Full Moon Hotel
Full Moon Hotel
"But mom, I don't want to live here!" cried Ellie. Tears cascaded from her eyes.
"Ellie, I know you hate the fact that we have to keep moving around. But there is a big difference in want and need." Explained her father. He wiped off her tears as her mother hugged her.
"Your father is right Ellie. Don't worry, it will all be okay. Why don't we check out the hotel!” Her mom exclaimed. Ellie took a glance at the hotel and shivers ran down her spine. It was a big wood mansion. Windows were cracked, the wood was damp, the paint was faded. It looked hundreds of years old.
"Ok..." Ellie mumbled. The family approached the mansion. There were stairs that led to the front door, and as they stepped on it, the stairs groaned under their feet.
"This place gives me the creeps." Ellie murmured under her breath. Dad opened the door and it creaked. Instantly, an aroma of burning wood hit Ellie's nostrils.
"Ugh, it smells disgusting." She complained. Her parents looked at each other. Her mom sighed and her dad shook his head. Ellie understood she was being too whiny. She didn't say another word until a woman entered the room. She was dressed in pink and wore black stockings. She had a pink hairband that neatly tucked her her behind her ears. She smiled at the family.
"Hi, welcome to full moon hotel. I am Joanne. Call me Jo. You guys must be the Larkins."
"Hi Jo, yes we are the Larkins. This is my wife Sophia and my daughter Ellie." Jo held out her hand for a handshake.
"Pleasure meeting you all. Let me take you to your room." Jo led the way and the family followed. The room was on the third floor. In the hallways hung many paintings and murals of men and women wearing fancy suits and puffy dresses.
"Here you are, room 308." Jo passed the keys to dad. Then she walked away, wishing them a nice day. Dad smiled at her and opened the door. He pushed it ajar. A thin layer of dust covered the furniture inside. There was a small TV, a king sized bed (which was springy), a desk with some books stacked on it, and a wardrobe. The old pink flower wallpaper in there was peeling off.
"This is, good?" Ellie said was she brushed her pinky on the desk and blew the dust away from her pinky.
"Come on Ellie, its not that bad." Her mom said.
"Sure not "that bad "." Ellie said with finger quotations. Her dad sighed and brought in the suitcases. Mom and Ellie helped him.
After that, dad said, "Well Ellie, me and your mom have some work to do. Do you think you can take care of yourself while we are gone?"
"Dad I'm 12, not 5." Ellie remarked as she bounced on the bed with the TV remote. Her parents laughed and kissed her forehead as they left. Ellie switched on the TV and browsed through the channels for a while. Once she found out that there wasn't anything interesting, she switched of the TV and started reading a book that was stacked on the desk.
"Demons from hell..." Ellie murmured as she read the title. She opened the book and started to read about ghosts, vampires, and zombies. After a while, she got tired of reading and decided to explore the hotel a bit. She got up and opened the door that led to the hallway outside. She then walked out. The hallway was dark. Every 2 minutes she would pass by a lantern hung on the ceiling.
"Dad seriously had no other option for a hotel." Suddenly Ellie heard a thump. She froze in her place, afraid to move.
"Jo?" She asked. Her voice, shaking with fear, seeming to have echoed. She turned and looked behind her, and saw room 304's door was half-open. She slowly proceeded towards the door and peeped inside. That room was no different then her room. Same old desk and bed. The wallpaper was blue with white stripes on it . She observed the room.
“Not much…” Ellie mumbled. She suddenly gasped when she heard a voice behind her. She turned around and saw a man, probably in his 40’s, staring at her. He had grey hair, dark blue eyes, and a grey beard.
“May I help you?” His voice was deep and rough.
“No, no I saw the door open and just wanted to take a look.” She answered, frightened by the sudden appearance of the man. The man just stared at her.
“How long would you be staying her?” He asked. A worried expression crossed his face.
“We will leave tomorrow.” She said feeling uneasy. The man inhaled sharply, and seemed to have calmed down.
“Oh, ok. Just be sure not to stay her tomorrow night.” He said. Ellie just nodded. There was an awkward silence.
“Well, have a nice day.” He moved aside for her to walk by. Ellie sprinted towards her room. She was terrified. When she reached her room, she pushed it open and shut it close. She was breathing heavily. Ellie went to her bed and lay on it, exhausted. She looked at the book and started browsing through the chapters. She found a chapter named, “Werewolves, the beast that craves for the moon.”
“Sounds interesting.” She flipped through the pages and started to read. After a few minutes, the door opened. She looked up and saw her parents. Both of them had a bag in their hand.
“Chinese takeout!” Said dad enthusiastically.
“That too from your favorite restaurant.” Mom said as she while putting down the bag and grabbing a drink of water.
“Ooooooo, did you get moo goo gai pan for me? Ellie asked.
“Yup, same for everyone,” Dad answered. Ellie smiled and rushed to the table. They all seated themselves and started eating. Ellie decided not to tell her parents about the mysterious man she met earlier. She thought about what the man said, “make sure to not be here tomorrow night.” What could he mean? She was in deep thought when her mom’s voice brought her back.
“So, what did you do while we were gone?” Her mom asked. Ellie gulped.
“You know, watched TV, read some books, stuff…” Her mom just gave her a funny look.
“Well Ellie, looks like we are going to have to stay here for another night.” Her dad said. Ellie stared at him for a moment.
“Sure, no problem!” She said. She thought about what the man said again. Nothing made sense. After they finished eating, she cleared the table and threw the takeout boxes. Then, they all went to bed. The next day, she woke and saw her parents gone. She felt something on her forehead. She touched it and pulled out a sticky note. It said
“Checking the new office, 4 sandwiches in the fridge, will be back at 9 pm. -Love Mom and Dad.” She read the note to herself and smiled. Then she got up, and freshened up. After that, she ate one of the sandwiches in the fridge for breakfast. Soon, she started watching a spy movie on TV. It took 2 hours and 30 minutes to finish the movie. After that, she watched some F.R.I.E.N.D.S (a TV show), and soon fell asleep. After a while, she woke up. She saw that the TV was still on, so she switched it of. She looked next to her and saw the book. She picked it up and started to read where she left off. She read and read until she suddenly heard a yelp of pain. The sudden sound shocked her. She just sat there for a minute. She didn’t know what to do. Should she go out? Should she run out and help? She heard the yelp of pain again and decided she should go out. She ran towards the door and out in the hallway. She ran and ran, until she saw the same mysterious man. He was in pain, she could see it. He looked feeble, his face was pale, and he was leaning against the wall.
“Are you okay?” Ellie asked in concern.
The man turned around, shocked that she was here.
“I thought you were leaving this morning?” He asked. There was a weakness in his voice.
“Yeah, but our plans changed.” She answered.
“Well, just go back to your room.” He said.
“But you’re in pain.” She argued.
“You don’t understand, you don’t know who I am. Please just go before it's-" The man suddenly screamed. Ellie watched in horror as the man’s nails started growing longer. Hair started growing everywhere. He had long sharp teeth and big pointy ears. Ellie understood why the man had told her not to stay here that night. The man was trying to warn her. The man was a werewolf. A shrill scream escaped Ellie’s mouth. The werewolf looked at her and growled. He charged towards her. Ellie ran as fast as she could, but the wolf was faster. He grabbed her and pinned her to the ground. Ellie screamed again. The wolf showed his fangs and when he was just about to kill her with his sharp nails, he fell to the ground. Ellie looked up and saw another werewolf had tackled him down. Ellie was shocked. The 2 werewolves fought each other. Then suddenly, one of the werewolf scratched the other one on the arm with 3 sharp nails. The wolf whined as blood was oozing out. Ellie decided this was her chance to escape. She got up and ran, ran as fast as lightning. She reached her room and shut the door. She locked it and went to her bed and was shaking with fear. She covered herself with a blanket and soon fell asleep.
“Ellie, Ellie?’ She woke up by the sound of her mom.
“Oh you’re awake!” Her mom hugged her, sounding relieved.
“What happened?’ Ellie asked, looking around the room.
“Well, Jo heard you scream in your sleep, had a bad nightmare?” Asked dad.
“Yeah, kinda.” Ellie was quite astonished to find out that this whole time she was just experiencing a bad nightmare.
“Well I’m glad you are okay,” Jo said and smiled at Ellie. Ellie smiled back.
“Thanks, Jo, I don’t know what we would have done without you.” Thanked mom.
“No problem. Call me if you need anything else.” She said. Ellie was happy and smiling until dad said something that really shocked her.
“Hey Jo, how’d you get those scratches?” Asked dad. Ellie's eyes widened and looked at the scratch dad was referring to. There were 3 scratches, on her arm.
“Oh, it must have been a cat.” She said, looked at Ellie, and smirked.