December 1992

Last thing I remember, I was running for the door

I had to find the passage back to the place I was before

Relax, said the postman

We are programmed to receive

You can check out any time you like

But you can never leave

Eagles, "Hotel California"

The day when Jackie and Rose Tyler were supposed to pack up their bags and move into Northern Horizons arrived quicker than they expected. Jackie had only gone so far as to call her landlord to let him know she was going to be staying someplace else for three months and saving up a little money for what she expected to be the many expenses they might have to make while staying there. Ella started coming over again to help Jackie decide on what to bring along and what to leave behind. Truman had told her multiple times that she wouldn't need anything because the hotel included every item she would ever want during her time there. "You'll even find tons of clothes and toys for your little girl. We have some dating back to the turn of the century, which I'm sure Rose will find extravagantly beautiful. All the other little girls who've stayed here had thought so," he'd once told her over the phone, putting a lot of emphasis on that salesman's voice as he said that last part.

Yet, Jackie felt that she should bring along as much as she wanted to, because she had the strange feeling that she was leaving her old life behind and transitioning into a new one. Just being inside her flat kept bringing back dark memories of being sprawled either on her bed or the coach, mumbling drunkenly to no one in particular, of Ella yelling at her to pull herself together and Rose giving her that sad and frightened expression which she could never stop thinking about these days. But worst of all was thinking about her ignorance on what was going on with her daughter, how she'd been detecting those thoughts and emotions which Jackie couldn't identify herself and looking into a future which she desperately hoped wouldn't become a reality, but which somehow had.

So when Jackie and Rose stepped out of their flat for the last time, after Ella had put the box containing Jackie's books and notebooks down and closed the door in a hurry, there was little sense of sadness at all. If anything, there was this deep relief running through both of them as they thought that perhaps the worst period of their lives had just finished on that day, that whatever unpredictability awaited them at Northern Horizons, they were both so much stronger, and could therefore face any struggles without all the difficulties from before.

The fact that they might be heading towards something worse never crossed their minds.

...

The first person to greet them into Northern Horizons was none other than Sandy Jackson, who'd overseen the departure of Christine Green and Harry Sullivan during their last Saturday at the hotel. She plastered a forced smile upon seeing them, but kept thinking that no sooner had she been able to get rid of one little bugger (even though Christine had been gone for three weeks now) than she was forced to once again deal with another. And was that an additional person coming along with them? The sight of Ella, with her short auburn hair and dark, punk-style jacket, was so distracting that the first thing she said to them was, "I thought there were only two of you coming to stay here."

"Actually, Ella is only here to help us bring in our things," Jackie explained, putting down her suitcase and allowing Rose and Ella to step forward.

"But I don't understand. Truman clearly said that you didn't need to bring anything," Sandy responded, doing her best to remain sounding polite, but with traces of her frustration becoming more apparent. She could already feel the little girl's curious glance aimed towards her direction, and decided it was best to remain silent on her concerns until she saw Truman later. He always knew what to do when something unexpected occurred.

"We just couldn't leave too much behind, especially since we don't know where we'll be headed once our time here is up," Jackie said, not suspecting the girl's actual thoughts at all.

But Rose was clearly able to hear her as she thought with a strange sense of satisfaction: A lot of the past caretakers have thought this as well. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that most of them felt deeply lost once they left. She could immediately tell that she wasn't going to like Sandy at all, and that she seemed just as creepy, if not more so, than the broken china dolls which could be found in the waiting area.

Ella seemed to be thinking the same, because she then said, looking directly at Sandy, "I'm sure they can bring as much along with them as possible. Are you supposed to be charge here, anyway?"

"Well," Sandy responded, struggling to come up with a good explanation of what she did. "I have been told by Truman that I should…"

"Actually, Sandy, you're trying to take up my job," interrupted a high-pitched, yet slightly cross, voice from behind Jackie. When the four of them turned around to see who it was, they saw a tall blonde girl with her hair pulled into a ponytail and wearing a hot pink suit, standing in front of them, giving off hints that she was the one under some position of authority.

"Who are you?" Jackie asked.

The girl looked at her with an overly friendly smile. "I'm Elaine Davidson, the official escort here at Northern Horizons. I am the one in charge of leading people into their rooms and giving them an idea of what a great choice they've made in choosing this hotel as their place to stay."

"Well, we're not actually guests," Jackie tried to explain. "I'm actually…"

"You're the new caretaker, of course," Elaine finished off, her smile still in place. "Truman let us all know yesterday that you were coming in today, so we were all expecting you." Then, shooting an accusing glance towards Sandy, she said, "Of course, some of us are more aware than others of our place here as employees. As far as I'm concerned, Sandy, you should be off at the shop running your shift. It's not your job to be assisting the guests."

"I wasn't trying to assist them," Sandy answered in an annoyed tone. "I was reminding them of what Truman told them about not needing luggage."

"But they don't need you reminding them of what they must have heard a thousand times already," Elaine said.

"Whatever. I'll be getting off right now." And as she walked off, Rose heard her thinking, For once, I'm glad that Elaine has butted in. I have a feeling I'm not going to stand those people for even a second, especially not with that little brat around. At least Elaine adores kids and can keep her out of my way.

Ella looked at Rose and whispered in her ear, "The two of them sound like annoying little clones to me, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Rose whispered back. As a matter of fact, both of them were of the same height, hair color (with both of them in ponytails) and eye color (which was aqua blue), and had on very similar suits, although Sandy's was a dark red color, and her hair was a little shorter than Elaine's.

"Excuse me, miss, did you have something you wanted to tell me?" Elaine asked, that same look of hers from before now aimed towards Ella.

"No. It was nothing," Ella answered, trying to sound natural. "I was just telling Rose a joke."

"Rose? Is that the name of this precious little girl?" And Elaine turned to Rose with her smile appearing to get much wider, and started stroking her hair and admiring her as if she were a small puppy. "Oh, Rose!" she coaxed. "Aren't you the most adorable thing ever? I have a feeling we're both going to become best friends, don't you think so?"

"Maybe," Rose answered, but the attention she was getting from her only made her feel annoyed and uncomfortable.

"She's six years old. I don't think she's seeking your undivided attention," Ella said matter-of-factly.

"Of course not, since you've got your mummy and nanny for that, don't you, love?" Elaine said much too sweetly to Rose. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a red lolly. "Here's a little treat for you right now. I always make sure I have enough in my desk to give to all you sweet little kids who come to stay."

Ella rolled her eyes, while Rose simply responded by saying, "Thank you. And actually, Ella is supposed to be my babysitter, not my nanny." As annoying as Elaine was acting around her, she didn't really detect anything bad about her yet. At the very least, she wasn't as bad as Sandy.

"And now, Mrs. Tyler, let me bring you three over to the room you'll be staying in for the next three months," Elaine said cheerfully, preparing to escort them over.

"Of course," Jackie said politely. "We can use all the help we can get."

As soon as she said this, Elaine grabbed one of the two small bags Ella was holding and started leading the way across the hotel, giving them short descriptions of several rooms which Jackie and Rose were already familiar with. Ella only briefly listened to her (and barely took notice of some of the creepier things which lingered around the hotel), focusing mainly on how well the other two were doing. She hadn't found a single bottle of liquor in the week she'd been helping them pack in their flat, but there were brief moments when she noticed the old anxiety from before popping up again, usually when Jackie or Rose was alone and would let out a small sigh or look somewhat sadly through the window. But for the most part, they seemed somewhat happy about leaving. "Not everyone gets the chance to start over in the same manner as we'll be able to, Ella," Jackie had told her two days before, and she really hoped that they were heading towards a good path now.

After a while, Jackie asked Elaine, "If you're the hotel's official escort, then why have I not seen you until now?"

Elaine turned towards her, with a strange expression on her face. "It's a long story, Mrs. Tyler, but the main reason is because my older cousin Sharon, who also happens to be Mr. Truman's girlfriend, has just suffered through a terrible tragedy, and she's needed all the support from me that she could get."

"How awful," Jackie said sympathetically, despite the fact that Elaine did sound a little overly melodramatic, as if she were rehearsing a part in a play rather than talking about something which happened to her personally. "Would you mind explaining what happened?"

Elaine now had a sad and slightly distant expression in her eyes. "Sharon lost her younger sister, Alice, in a car accident right here in London this September. Her husband, with whom she'd been married for only three months, had come along with her and died as well. They were both so young, being close to my age and with so much plans for the future, including traveling around Europe and having three kids of their own."

Car accident? And in September as well? Jackie thought with slight horror. Was it in any way possible that this was the same couple who'd been killed in the car accident she'd been in? No, she tried to assure herself. It couldn't be. There are dozens of car accidents in the country every day. Elaine's cousin and her husband could have been anyone amongst the many victims that are shown on the news every night. Perhaps…

And then, she noticed how Rose was staring at her with that concerned look which she'd always noticed before yet never fully understood. For the first time since finding out her daughter was psychic, Jackie became aware that her daughter could be detecting what she was thinking at any moment. There was no way in which she could attempt to hide even the most personal of her emotions without the possibility of Rose being able to find out about them, no way in which she'd ever be able to keep secrets from her again.

Yet, she didn't say anything, and continued on sucking on her lolly and acting as if nothing was wrong.

"How has your cousin been able to cope so far?" Ella asked with concern.

"It's been devastating for her," Elaine responded. "There are often whole weeks where she refuses to go to work and just remains in her room all day. She's not able to sleep at night, claiming that whenever she closes her eyes, she sees Alice in the exact state she was when she died, with a broken neck and scratches all over her body, always screaming in terror. Truman worries about her as much as I do, and so far, he's one of the only people with whom she's comfortable driving alongside with, since she seems to have developed a phobia of driving after the incident. He's promised her all sorts of things for Christmas, including a trip to the Caribbean for New Year's, but the thought of traveling, or even leaving London, never fails to deeply disturb her. She always tells that perhaps by staying at home more often, she might not face the same fate as Alice did."

"Goodness," Jackie said. "Your poor cousin."

"And you want to know something else?"

"What could it be?" Ella asked.

"When she was alive, Alice seemed to hate everything about Northern Horizons. She would tell me that just setting foot here would give her the chills, and that she believed nothing in here had changed at all since Truman attempted to restore the place."

"I don't know about that," Jackie responded. "I mean, there is a lot here which seems too old to be stored around for guests to see, and I've seen several things that are falling apart. Haven't you ever thought that perhaps Truman really does need to get a little extra reparation around here sometime?"

Upon saying this, a look of indignation shot across Elaine's face. "What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with this place. Mr. Truman had already set aside a ton of money to get this place looking as modern as possible back in the eighties, and he has no time to be worrying about a couple cracks on the wall or one disfigured doll on display at the lobby. That was all Alice would point out whenever she came here, that and some of the crimes which occurred here in the past, as if every other old place in London always had a very secure history."

"Hold it there," Ella called out, not happy to be seeing how Elaine was taking Jackie's comments too seriously. "Jackie was just pointing out some slight flaws she's been seeing, that's no reason to get all rallied up against her. If you ask me, this place could use some fixing up in some places. Everybody does this at some point."

Elaine glared. "You're lucky Sandy isn't here. If she were, she would probably have said something to Truman about how it's just your first day here and already you're complaining about the state of the hotel. The only person whom he's able to tolerate any form of criticism from is that old shop girl Allison, and that's only because he knows she would never be able to find a job anywhere else with her nasty drinking habits and constant stubbornness. Everyone else that has even dared say anything bad about Northern Horizons usually gets a serious talking to, and if it becomes a habit, then they're dismissed immediately."

"This Truman chap sounds like a fascist," Ella mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Elaine asked sharply.

"Never mind, it's nothing," Ella said with a sigh.

"But Elaine, didn't it bother you how much your cousin worried about the hotel?" Rose asked, sounding a little scared after noticing Elaine's aggressive attitude.

Almost in the blink of an eye, all the anger on Elaine's face soon banished, and she gave Rose a sweet smile as she once again stroked her hair. "Listen sweetie, there's nothing wrong with this place, and it had nothing to do with what happened to her. My cousin was just a superstitious person, meaning that she thought bad things could happen just because a few things had gone wrong here in the past. Mr. Truman and her sister tried to be reasonable with her to make her less scared of coming here, but she never listened, and went on saying there was something bad about Northern Horizons. It's never good to think like this once you grow up, Rose, because believing in stuff that's not real for too long can make you go bonkers, and nobody wants that to happen to someone they love. But if you always think reasonably and let go of your belief in superstitions and monsters, you'll always be fine. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Rose said, but was thinking what this girl would possibly think if she discovered about her powers. Would she still act as easily as she did now about her dead cousin's fears and simply try to talk herself out of what she was seeing so she wouldn't have to bother Mr. Truman about it? In fact, would it bother her at all if meant it wouldn't affect the hotel in some way? If anything, it seemed as if Northern Horizons and Mr. Truman were more important to her than her cousin had ever been.

"And does Sharon have any similar fears regarding Northern Horizons?" Jackie asked, noticing the attitude Elaine seemed to have on the manner as well.

Elaine smiled at her, hoping, Rose noticed, to push aside all the hard feelings she'd had towards what Jackie was saying before. "No, absolutely not. As a matter of fact, before Alice died, Sharon was always happy when she was here, especially when she got to do something special with Truman. From what I've seen, the more people grow to like Truman, the more they like Northern Horizons. Funny, isn't it?"

"I'm not so sure about that," Ella remarked, wondering if there was something wrong with Elaine, if all the others employees at this hotel were as freaky as she and Sandy were.

Elaine ignored what she said for once, and looked at her silver watch. "Oh, my. We're running out of time after all this unnecessary talk. You're lucky your room's on the first floor, though, so we're just a short distance from where you're supposed to be headed. Truman will be meeting with you shortly, and even says that someone from that teacher's group that will be at the Christmas party will be with him as well, so you'll continue to have company for a while. I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here, by the way, Mrs. Tyler. The majority of Northern Horizons' employees do so, so much so that they're willing to stay longer that Truman usually needs them. Doesn't that sound good to you?"

"Perhaps it does," Jackie said, and hoped that she was right about it.

Next, Jackie meets up with Truman once again, and due to what she learned through Elaine, she starts becoming aware of things she'd overlooked before regarding both him and the hotel itself. Rose will also start facing her own troubles, and may not be able to seek help from either Elaine or Ella. And we'll see how long it will take for Rose and Jackie to find out that Alice Davidson was the victim of the car accident in which Jackie was in, and what consequences this might bring about.