Chapter 16
Mechanically, habitually, Alex woke up quite early. The fire in the corner stove still smoldered slightly. Grumbling inside about the amount of time he's speant lately either asleep or unconscious, he lept out of bed to the window. Peeling back the rotton, moth-affected curtains that happened to be the ugliest shade of green Alex had ever seen, he looked outside. The sun was peeking over the distant buildings.
"Now's the time to save Rosie," he thought.
Already dressed, Alex threw open the door and jumped into the hall. He pounded on the door of the room next door. "Hope? Hope! Come on!"
His calls were cut short when a big, burly man with a mustache opened the door. Alex stared. The man, still in his nightshirt and quite irritated about being woke up, stared back.
Alex's voice was small. "You aren't Hope..."
"No," the man grumbled. "I ain't." He slammed the door shut, and Alex was left alone and blushing in the hall.
Across the hall, a door opened. Hope peeked out. When she saw it was Alex, she giggled. "Good morning to you, too! What's all the ruckus, sunshine?" Her hair had been braided and pinned atop her head, and she wore a silk nightgown.
Alex stammered. "But you said you were sleeping in the room next door, not the one across the hall!"
"I was," she shrugged. "Bart came into my room and woke me up in the middle of the night. It was actually really creepy; I punched him. Anyway, he said that he just got some guy to pay twice what I paid, so he needed my room."
"Why?"
"Because it's the best room."
"I thought they were all the same?"
"They are. That's just the only room nobody's been murdered in." She paused. "I suppose you want to go play hero and rescue your girlfriend?"
Rosie! Alex thought. She must have been terrified all night. Oh, how could he have let this happen? First, he let her get kidnapped. Then he let hope talk him into ignoring her all night! If something bad happened, Alex would never be able to forgive himself.
18-Feb-2011 16:01:24
