Page 48 of All You Want
It’s made of white wicker and sports a cascading net that hangs down from what looks like a meat hook in the ceiling. A lullaby tinkles from within the room, and a breath of baby powder blows by my arm.
“That’s creepy.” I rub the goosebumps sprouting over my arms. “Think we set off one of the haunt effects.”
“There’s no window in here.” Todd checks the corners of the room with his flashlight. A four-poster bed with mosquito netting is across from the bassinet and an antique cane rocking chair is next to it. A Victorian era doll is propped on the rocking chair, one eye open and the other shut.
The solitary nursery lamp on the dresser flickers, and something flits from the dresser to the corner of the room. I gasp and point to the dark corner. “I hope that wasn’t a rat.”
Todd stomps over and shines the flashlight. “Hope not. Whoever’s booked in here will be complaining. I don’t see any obvious holes.”
“This room looks safe enough.” I open a drawer on the dark wood dresser and glance in the mirror. A shadow flits behind me in the mirror, and the faint scent of baby powder puffs by me.
“Wah, waa, uh, waaah, huh, uh, waah.” A tiny, gurgling cry echoes from outside the room.
“You might need to call an exterminator,” Todd says, looking back at me. “You sure you’re okay? Your eyes are red.”
I refrain from rubbing them. “I’m a little light sensitive, that’s all. Stayed up too late working on the computer.”
“I can fix that,” he says and turns off the flickering nursery lamp, leaving us in the darkness.
Slam.
The heavy door shuts, and a mist emanates from the bassinet.
“Nice effects,” Todd says. He draws aside the netting over the bassinet and frowns.
“What is it?” I hide behind Todd but can’t help peeking.
“Pretty cool. Wonder how he did that.” He drops the netting, but I swear I see red. A spreading pool of red stains the white blanket inside the bassinet.
My head reels with a sudden bout of dizziness, and all I want to do is get away from the blood. My feet, however, seem to have taken root in the room, and my body feels like a heavy potato sack.
Something pulls me to the four-poster bed. The mosquito netting gives it a foggy appearance, but the silky bedding and pillows look inviting and comforting. I stifle a yawn, but lethargy invades my limbs, and as I let the mosquito netting slide back, my knees weaken, and I sag onto the feather bed.
“Sure, but let me test the antique bed. See if it squeaks or moans.” I hug myself and rub the chills from my arms as drums beat in my head. “You hear the heartbeats?”
I don’t want to admit it, but the room gives me the creeps. I know Evan set it up to entertain and scare the guests. Either he’s planted the sound of two human hearts galloping unevenly, a larger slower one and the tiny ticking of a fetus inside, or I’m imagining it, along with the scent of baby powder and the tiny gurgles and coos coming from the bassinet.
“All I hear is your heavy breathing,” Todd says as he leans beside me, making the bed creak. “Let’s make sure this luxuriously furnished old-fashioned bed is safe and functional.”
I heartily agree.My heart jumpstarts, and my lips are on his as soon as he pulls me on top of him. He kisses me, hot and hungry, and I should be all over him—especially since I’m on a bed alone with him.
But we’re in a freaky, creepy, supposedly haunted room, and my skin crawls with the sensation that we’re not alone.
“We shouldn’t test this.” I nibble on Todd’s lips and back off. “It’ll be extra work for the staff to restore all of the effects.”
“What’s wrong? You scared?” Todd touches my face gently.
“No, yes, I mean, not of the haunt effects per se.” After all, I’m the owner of this hotel of horrors. “It’s us. Actually.”
“Us? Like we’re defiling this bed which has never been slept on? Would this be Baja Angel’s bed?”
“Yes, and she cursed every man who slept on her bed and might have impregnated her.”
He lifts from the bed and pats down the pillow. “I’m not afraid.”
“Neither am I. But we don’t have all day. I can’t activate all of the special effects. We were only supposed to check security, like making sure a room can’t be broken into. This room is a vault, and it’s safe. It doesn’t even have a heat vent, just the old radiator in the corner.”
“Where a ghost can keep herself warm,” Todd says in a low, undertaker’s voice.
