"So, do you want to talk about it?" Tate asked as he handed her a cup of coffee.
They were sitting outside of a Starbucks, and Violet was still a little shaken about her nightmare and discovering her boots in the sink. But the more she thought about it, the more she felt that there was a reasonable explanation for what had happened to her boots.
She rationalized that maybe she was the one who put her boots in the sink. She had been pretty high after smoking that blunt with Tate, so it was possible. Yeah, that must have been what happened, Violet mused. But still, the thought lingered that something wasn't right about the hotel.
"Have you ever experienced anything weird at the hotel?" Violet asked after taking a sip of her coffee.
Tate smirked a little and said, "You've never heard of the Cecil Hotel before, huh?"
"No, why? Is it famous or something? I just checked in cause it's the hotel that Moira was staying at," Violet said.
Tate took a drink of his coffee, set it down on the table, and leaned towards her.
"The hotel is haunted," he said in an exaggerated whisper.
Violet felt in her gut that he wasn't being facetious, but still she laughed and exclaimed, "Are you serious?"
Tate laughed and leaned back in his chair.
"Well, that's the rumor. I do know for a fact that a couple of serial killers lived in the hotel, and supposedly the hotel was the last place that anyone saw the Black Dahlia before she was murdered. Plus there's been a whole lot of suicides and murders at the hotel over the years," Tate tapped his fingers on the table, seeming to be thinking about what to say next.
"And . . . a couple of years ago, there was a kid who drowned in one of the water tanks on the roof," he said ominously.
"What!? You're not bullshitting me are you?" Violet asked incredulously.
She thought back to when she was alone on the rooftop the night before, and she recalled the sound of a kid giggling behind her.
"Yeah, I think the kid was ten years old. The parents thought someone had kidnapped her. The whole building was searched, but there was no trace of the kid. Then people started to complain that the water in the hotel was discolored and the drains kept backing up. A custodian went up to the roof to check the water tanks, and there she was, floating face down in the tank," Tate said, gauging her reaction.
Violet stared at him with wide eyes and finally said, "Oh . . . My . . . God. You are so full of shit!"
Tate smiled benignly and shrugged his shoulders.
"Look it up. It was all over the news over here. The girl's name was Lisa Lim," Tate replied.
Violet pulled her phone out, opened the internet, and googled Lisa Lim. The first link that popped up was titled:
Infamous Cecil Hotel Claims Another Life
The three week search for ten year old Lisa Lim has been called off today. Police have confirmed that her body was discovered in a rooftop water tank of the Cecil Hotel where she was staying with her family. The family had been visiting the Los Angeles area from Littleton, Colorado. Lim's parents, Stephen and Linda Lim, reported Lisa missing after she did not return from visiting the Hotel's game room.
"It remains too early in the investigation to determine if Lim was a victim of foul play," said a representative for the LAPD. Lim's parents stood behind the representative for the LAPD for the news conference but did not speak publicly.
Violet skimmed the rest of the article and her eyes were drawn to the picture of the girl who had died. She was a pretty girl with long dark hair. As she stared at the picture a chill ran down her spine.
"So, did the police ever say what happened? How she died?" Violet asked, putting her phone back into her pocket.
Tate took another drink of coffee before answering her.
"They said it was an accidental drowning and no foul play was involved. The parents sued the hotel and received a settlement, and that was the end of that. But you know what's really weird? The water tanks are locked. The only way for her to have 'fallen' into the tank is if she had unlocked the tank first, and you need a key to do that. The locks weren't tampered with, so someone had to have unlocked the tank, threw her body in, and then relocked it," Tate said.
Violet stayed quiet, digesting everything she had just learned about the hotel. Now more than ever she felt that Moira was in serious danger.
"C'mon, let's go back to the hotel. I want to find out what room Moira stayed in and find out where her stuff is," Violet said as picked up her coffee and stood up.
"Okay, but dibs on her laptop," Tate joked. Violet gave him a dirty look and he said, "Sorry, too soon? Ahem, okay, let's go."
"I show that Moira O'Hara stayed in room 63 for 9 nights and she checked out on January 31," the receptionist informed Tate and Violet.
Violet was taken aback by the odd coincidence that Moira had stayed in the room she was currently in. But more than that, she felt like she was lied to.
"Thank you," Violet told the receptionist before glaring at Tate. Tate looked at her with his brow raised, as if to say, Why are you giving me that look?
They walked to the elevator and Violet hit the button for the thirteenth floor before turning her attention back to Tate.
"I thought you said you didn't run into Moira while she was here. She was in the room right next to you!" Violet accused.
Tate stared at her for a second before saying, "I told you she looked familiar, and I didn't lie. I don't remember running into her. You can't expect me to keep tabs on the people who stay in that room."
Violet slumped her shoulders and sighed, "I know. Sorry. I'm just frustrated because now I feel like I came all this way for nothing. Moira tends to take off on her own for a while when things don't work out with a guy. So if she checked out, then she could be anywhere. If it weren't for that weird voicemail she left on her mom's phone, I wouldn't have come."
Tate wrapped an arm around her and squeezed her a little against his side. "Hey, your trip out here doesn't have to be for nothing. I could take you to Disneyland if it'll make you feel better."
The elevator doors opened and they walked out. Violet chuckled a little at his suggestion and said, "Thanks, but no thanks. It would be cool to just hang out, though. After all, this is my first time in the 'Infamous Cecil Hotel'."
Violet opened the door to her room and invited Tate in. She went over to the dresser to put her bag down when she noticed hair pins next to the phone. She picked them up and studied them. These look like the kind Moira uses to pin her hair up, Violet thought to herself. However, a chill ran down her spine upon closer inspection of the hair pins.
"Tate, is it normal for the maid service to leave things in the rooms?" Violet asked as she turned towards Tate, showing him the hair pins.
Tate walked over to her to see what was in her hand. "No, it's not. These are not your's?" Tate asked as he took the pins from her hand.
Violet's hand shook a little as she relinquished the hair pins to Tate and she said, "No, they're not."
Tate studied the pins for a second and then he looked at Violet. "These pins have pink stars on them," he said.
Violet stared at the hair pins in Tate's hand and said, "I know."
After spending the day talking to residents of the hotel that Tate knew, asking if they had come across Moira while she was staying there, Violet asked Tate if he wouldn't mind staying in her room that night. She was a little unnerved about all of the weird things she had been experiencing. Since she had already paid for her room at the Cecil, she didn't have money to stay somewhere else until she could take her flight back to Boston at the end of the week.
Tate had brought over some cards and board games to try to help Violet take her mind off of things, and when Violet got tired, Tate offered to watch over her while she slept.
She must have been asleep for a few hours when Violet awoke to the sound of heavy breathing and the squeaking of the couch.
Oh my God! Is Tate masterbating? Violet thought. She was afraid to open her eyes because she didn't want to embarrass him if he was. But as she lay there listening to the sounds, she felt herself get a little turned on. She decided to take a little peek. Maybe he won't notice I'm awake.
She slowly opened her eyes until she could see through her eyelashes. What she saw made her heart freeze in her chest.
Tate was sitting on the couch with his boxers and jeans pooled around his ankles, and a naked girl was on his lap, bouncing away on his dick.
The girl had long, straight, light brown hair, and Violet didn't need to see her face to know who she was. It was her doppleganger.
Violet tried to move, but she found her body paralyzed, and when she tried to scream, no sound came out. She was only able to move her eyes, but she found she couldn't look away from the sight before her.
Tate was squeezing the girl's ass with every plunge into her body, and he was blissfully sucking on the girl's tit.
"Yeah, that's it baby. Drive your hard cock into my pussy!" the doppleganger muttered in Violet's voice.
At her words, Tate gripped the girl's hips, lifted her up and slammed her back down onto his dick.
He grunted at the contact, brought his lips back to her tit, and continued to pump his hips up into the girl's pussy at an almost impossible speed.
"Keep going, baby. Fuck me! Fuck me hard!" the doppleganger encouraged Tate.
Violet was terrified, but her body seemed to feeling the sexual pleasure the doppleganger must have been feeling. As Violet watched Tate's dick pump into the girl's body, it was as if he was pumping into her body. As Violet watched Tate suck and pull on the girl's nipples, it was as if he was sucking and pulling on her nipples. Violet felt that she could climax just by watching them, but at the same time her mind was screaming that there was something wrong.
Suddenly, the doppleganger screamed out in ecstasy, and Violet watched in horror as the girl's head spun around and she made eye contact with her. The doppleganger smiled grotesquely at her before completing the 360 degree head spin to face Tate again. Then out of nowhere a knife appeared in her hand and she slashed Tate's throat. Blood spurted out of Tate's neck, coating the doppleganger's body in red, and his body started convulsing. Meanwhile the doppleganger continued to scream in ecstasy.
Violet's eyes widened in terror and adrenaline flooded her body. Finally, Violet was released from her paralysis and she screamed.
A/N: Please excuse any typos or mistakes. I didn't proofread and I wanted to post this chapter before the weekend officially started. This is my first time writing horror and I hope I'm doing a good job. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing!