Hallows Inn

Chapter Five

It was around seven in the morning when I made myself get out of bed. Neither Josh nor I had gotten much sleep, too much on our minds to get any rest, but we didn't really talk either. We just laid in silence in the dark.

I had gotten dressed and decided to go walking around to check out the place. This was the first time I had ever been in here and so I wanted to see what all there was in this place. It seemed no one else was out and about, probably all in their rooms too afraid to come out. I was afraid, too, but I couldn't keep myself locked in the bedroom.

I walked through the kitchen and through a doorway just at the back. There was a small hallway with three doors. One door was a pantry and one was a storage closet. I walked to the end of the hallway and opened the third door. There was a staircase. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and turned on the light and headed down the stairs.

It was a small room filled with books. It must have been a tiny library for guests. There was a few chairs around the room that were covered by white sheets, that didn't look very white anymore. The amount of dust that collected over time was understandable.

I walked down the far wall running my hands over the books until one caught my eye. Hallow's Inn Winners. I pulled the book from the shelf and opened it up. It was a list of winners with their pictures holding the grand prize. "Wow," I whispered to myself. I had no idea this book even existed.

I skimmed through the book looking at all the winners over time. Some people looked vaguely familiar, while some didn't but their names did. I noticed the first two pages were stuck together, and it took some time, but I got them separated without any damage. "What the," I said as the image of the first ever winner of the contest stared me in the face. I knew who the guy was because we had a picture of him hanging on the wall in the hallway of our house. It was my great great great grandfather.

I flipped through some more pages, again, and another person caught my eye. It was Demi's great grandmother.

I slammed the book closed and held on to it while I ran up the stairs and through the kitchen. I came to a quick stop when I noticed everyone was sitting in the living room with a fire going. It was pretty chilly in the Inn.

"Look at this," I told Demi as I sat down next to her. I flipped the page to the picture of my great great great grandfather. "He was the first one to ever win."

She looked surprised. "That's crazy!"

"Yeah." I nodded. "How did we not ever know that?" I flipped a few pages. "And look at this."

Her eyes widened. "My great grandmother won?" She grabbed the book from me setting it in her lap. "I never knew that."

This caught the attention of the rest of the group and they all huddled around us as we searched through the book. It wasn't until we had all come together to look at the winners that we noticed something. All of us had someone in our family win the contest before, which some were aware of but others not.

Then we all realized something else. Not only did we all have a family member win at one point in time, but we were also paired in rooms with the person who's winning relative was the same.

Demi and Derek each had a great grandparent win. Karen and Jack each had a brother win. Riley and Sean each had a cousin win. Josh and I each had a great great great grandparent win.

"How did you have someone win if you just moved here?" Jack questioned Josh.

Josh shrugged. "How would I know?" He looked over the picture. "Besides, it was my great great great grandmother. I didn't even know her."

"I don't know about you guys, but this doesn't seem like a coincidence to me," I told them.

"So do you think this was all set up?" Karen grabbed the book from Demi's lap. "Are we like all going to die?" She flipped through the book. "I mean, Riley and Sean were paired up for the same reason. Is she next?"