Run

Chapter TwentySeven: Merry Christmas Eve.

"Ughhhhh," I groan.

I sat up, blinking at the dim light. Wait. I look around the room I'm in and realize... this isn't Noah's house. It's a blue themed... Hotel room? It looks like a one-bed version of the room me and Tim shared, except blue. The bed was against the back wall, there was a dresser by it, and a table was across from me, which had a tv, a microwave, and a lamp, which was on, on it. Leaning against the desk was a mostly closed, dark green backpack. I was laying on the top of a navy blue bed in black shorts and a black shirt. Okay, where was I last? Noah's house... Middle... No early morning cause I couldn't sleep and... I was connecting the names in my journal, then.... Ughh. Then the Observer showed up.

I move my hand to sit on my legs and notice a note on the back of my right hand and the operator symbol on my left. The note said, 'Check yourself in the mirror'. Okay then. Just gonna trust the random fucking writing on the back of my hands. I slid off the bed and headed for the two doors to my left. I opened the one that was farther to the left and found the bathroom. I flicked the lights on and stepped in. The mirror was to my left and my god.

There were lines, like 'glitchy' lines going down the left side of my face, starting at below my left eye and ending just above my chin. And my left eye has a thick line of eyeliner around it. Jegus Christ. I flipped on the sink and began scrubbing at the markings on my hands. They came off fairly easily and I quickly scrubbed off the markings on my face. Checking my arms again, I notice I'm not wearing any gauze and there are only slight scars from the marks, same goes for my leg. I entered the room area again. Okay, I need to take inventory. I crossed the room, grabbed the backpack, and sat down on the bed. The pack was almost full to the top.

I unzipped it and began pulling things out. My cell phone. My journal. My journals key. A pair of thick socks. A set of car keys. Two room key cards. A fake leather greaser jacket. A wallet. I'll check that in a moment. A pair of black jeans. A dark blue shirt, probably one of Tim's. My glasses. A pair of black military styled boots, hopefully, my size. A bag of random necessities, like hairbrushes and toothbrushes and shit. A phone charging cord. A pair of black earbuds. And last but not least, an envelope.

I picked up the wallet and shuffled through it. It had my driver's license, 60 bucks, and a card with a couple phone numbers on it. I grabbed my phone and clicked it on. The screen lit up, showing the time and date as usual. It was 10:34 pm on December 24. MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS EVE TO ME!! There goes another like two weeks of my life... shit. I checked through my phone fully, luckily my passcode wasn't changed. There were no new photos or any new notes, but there was a message from Roy. Apparently, I'm fired. Fine by me, that was from a week ago. Other than that, there was nothing new on the phone, all my pics and all of my music was still there. I set the phone down and grabbed my journal. I clicked it open and flipped through it. Nothing new in there either. I shut it and sighed. I grabbed the envelope and turned it around in my hands, then grabbed the car keys. I glanced at the window to my right. I wonder... I stood up from where I was on the floor and went to the window. I slid the curtains back and looked out.

The window was positioned over the front of the building so I could see the parking lot. In the dim light from the lamp posts, I could see that there were only three cars and a motorcycle, with a helmet on the seat, in the lot. Oh, please let these keys go to the motorcycle. I clicked the alarm button on the keys and the motorcycle started to go off. Yes! I clicked the button once more and the bike stopped screaming. I put the keys on the window sill and carefully opened the letter. Inside was a piece of paper. I pulled it out and opened it up. It had a small section of text in the middle of the paper.

'Merry Christmas Eve Maddison,

I just wanted to give you a small piece of advice. If you leave in the now you should make it to Rosswood in time to wish them Merry Christmas.

Good Luck,

                      Z̢̖̰̺̞ͭ͆ͨ̈̐̄'

Rosswood huh. Kay. Now I know where I'm heading.

I changed into the baggy jeans and shirt. I slid on the socks and pulled the boots on, they fit quite well and laced them up. I quickly brushed my hair and teeth, and put my glasses on. I slipped the coat on and put my wallet in one of the coat's pockets. I plugged the earbuds into my phone, and looped the phone and earbuds under my shirt, sticking my phone in the pants pocket. I put everything back into the backpack. I put the backpack on, stuck the key cards for the room on the dresser, and grabbed the car keys of the window.

I did one quick check around the room but found nothing I exited the room and headed down the hall. This is, in fact, the same hotel we stayed in earlier, but I was in room 402. I went through the lobby, which was empty and exited the building. As soon as I got to the motorcycle, I put my earphones in and turned on a random song. I strapped on the helmet, started the motorcycle, and started towards Rosswood Park.