Hotel Midnight // Shawn Mendes (✔️)

Thirteen

Sarah was sitting in the candy shop when we got there, completely alone. Which, by the way, was very unusual since the candy shop was an extremely popular place for visitors and other guests at the hotel.

So why was Sarah sitting there by herself?

"Oh, Nora! Did you hear about what happened to Lilly and Marcus?" She asks sadly once she spots me, and I nod my head, not wanting to talk about it.

"Yeah, I heard. Uh, Sarah, I need to ask you about something."

"Sure, what is it? Trying to figure out which flavor of lolipops you two should get? My personal favorite has to be cotton candy- just for the record."

"Not exactly, although lolipops would be nice right now. I actually need to ask about floor Zero, and Kylie." I tell her honestly, and before she can shake her head I continue.

"Before you say anything, just think for a second. You could be saving so many people just by giving us some information. All I need is some answers, Sarah. I've got to get myself, and all these other people out of this Hotel Hell." I say to her, using the nickname she said for this place. Me and her both knew the truth though. Only three people could leave this hotel at a time if we ever got this place to let us go.

Sarah is quiet, and I turn to look at Shawn to see him eying her, like if he looked at her long enough with concentration that she would spill.

"Okay. What do you need to know?"

Relief washes over my body and I turn to Shawn, a hopeful smile on not only his face, but both of ours.

"Where did you hide the key?" I ask, and Sarah's eyes widen.

"How do you know I hid it?" She asks, and I just simply shrug.

"You and Kylie were close, what other worker would she hand it to?" I question. Sarah looks back and forth, as if she's expecting someone to pop up and catch her. Then, she leans in closely to me and beings to whisper.

"The key, once it's in the door and it turns to 12:01, disappears. It goes back to its hiding place."

"Which is floor Zero, isn't it?" I ask her, and slowly, she nods her head.

"It's hidden very well, that's what Kylie told me. She said she searched and searched for it, since Mother Reenie didn't tell her where exactly to find it. I hate that witch, I swear."

I don't reply to her comment about Mother Reenie, because I knew the whole backstory, and obviously Sarah and I were on different sides.

Mother Reenie speaks to me a lot. She says she likes me, and that I have a pure soul, which is pretty good to hear.

The same couldn't be said about Kylie.

She was never worthy, is what I remember Mother Reenie said to me when I came to her one day. She said that Kylie had betrayed trust. Who's trust? I had no idea.

"How long was Kylie in there for?" I ask, and Sarah shakes her her, obviously sad.

"A whole month, that poor angel." She says, and I raise an eyebrow in suspicion. Why was Sarah acting like this? She was pretty speaking strangely, since the last time I spoke to her.

I start to think that maybe she was Twitched, but that never happens. Well, usually never. I can't remember the last time I heard of someone getting Twitched, it was rare.

Twitching is where Mr.Rush plants something inside you, makes you think differently about this hotel. But it takes a while to fully take over, so you could still talk like your normal self and not realize you were throwing in some very positive things about Hotel Midnight.

If Twitching wasn't so uncommon, I would have no doubt that's what happened to Sarah.

"Wait, a whole month? You mean, without food or water? Seems strange." Shawn says, causing me to remember that he was still by my side. He had a good point though.

"She brought food!" Sarah snaps at him, then shakes her head and gives us a smile.

"Did Kylie ever tell you what was in floor Zero? Or maybe where she found the key? I'm sure either of those could help us out a lot, believe me."

Sarah is completely silent, and the only sound between us is currently her nails being tapped against the counter of the candy shop.

Finally, she taps and deep breath and begins to speak. "I wish I did, and I feel terrible for not being able to tell you, but I don't have a clue. Kylie never told me about it, probably because she was in serious trauma because of- well, you know why." She says, referring to what happened to Coraline.

Shawn exhales a deep breath in exhaustion, which makes me think about what she could have said to make Shawn do that.

That's when it hits me. Kylie supposedly didn't remember anything about Coraline, so why would she be in such a traumatizing state?

"Kylie was sad about that whole thing?" I ask, and Sarah nods her head quickly.

"Extremely. She didn't cry at all though, for some reason."

Finally, Shawn says what both of us are thinking.

"I thought Kylie didn't remember Coraline after she left floor Zero."

Sarah freezes for a moment, biting her lip.

"I can't tell you the details, I swore I wouldn't to anyone. But I'm telling the truth, believe me." Sarah states, and I can tell how uncomfortable she is in the situation.

"Okay, but I just have one more question. Where's the staircase? You can't go to floor Zero through elevator, so where's the door that has the staircase?" I ask, and Sarah gets up from her seat, then telling us to follow her.

Finally, Sarah takes us to a large wooden door and point to it.

"This is it. I know you can't go into floor Zero without two people, so both of you pack bags with food and water. I've got to go back now, I'll see you later Nora." She says, and rushes off, not acknowledging Shawn. It's silent as ever, and I stare at the door, my face showing no emotion.

"Well, besides those little white lies, Sarah was pretty helpful."

"Yeah." I say, still distracted by the door.

"Uh, Nora? Are you okay? Is there a problem or something?" He asks, concerned, and I finally make eye contact with him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just a little problem." I tell Shawn, then putting my hand on the door and feeling how warm it is before speaking again.

"This door leads to the ashing room."

-A/N-

HOLD ON IS SUCH A SAD SONG IM CRYING