The Monsters of the Mind

Part 22

It really shouldn't have been as big of a surprise to find the ground floor completely devoid of people - specifically Jimmy - but it was.

As soon as the lift hit the floor, I had half expected to see Jimmy Hall standing behind the register desk as he closed shop for the night. When I looked around the corner though, with half my body still hiding in the lift like a scared little girl, the main lobby was completely devoid of people. It was also quiet. The record player had been silenced and many of the lights had already been snuffed out. 

Had Jimmy closed up the hotel early in preparation for whatever was going to happen tonight?

'If he still has a bit of his sanity left, he might have,' my mind thought as I slowly came off the lift.

"You mean if he has any at all left," I mumbled under my breath, moving silently toward the kitchen just in case the crazed proprietor was lurking in the halls. With the way things had been going on today, I wouldn't have been surprised if Hugo Punch had overthrown Jimmy's reasonable side completely.

I picked up a bit of a pace as soon as I had passed by both the two main offices as well as the register desk, walking into the long hallway toward the kitchen.

The doors were closed, but the was a note on a scrap piece of paper addressed to me:

Kylie-

I will be away from the hotel for most of the evening. Should you need anything to eat, please help yourself to whatever is available. All I ask is that you clean up after yourself and stay away from the second and third floors after 8 tonight. I will see you tomorrow morning.

Thank you,
JH

'You don't think he's hiding in the kitchen, waiting to jump on us?' my mind suddenly thought after reading the note over a few times.

"I doubt it," I answered, "but what's really worrying me is the fact that Jimmy did leave a note and knows what's going on tonight. I'm a little nervous to find out."

'And it says not to go to the second or third floors this evening,' my mind pointed out, 'Are we still going to see Rose at midnight as she asked?'

"We have to," I muttered, folding the note and shoving it into my pocket, "It's our only chance to figure out what happened to Jimmy's father and how we can help the spirits trapped here."

'And Jimmy?'

For the first time, I was second guessing myself. Could Jimmy even be saved?

I knew nothing about demon exorcisms - only that certain people ordered and decreed by the church of the lord almighty were able to do demon exorcisms. And, even if I tried; one, the demon would take a part that made Jimmy Hall who he was and cause probably great pain, and two, the demon would still be around. Demons were monsters not to be played with since they played the game their way and by their rules - with little to no hope of being able to counter any attacks they made toward their intended target.

And even if Jimmy and I were able to make it out alive - which is already a very slim margin to begin with - the fear and paranoia would forever haunt both of us.

I would always be listening, watching, and waiting for the monster to make it's return. To constantly cling to the door frames or lock doors and windows three times over to make sure that I was safe. Jimmy would always be looking at his reflection, waiting for it to snap at him - to hear the voice that lived in his mind for most of his life - and the memory of everything that had happened would come crashing down on him, the fear and torment of what that demon did using his body always chasing after him.