Chapter 6

Nessa sat on one of the beds, brushing Kate's hair while Adanna gently put leave-in conditioner on her scalp.

"Did strange things keep happening to you guys, too?" Kate's sudden question took the other two girls by surprise.

Hesitantly, Adanna turned. "Well, yes. While Dave and I were walking to town for help, I saw someone following us between the trees. Then the bell at the front desk here rang by itself."

"No shit." Nessa jumped up, "I saw someone in the woods too!"

Kate sat anxiously, wringing her hands together on the bed. "I can feel it, all of it. The energy that surrounds this place is strange. It's like walking in a park in the middle of the night. We have no reason to be here and we're unwelcome."

The girls stared at each other for a little while, not really knowing what to say. They heard the boys next door wrapping it up for the night, turning off their T.V. and growing quiet.

"They've got a fantastic idea," Adanna said, getting up to sleep on the makeshift bed they had made out of the couch. "I'm turning in."

Muttering words of agreement, Kate and Nessa climbed into their beds and settled in. After some soft 'goodnight's the room grew silent and Adanna felt her eyes drooping closed.

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Dave let out a grumble and turned over in his bed as dream Dave wandered through an unfamiliar forest. He was walking down an overgrown path of compressed pine needles. A light fog licked at his heels and the smell of pine forest was incredibly strong. In the distance, he could see a feminine shape standing under a large tree.

He tripped over a root as he stared at her. She was wearing a light blue top with slacks and what looked to be saddle shoes. Her back was to him and she was hunched over, shivering.

Dave started walking towards the girl, his steps seemed to be amplified by the dense foliage around him. The wind whispered sweet nothings in his ears, but otherwise, it was incredibly silent.

Getting closer to the girl, he could hear her murmuring something under her breath repeatedly. Goosebumps sprung up on his arms as he noticed she was soaking wet.

"Are you okay?" he asked tentatively. She didn't respond, so he repeated what he said, but louder.

"You need to leave. You need to leave. You need to leave. You need to leave. You need to leave. You need to leave. You need to leave." Her voice was clear now that he was within arms reach. Her creepy, fast-paced rasps assaulted his eardrums as he dared to reach up to touch her shoulder.

Before he could make contact with the strange girl, four loud thumps echoed around him as she grew quiet. Something had fallen out of the tree in front of him. Dave looked up, crying out at the scene in front of him.

All of his friends were hanging from the tree, their bodies mangled in the same, twisted way. A single slash gaped from their chest to their stomachs, their insides spilling out. Looking down in horror he noticed that the things that had fallen out of the tree had actually not come from the tree, but instead, his friends.

Their hearts were speckled around the base of the tree, still beating.

The girl in front of him whipped around, blood dripping from her eyes.

"LEAVE."

Her screaming echoed in his ears as he woke with a start, rubbing his eyes. But the screaming didn't come from his dream. It came from next door.

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It couldn't have been more than a few hours when Kate woke up rather suddenly. Looking at the clock, she could see it was 3 am on the dot. That's a little creepy, she thought to herself.

Shaking off the weirdness of the hour, Kate swung her legs over the bed and padded softly over to the bathroom. She sat in total silence, doing her business, then stood watching her reflection carefully as she washed her hands. She really did not like it here at the Inn.

A soft knock came to the front door as she was drying her hands. Cocking her head to one side she slowly put down the towel. The knocking came again, very softly. Kate opened the bathroom door and turned off the light, not wanting to wake her roommates. She tiptoed over to the door and put her eye up to the looking glass. No one was there.

WHAM. WHAM. WHAM.

Kate screamed as the soft knocking turned into frantic, unbridled slams. The other occupants of the room sprung out of bed and came running. Nessa held her softly and gave her affirmations as Adanna turned on the lights. The banging on the front door had stopped.

"What the hell, Kate?!"

Nessa glared at Adanna, "Don't blame her! She's scared!"

Kate whimpered from behind Nessa as pounding came to the front door. But this time, familiar voices were behind it. Adanna ran over to let the boys in, slightly relieved they had come over.

"What's going on?" Kasem demanded sleepily.

"I don't know, Kate just was standing in front of the door screaming." Adanna folded her arms over her chest, shivering. Dave wrapped an arm around her and ushered her to the couch.

Kasem and Nessa helped to calm down Kate as she cried, still shaking. "I- I'm so- sorry gu-guys." She stuttered out.

"Hey, it's okay, we all have nightmares sometimes." Nessa stroked her hair.

Kate looked bewildered, "Dream? You mean you didn't notice the pounding at the door?"

Nessa and Adanna looked at each other, puzzled.

"No, Kate, there was no knock at the door."

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