Midnight at the Spectral Motel

THE HEART'S CRY

The stones were shaking and it was not a little shake. It was like they were in pain. The flame in the lantern was moving around a lot making shadows on the paper and the special symbol above the doorway. A sad and hurt sound was coming from between the stones it was a sound that has been around, for a long time even before people could talk.

Maya said this is really bad the thought made her feel a chill in her chest. This was not just someone getting into something they should not it was a thing that the person was doing to the thing that Maya was talking about. The person was hurting the thing. That was very wrong. Maya felt that this was a big violation the person was doing something that they had no right to do, to the thing that belonged to Maya or someone else.

Silas put his hand on the stone podium to steady himself. For a moment he looked a little funny like a picture on a television that is not coming in clearly. He said "The resonator is like a needle that is searching for something. It is trying to find the locks mechanism. The lock for this room I mean the resonator is looking for the locks mechanism, for this room."

Another loud noise came from above it was like a crackle. This was followed by a high pitched sound that made Maya feel bad. It was so bad that it made her teeth hurt. Then some old dust started falling down from the ceiling. The dust was coming down slowly it was like a fine trickle. Maya did not like this one bit the noise and the dust were really bothering her. The sound, from above was still making that pitched whine it was not going away.

We have to stop that person we really do we cannot let him do whatever it is that he is doing we have to stop him.

Silas said that we cannot attack a guest directly. His voice sounded really strained when he said this.. The motel is able to defend its heart.. You you are able to talk to the motel.

“What? How?”

"Touch the stone, the pact-stone it is there." He pointed to the archway on the ground. You are the heir so your touch is special. It is like a bridge. Show the pact-stone what you want to keep safe. Tell it what is important, to you.

The noise was getting overhead. Then a ceramic thing, in the corner of the room, which was made of stone suddenly broke into pieces with a sharp sound.

Maya did not hesitate. She got down on her knees in front of the stone and put both of her hands flat on the carved symbol of the stone. The stone was really cold. When her skin touched it she felt a sudden shock like the kind you get from static electricity that went up her arms. Maya felt this shock, in her arms as she touched the stone.

She closed her eyes. She just wanted to shut everything out for a moment so she closed her eyes. Waited. Her eyes were closed tight. She kept her eyes closed. Took a deep breath.

It was not a voice. It was like a feeling that filled the whole place. The motel had a lot of memories. People said goodbye to each other on the steps. Cried. Someone confessed a secret in Room 2. A musician in Room 5 was very sad. Jimmy was happy and smiling. Eleanor felt thankful and happy too. All these things were like a picture with lots of threads.. Some of the threads were not finished. They were still waiting for something to happen so they could be at peace. She felt something when the resonator started buzzing. It was, like something was making the picture get all rotten and fall apart. The resonator was making the motels memories feel sick.

Her own fear and determination got all mixed up with the motels ability to withstand things. She thought to herself I need to make the motel safe. She told herself to hide, to protect the motel and to make its walls stronger. The motels old walls needed to be strong so she could feel safe inside. She wanted to hide and protect the motel and make its walls even stronger.

For a moment there was nothing. Then this loud and strong sound came from the stone. It went up through her body. The dust stopped falling down. The old walls stopped making that creaking noise. The stone was making this noise. It was really loud.

Upstairs the loud whine of the resonator changed. It started to sound really annoying. The resonator was making a screeching noise the sound of the resonator was like someone was really frustrated. Then the sound of the resonator just stopped.

Leos voice was really loud. You could not hear it clearly. It sounded like he was very angry. You could hear him a bit from down the stairs. He was saying something, about interference and recalibrating.

Silas helped Maya to her feet. Mayas hands were numb. The connection to the thing that Silas was talking about was still there it was like a quiet buzzing in Mayas blood. "You gave it something to focus on " Silas. Silas was looking at Maya with new respect, in his eyes. "You are not someone who takes care of it " Silas said. "You are becoming part of what the thing wants you are becoming part of its will Maya is becoming part of the things will."

Maya said it bought us some time. She pulled her hands away from the stone. The symbol, on the stone looked like it was glowing for a second then it stopped. Maya added that it was not time.

Silas walked over to the book. He opened the book to the page. The writing in the book was really weird. It had symbols that seemed to move when the light from the lantern hit them. Silas said "This is about the person who came here. The person who started everything. If we can figure out what happened to him the motel will be safe. It will be strong. People like Leo will not be able to get in. The door will be locked for good." Silas looked at the book again. The motel and the lock on the door were very important, to Silas. The motel and the lock had to be secure.

“Who was he?”

Silass finger was, on the entry. The symbols started to make sense. Came together to form a name that she could read: Alistair Ford. There was a date too: 1872. Silas looked at the name Alistair Ford and the date 1872. Wondered what it meant. The name Alistair Ford seemed important to Silas.

Silas said that the man who discovered the silver vein that this town was built on is an important person. This man was also the person to be murdered for the silver. The people who killed him buried his body in the ground when they were building the building on this site, which is where this motel stands now. The spirit of this man is still really upset because he was treated unfairly. He wants justice. That is what is holding all the other ghosts here. This man is like the lock that keeps everything else in place. The first lock that needs to be opened. Silas said that this man is the root of all the problems with ghosts, in this town.

A cold feeling that was even colder than the chill, in the room came over Maya. She said "I do not know how you can figure out who did a murder that happened one hundred and fifty years ago. The thing is, everyone who was involved in it is now dead."

Justice is not always about punishing someone Silas said in a voice his eyes looking at the keys on the wall. Sometimes justice is about saying what really happened. It is about telling the truth. We know who the murderer is. The person who did it was Charles Daggett, his partner. Charles Daggett got rich because of what happened to Alistair. He kept it a secret. The truth, about what happened to Alistair was hidden when he died.

The scratching noise from the brass message slot started again and it was really frantic this time. This sound was, like a warning it was trying to tell us something. The brass message slot upstairs was making this noise. It was a sound of alarm.

Silas said that Leo is active. Now we have to go up. We really have to ascend. Leo is active. That is why we must ascend.

As Maya climbed the stairs the connection she had made with the motel started to fade. It did not completely disappear. Now Maya could feel something was off a feeling that was coming from Room 8. This feeling was like an oily stain on the motel. Maya felt it. She knew something was very wrong, with Room 8.

They walked into the lobby. There was a note on the desk. The writing on this note was Leos writing it looked sharp and it was demanding it was written on paper, from the motel.

Miss Reed,

Your historic preservation is messing up the readings, on my equipment. I need to get some scans. So I will do my scans from the lobby tonight. This will help me get a baseline. I am going to start at 9 PM.

Regards,

Vance.

He was not asking for anything. He was making it very clear what he wanted to do. He was going to move his survey to the middle of the area, where people could not easily stop him. The survey was going to be right, in the heart of the space.

Silas crumpled up the note. He said "He felt your defense, the defense you have. He knows that the core is really close, to us. Now he is going to bring the battle to the place where we live to our doorstep the battle is coming to our home the core is the thing and he is bringing the battle to us because of the core.

The front door bell made a ringing sound.

Leo walked into the room carrying the heavy resonator microphone on its stand. The microphone was really heavy. He was not being friendly all anymore. You could see that he was very ambitious. That was all that mattered to him now. Leo ignored the people around him. Set up the resonator microphone in the middle of the lobby. He put the microphone on its stand. Pointed it down the long corridor, with all the doors. The resonator microphone was now ready.

He looked at Maya and his eyes did not have that curious look they had before. Now they were, like the eyes of a man who is studying a plan carefully like a blueprint.

The silence here is not empty Miss Reed he said as he adjusted a dial. The silence is actually very organized. He wants to figure out the rules of this silence the silence itself. He intends to learn the rules that govern this silence the way it works the silence.

The man flipped a switch.

The resonator sent out a pulse that you could not hear. This time Maya did not just hear the pulse. Maya felt the pulse in her teeth in the connection she had with the stone under her. The pulse was, like a push.

Then from behind every single door down the hall, like Rooms 3, 5 and 7 the same sound came back. It was not a scream.

A key, turning in a lock.

Click.