Hush Hush - Part 3

[stone_roses]

Who: Markus. Vivian.
When: Sorta back dated.
Rating: R for violence.

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Markus tossed the cell phone into the opening darkness. This was it, we were going to die. There were just fragments of flooring scattered about and down below I could see a ball of light coming up from the abyss. I tilted my head looking at it fascinated. “Is that…”

“Fire. Marty is sending up fire to finish off the shadowalkers, the light will kill them.”

Fire.

“We’re going to burn alive, over and over, until we lose our heads and die?” I felt my stomach lurch up into my mouth and my hand grabbed at Markus’s hand holding on tight in sheer terror. I couldn’t do this. I wanted to wake the fuck up, right now. Please. Please. Please.



I thought Markus’s had given up too. I was wrong. Whatever Marty had said to him gave him a flicker of hope in his winter green eyes. Pushing me physically to the door where I had seen the girl open it and close it previously, in one precarious leap, we made it to the one floor fragment and clung to the edge of the door. Markus took his whole weight against the door, time and time again he bashed at it forcing the door open, then forced me into the room. I saw him then move to the next door near mine and he took a backward dive into the room before a roar of fire and smoke roared up consuming the whole hallway. I slammed the door close, and then pounded on it when I couldn’t open it. Not that I wanted to. I called out for Markus. I pounded on the door and called out over and over…until behind me I heard a gruff voice say,

“You there, halt.”

It took a full minute for my brain to process the words. My eyes to adjust I was now pounding on a brick wall and there was dirt under my feet and blue skies above my head. Not what you expect in a hotel room. Was this death? I heard the voice again, “Turn around slowly or we will kill you.” I froze. Then turned.

Well shit. I wasn’t in Kansas no more. I wondered if Markus was Toto or Dorothy. I turned, facing the new situation, trying to wrap my mind around what was happening. I did, taking the previous situation into consideration, the only thing a girl should do given the circumstances. I raised my hands in surrender and…bawled like a baby.

***

Surreal. I am going to abuse the word from now on out. There is no other word I can use to describe everything. No other word to describe how it felt finding myself sitting on the floor of the elevator at Hush Hotel. Any other time I’d motor mouth the entire trip down, instead silence fell in the small area. I gave Markus a side glace. I suddenly felt glad I didn’t want to talk. He looked…very un-Markus like…defeated almost. I wanted to ask him what he had seen. I asked him.

“What did you see?”

I almost expected him not to answer me. His voice was low when he spoke,
“Wheat fields.”

Like that meant anything to me. I knew I wouldn’t be receiving an explanation any time soon. I knew he would be like me; we just weren’t going to talk about it. And how could I? I wondered what the point of the whole experience had been for, only to end up coming back here and knowing important people were dead. I didn’t just mean Mac either. I sat on the floor with my head hitting the back of the wall. I wanted to close my eyes and sleep but I didn’t want to see the faces from the hotel room, it would make me cry and make me remember I had promised not to swear – ladies do not swear. Ladies hold themselves with decorum. All those lessons for what? I gritted my teeth and felt my fingernails digging in my palm at the memories. Or fantasies.

I had no idea what happened.

I just knew we were back and the weeks away had been no more than a few hours here. As the elevator dinged to the ground floor of the foyer of Hush I dragged myself to my feet watching Markus do the same. The doors slid open and a small crowd of familiar, anxious looking faces, peered back. Marty. Fin. The old man. Breacan. My gaze locked on Marty’s and before Markus could stop me I stalked towards the hotel owner of Hush and slapped him hard. Fin opened her mouth and closed it with my dark glare in her direction. She looked away towards Markus; I knew she wanted to go to him. Ladies do make scenes in public. I understood what held her back from showing public feelings. I couldn’t look at the old man. I didn’t want to hear Mac hadn’t come down before us. I needed a shower. I needed liquor. I need to cry.

I walked away from the small crowd. I couldn’t be with any of them; I didn’t want them to explain why I hadn’t woken up from my dream yet. I didn’t want to have to try to tell anyone why I felt so old and empty inside. Maybe the feeling would go away and everything returned to normal again. Normal. I almost laughed out loud at the idea anything would be normal from this point on. All I knew was I was back; we had defeated the monsters who had come for us. And nothing would ever be the same again.