened?" Aaron asked
"I remember little noises and feelings but nothing more than that – but I know something happened, I just don't know what."
We heard something moving further down the corridor and Nick took off after it. "what the hell is he doing?" I thought as I ran after him. I rounded the corner with Aaron somewhat panting a few paces behind me when I saw Nick stood face to face with Zak...who was holding an axe.
Oh dear God what the hell is happening? I steadied my breathing before cautiously making my way towards the silent duo. "Nick? Zak?" I called out. Zak's grip tightened around the axe, something wasn't right here. Nick backed away slowly from the axe-wielding Zak and simply said sternly; "Put it down."
Zak's gaze had followed Nick and had darted back and forth between Nick and me, then to Aaron as he came around the corner and practically fell over from shock. "Zak what the hell are you doing wielding an axe in such a manner?" he gasped
As soon as everything seemed to have kicked off, things returned to normal. Zak looked puzzled at the axe in his hands and then to the three of us; all pretty bewildered, or at least I was. "What the..." I started before Zak cut in.
"Okay, I get it. End the investigation guys, we're leaving when it's daylight." He said before turning and walking to his room.
Aaron and Nick looked at each other before they too walked off to their rooms with the only flashlight that worked other than my own. I was left standing in the empty corridor with a small beam of light coming from my flashlight. I was so confused there wasn't even a word to describe it. I walked into my room and didn't even bother changing, I got into bed and stared into the darkness above me. What the hell was going on?
~7:15 am~
I woke up to a series of loud knocks from my door, I glanced to the window and sure enough the sun had risen so it must be one of the guys ordering me to wake up and be ready in seconds. I got out of bed and scraped my hair into a ponytail before opening the door to Aaron. "Morning Aaron." I said trying to be cheerful whilst returning to collect my stuff and dismantle the static camera.
"Hey, so we're leaving in about half an hour – and we're going to Nevada and then tomorrow you fly home." He informed me also attempting to be cheerful
"Yeah, what a time I've had mind! Crazy, my friend won't believe what happened. Ah...so how are Zak and Nick?" I reply substantially happier
"Nick is fine as far as I know, and Zak is adamant that he's driving from here to Nevada. So...you might wanna write your will before you leave." He joked helping me dismantle the camera tripod.
I laughed "Is he really that bad?"
"Well normally no, but I think we're in agreement that he is not normal today – well not after last night."
We carried the stuff down to the reception where Nick was counting bags by the looks of things, Aaron and I put the remaining equipment bags next to the door when Zak came literally bouncing in to the hotel.
"Hey guys!" He shouted "Nice night?"
Oh my God what the hell is wrong with him? I looked at him like he had a huge spider on his head and then I couldn't stop laughing at the thought.
"What are you laughing at?" He asked invading my personal space a little too much.
"The thought of you with a spider on your head." I bluntly replied before falling into a fit of laughter again. Aaron and Nick also couldn't help laughing, pretty soon all four of us were laughing for no apparent reason.
"Right well we better get the van loaded." Aaron said after about ten minutes of stop-start laughter.
We loaded the van and against Aaron's wishes Zak ended up driving us away from the crazy Stanley hotel. I think we'd all agree that the hotel had many more surprises in store for its guests.
"So Zak what happened last night dude?" Nick asked after we had sat in silence for a while.
"Uh...I can't quite remember...someone gave me the axe and then the rest...is a blur..." he replied a little too cheerily from the driving seat.
I looked at Nick in the back seat with a raised eyebrow. "So...you don't know who gave you the axe then?" I asked Zak
"Nope. Can't remember, it was dark and I had no flashlight how was I supposed to know even if I could remember?" he answered turning onto a highway.
None of what happened last night seemed to make sense, the basement and all its activity, Nick acting weird, Zak being 'given' an axe by someone and the lights going off randomly each night all seemed to be such crazy things, it's hard to believe that it all happened. I leant against the window listening absent-mindedly to the conversation between the guys about what we were apparently doing in Nevada in a few hours. Despite the crazy night we all had, I didn't want to leave yet, I was having one of the best times of my life with these guys and to think that I was flying home tomorrow was unbearable.
"Say Luna you've been pretty quite the past half an hour, you okay?" Aaron called from the front seat.
"Yeah, just tired, that and I don't want to go home..." I mumbled
"We wish you could stay with us but unfortunately I think your school might be more than a little upset if you stayed with us for another week or something." Nick replied playfully hitting my shoulder.
"Yeah I guess so." I sighed and stared out of the window at the mountainous skyline rolling by.
A few hours went by and we passed through the state line going from Utah into Nevada and we had just arrived in Las Vegas and it was around mid-day. We stopped outside an 'in-and-out' burger joint and parked, Zak turned around in his seat and asked us all what we'd like to eat.
"The usual." Both Nick and Aaron said before turning to me.
"Oh...I'll just have some fries or something...I'm not that hungry." I muttered
Zak looked a little put out but walked into the restaurant to get our food leaving me with now a curious Nick and Aaron; "Hey what's up with you?" Nick asked poking me in the shoulder.
"I don't want to go home...simple really." I replied
"Well you have to so you might as well make the last day with us fun and memorable rather than trying to escape reality." Aaron pointed out
"hmm...I guess you're right...but...never mind."
"What?" Nick asked
"Well after tomorrow I won't see you guys again, and it'll be a shame as we've spent a lot of time together and you guys are like brothers to me now." I explained to them
They looked at each other in silence and then Zak came back with our food, breaking the awkward moment. "So guys what's the plan now then?" he asked
"I thought we were meeting Billy somewhere?" Aaron asked
"Yeah, but he's had something come up so he'll be able to meet us in the airport tomorrow just before Luna's flight out." Zak replied digging into whatever greasy food he had just bought.
I gradually ate my fries still in thought about how I was going to return to the boring life I had back in England. When we had all finished Zak drove us to a small park-like place in the middle of a suburb. "Why are we here?" I asked rather bluntly
"Well there's nothing else to do so I thought we could just chill here in the park, forget all our worries. Sound good to you guys?" Zak explained turning around to face me and Nick.
"Yeah, sounds like fun!" Aaron exclaimed getting out of the van, Nick and I quickly followed with Zak locking up the van. The park itself was quite deserted, only a few dog walkers were around. Perhaps the fact that it's the middle of winter here put a few people off of coming outside. Nonetheless we all sat on a freezing cold bench and the guys began talking about their next lockdown.
"So where is it next?" Aaron asked rubbing his hands together in an attempt to warm them up.
"Preston Castle, California. We're going back to see Anna Corbin." Zak replied
"Well, you guys are anyway." I mumbled
"Apparently it's going snowing tonight in England, how chaotic do you think the country will get?" Nick commented
"Well when we had about ten centimetres and everyone went crazy so who knows what'll happen this time." I replied.
"Wow...I mean wow, ten centimetres? Everyone went crazy? What the hell..." Zak said
"Yeah, schools closed, roads were blocked, and airports were hit hard too. We're not used to it." I explained
"Even so, it's a little crazy. Do you think your flight will be alright?" Aaron asked
"Probably.." Just then I got a call on my mobile phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, this is Virgin Atlantic calling about your flight from Las Vegas to London tomorrow? Due to hazardous weather conditions we are unable to fly you out, we hope this isn't an inconvenience." A shrill female voice came from my phone
Well I'll be damned..." I muttered. "When will the next available flight be?"
"If you book now it'll be two days from now; Friday, however you'll need to book in the next five minutes or else the seat will be offered to someone else."
"Guys, my flights been cancelled, and the only available flight is Friday at the earliest." I said to the curious eyes around me. "But I have to book within the next five minutes...I didn't book the flight here so what do I do?"
"I'll call the travel channel, as they were the ones who actually paid for you to get here and they'll sort it out. No sweat, tell the person at Virgin Atlantic that it's being sorted by a private company." Zak replied walking off towards the van
I looked at my phone as if it was a mutant before talking to the busy-body woman on the other end; "Uh..hey my return flight is being sorted out by a private company so don't bother holding that seat for me." I rambled off to her before ending the call.
Before I had a chance to gather my thoughts Zak came back and announced; "Well you're coming to Preston Castle with us! You're flight home is next Wednesday, providing the snow is gone by then."
"That was it? Was it that easy to reschedule it?" Aaron asked shocked
"Yeah, well we better call Billy then, shall we find a hotel for Luna?" Zak responded "Or is she staying with one of us?"
"Well you have the space Zak so it'd probably ideal for her to stay with you..." Nick pointed out.
Zak seemed to consider this before agreeing; "Yeah okay, Luna are you okay with this?"
"Yeah sure." I replied. It wasn't until afterwards that I remembered that Zak actually had a dungeon in his house. Oh my God where have I gotten myself into? I thought as we all piled into the van.
