[ Kinship ] Room Four

Leaving the motel office, she walked towards Room Four.  She had decided to leave her car parked in front of the office, but thought maybe she had better keep it close.

As she was pulling in front of room four, there was a burst of static on the radio. and then a voice was calling her name.

"Suuuuzzzy...Suzzzy...Suzzy Roberts..."

Now she was hearing things.  Sleep was badly needed.  She shut off the car, and grabbed her bag, and put the pistol inside.  At this point she wasn't concerned about the file, and didn't really feel like lugging the box into the room.

She stood by her car, and scoped out the motel.  It was small; it only had six rooms.  It had seen better days.  Describing it as shabby would be a compliment.  The door to room one was boarded up, and so was the window.  There was a small alcove between rooms three and four that had the vending machines.  She would visit them after she was settled, if she could stay awake.

Stepping inside the room, she felt for the light switch.  It sputtered on, and out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a dark figure.  She jumped, and fumbled for her pistol.  Her eyes adjusted, and she saw it had to have been her own shadow.

Tossing the bag on the bed, she sat down on the edge.  The room wasn't luxurious, but it wasn't too bad.  Then she noticed the lamp on the night stand.  It was a Lava Lamp, but it wasn't on, and after trying to turn it on she noticed it wasn't plugged in.  How odd.

***

The stupid monkey was still shrieking, and banging away on the cymbals.  Mac hated the dang monkey.  Mac hated the fact that he was out of booze and cigarettes.  Mac hated his job, well, sometimes he hated his job.  It was usually so slow he didn't have much to do, so he could indulge in his hobbies.

He set down the microphone and turned off his "radio".  Sometimes he liked to spook the guests.  Sometimes more than just spook them.  He liked to scare the hell out of them.  The new guest, Suzy, he had initially liked, but he didn't like how she doubted him.  It was a picture of Elvis!  Mac liked Elvis.  He hoped he would stop by for a visit soon.

Mac heard the beads rattle, and saw the monkey walking into the room.  "Oh you changed back to normal?"  He saw the monkey pull a cig out of nowhere.  It was already lit.  Monkey took a puff, and jumped up on to the desk.  "Hey, can you give me one of those?"  Monkey handed over the cigarette.  "Thanks, and thanks for letting me know what her name is.  I wonder if she is any good with her pistol?"  Monkey shrugged and summoned another cigarette.

***

Suzy had never heard the sort of sounds that were coming out of the machines in the alcove.  When she first walked into the small area all the sounds stopped for a few minutes.  Then they started up again.  The soda machine started first.  It went, "Thrung, thrung, thrung... vresh.  Thrung, thrung, thrung... vresh..."  The snack machine was even weirder.  "Snee vuk, snee vuk..."  The ice machine was mostly silent, except for the occasional, "Hrung. phut..."

The selections in the machines were odd.  She had never heard of a Veckers Candy Bar before, or Snweebo Soda.  She went back to her room without buying anything.  On a whim she plugged the Lava Lamp in, and turned it on.  Laying down on the bed, she fell fast asleep quickly.

As the lamp heated the wax in the Lava Lamp, it started rising and falling, then the globs started clumping together and took a somewhat human form...

To be continued...?