Not long after Jackie had questioned her surroundings and the intentions of her dead friend, she found herself slowly accepting her situation with each glass of alcohol she drank. It seemed that the more she let herself relish the sweetness of the tequila and the heaviness of the wine, the less fearful she was of this company. Soon, she was laughing at Hannah's sly jokes, responded to the questions posed by Mr. Purdue, and taking delight in the eager party which kept awaiting 1925 every night.
"Don't you think that's got to be the best experience in the world, reliving one of the most exciting times in your life without a break? I can't tell you how much I wished time would just briefly freeze when I went on my honeymoon with Pete. We just stayed at a simple hotel and went out to clubs for three nights in a row, but it was his company that it made it all so wonderful," Jackie recalled.
Hannah smiled wickedly. "Jackie, you haven't even seen every detail of what goes on yet. Purdue and I have, and trust me when I tell you that it's no picnic for everyone involved."
"Can't you just let me live in the moment a few seconds longer, Hannah? Even now that you're dead and loosening up a little, you still love ruining all the fun for me," Jackie complained.
"Well, someone has to make sure you know what's going on here. You kept asking about it a while ago, and now you don't seem interested in it for whatever reason," Hannah insisted.
"She's adjusting to her surroundings, Hannah, which was actually our original intention in case you'd forgotten. Best if we save her from knowing certain things until the time is right," Mr. Purdue said.
It was at then that Hannah started showing genuine concern. "But Purdue, we must make sure Jackie's as safe as possible," she whispered to him.
"Jackie's completely safe in this reality for now. The worst case would be if the force were to make its way into the ballroom as midnight approaches with her still here. But if she's not here beyond eleven o'clock, she should be all right," Purdue told her.
"Would you two mind letting me know what secrets you're exchanging?" Jackie asked, still sounding heavily drunk.
"Nothing that concerns you, Mrs. Tyler," Purdue answered. Then, in an attempt to change the subject, he asked, "So, Hannah tells me that your deceased husband was an inventor. It would probably please you to know that I was one myself, with my most productive periods being during my final years of life. Unfortunately, very few individuals saw the high merit of my work. Did your husband have any success?"
"No, sadly enough," Jackie answered. "We once got a visitor from a graduate student at Cambridge who wanted to see this machine Pete was working on. It was supposed be a dishwasher which worked the same as a washing machine, with everything from plastic plates to glass cups fitting in without any risk of breakability. It actually worked very well on the one occasion in which he demonstrated it to me, but nothing came out of the meeting with that professor, even though Pete insisted that all had gone well, with the professor being deeply impressed that he had the knowledge to create a machine like that."
"Do you believe you could guess the reason why he may never have gotten in contact with Pete again?" Purdue asked.
"Perhaps it had something to do with his lack of formal education. Pete never had any official school records, despite knowing things that made my sixth form teachers seem ignorant in comparison. He had very few items pertaining to his past at all, as a matter a fact, apart from two old pictures of him at the age of thirteen and a book of the greatest inventions of the world, which he told me he'd had since he was eight," Jackie said.
"That's a very good reason why that may have occurred," Purdue said. "I know that was at least part of the reason why many refused to take my work seriously. I left high school before I could start my senior year to work, but I always made sure to stay on top of the latest technological and scientific achievements. And when my daughters were born, I did my best to make sure they could learn as much about all subjects as possible. However, I always came about as another bumbling French idiot whenever I tried speaking about my work, even within Quebec.
"I had to deal with crap like that with my writing. One of the magazines that rejected my work sent in snarky personal comments about how if I'd been a graduate of one of those bloody posh universities, then maybe they'd see me capable of producing such original work, but that given my education, I may have just scrawled it off some crumbled notes at a cafe that had been written by a real intellectual," Jackie complained.
"That's the way things are, unfortunately," Purdue said with a sigh, pouring Jackie yet another glass of wine.
Jackie took two quick sips, and with a glassy look in her eyes, she went on. "But the good news is that I went on with my writing and actually managed to get some of it published. Just last week, a got an acceptance letter for a short story I wrote for The London Literary Voice. It's about a woman who follows another woman who constantly finds herself in the middle of several life and death scenarios, and always walks out of it managing to save at least one person without getting so much as a scrape herself."
"Looks like you based it off some of your more recent experiences," Purdue remarked.
"She did indeed," Hannah said, giving Jackie a wink.
"But the best part about it all is the amount of money they're planning on paying me. Five hundred quid. Yes, five hundred bloody quid, which will serve as something extra once old Truman has paid me for my first weeks on the job. Seeing all the difficulties we got ourselves into, Truman wants to pay for these early weeks of what he originally intended to be training for my actual work, which would begin after New Year's. With that and what I'm getting for this story, I won't have to worry about money for quite a while," Jackie said.
"Well, at least your financial problems have been dealt with," Purdue said, sounding as if he was aware that Jackie had a lot more hanging over her shoulders.
But before Jackie could ask about this, the woman with the green dress was tagging her on the shoulder. "I've been looking all over for you!" she exclaimed. "Couldn't you have said something to me before you went off to get a drink?"
"I thought you noticed when I left," Jackie said.
"In a party this big, it's hard to notice when someone leaves your side," the woman said, as if this was a clear enough explanation.
"So, why were you looking for me? Probably to get me to come change my clothes, is that it?" Jackie asked.
"Why, of course not," the woman said, laughing a little too hard. "In fact, I was looking for you because there's a man over here who's interested in dancing with you."
"Are you serious? Someone want to dance with me?" Jackie asked, more in delight than surprise.
What did surprise her was Hannah's reaction to the conversation. She kept glaring towards the woman and shaking her head in disapproval. Then, she looked directly at Jackie, shook her finger in the woman's direction, and appeared be mouthing, "Don't go."
Jackie frowned back at Hannah. So, she decided to slip back into schoolteacher mode shortly after drinking a dozen glasses of alcohol and making her friend do the same? What a hypocrite. And besides, Purdue had clearly said that she had nothing to worry about in here. In that case, what was the point of trying to have control over everything she did?
And so Jackie found herself saying, "Just let me be, okay?"
"Excuse me?" the woman asked.
"I wasn't talking to you!" Jackie yelled. She then noticed Hannah glaring and waving her arm in a dismissive gesture, as if to show that she was though with Jackie. Good, Jackie thought. At least she gets that there's no point in telling me what to do now.
Before she knew it, she was twirling around the ballroom with the pink suit man, whose name was Charles Pond and who had hair the color of a fox, matching his feisty attitude towards some of the party guests. For instance, when one man started making rude comments about Jackie's clothes, Charles turned to him and said crossly, "Well, your suit doesn't look as if you got it at Woolworths either, mate! Why not just close that big mouth of yours and use it to compliment your lovely finance instead?"
Jackie felt as if she'd fallen head over heels for him just for that comment. There was nothing better than a tough guy who stood up for a woman, after all. Who cared if he was technically dead? Perhaps dead men were more loyal to you than living men ever could. With this in mind, she spent over an hour waltzing around with him, constantly tapping her feet to the rhythm of the jazz music and chuckling as Charles made them go faster the livelier the music got.
"I don't think I've ever enjoyed myself so much in my life!" she yelled at one point.
"Why, you never struck me as the type of lady with a dull life. Is your husband one of those mean old blokes who like keeping their ladies in those heavy gowns and making them follow their every word?" Charles asked.
"I'm a widowed mother, so I haven't had to deal with a man in years, although I sometimes wish I did have one in my life," Jackie admitted.
"Well, I've been single ever since I reached manhood, so I could use a good lass by my side. My father says that if I don't marry by the time I'm twenty-five, that I'll most likely be alone the rest of my life," Charles said.
"You better tell your father to get in with the times, because I don't think being single should be something shameful now that so much change has come to society," Jackie said.
"That may seem so, but many people still like staying to the more traditional ways. You see Caroline over there, for instance? Some people like calling her a flapper, but she's been married for two years now and even has a daughter. Peggy the reckless American, has a fiancé who's planning to marry her as soon as she returns to Chicago. Your escort, whose name is Melissa Hathaway, is an heiress who spends much of her time obsessing over suitors. Ironically enough, Wendy, who complains about flappers is one of the few ladies here who's ever actually worked, holding a nursing position in one of London's best hospitals. In that case, you should never judge people based on the times we're currently living in," Charles said.
"And what's your story?" Jackie asked.
"I'm just a young banker from Glasgow who was lucky enough to get invited here by a posh friend from university. I'd like to walk down the aisle with a fine lassie one of these days, but the truth is, I think it's best to wait before settling down with a woman. You look around and see all these couples who've been married since their late teens and some of them are more miserable than…"
"Mrs. Tyler. Mrs. Tyler, walk out of there right now," Jackie heard a small girlish voice saying. Upon turning around, she saw two girls wearing matching blue shirts and trousers, glancing anxiously towards her while standing behind several other dancing couples.
"Who the hell are you two?" Jackie demanded.
"Jackie, who are you speaking to?" Charles asked, obviously not noticing the girls.
The taller girl started dragging Jackie by the arm. "Mrs. Tyler, you will put yourself, Rose, and all your other friends in danger if you stay here any longer. Hannah tried to warn you about this, but you wouldn't listen to her," she said.
"Where are you going?" Charles asked.
"Cut it out, you bloody brat!" Jackie yelled. "If I must be stuck in this limbo, I'd rather be enjoying myself than just sitting down and drinking away all my troubles with my dead friend. I've been miserable long enough."
"But you will only bring yourself more misery if you keep acting so carelessly," the smaller girl said. "As a matter of fact, one of the reasons all these people are stuck in 1924 is because they're having too much fun in here. They could live this day a thousand times without feeling bored, but because of their happiness, they're stuck in a cycle which is difficult to end without somehow gaining awareness."
"And if you get too absorbed into the party scene, chances are you might not see Rose again," the tall girl said.
Everyone in the party from Charles Pond to Melissa Hathaway were now staring at her. Some noticed the girls and addressed them directly when noticing how they were dragging Jackie away, but others, including Charles and Fanny, only saw her alone and struggling against no one. However, everyone was now aware of Jackie's presence and knew that something wasn't right about her.
Once they got to the bar, the girls helped Jackie get seated again. "We did just as you said, Papa. We got her back before she got too absorbed into the scene," the tall girl said.
"Well done, girls. It's good to know that I can still relay on you two even after all that happened between us," Purdue said.
Hannah only frowned at her and pushed another tequila glass towards her. "Guess you better drink up again," she said.
"No, Hannah. I believe she's had enough for the night," Purdue said sharply.
"Then what do you expect me to do, just sit here and discuss why your two daughters, whom you murdered, are still doing favors for you?" Jackie demanded.
"That was not my fault!" Purdue yelled. "That damned spirit was determined to kill them from the start, and if I didn't have some consciousness still in place, it would have done so in a manner much more painful than just shooting them. I did my best to fight it off, but it still won at the end, just as it always has."
"But Rose has the power to change this. As the Bad Wolf, she might succeed at break this cycle that's been following the guests of Northern Horizons ever since this fateful day," the small girl said.
"Leave my daughter out of this! All the trouble we've been facing since that terrible car accident has been my fault, not hers!" Jackie exclaimed.
"It's been your fault indeed," Hannah said.
"No, it's not. Mrs. Tyler just got tangled into this by accident, just as all the others did," the tall girl said.
However, Purdue was going on as if he'd taken no notice of what anyone was saying. "I actually kept a journal of all the hauntings I experienced inside that hotel. I know the entity spoke directly to me five times, with the final one being the time when I killed the girls and myself. It was threatening to take someone's life from the start, and I kept begging it to leave me and the girls alone. The girls saw it only twice, mostly being aware of my fits of temper more than anything else. I originally planned on killing someone else myself to serve as a sacrifice, either Jameson or Allison, to be specific. If you want to understand my situation better, you could try looking for the journal yourself. I hid it in a cabinet in your room, where I reluctantly put it away after showing it to multiple people who all dismissed it as crazy ramblings…"
Jackie didn't think she could hear this man rambling on any further. And so, she reached for the tequila glass and placed it between her lips, waiting to see if someone would try stopping her. But no one did; not Hannah, who kept glaring at her with disapproval; not Purdue, who kept going on about the terror he experienced during his final days of life; not even the girls, who only looked sadly at her. Seeing as how they were letting her be, Jackie gulped down the tequila quickly, not hesitating for even a second…
But then, right before her eyes, was the woman who'd died in the car accident, wearing a bloody gown but otherwise looking not that different from an ordinary woman.
"Relax, Jackie. The terror's about to end soon, and you'll be by Rose's side once again," she said.
Jackie looked around her, and was surprised to see that the ballroom was now empty expect for her and the woman. However, she was somehow able to hear her daughter's urgent cries coming from the ceiling: "Mummy, please wake up! Mummy, you'll be in big trouble soon if you don't!"
"What are you doing to Rose, you bleeding woman?" Jackie demanded.
"Rose is back in her room, completely safe and with some friends helping her out. As I said before, the terror will soon come for an end not only for you, but also for myself and all the other souls trapped here," the woman said.
"Are you sure? Because if I find out that you're lying, I swear I'll drag you out of Northern Horizons myself! Despite what you went through, I won't have anyone…"
The woman then placed her battered hand next to Jackie's own, and within a few seconds, she was looking not into the woman's face, but Rose's, who started smiling despite all her tears and immediately reached out to embrace her mother.
