Short Story: Mermaid at Sunset

    The best part about living by the ocean, was that Quinn could go sailing whenever they wanted, weather allowing of course. There was nothing like a warm evening, a gentle breeze, and rolling waves to distract them from all their troubles. This evening in particular was a beautiful one. The sky was clear and the sun dyed the sky orange, pink, purple. The colors mixed on the surface of the water. Birds called to each other across the empty space. Quinn's boat bobbed up and down in the water, and they waited. 

    There was one other reason Quinn loved to sail. A secret they kept to themself. When the sun was low and the tide was high, they would sail out onto the bay, hoping to catch a glimpse of the most amazing thing they had ever seen. 

    'Would she be here again?'

    'Did she keep coming back for the same reason they did?"

    'Was she even real at all?'

    These were the questions that would flow through their head as they stared out over the water towards the horizon. They heard the disturbance in the water before they saw the mysterious woman emerge from the water. She looked as beautiful as she always did. Dark wet hair pulled over her shoulders, rich brown eyes gazing up at them affectionately, a soft smile on her pale lips. Quinn sat on the dock of the boat and smiled back at her.

    "Hello again." They said. Their eyes were always drawn to the shimmering fishtail under the surface. They were never quite sure what the exact color of her scales was, but it appeared to be some shade of greenish blue. She waved at their greeting; she never spoke, but seemed content to listen to Quinn talk. They would tell her about their day and all the little peculiarities of life on land. They would try their best to describe the strange inner workings of humankind and why Quinn didn't fit into it as well as they would like. They would tell her about their few friends, and even school. She would nod along and hmm in response to certain words. She seemed to understand even if she never spoke back. 

This had been going on for months and Quinn still didn't know if it was a dream or not. After the first time they had seen her, they were positive it couldn't have been real, but came back the next day just to be sure. To their surprise she was there. And then they came back again the next day, and the next day. After a week they had decided that they didn't care if it was real or not. They couldn't stop themself from coming back. there was something too magical about the entire thing to be able to turn away. 

When Quinn had talked themself out for the evening, the mermaid remained and stayed by their little boat. 

"Thank you." They said, unsure where the words had come from. "Thank you, for staying to listen so often." 

The mermaid smiled wider, and moved closer, touching her hands to the railing of the boat for the first time. The sky was getting darker, but there was still light shining off of her eyes. She crooked a finger and beckoned them closer. Quinn leaned in to feel heat rising there cheeks. She beckoned again and they leaned in closer. The two were so close that they could feel her soft breath on their lips. Their heart was pounding against their ribs for a moment it seemed like it stopped completely. The mermaid's cold hands moved to touch them, and her fingers traced wet lines up their arms to their shirt sleeves. 

She grabbed onto them… then yanked hard and almost pulled them over the side of the boat. 

Quinn caught themself on the railing and shoved back against her, freeing themself and falling to the deck. The mermaid giggled and the beautiful cadence of her voice almost made Quinn forget what just happened. Almost.

"What the hell!?" They snapped at the still giggling creature. She grinned, blew them a kiss, and sank back into the water with a splash. Quinn sat there until the sky was black and the moon rose above them. Finally, they stood, and set the sails to turn back towards land. 

They knew they had put themself in a dumb situation. And they knew that they would return tomorrow evening. They would be fine as long as they were careful, right?

Hotel Gothic #3: Stories From Coworkers

 They other day i got to work down in the laundry room all day with a coworker i don't get to talk to much and she had plenty of stories to tell about her own experiences at the Hotel, and she's given me permission to share them with you! So here they are:

    -One night she was getting off later in the evening then usual. She walking into the empty lobby and saw a man who was burnt completely from head to toe holding a cup of coffee. As soon as they made eye contact he disappeared and dropped the cup of coffee to the floor. Cleaning up the coffee mess was the only thing that convinced her it was real. 

    -One of the outdoor cabins used to be the personal home of the owners late husband. Since his death many of the staff have reported strange incidents ranging from slamming doors, appliances turning on by themselves, and hearing the husbands voice from different rooms. Staff now only goes out there in groups of two and have to double check to make sure the oven and stove is off before they leave. 

    -In the laundry room the same little boy from upstairs likes to run around in the small space behind the washers. He is particularly fond of jump scaring people when they are alone. 

    -One night two of the house keepers were in the laundry room early in the morning before work starts and they heard something knocking on the inside of the industrial size dryer right as they were about to turn it on., and saw a hand throw the smudged glass. They screamed and threw it open expecting to find someone screwing with them, but it was completely empty.

    -Last but not least is a story from a guest. Room 20 is not used as a guest room. The owner uses it for storage and the room is kept locked and has a chair sitting in front of it. One night a guest got up late, at night and heard strange noises down the hall. He found room 20 wide open, chair tossed aside, and saw a figure in the room. Apparently he took a video and showed it to the staff the next morning. My coworker only described the figure as "The Grim Reaper" and didn't want to discuss it further, or share any other stories after this point in the conversation. 

I'd like to learn more about the hotels history, but the only online info i can find is about the first owner who built it as a bathhouse in 1928 and only finished the hotel in 1942, and the current owner who bought it in 1995 after visiting it with her family. Everything in between is blank. I'm going to ask around town and maybe hit up the local museum and update you guess when i have more info to share. 

    

Hotel Gothic #2: Room 35

     I don't like room 35. 

    I have only been in the room once, 2 days ago, and it was not a pleasant experience. It's one of the smallest rooms (non of them are the same) with only a double bed that takes up most of the rooms space and a small dresser. There is a tiny bathroom with only a toilet and sink, and a small closet, both on the right side on the room. Above the bed is a painting of two cherub like angles who's eyes both look up directly at a crawl space door, high up on the left wall. There is a second crawl space door in the bathroom that is low to the floor.

    From the moment I stepped into this room i had a bad vibe. I told myself I was being silly, it was for the most part a very cute room, with nice bright bed spreads and had decent lighting compared to some of the other rooms. However I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. I worked at a slow and anxious pace, constantly checking around me for no reason. I was profusely uncomfortable and I couldn't explain why. It wasn't until I moved over to the left side of the bed that I saw the shape in the closet. Something small, like a child just sitting there holding its legs to its chest, it's face never quit in view, but it's skin was pale and it's veins popped out bright blue. Again this room was tiny and it was so close to me. I couldn't breath, but I knew I couldn't just leave the room unfinished. I tried to ignore it, and worked as fast as I could with out turning my back to the closet. The figure moved and shifted around every time I glanced up and the anxiety weld up in my chest heavier and heavier. 

    At one moment, I looked away from the closet completely without thinking about it. When I glanced back I thought I was alone because the figure was gone. I only had to tuck the sheet new sheets onto the bed and throw the comforter on and I could go. Even though I was sure I was alone, the feeling of being watched didn't go away. I looked up to do one more check around me and a head popped into to the room from the hallway and I jumped out of my skin. It was pale with dark eye's and shot back through the door frame when I jumped. I didn't hear any foot steps, through the paper thin walls and in true '"Horror movie girl" fashion, i stepped out into the hall just to be sure i hadn't accidentally scared a guests kid. There was no one in sight. I had had enough and threw the comforter on the bed before rushing back down stairs. 

    I found one of my coworkers and asked her if there was anything weird about room 35, to which she laughed and recited my own experience back to me, before i even told her what happened. Apparently room 35 is one of the worst in the building and no one wanted to tell me before i went in, because A) they all like to have their own experiences validated by the new employees because it makes everyone feel less crazy and B) they didn't want to do it themselves, and C) because they thought it would be funny. 

    As i was walking passed the door at the end of my shift i glanced back at it once and when i was only a few steps passed it, i heard heavy footsteps running at me from behind and my gut reaction was to take f running and i almost fell down the stairs. When i caught myself on the rail i looked back up the stairs but no one was up there. I checked with the front desk one last time before leaving. None of the guests who had bought rooms for that night had arrived yet, and i walked passed my all my co-workers on my way out the back doors. 

    All in all it had been an interesting work day. So far that was the only time I've felt scared at work.