THE INN

Chapter: 2 When Someone Looks Around

Stiles woke up with a loud banging. He rubbed his eyes as the crisp sun rays penetrated through the window panes. It took him a moment to realize that the windows were now completely shut. Throwing his jacket on the bed, he got up and went near the windows. He gently pushed open the window on his right with the tip of his fingers. He pushed and pulled the window multiple times to check it. It was now in a perfectly functional condition.

'I suffered the whole damn night,' he said as he stared at his reflection in the glass of the window. 'The window with superpowers. Well, I can always write about that.'

Leaving the window open, he headed towards the bathroom when he got jumped by a pop sound. He instantly moved around on his spot and found the window close.

'I can count this as weird, right?' he massaged the back of his neck with his right hand.

He went back and opened the window to lean over. The dead tree looked even bigger in the light, its arms hanging down like human arms. He stood on his toes to expose his face to the sunlight. Shutting his eyes, he breathed in the clean breeze.

Suddenly, he felt someone else's fingers on his face. He opened his eyes and began to run his hands all over his face. Stiles could see black blood dripping from his face in the reflection. He took a step closer to the window to see his face when a human hand soaked in blood came flying against the window.

He woke up and found himself back on the bed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stretched. He felt much better knowing it was a mere dream. His gaze quickly moved to the windowpane. The window was still in the same spot it was last night.

'Oliver and his stupid horror stories are now haunting me in my dreams,' he thought.

Trying not to think about the window anymore, he got out of the bed and opened the cupboard. He opened his bag to take out a pair of jeans and a yellow T-shirt. Luckily, he remembered that he kept the toiletries in the outer pocket of his bag. He took a quick shower and got ready.

To act the role of a naïve tourist, Stiles took out the brand new Nikon DSLR from his suitcase and hung the camera strap around his neck. The red italic font on his T-shirt said, 'Holiday Time.' He thought it would help him to make people believe that he was just another tourist and not someone looking for a story. He checked his reflection one last time in the small mirror attached to the wall next to the clipboard and went downstairs.

Stiles put his phone in his jeans pocket. He walked downstairs and stood in front of the reception desk. He saw a wooden key rack with multiple brass hooks.

'I forgot the car keys again,' the thought came to his head.

He waited five minutes for Morgan to arrive. His stomach made a growling noise every five minutes.

'I need to eat something,' he spoke aloud.

'I hope you weren't waiting for me to fetch you a meal, young guy.' Morgan appeared from the back doorway.

Morgan was wearing the same white sweater, but with a different shirt. It was green this time.

Stiles held the camera strap with his hands on either side. 'Don't worry I don't expect such a thing from you. Why would I? It's just an inn.'

Morgan attempted to look busy flipping the pages of his empty register. 'There is an eatery just ten minutes away from here. Just take...'

I know exactly where the place is. Thank you so much,' he spoke in between. 'Where is that guy, Billy?'

Stiles needed to ask some questions from Billy. Maybe he knew something that Morgan didn't and wasn't ready to say.

Morgan looked up and pushed his glasses up. 'What do you need him for?'

Stiles tried to come up with an answer. 'I-I think I have misplaced my charger. So, I was hoping maybe Billy has a spare one. I need to make a phone call.'

'To whom?' Morgan asked like it was hard for him to believe that Stiles could really have a friend.

'I have friends, okay? Is it really that hard to believe?

Morgan narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

'Well, I have two friends,' Stiles said. 'Technically one, because the other one is my colleague, but why the hell am I telling you this.'

Morgan bent down to look into one of the drawers that made a squeaking noise when he opened it. Judging from the amount of noise, Stiles could say that the drawer was one of the many unorganized things at the inn. After going through items, Morgan finally pulled a neon portable charger.

'Will this work?' he asked showing the charger to him.

Stiles couldn't hide the shock in his voice. Wow! Yes, I think this should work. Do you even know what that is?'

Morgan put the charger on the desk. 'Billy left this in my room last morning. You can keep it until you find a new one. If he comes looking for this, remember, I don't know anything about this thing.'

'Okay?' he sounded confused.

Stiles walked out of the inn. The first place he went was the eatery. He couldn't go another minute without eating something. A large rustic wood signboard was hanging at the entrance of the eatery. The word, 'Berry's' was carved on the board in black letters. A small, PULL sign was there right under the name of the place. He got himself inside and scanned the place quickly.

A menu printed on an A1 glossy sheet framed on the orange walls above the payment counter. The black and white check floor and a grey carpet leading directly to the counter gave a sharp look to the eatery. The red chairs and tables had legs with only seven customers, including him.

A group of five men sitting in the middle was drinking what Stiles presumed to be lemonade. Another man was sitting in the corner, he was busy reading his newspaper.

He went to the counter to read the menu. A woman on the other side of the counter was drying the glasses and putting them back on the stand. She was wearing a blue floral apron over the long white dress. Her dark hair tied in a bun was covered with a white hair net.

'Your order?' the woman asked with a pretentious smile.

Stiles could see her face clearly now she was probably in her late forties.

'What exactly do you have here?' Staring right into the menu, he regretted asking the question.

The woman turned back, facing the menu. 'Is it too small for you?'

'One veg sandwich, some muffins, and a strong cup of black coffee, please.' Stiles said in a go.

'Your order will be ready in five minutes,' the woman went behind the plastic drape.

Meanwhile, he grabbed a table two seats away from the group of men. He dragged a chair which made a loud noise, making everyone present their turn and look.

'Just grabbing a chair.' Stiles said defensively.

He removed the camera strap from around his neck and placed the camera carefully on the chair next to him. He plugged his phone into the charger and switched it on. He stared at his phone as a bluebird popped in the background. He breathed a sigh of relief on seeing three bars appearing in the upper right corner of his screen. There were a few emails from work he didn't want to answer.

Ignoring the texts from Oliver, and his high school friend Harry, he scrolled down to check the text at the bottom which was from Emma.

We need to talk. Call me as soon as you get this.

He stared at the text as if he was trying to feel something.

'Here's your order,' the woman from the counter appeared.

She was carrying a big red plastic tray in her hands. Putting the tray down on the table, she straightened her name tag. GLORIA.

'Gloria,' Stiles read her name out loud.

Gloria looked up from her tag. 'Yes,'

Stiles scratched his left cheek. 'Oh, no. It accidentally came out aloud. I was supposed to whisper that.'

Gloria went back to the counter. He pulled the tray closer to him. He lifted the coffee mug and brought it closer to smell its strong aroma. He sipped the coffee followed by a small bite of the sandwich. He felt a wave of new energy traveling inside him.

He leaned back in his chair and stared at the half eaten sandwich in his hands. 'Oh, my! Where have you been my whole life?'

A howling sound came from his phone reminding him of all the unseen notifications. A new text from his boss Mr. Harrison flashed on his screen.

Keep me updated.

Stiles didn't feel like eating anymore. Reading Mr. Harrison's text brought him back to the reality that he was not out here to have fun or to find new places to eat. He was here for work. He was here to find out the truth about the inn.

He got up and made sure that he wasn't leaving anything. His phone, charger, and his camera, he remembered to take everything. He lifted the tray and went straight to the counter where he found Gloria giving orders to a teenage boy. He was writing something down on a notepad. Stiles' eyes immediately went to the boy's name tag.

'Rick...' he mouthed the name.

Rick had an apron on similar to that of Gloria, the only difference being it was yellow in color. The boy kept pulling down the brim of the black COLDPLAY cap down. He made sure to get their attention by making a sound while putting the tray on the counter. Rick stopped scribbling and turned towards him.

'The food here is really good. I was wondering if you could just pack the muffins so that I can have them tonight.'

Keeping his gaze fixed on Stiles, Rick picked up the tray and went to the kitchen.

He took out his wallet, ready to pay the bill. 'Hey, can I get the bill?'

Gloria was still rearranging the glasses and mugs on the stand. 'On the house.' she said.

'Really?'

'No.' she said with a stern face. 'Seven dollars and eight cents.'

Rick returned carrying a small paper bag with him. Sliding the bag on the counter, he back inside.

He let his hand out to hand over a ten dollar bill to Gloria. 'Here you go.'

Gloria softly pushed Stiles' hand. 'Keep it.'

'Okay. Am I in trouble?' Stiles narrowed his eyes.

'Just go, and be careful out there.' Gloria picked up a cloth and started cleaning the counter.

He spent the remainder of the day walking and looking around. He flooded Oliver's inbox with the images of an old stone house he found two miles away from the inn. This way he didn't have to talk to Oliver directly. At about 4 pm he decided to leave a text to Mr. Harrison, telling him about his first day. He included 154 seconds long sound bite of one of the locals of Greywald.

At first, Stiles didn't want to but then he remembered that Mr. Harrison made it very clear on the day before he was leaving for Greywald that no matter what happens he needed to give a daily progress report on him.

Stiles never thought convincing people for a short interview would be so hard. More than thirteen people rejected his plea before a man finally agreed to speak about the stunner of the town. He knew it wasn't enough, but he knew it would keep Harrison from bothering Stiles for a day. He was very well aware of the fact that Harrison was sluggish.

It was only a little after 6 when the sun slowly started to fall. He wanted to reach the inn before the sky turned completely dark. He didn't want to get lost like last night.

Stiles passed by Berry's on his way back to the inn. He saw his car that he almost forgot about, parked in the corner. Brushing off the red maple leaves lying on his windshield, he went inside the lodge.

He saw Morgan going through the drawers.

'So, how was your first day here, young guy?' Morgan asked.

'Fine. It was fine. I roamed around and-and saw a stone house, it was very grey,' he managed to say. 'Any words from Billy?'

Closing the drawer, Morgan said. 'Sleep tight, young guy. You need it.'