CHAPTER 1: The Tremont is closed.

Griffin point of view:

What?! Our son?! I can´t believe it! Neither does Harper, because she seeks confirmation,

"Are you really our son?" she gets close to Nick, analyzing him.

Looking at them side by side, I realize they do look alike.

"I am." He takes a piece of paper out of his pocket. "This is my birth certificate".

I leave the hammer over the table and focus on that paper instead. Harper reads it out loud,

"This certificates that Nicholas Campbell Dunn, was born to Griffin Campbell and Harper Dunn, on March 25th 2034, at 8:23am, weight: 6.8 pounds, height: 19 inches, in Chicago…" Harper puts the paper down. "Chicago?! Were you born in Chicago?"

"Yes, you live in Chicago."

"Wait, what?" I ask, confused. "Why do we leave Sulphur Springs?

"That´s why I´m here." He puts the certificate back in his pocket. "I´m trying to not let that happen. But I need the radio for that!" he points at it.

"Why? What happened?"

"The Tremont is closed."

"What?!" Harper and I shout at the same time.

"That´s why you moved to Chicago. You always talk about The Tremont. How much this place meant to you and our family, how much you wanted the reopening to succeed."

"This can´t be happening!" Harper complains. "It was our parents´ dream! My mom spent all her savings in her own restaurant!"

"That´s true, what about our parents, Nick?"

"Well, Ben works as a mechanic, Sarah as a secretary, and Jess cooks at a local restaurant. Ben and Sarah moved back to Chicago, Jess still lives here, that´s why I´m in Sulphur Springs, we came to visit."

"Those jobs are completely different from what they wanted." I comment. "This makes no sense. We must do something!"

"Why did the hotel close?" Harper asks.

"There was a girl outside The Tremont tonight. Apparently, she was a guest, and heard your parents talking about a ghost before they closed the hotel. So she came here tonight to capture the ghost on camera."

"You can´t capture a ghost on camera." I say.

"You can´t, but she captured the coffee table flying across the living room and hitting Ben, doctors getting Sarah unconscious into the ambulance, and then all of you talking to nothing. Judge Walker´s voice is heard on the video, but he´s not seen."

"How do you know all that?" Harper seems as confused as me.

"The video is all over the internet. She´ll post it tomorrow."

"I don´t get it". I answer. "It wouldn´t be the first time The Tremont is thought to be hunted, what´s the matter? We just came back from 2024, everything looked fine. How…"

"What did you see in 2024?" he interrupts.

"Us dancing at prom, we looked happy." I explain.

"And did you see The Tremont? It´s closed."

"This can´t be happening." Harper complains. "So, this girl uploads a video and tells everyone the hotel is hunted… and they believe her?"

"Well, some people think it´s a joke. But most people believe her. People from Sulphur Springs never lost the fear after Savannah´s disappearance and all the weird paranormal activity during decades. I guess once your parents remodeled the hotel, they felt safer, but the fear, at least a little, remained."

"We should convince people it was a joke, then, right?" I suggest.

"That won´t work." He shakes his head. "You try it for months, it doesn't work. The video shows grandma Sarah unconscious, so people think if not even the owners are safe, the guests wouldn´t have a chance."

"Wait a second." Harper interrupts. "You said the video shows all of us talking to Judge Walker´s ghost…"

"Yes."

"That includes Savannah!"

"Oh, right. I´ve forgotten about that! A lot of conspiracy theories are made up because of that. Some people think she´s a girl who looks like Savannah, some others think it´s her, and somehow, even though she´s a ghost, she could be captured on camera. Either way, that´s another reason for people not to come back to the hotel."

We stay silent for a moment. I don´t know what to say. This sucks. After all we´ve been through, it was not enough. The Tremont´s reopening is still in danger. Our parents spent so much time and money for this to work, it must work. If the hotel closes, then Judge Walker wins. We can´t let that happen.

"So…" Harper begins. I know that look, she´s thinking on a plan. "We should persuade the girl not to post the video."

"Exactly. You´ve always been so smart, mom." Nick smiles.

Harper smiles too, despite the weirdness of this situation.

"I tried persuading her." Nick says. "I time travelled a few minutes ago, it didn´t work. I guess if you, who are the owners, talk to her and explain how much The Tremont means to you, then, she might delete the video."

"That sounds good." I agree. "Let´s do it."

"Thanks Nick." Harper says. "We´ll do our best to make it work."

"I hope it does. I want your dream to be true." He smiles. "Good luck, I won´t be able of coming back here, I´ll go back to Chicago tomorrow."

"Thanks, Nick." I say.

"Thanks for the advice. Bye." Harper hugs him, and then I do, before he goes back home.

I have mixed feelings right now. Happiness because Harper and I will be together for a long time. And sadness because any member of our family fulfill their dreams. But we can fix it.

We just came back from 2024, if we time travel again right now, we would be gone for too long, our parents would worry. Besides, it was an insane night! It might be best to travel tomorrow.

"That was crazy!" Harper exclaims while we walk through the tunnel. "We have a son!"

"We do!" I giggle nervously. "It´s nice of him to try our dreams not to fall apart."

"Yeah, he seems like a sweet boy."

"You think we should tell the twins and Topher about this?"

"Sure. They can help."

When we get out of the bunker, someone turns on the basement´s lights. It´s Jess. And dad. Oh, crap.

"What are you doing here?!" Jess shouts. "I was looking for you, Harper, let´s go home!"

"We told you to stay away from that bunker." My dad´s furious. "That wasn´t a suggestion, Griffin, it was an order!"

"I know… we… we…"

"I don´t care. We´ll talk about this tomorrow. I need to sleep now, we all need to sleep."

"And we need to go home." Jess says to Harper. "Let´s go. We´ll continue this conversation tomorrow."