The House of Smoke and Nightmares

Chapter Five: Hallucinations and Deaths

Leaving the hotel room that she and Evans had gone to, Chloe looked down the hallway and saw Fred, looking at her menacingly before he abruptly turned and started walking away, heading towards the balcony. Chloe panicked and called after him but he did not stop or turn to look at her. Chloe ran after him and only to find there was nobody there. A hotel attendant came up to her and asked her if everything was alright. She said yes and turned to leave. Evans also came to meet her after hearing her shrieking voice in the hallway.

“Are you okay?” he asked her as they walked back into the room.

“Yes. But I saw Fred a moment ago.” Chloe said. “I don’t know where he went to but he has seen us together, Evans.”

“That is impossible.” Evans said. “And so what if he saw us? I don’t really care what he thinks of me anyway. He is the one who snatched you from me first.”

“You don’t understand.” Chloe was frantic.

“What don’t I understand, Chloe? That I am just a boot call to you.” Evans snapped. “You know what? You had better tell him about us or else I will.”

“No, please don’t tell him anything. I will do anything you want.”

“What I want is for you and I to spend a night here together.”

“We can’t. People will see her when leaving tomorrow morning. Besides, my parents don’t even know where I am.”

“I am tired of being used by you. You can take advantage of me all the time because I love you. So, make your choice, Chloe.”

“Alright. I will stay.” Chloe reluctantly agreed.

“Good.” Evans said and pulled her close to him. “I love you when you obedient to me.”

***

The midnight hour was at hand again and hotel Peacock was pervaded by a deafening silence that sent chills done the spine of its staff. The hallways were empty with grotesque shadows creeping around the balconies. All was calm yet a shadowy figure could be seen, hovering around and creeping into every room, searching for its prey.

 Chloe was asleep; snuggled up to Evans when something thick trickled on her brow waking her up. Beside her was a girl gaping at her. Chloe screamed and tried to run off but the girl grabbed her hand with her fingers digging into her skin violently.

“You're the reason why I haven't gotten my revenge.” she said hoarsely. “You will have to die, Chloe.”

“No, no!” Chloe shouted and tottered off the bed, falling to the floor.

“You can run but I will find you.” the girl said and showed her bloodied teeth in a wry grin. Chloe ran out of the room, shrieking in terror. She dashed towards the balcony. Guests of the Hotel started coming out of their rooms. Evans was seen on CCTV running after Chloe while she shouted hysterically, seemingly avoiding him.

“What the hell are they doing?” The Chief of security asked his colleagues frantically.

“Those kids caused trouble earlier as well.” Another one replied. He was the staff member who approached Chloe while she was hollering Fred’s name in the hallway.

“I think they are under the influence.” Yet another security guard remarked irritably.

“We should go and check it out.” The Chief of  Security said and immediately set off. His colleagues followed suit. Meanwhile, the Evans ran after Chloe, the more frightened she became.

“I don’t know who you are.” She shouted while thrashing out towards Evans.

“Chloe, slow down.” Evans begged

“I didn’t do anything. I don’t know who you are.” Chloe ran without stopping until she reached the end of the balcony. Evans stopped at a distance, afraid that Chloe would fall off if he took a step further.

“I did not do anything..” she said pleadingly.

“Chloe, its Evans.” Evans explained. Chloe stared at him with disbelief. By now a lot of people had gathered around them. Others were watching while others were capturing videos and streaming live on social media.

The chief of security and his colleagues arrived. “What is happening here?”

“I don’t know. She just ran off.” Evans said.

“Does your friend take drugs? Were you taking drinking?”

“No, sir.” Evans was beginning to perspire. He was definitely going to be in trouble if something happened to Chloe.

“I don’t know why she is like this.” Evans said.

“Only people that are under the influence act that way. We will have to call your parents.”

“No.” Evans protested. “Please don’t call them.”

“Would you rather I call the police?”

“No, sir.” Evans said and turned to Chloe. “Chloe, Fred is here!”

As if it was a miracle, Chloe suddenly calmed down and looked around only to find people looking at her as if she was insane.

“Evans!” Chloe dashed to him and hugged him. “I saw-I saw….”

“Stop talking, Chloe. You have already landed us in so much trouble.” Evans was annoyed with her.

“Come to the office with us.” The Chief Security.

In the office, the Chief Security asked for the number of each’s one parent and Evans gave them his Uncle’s number.

Brad had just finished the report he was doing on child paranoia and was about to retire to bed when his phone rang. He noticed that it was an unknown numbers. Nonetheless, his line of work never allowed him to leave any call unanswered in case it was a call for help.

“Agent Brad Terry here.”

“This is the Chief of Security from Hotel Peacock, Sir. We have you son, Evans Patterson here.”

“Evans…?” Brad was astounded. He looked at the time and it was past midnight.

“Don’t let him out of your sight. I am on my way.” Brad rushed to Fred’s bedroom and woke him up.

“We need to go. Evans is in trouble.”

“Dad, can’t you go alone? 

"Whatever problems you have, Evans is still your cousin. He chose to call me instead of his father. That should say a lot.”

“He must be in trouble with the law and knows you will be able to help him out.” Fred retorted.

“Come on, young man. We have no time.’

“It is past midnight, dad.”

“Let’s go, Fred Terry.”

***

Brad arrived at the hotel in what seemed to be a flash, looking worried since he did not know what Evans had done this time around. Fred tagged along to the office disinterestedly. Fred walked into the security room right after Brad and they were both shocked to see Chloe there. They did not need to be told anything to understand the situation. Both Evans and Chloe were in night gowns anyway.

“Agent Brad Terry?” the Chief of security addressed Brad with a hand shake.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Evans and his girlfriend have caused a ruckus here tonight.”

“That is my girlfriend.” Fred chipped in angrily.

“Now is not the time, Fred.” Brad told his son before he turned to the security man. “What kind of trouble did these get into?”

The man did not want to explain So, he played the CCTV footage which shocked Brad and Fred.

“I swear I saw a girl, Uncle Brad.” Chloe chipped in.

“I believe you, Sweetheart. Can you tell me what was she doing?” Brad replied softly.

“She threatened me…she said I must die. I am not lying.”

“We believe your son’s girlfriend is under the influence.” the chief of security said. “Our hotel is reputable. We have no record of supernatural beings existing in here. These teenagers are just naughty. Instead of being at home, they are here making love to one another. Shouldn’t they be studying?”

“they are both my kids. I will take it from here and discipline them myself.”

“If you say so, Mr. Terry.” The Chief of security said and went back to his seat.

“Thank you for your understanding.” Brad said and gestured to both Evans and Chloe to follow him. Fred was flaring with anger as he walked on ahead. Evans had no remorse. He wanted Fred to find out about him and Chloe. Although this was not the initial plan, it still ended with his desired outcome.  

Embarrassed. Chloe had no courage to face everyone. Hr unfaithful acts had  not only being discovered by Fred, but also his father. This meant that her parents would also know about it too. This issue had become so complicated

“I was busy feeling guilty about leaving her for Diane yet she did not even waste time to cheat on me with her ex-boyfriend.” His inner voice pounded furiously.

“The two of you will spend the rest of the night at my house. We will discuss things tomorrow.” Brad said as he got into the car beside his son.

“Thank you for coming, Uncle Brad.” Evans said. “You too, Fred.”

Fred snorted and looked out through the window, but a smile suddenly replaced his frown. At least now he was going to be able to be with Diane.

***

Freda and Marina welcomed Evans and Chloe as soon as Brad arrived home with them, but the  following day was more hectic than the previous day. Chloe’s mother came to Fred’s s house. She, Freda and Brad spent several hours in the study talking about Evans and Chloe’s case and it was agreed that Chloe would be taken to see a therapist in the next coming weeks to ensure that she was not hallucinating anymore. Meanwhile, Brad’s sister let Evans stay at his Uncle’s place for a month to monitor his behaviour as well. Sadly, all the videos that people took of Evans and Chloe were circulating all over the internet and everyone in school was talking about it. Diane was shocked to see the video, but instead of laughing at Chloe like the others were doing, she rather felt sorry for Chloe. Everyone was saying that Chloe was lying to cover up her cheating incident , but with the strange things that Diane  had seen as well, it was hard for her to believe that Chloe was abusing drugs and lying about about it to cover her mistakes.

“I just can’t believe that Chloe was abusing drugs.” Diane said as she and Marble had their lunch during Lunch break at school.

“How can you be so sure? You were there at the party when Patrice drugged her, Dia.” Marble retorted.

“That was just a onetime thing, right?.”

“Oh yeah. It was actually meant for Fred, but Chloe is closer to Patrice. It is possible that the two of them take drugs.”

“No.” Diane disputed. “I am sure there is more to the story than meets the eye. Can you take me to Chloe’s house after school?”

“What now? Are you going to be a detective?”

“I just want to know what happened”

“With all the video circulating about her, I do not want to be seen with her. My parents will not allow it.”

“Marble…”

“Sorry, Dia. This is high school. Whatever we do now will determine whether we get into Varsity or not. I really want to get admitted to First-grade City University and hanging around Chloe will have a negative impact on my dream.”

“I understand.” Diane said although this was a lie. She rather looked at Marble as a fake friend. She had been friends with Chloe for so many years. she was even happy to be around the latter when things were good but now that Chloe was in trouble, she was the first one to back out.

“Can you ask Patrice to help me?” Diane asked Marble.

“Patrice and I are not talking anymore.” Marble said. “If I were you, I would just concentrate on my studies. We can be study buddies now”

“Sure.” Diane replied. Later after school, Diane approached Patrice and asked her about Chloe but the latter did not reply. She seemed to be in a hurry to leave. Diane grabbed Patrice’s arm and stopped her from leaving but Patrice shoved her hand away.

“Stay away from me.” Patrice said. “I have nothing to do with this or her.”

“I just want you to take me to her house.”

“No, no. Just leave me alone.” Patrice shouted hysterically and ran off.

“Why is she acting that way? Could Marble have been telling the truth about Patrice and Chloe?”

“I know where Chloe leaves.” Jake said as he approached Diane.

“Jake…” Diane chirped and hugged him, flustering him. “It seems you are the only one I can count on these days.”

“Really? What about Fred?”

“Can you take me to Chloe’s house?” Diane asked, ignoring his previous question.

“Yes. We are neighbours, but I don’t know if you will be allowed to see her.”

“Why not?”

“Well, her parents think that she has been taking drugs because of her friends so they won’t allow anyone to go and see her.”

“She is not taking drugs, Jake.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“I have been seeing strange things in my room.”

“It’s the girl in a uniform!” they both said at the same time.

“Wait, you see her too?” Diane flinched nervously.

“Yes. I haven’t said anything about it because I don’t want people thinking that I am insane or worse accuse of me of being n drugs.”

“What about you? Why haven’t you told anyone?” Jake added.

“I don’t know. I guess I don’t find it scary yet.”

“Diane, we are facing a pretty serious situation here. We need to talk to someone.”

“I can’t. I do not want to worsen the situation.” Diane said and started walking away. Jake ran after her and stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“I am really worried about this.”

“The girl is peaceful alright.”

“She always wants to hurt me in my dreams.” Jake protested. “Please, if not for me, let’s do this for Chloe. She could have seen the same thing we saw or maybe worse.”

“Just like Chloe, no one will believe us. I do not want to be a freak. That will make me a total outcast.” Diane said, removing his hand.

“You care about how people see you.”

“Yes, Jake. Don’t you?”

“Okay fine. If we can’t help Chloe, we can at least help ourselves out.”

“What do you suggest?”

“We should go to church. The Pastor will understand.”

“Funny this idea is coming from you, but I agreed with you.” Diane said and laughed. Fred who was walking in their direction saw them and felt a prick of jealousy. He had been a laughing stock for the day since his girlfriend cheated on him with his cousin and now he had to see the girl of his dreams laughing merrily with another guy.

Fred was about to approach them when his phone rang, disturbing him. It was his father.

“Dad...” Fred answered in a nervous tone. It was rare that Brad called him when he was at school.

“Where are you son?”

“I am at school. We just knocked off.”

“Stay put. I am coming to pick you up with Evans.”

“Why? What happened?”

“It’s Chloe, son.”

“What happened to Chloe dad?” Fred shouted nervously, attracting the attention of other students.

“Calm down, Fred.”

“Just tell me.”

“She is dead.” Brad said.

“You will find me at her house dad.” Fred said and dashed to his car. Diane stood there not knowing whether to go after him or stay behind.

“Hey, what ae you waiting for? We should go and see what happened.” Jake nudged her.

“Didn’t you say that they won’t allow us to see?”

“We can watch from the terrace of my house.” Jake said and pulled her along.

“But, my car-

“It is safe in the school premises.” Jake said as he opened the door to his car, gesturing with his hand for her to get in. Diane nodded thankfully and got into the car. Jake dashed to the driver’s seat, got in and soon they were following Fred’s car behind.

Diane’s heart was pounding fast and hard. She could not help but think about the worst as Jake drove her to his house. What if she was dead or worse? But was there something worse than death in the world? They had only one way to find out.