Ch.3

Brock panted as he slammed his bedroom door behind him.  He flipped the light switch… but it didn't work.  He tried several more times, but to no avail.  Disappointed, he was about to leave his room to see if the electricity had gone out, but as he was reaching for the doorknob-

"I thought you went to eat."

Brock shrieked and spun around.  Vahna stood in his room holding a newly lit candle.  It provided barely any light, but it was enough to illuminate her frowning face and bare shoulders while casting reflective highlights upon her darkened hair.  He tried to swallow when he realized that her shoulders were definitely bare.

"…Vahna, what are you doing in my room?"

Vahna blinked.  She held up a light bulb in the range of candlelight.  "It blew."  She said in her usual lowly and unaffected tone of voice.

"Oh…  So, you were changing it?"

She shook her head.  "Nope.  There are no more light bulbs, and I can't run to the store because the gate is locked."

This confused Brock.  "Aren't you the manager?  Wouldn't you have the key?"

Vahna could barely hide her smirk, but resisted to grin.  "I lost it."  She lost the key to the front gate??  Gee, some responsible manager, she is.  "You will have to use a candle for tonight."

Brock sighed. 

As Vahna made her way past him and as he walked into the room, she stopped at his doorway, looking over her shoulder, "Don't let anything catch fire,"  she warned.  Lighting flashed through the window, lighting up the room for a second of her time before she left, the thunder booming as the door shut behind her. 

And she was wearing a strapless shirt.

As Brock looked back towards the tall candle she left behind, he noticed that the red scarf that was tied to the bed post… was missing.

**

A chill ran up Misty's spine as the lightning flashed throughout her room, thunder shouting out from the clouds after it. Tiny drops of rain sprinkled inwards through her terrace's open doors and the drapes fluttered wildly in the stormy winds.  She closed the terrace, but something caught her attention.  There were six- no, seven different locks on the doors.  Why hadn't she noticed it before? 

'Why all the locks…?'  Misty wondered.  She looked to the door and, unexpectedly, there was but a single lock that bolted it shut.  'Strange…'

Something red caught her eye.  To her left, was a small vase of roses that sat on a bedside table by her bed.  There were three, small red roses sitting in a little puddle of water.  Now, Misty loved roses.

She picked one up, but as she brought it near her nose, the scent of..  decaying meat wafted unto her face.  She screeched and threw it across the room, coughing uncontrollably for a second while trying to rid her senses of the horrible smell.  When she opened her eyes, the rose that she had mistaken to be sweet was lying on the floor- it's petals swelled up and shriveled brown before her eyes.  The two other roses did the same.  The water that they were sitting in, turned brown, and finally black.  As Misty cautiously lifted a rose from the vase, blood dripped from the steam.

She couldn't breathe for a second…

So, she waited for the series of horror to end.

And everything went still.  She held her breath, waiting for something to happen next, but the longer she waited, the more alone she felt in the room.  The atmosphere seemed to be thick, but still, with uneventful evil that stood alert around her.

Then, she remembered what Brock had said:

*

"How's your room?"

She smiled up at him.  "Great.  It's… okay.  Actually, I have to share a bathroom with a mankey."

"A mankey??"  Brock chuckled, "Well good luck with that.  At least you're not alone and have someone to run to if you get scared-"

*

"I'm… scared."  Her lips moved, but no voice escaped them.

Then, she ran to the mirror and tried to find where it opened.  Her heart sped with the sudden change of movement and of the anticipation of her decision.  Finally, she felt a small handle on the side of the mirror, and it flipped open at her touch.  She quickly jumped into the next room and slammed the passage behind her.

Ash looked lazily from his pillow as if he had just waken up.  "Mist…?  What are you doing here?"  He looked to the little alarm clock on the bedside stand, "It's after one."

Misty slowly slid down the other mirror behind her and sat on the floor with her head between her hands, letting out a shuddering sigh; letting out all of the bottled up fear she had kept in while she was holding her breath from before.  Ash sat fully up in bed and tossed off the covers.  "You alright?  What happened?"

"Something strange."  She sighed.  "Ash,"  she whispered and looked up at him, "we have to get out of here."

"What do you mean?  This place is great!"  Ash grinned, falling back on the bed.  "And it's free, too."

Misty groaned and sulked.  "I don't care if it's free!  I'm seeing things, Brock's lost it-"

"W-wait, Misty.  You were seeing things?"  Ash asked, jumping off his bed and sitting beside her.  "What did you see?"

"I don't want to talked about it," she sighed, "This place is… not right.  Neither is the manager.  Did you see the blood on her hands and that knife she was holding when she answered the door, when we first came here?"

"Uh…  no.  Must've missed that."

Misty rolled her eyes and nodded quickly, "Oh yeah, I forgot.  You were too busy staring at her breasts."

"I was not!  I was…  admiring her dress!"

"Yeah,"  Misty sneered with a smirk, "Admiring how her dress revealed such a large quantity of cleavage."

"I was not!  Brock was!"

"You both were!  Whatever, I don't care.  What I was trying to say was, no one tends to rose gardens with a knife."

"O-o-oh."  Ash nodded slowly.

They stared at each other for a few seconds…

Ash frowned, "Then, why'd she have a knife?"

"To kill people!"  Misty angered, "Wow, you are thickheaded."

"So… what were you planning to do… y'know… now that you're in my room?"  Ash asked, absently picking at the hem of his jeans as he sat cross-legged in front of her.

"Um… Stay."  Misty said simply. 

Ash gulped at the dry lump in his throat and nodded.  "Okay."   He jumped back into bed, "G'night!"

Misty jumped up.  "Well, where am I supposed to sleep??"

"Uh…"  Ash looked around his room.  There was no couch or anything sleep-able in there.  He shrugged.  "The floor?"

Misty growled and stomped over to his bed.  "Move over!"

Ash obediently did so and Misty slipped into his bed, pulling the covers over her.  She pushed her shoes off and let them drop to the floor from underneath the covers.  After each thud, Ash looked over to see what was going on on the other side of the bed.  When Misty snapped off one of the red suspenders, Ash twitched and blushed, "What are you doing??"

"I'm just getting ready to sleep!"  Misty blushed.  "What do you mean 'what are you doing?'  When I pull my shirt off, then you can worry!"

"Oh!"  Ash laughed, "I thought you--  um.. nevermind.  Good night."

"'Night." 

She pulled her ponytail loose and shook her hair free, also letting her hair tie fall to the small pile of suspenders and shoes beside her on the floor.  Ash looked over his shoulder.

"Don't drool on my bed."

Misty scowled at him and kicked him beneath the sheets.  "Jerk."  She mumbled.

**

Ash sat up immediately, feeling sweat drip down his face.  He urgently looked around the room.  When something soft tickled his cheek, he shrieked and noticed that there was a red scarf tied to his bed post.

Misty awoke from his shriek and worried panting.  Realizing that her friend was awake and frightened she sat up and gripped his arm.  "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."  He shook his head and licked his lips, "Just a nightmare."

Misty's hand traveled from his forearm to his back.  "What happened?"

He looked down at her and sighed.  "A black rose… and Vahna.."

"A black rose??"  Misty gasped, 'Just like Brock.  Only, this time, Vahna's included as well...  Will Ash go crazy like Brock did earlier?'  She had to get his mind off of it before she looses her last grip to sanity in this haunted hotel.  "Ash…"  Misty whispered, gently pushing him down with one hand, "Lay down and go to sleep." 

"But I—"

"Don't worry…"  Misty smiled, wrapping an arm around his torso, "Forget about it."

Ash blushed.  It was forgotten.  "M-Mist--?"

Misty edged closer to him, burying her nose in the crook of his neck and wrapping one of her legs around his.  She leaned onto him, making him fully aware of her breasts against his chest.  "Sleep now, forget about it."

"O-okay."  Ash croaked, "Um…"

"What's wrong?"  Her eyelashes tickled his cheek, "Not comfy?"

"No!"  Ash jumped, "It's not that!  It's… uh…  nothing, nevermind."

"What is it?"  Misty sat up with a serious look on her face, "What?"  She almost grinned at the sight of how much the poor boy was blushing.  Almost.

"E-eh…  Are--  a-are we going to sleep…  now?"  He stuttered.

Misty's eyes widened for a second.  She nodded quickly.  "Yeah."

"Oh.  Okay…."  When he saw that she wasn't moving from her sitting-upright position, he placed his hand on top of hers, "You can lay back down, now."

Misty chuckled and did so.  Just as she was getting settled on top of him, Ash's door flew open. 

On instinct, both Ash and Misty shrieked at the intrusion, each rolling over a separate side of the bed and landing on the floor- away from each other.

"Oh!"  Brock gasped, "Sorry!  I-I didn't know!"

Ash jumped up from the ground, blushing furiously. "It's not like that!" 

Misty decided to just… lay on the floor, feeling the cool carpet against her burning cheeks.  She eventually sat up, after untangling her legs from the bed sheets, and crawled back into bed while listening to the rest of Ash's and Brock's conversation.

"She was just in here because she was scared."  Ash explained.

Brock nodded.  "Uh-huh, okay, sure." 

"Brock!  I'm telling the truth!"

"What did you want?"  Misty asked Brock.  "It's really early."  Indeed, it was 3AM in the morning.

Brock blushed.  "Uh…  I'm uh…  having trouble sleeping,"  He confessed, "I was wondering if I could sleep in Ash's room for tonight."

Misty sweatdropped.  "In… Ash's room?"

**

So, everyone ended up in Ash's room, sans Pikachu, whom was most likely sleeping soundly among the secret passageways he was recently discovering.  Misty lay on the left side of the bed, Ash in the middle, and Brock lay on the right side, sound asleep.

The sun was just beginning to rise on Katualia-Luu, peaking over the Rose Hill Hotel.  Brock was the first to wake.  And he nearly jumped out of his skin at what he saw-

Ash lay, still in the middle of the bed, but beneath Misty- his arms were wrapped tightly around her and Brock could see that her nose was just below Ash's chin.  And they were still sleeping like rocks.

He decided to sneak out of the room and leave them to their 'business'.  Just before his hand could reach the doorknob, Ash's alarm clock went off.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP-"

Before they woke up, Brock jumped out the door, closing it softly behind him.  Soon after, he heard a loud bang and the alarm instantly go off, followed by an annoyed groan.  He curiously put his ear up to the door, awaiting to hear the screaming, the fighting, or at least a couple of gasps or explanations…

But there came…nothing.

He slowly, slowly, opened the door and peered inside.

Well, they must have noticed that he had left, because Misty was now laying where Brock was and she and Ash were still wrapped around each other, still asleep.  Fuming, he shut the door.  Slowly, slowly.

**

As Brock had headed down the staircase for breakfast, accidentally forgetting to remind his friends, he bumped into Vahna whom was on her way to clean one of the bathrooms.  She almost dropped the large tray of cleaning supplies, but as Brock hurriedly tried to catch them, he tripped and fell- right on top of h er.

"S-sorry!"  Brock stuttered, sitting up and helping her pick up the scattered cleaning supplies.

Vahna remained on the ground, straightening out her skirt with a light pink blush staining her pale cheeks.  Brock stopped abruptly in his progress when he noticed that Vahna wore one of the old maid's outfits- the kind that one wouldn't usually wear while cleaning, but maybe to a costume party- nowadays, anyway.

"Don't worry about it."  She said calmly, as he handed her the tray of cleaning supplies, "Thanks." 

Vahna was about to climb the stairs when she looked behind her at Brock who was just standing up and dusting himself off.  She reached up for the little red rose behind her ear. 

"Take this,"  she said, shyly handing him the rose, "Don't say anything, just take it."

Brock barely held back a smile and courteously took the rose from her with a nod.  She spun around and headed up the stairs.

Brock examined the rose she had left him.  He smelt it… and it smelled… beautiful.

A/N::  It may seem confusing, but I'll try to update it as soon as possible.  =)  m'kay?  Happy Holidays, everyone!