Subject #013 | ✓

Chapter 25

Harrison was right about there being a hotel nearby, as I can spot it from here. He did underestimate, however, the walk from his apartment to the hotel. Because of the short nap I had at his place, I'm not really in a state of mental fatigue. I'm more in a state of physical fatigue. My legs and arms are sore, and my calves burn like I just ran a marathon. I bet we just as easily walked one. I think, in my haste to get out of those woods, we travelled about ten miles. Maybe we'll have walked twelve by the time we get to this hotel.

Hotel Grande doesn't seem that far away from where we are, but after five minutes of walking on sore ankles, everything seems like a mirage. Street lights blur together in front of my vision, and my feet no longer pick themselves up off the ground, they drag along behind me. Maybe everything is a mirage. Maybe life is just an illusion.

What am I - insane? This isn't the Sahara Desert. This isn't a movie. I'm standing here, on the wet sidewalk, in the cold, in a skirt, less than half a mile away from a warm bed and a TV. Ain't nothing standing in my way. Resolve hardening into determination, I speed up my steps and ignore the burning pain in my... everything.

In the meanwhile, Liz is way ahead of me, practically skipping. She might be taking this "dumb blonde" thing a little too seriously. Or she's a great actor. I suppose, since I'm rebellious and emo now, I should flip my hair and say something smart alecky, but nothing comes to mind so I stay silent, eyeing my new and improved black-like-my-soul boots.

"What are you thinking about?" Alix asks me. I turn to look over at him. His hands are shoved in the pockets of his trousers casually, his tie hanging loosely around his neck. He doesn't return the look, he just keeps staring forward.

"Nothing." I lie. "You?"

"Nothing." He replies, and I say nothing in return. Something seems different about him. Can he sense how tense I am towards him now that he looks exactly like the one who broke my heart less than a week ago?

I honestly hope I'm not that obvious.

After what seems like eternity, the bright sign that reads "Hotel Grande" casts a strong light down on us, blinding me for a moment and causing me to see spots in the corner of my vision for a few seconds. In the time it takes me to blink them away, Liz is already pushing herself through the door, strolling into the lobby like she owns the place.

I bet if Liz was Liz right now, and not Allison, she would have intimidated the guy at the front desk to let her own the place. Who knows? She's full of surprises.

I smile to myself when I see that the door is a circular sliding door, like the one in the movie Elf, or at various Red Robin's scattered across the United States. Fortunately, Liz isn't like Elf, and she just pushes through. Unfortunately, Alix is. Out of the periphery of my vision, I see his eyes light up as he realizes what this means. If Bayley was with me, she would be forcing me to run through the doors as fast as we could, or go around in circles until we get dizzy. I thought that was just Bayley. Apparently there's a whole species like her, and Alix is one of them.

As soon as Liz is through, Alix leaps forward. It's his time for action, I assume, but I have no idea what kind of thoughts are running through his brain right now. If I had to guess, I'd say he's thinking "ooohh a circular sliding glass door. Let's annoy some people! "

By "some people" I mean me. And maybe the hotel staff. But before I can tell him that perhaps what he's thinking is not a good idea, he enters the spherical chamber, and is running around in circles, the biggest, dorkiest grin on his face. He does it about three times before I finally intervene, cutting him off right in the middle of his fourth lap. I exit the other side, my body immediately relaxing as warm heat rushes towards me. I hadn't noticed how cold it is outside until now, when I've actually felt warmth after four or five days of being out in the cold during winter.