Crescent Vale Inn

“Sammy? Sammy, I can’t hear you,” Marilyn said. A crackling sound came over the phone’s speaker, voices cutting in and out as Marilyn sped down the highway in the driving rain.

“Sammy?” she yelled into the phone again, glancing over at it in its holder. Fear had crept into her normally cool and calm voice.

“Where are you?”

“Mom?” Sam said, his voice sounding tinny and far away.

“Yes, son. Tell me where you are. I’m coming to get you.”

When he answered her, his voice was staticy and broken. All she could make out were the words “mom, I’m” and “don’t.”

“Sam?” she yelled louder like that would somehow clear up the connection.

Suddenly, the phone cut out completely. Marilyn swore under her breath, and tried dialing her son’s number, but it went straight to voice mail. She angrily ended he call, pushed up her glasses, and turned her attention back to the road.

Marilyn screamed, and turned the wheel hard to the right. Her car tires slid in the rain, hydroplaning on the wet road, and she let out another scream as she began to spin in circles. She heard a blaring horn, as the truck she’d narrowly avoided crashing into head on clipped her back bumper, and sent her spinning toward the ditch.

The horn brought her back to her senses, though, and she turned into the spin, finally gaining control just before the car could careen off the road.

Marilyn took a moment to catch her breath and then glanced in the rearview mirror. The truck who’d clipped her kept going, barreling down the road like nothing had happened. There was no traffic at all on her side, so she sat there for a few moments, until she could stop shaking.

She drove on to the next town, hoping to see how much damage the car had taken, but the rain was still pouring and she was exhausted, so she looked for a place to stay for the night instead. The town was very small, though, and most of the businesses were boarded up. She wasn’t sure she was going to find a motel at all, but then one appeared on the very outskirts of town.

The “No” on the vacancy sign was flashing on and off, but there was only one other car in the parking lot, so Marilyn pulled into the office. There was no one isnide, though, when she walked in.

“Hello?” she said as she brushed the rain off of her jacket. She walked up to the desk and ran the little service bell.

A moment later, a tall, skinny man stepped in from a room behind the counter. Marilyn was used to being the shortest person in the room, but for a moment, she could only blink at his incredible height. Along with the oddness of his stature, his age seemed to be indeterminate as well, like an old man stuck in a young man’s body.

He cleared his throat, which brought her out of her reverie.

She shook her head and said, “I’m sorry. It’s been a very long drive. I’d like to get a room for the night, please.”

Marilyn felt nostalgic when he handed her an actual key. She hadn’t seen one of those for a room in quite a few years. The nostalgia stopped there, though, as she opened the door to her room and looked around at the thread bare carpet and 1970’s decor.

“The only things that change are the prices,” she mumbled to herself and shut the door behind her.

Marilyn had travelled for work a lot in her younger years, especially after her and her husband decided to adopt a baby boy. They needed the money her corporate job brought in, which meant she was very familiar with nightly accomodations.

It also meant that she and her son didn’t have the relationship she’d like. She was absent a lot, which caused resentment, something she was still trying to reconcile.

When she sat down on the old mattress, which at least felt comfortable, she checked her phone to see if she’d maybe missed a call from Sam. Then she thought back to the last conversation they’d had.

“I’m taking this semester off, Mom,” he’d insisted. “I want to do some volunteer work.”

“Honey, you can do that after you graduate,” she’d tried to point out.

“Can I, though? You’ll expect me to go straight into some mundane job I hate. I want to explore other options. It’s my decision!”

Then he’d grabbed his keys and stormed out of the house. It was two weeks ago, and it was the last time she’d seen him.

She let the conversation fade from her mind and checked her phone for GPS information. Luckily, her and her son had decided to put trackers on their cars for just such emergencies. She pulled up the data, but it didn’t make anymore sense than it had before.

According to the tracker, her son’s car hadn’t moved in a couple of days and was parked very near where her car had spun out on the road. Only, she’d checked it. She parked her car in the spot, but there were no other vehicles in sight. She’s even snuck onto the property adjacent to the road, but hadn’t found any sign of the car or Sam.

Though she just wanted to sleep, she grabbed a few sad snacks from the vending machine outside, and then despaired about where her son could be over a bottle of water and some stale peanuts.

When she did finally go to sleep, she dreamed about the fight she’d had with Sam and all the horrible things that could be happening to him. She woke with a start, brow covered in sweat, but quickly forgot all about the dreams.

Marilyn’s eyes quickly darted around the room. An almost floor length curtain gently swayed with the breeze from the open window. There were four ornately carved posts at the ends of the bed, along with a dresser and full sized mirror across from her. Along with that, there was also a meal delivery cart, complete with silver service sitting by the door.

This was definitely not the motel room she’d fallen asleep in.