The Stanley Hotel

26

"We are here!" Sam yelled after a what felt like hours of staring at the message. Trying to build up the strength to click it.

Colby shot his head up from his phone and then looked at me. I quickly powered off my phone and tried my best to cover my fear clearly showing on my face.

Colby's face expression slowly changed after looking at me. He knew I wasn't okay, but I still did my best to cover it to prevent sam from knowing.

"Yay! Food!" I said trying my best to sound, fine.

I put my phone in my back pocket and got ready to leave the car. Sam found a parking spot and we all quickly got out of the car. As we walked over to the restaurant, Colby next to me and Sam next to him, I kept feeling my phone vibrate.

Colby looked over at me, he clearly could hear my phone. Thoughts raced through my mind on how to explain the situation. I didn't want to lie to Colby but I did not want to explain this here or now.

"Is everything okay?" Colby whispered to me.

"Not really, I'll explain later," I whispered back.

I was dumb for saying that because now Colby is going to be worried. I should have just said yes but even then he might not have believed me. I hated this whole thing and wished Theo would just leave me alone.

Colby just nodded. Sam opened the door and held it for Colby and I. This restaurant wasn't too packed and we all were grateful for that. It looked like something you would find in a small town by the country.

A hostess quickly came up and gave us the normal hostess ordeal, how many, booth or table, blah blah blah. I can't say I was paying much attention since Sam took over the conversation.

My phone started to vibrate again so I took it out. More messages from Theo. My eyes started to water and my stomach dropped again. I quickly turned my phone on, do not disturb. I put my phone away and quickly wiped my tears.

The hostess lead us to our table and gave us our menus. I quickly skimmed through the meals until I found what sounded like a good cheese burger.

While Sam and Colby searched through their menus a took out my phone to see if I had gotten any more messages. Tons of messages from instagram, and 2 from messenger. I clicked on them to see who they were from and I was relieved.

Kris messaged me asking how I was doing, and that she wanted to call ASAP. I messaged her back saying I was physically fine but mentally was a different story. I also said that I can't call right now but I could when we got back to the hotel.

'The hotel?'
'I thought your flight was today?'

'We had to stay back because I went to the hospital'
'Nothing to serve'

'What?!'
'As soon as you get to the hotel or whatever you need to explain'
'And tell me everything that has happened'

Kris sounded mad in my mind when I read her messages final messages. I just responded with a, okay, and put my phone away.

"What are you getting, Lexi?" Colby asked me

"Cheese burger, duhh," I said smiling at him

"Shut up," Colby said laughing back and I just stuck my tongue out at him.

"Definitely siblings," Sam said smiling a little.

"What you getting, Sam?" I asked him as he set his menu down.

"I think I'm gonna get a BLT," he said

"Colby? What about you?" I asked

"Chicken sandwich," he said before taking our menus and staking them, "did you see they had deep fried pickles!"

"What the?" Sam said giving a concerned look.

"I'll pass, but I think you should try them," I said looking at Colby.

"No! I hate pickles!" Colby responded quickly

"That is a terrible excuse," I said rolling my eyes with a smile.

"Your annoying," Colby said crossing his arms

"Love you too," I said sticking out my tongue again.

"Yup, siblings," Sam said laughing at us.

The hostess came up and took our orders and menus. The three of us took a quick instagram photo, Sam and Colby posted it on their XPLR account.

The post quickly blew up, likes and comments through the roof compared to my stuff. At least before I meet Sam and Colby. Our food quickly came out and we took our time eating and talking.

"Have you seen anything like the other night again?" Sam asked after taking a sip of his drink.

"What do you mean?" I asked not understanding a single word he just said.

"Have you seen anything you think relates to the creature thing, or the creature?" Sam asked

"Oh, no I haven't why do you ask?" I responded looking quickly to Colby who looked a little worried for my response.

"Just wondering I guess. Trying to find out what it wants," Sam said taking a bit of his BLT.

"Yeah, I hope we find some answers tonight," I said before taking a sip from my drink.

Sam nodded and Colby kind of ignored it. He seemed slightly unsure about going back. I decided to leave him along and ask him about it later.

I looked over Colby's shoulder, towards the door. A girl was pointing in our direction looking at us then the boy next to her. She had little happy feet and they both smiled at each other.

I started to smile a little and Colby noticed. He looked over to where I was staring and the girl smile grew. She rushed over with the boy following her. Sam looked up and Colby turned and smiled at me before turning back to talk to them.

"Sam and Colby right?" She asked pointing slightly at each of them.

"Yup," Sam said

"What's up!?" Colby said nodding

"I'm Emma, I saw your guys instagram post and we rushed over," she said, "can we take a photo?"

"Yeah sure," Colby said wiping his face if with his hand quickly.

"Dang you guys came fast then," Sam said standing up and looking at Emma she just nodded quickly.

"Lexi Warren, right?" The boy asked pointing at me and scratching the back of his neck clearly nervous,

"Yeah, what's up?" I said looking at him and smiling a little.

"Mind if we get a photo? I love your videos," he said before Emma gave him her phone and took a few photos for them.

"Sure! I would love to," I said hopping up from my chair.

"Okay thank you so much," he said taking out his phone and taking a selfie of us.

We all split into our own groups and talked for a little bit before they went and ordered something to eat. When we sat back down, we smiled at one another and laughed a little.

"Can't even go anywhere nice with you two," I said smiling and looking at the boys.

"Speak for yourself, you had a fan too," Sam said pointing at me and smiling.

"Shut up," I said laughing and finishing off my fries.

The boys quickly finished off their fries and rest of their burgers while I finished my drink. I took out my phone once more to check my messages and just more from Theo but also a bunch of messages from messenger now too. All from Theo.