Nightmare AirBNB (Part 2)
It took us half an hour to bring in everything from the car. Mom, as always, felt it necessary to basically move into the place and put everything away. I didn't help because it made no sense to co-mingle our things with someone else's personal stuff. That seemed like a good way to forget things or eat someone's else's food accidentally. Which I know Simon and I both have been guilty of in the past. Most people had way better snacks than we did.
I could hear Mom and Dad still bickering and I was starting to feel very frustrated with the fact that I no longer had my phone.
"What time is dinner?" I said loudly overtop of the back and forth nonsense that never seemed to stop.
Mom looked like I'd either slapped her or she was startled to remember I was even there. Okayyyy. Dad was back to glaring at me. Good grief. Who were these people and what had they done to my normally disgustingly in love parents?
"Uh... well, honey," Mom began, glancing at her watch. "It's early yet. I guess at 7? Does that sound okay? Millie recommended a great -"
I waved her off. My stomach had been growling since we got off the plane. I knew I wouldn't convince her to eat sooner nor was I allowed to have a snack this close to dinner. What she didn't know was that I had brought my own snacks, tucked away in what looked like a brand new, unopened bag of feminine hygiene products. No one touched those for any reason. Mom had had a brush with ovarian cancer a few years ago which resulted in her not needing them anymore and I can't imagine why my Dad or brother would rifle through either. So I marched down to my room, shut the door a bit too forcefully, and dug into a snack cake I knew would give my mother a heart attack if she saw me eating it.
No one followed me. No one reprimanded me for my attitude or slamming the door. I had peace. Maybe it was a good thing if my parents were arguing a little. Gave them less time to overfocus on me! I had magazines and other contraband I wasn't normally allowed to have too. I was kind of surprised that Mom had been too distracted to go through my luggage before we left like she normally does. Maybe I'd actually get to enjoy them this vacation.
The evening flew by. We eventually went to eat. The best Thai food I have ever had. Mom and Dad weren't speaking to each other again. So Simon and I talked instead. Which was kind of odd but fun actually. I learned that he and I listened to some of the same true crime and creepypasta podcasts - something I never would have imagined. Both of us knew better than to really talk openly about the subject matter in front of our parents because they would have forbidden anything scary.
The evening ended with our parents calling it an early night around 9. Simon and I hung out in the game room on bean bag chairs and listened to a creepy top 10 list podcast together in the dark. A definite first and I didn't hate it either. Maybe Simon wasn't all bad. At least it was taking my mind off of not getting to say goodnight to Joe. I knew he'd probably be mad but I would make it up to him somehow.
"Hey, I'm going to make popcorn. Want some?" I asked him after the first story ended and we were deliciously creeped out.
His eyes widened the way he does when something hits him as the best idea he's heard in a long time. He didn't even have to say anything. I grinned and bounded upstairs to grab some popcorn from the pantry. Blessedly, the game room had its own microwave and mini fridge so we wouldn't disturb our parents but the supplies were on the main level. I was smiling, happy to have found some kind of ally or whatever in my normally annoying little brother, when I opened the pantry and pawed through for the popcorn we'd brought.
I froze when I heard Simon whisper my name loudly up the stairs. What was he thinking? He was going to wake up our parents. I was back to being annoyed with him but I grabbed the popcorn, ready to throttle him when I got back down the stairs. He called my name again, this time a little louder as I closed the pantry door. His voice cracked and I thought he might be crying? What in the world?
I hurried around the spiral downstairs and nearly collided with Simon at the bottom. The popcorn packet went flying and I gasped. "Simon, what are you doing? I almost die-!"
I followed his finger which was pointing toward a door to the left of his bedroom. Millie had said it was a closet full of the owner's things which was why it was locked. A very normal thing in AirBNBs. Every single one we'd stayed in before had one.
"I heard something," he whispered. "I thought someone was whispering, ‘let me out!'"
Listening for a long moment, I heard nothing.
"Okay so you freaked yourself out about the creepypastas. Maybe it's time to go to bed."
Simon made a sound of protest but didn't really fight me too hard on it. Especially after I turned on the lights in the game room and promised to leave them on all night in case he got scared again. To be fair, the podcast we'd been listening to had been about the top 10 times people had found a stranger living in their house with them. If I had been younger, like Simon, I might have been freaked out too.
Not me leaving the lights on in the game room for myself or anything...
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5