Fledgling Scribbler

So, due to my procrastination last week, I’ve missed a couple of days. So here’s a super long post to make up for that.

Joe dropped to his knees and stared at door 9 in desolation. Jennifer put her hand on his shoulder to try to console him, but he gave no sign that he even knew the hand was there. After all the things he had done, he still couldn’t get his daughter back, and he was out of ideas.

“Joe, we shouldn’t stay here,” Jennifer said. “We have to find some other way to get into the room.”

Joe laughed tearfully. “How are we going to do that? The Occupant closed the rift in reality and took the Conroy objects with him. That includes the key. We can’t get in without the key.” He finally made eye contact with Jennifer. He felt her grip his shoulder.

“Joe, since I’ve met you, you were determined to get your daughter back. You took whatever course of action you could think of to get her back, no matter how desperate the situation was. I admired that about you. Are you telling me that you’re really going to give up now?”

Joe screamed, unexpectedly, venting his frustration and his pain. Jennifer, startled, let go of him.

“What do you expect me to do, Jennifer? Huh? The only way to get into that room is gone now. No one can get into that room now.”

Jennifer just stood and looked at Joe for a minute. Then she got on her knees and hugged him tightly, unable to find anything to say. Some time passed, though for how long, neither of them could say. Then there was a quiet creaking that broke the silence, causing Joe to look around. To his amazement, he saw that door 8 was open and inside it was unmistakably the motel room, the key on the floor. He got up and walked dazedly toward the door and felt Jennifer hold his hand. He looked at her and she looked back at him, worried. He purposefully strode into the room and saw the Occupant next to the window, his white hospital clothes gone and replaced by the clothes he had been wearing in the polaroid. He was looking around the room, uncertain. The patch over his eye was now gone, replaced by the glass eye that Kreutzfeld had been wearing before he disappeared into the room.

“Eddie? Eddie McCleister?” The Occupant turned around toward the source of the voice. “Do you remember who I am?” Joe asked, hoping that the reset of the room did also erase the Occupant’s memories.

“Yeah… you’re…” the Occupant trailed off, as if struggling to remember. “Joe Miller… you lost your daughter.”

“Yes,” Joe said, sighing with relief.

“I’m sorry… this room… when it’s not connected to your world, time doesn’t have any meaning in here.”

“Did… did you open the door again?” Joe asked.

The Occupant looked at Joe, his glass eye glittering unnaturally under the sunlight coming in from the window. “No, I didn’t. The door… it doesn’t stay closed if all the Objects haven’t been returned. The room wanted the door open again, the key accessible to this world until all the Objects have been collected and returned to this room.”

“You wanted me to bring you here. Can you bring my daughter back?” Joe pleaded.

“Yes,” the Occupant said, simply. “Take the key and close the door behind you.”

Joe looked questioningly at the man and then at Jennifer. She was as much at a loss as he was.

“Do you want your daughter back? Do it now,” the Occupant commanded.

Well, Joe thought, he didn’t have much to lose if he did this. He picked up the key, took Jennifer’s hand and closed the door behind them when they were both out. Waiting about half a minute, Joe opened the door again and his daughter came out tumbling into his arms. Crying out in elation, he hugged Anna tightly.

“Oh my god, I missed you so much, kiddo,” Joe choked out. He felt like he would never let her go.

“I missed you too, daddy,” Anna said, muffled by the embrace. “Was I gone for long?” She looked around at the Occupant and Jennifer. “Daddy?” she whispered.

“Yeah, honey,” Joe said, still hugging her as if he wasn’t sure she was real.

“Who are those people?” she whispered into his ear. Joe laughed and Jennifer smiled. He finally let go of her and introduced his daughter to Jennifer, since they were probably going to be seeing a lot of each other, and to Eddie McCleister. Joe felt that his daughter should know her savior by name, rather than by the title that he was known by among the few who knew of his existence.

Joe shook Eddie’s hand. “Thank you so much, I really don’t know how to repay you.”

Eddie nodded in acknowledgment, though he still looked as sad as he did back in the hospital. “I’m glad to know that one less person’s life hasn’t been ruined by this room,” Eddie said.

“How did you find her? Where was she?” Joe asked, wondering if he would ever understand the room.

“There’s… there’s more than one room,” Eddie said.

“More than one room? What do you mean?” Joe asked.

“There’s more than one room,” Eddie repeated impatiently.

“I don’t understand,” Joe said.

Eddie’s hand shot out, grasping Joe by the forehead. Shocked by the unexpected gesture, Joe tried to pull away, but almost instantaneously, his surroundings turned blindingly white and he found himself alone in the motel room. Panicked, Joe tried to move toward the door, but found that he had no control of his movements. Terrified now, he found himself walking toward the door and opening it. The door opened and he found himself looking out of the motel as it had been when Room 10 still existed.

“Relax,” a voice in his head said. Joe recognized it as Eddie’s voice. “You’re seeing what it was like before the Event, from my eyes.”

———-

TBC, tomorrow (hopefully)