The lakeside seemed to whisper. Waves and gusts of wind rustling the trees and bushes, the cries of the seagulls above and the muffled shouts from the market over in the town, they all blended together into a wall of noise which almost seemed to carry a quietly murmured message. But the words it said were meaningless nonsense, half-formed thoughts and unfinished suggestions of ideas and sentences. Just noise. Once again, just noise.
Catherine leaned against the railing and took a deep, long breath. A faint migraine had been working its way through her brain and outward into her temple. She breathed out. The bloody lake. The bloody noise. Your place has already been taken.
She went back inside, the air still heavy and strangely stale but at least it was quieter, save for the not one but three old mechanical clocks in the hall, but she didn't have the strength to care about those enough. She dug around in the cabinet for some ibuprofen, found it and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Your place has already been taken. What the fuck was she supposed to make of that? She put the pill in her mouth and let the cold tap water wash it down with next to zero swallowing effort on her own part. The water felt good, she filled another glass and downed it immediately.
Upstairs, the room designated by Vinnie for her held the only clock she didn't hate - it was still old and the purple holographic military time numerals above it flickered and glitched out occasionally but it didn't make noise and for that Catherine was thankful. She lied down on the bed, her head still feeling an unwelcome visitor in the strangely hard - not even hard, simply mildly uncomfortable just enough to be annoying - mattress and pillows and picked up her phone from the bedside table. She blindly selected a random playlist and lied back, waiting for the ibuprofen to finally kick in, but that was futile. The mattress felt unusually uncomfortable, some half-thought about comparison to floorboards sprung to her mind but faded. The music kicked in and instantly turned into nails on chalkboard so she yanked the headphones out of her ears and just laid there staring at the ceiling. Your place has already been taken.
When she woke up, the headache was gone. She immediately shook the very thought of it. The air was fine, the clocks were fine and nothing else mattered. She'd settle this. Thinking of the clocks, she looked instinctively to her left, only to realize the one on the bedside was glitched out again and the hologram now showed random shapes and scan lines. She fished out the phone from the folds in the bedsheets. 11:40, still plenty of time. It was fine.
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'Well, I called them and they seem to have fucked up something with the room bookings, I'm going down there now.'
'Fucked up what?'
Catherine sighed as she turned left into the highway.
'They like... put somebody else in my room? And now they're booked full.'
'So much for five star service, huh. Listen, I'll be downtown later, wanna go out for a coffee or something?'
'Gladly. Feel like I'll need that. This is so fucking stupid.' She took a glimpse to the left, at the blue of the lake and the blue of the sky with a green line of fields and trees between them.
'Well, me and Jake stayed there last autumn, I think, and the service was nice enough, I'm sure they'll figure something out.'
'I'm okay with just having the money back. Maybe convince Vin to let me stay for a few more days.'
'How are you gonna do that? It's Vin, you know how he is with money.'
'I'm gonna... I'm gonna figure something out.'
The voice on the other end of the line exploded in a giggle spree.
'Dude! No wayyyy! With Vin?'
'Autumn, gross!' Catherine couldn't help but crack up, 'I'm not gonna... Ew!'
A moment of silence ensued, then they both burst into laughter simultaneously.
'Listen, I need to hyperventilate and take the dog for a walk. You'll be driving into the boonies soon anyway, right?'
'Yup, approaching Fort Felicity. Take care, weirdo.'
'You too, girl. Just don't sleep with too many creepy old men, okay?'
'Fuck you.' She quit out of the call.
For a moment she thought about how Vinnie would react, purely theoretically, if she offered him sex. Maybe he wouldn't. Most likely he wouldn't. Either way, she'd probably just get her money back from Pillars and spend it on a few more days at his, to hell with Summer and her whole plan. All of her plans. Soon enough.
On the straight and desolate stretch right before Fort Felicity, she picked up the phone from the passenger's seat again and quickly skimmed through the call history. For the 30th of June, there were only two calls. One incoming, from Autumn. The one before that, outgoing, to a number that wasn't in her contacts but she knew was the Seven Pillars hotel.
The line crackled and hissed.
Click.
'Your place has already been taken,' robotic and monotone, declared her own voice.
Catherine leaned against the railing and took a deep, long breath. A faint migraine had been working its way through her brain and outward into her temple. She breathed out. The bloody lake. The bloody noise. Your place has already been taken.
She went back inside, the air still heavy and strangely stale but at least it was quieter, save for the not one but three old mechanical clocks in the hall, but she didn't have the strength to care about those enough. She dug around in the cabinet for some ibuprofen, found it and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Your place has already been taken. What the fuck was she supposed to make of that? She put the pill in her mouth and let the cold tap water wash it down with next to zero swallowing effort on her own part. The water felt good, she filled another glass and downed it immediately.
Upstairs, the room designated by Vinnie for her held the only clock she didn't hate - it was still old and the purple holographic military time numerals above it flickered and glitched out occasionally but it didn't make noise and for that Catherine was thankful. She lied down on the bed, her head still feeling an unwelcome visitor in the strangely hard - not even hard, simply mildly uncomfortable just enough to be annoying - mattress and pillows and picked up her phone from the bedside table. She blindly selected a random playlist and lied back, waiting for the ibuprofen to finally kick in, but that was futile. The mattress felt unusually uncomfortable, some half-thought about comparison to floorboards sprung to her mind but faded. The music kicked in and instantly turned into nails on chalkboard so she yanked the headphones out of her ears and just laid there staring at the ceiling. Your place has already been taken.
When she woke up, the headache was gone. She immediately shook the very thought of it. The air was fine, the clocks were fine and nothing else mattered. She'd settle this. Thinking of the clocks, she looked instinctively to her left, only to realize the one on the bedside was glitched out again and the hologram now showed random shapes and scan lines. She fished out the phone from the folds in the bedsheets. 11:40, still plenty of time. It was fine.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
'Well, I called them and they seem to have fucked up something with the room bookings, I'm going down there now.'
'Fucked up what?'
Catherine sighed as she turned left into the highway.
'They like... put somebody else in my room? And now they're booked full.'
'So much for five star service, huh. Listen, I'll be downtown later, wanna go out for a coffee or something?'
'Gladly. Feel like I'll need that. This is so fucking stupid.' She took a glimpse to the left, at the blue of the lake and the blue of the sky with a green line of fields and trees between them.
'Well, me and Jake stayed there last autumn, I think, and the service was nice enough, I'm sure they'll figure something out.'
'I'm okay with just having the money back. Maybe convince Vin to let me stay for a few more days.'
'How are you gonna do that? It's Vin, you know how he is with money.'
'I'm gonna... I'm gonna figure something out.'
The voice on the other end of the line exploded in a giggle spree.
'Dude! No wayyyy! With Vin?'
'Autumn, gross!' Catherine couldn't help but crack up, 'I'm not gonna... Ew!'
A moment of silence ensued, then they both burst into laughter simultaneously.
'Listen, I need to hyperventilate and take the dog for a walk. You'll be driving into the boonies soon anyway, right?'
'Yup, approaching Fort Felicity. Take care, weirdo.'
'You too, girl. Just don't sleep with too many creepy old men, okay?'
'Fuck you.' She quit out of the call.
For a moment she thought about how Vinnie would react, purely theoretically, if she offered him sex. Maybe he wouldn't. Most likely he wouldn't. Either way, she'd probably just get her money back from Pillars and spend it on a few more days at his, to hell with Summer and her whole plan. All of her plans. Soon enough.
On the straight and desolate stretch right before Fort Felicity, she picked up the phone from the passenger's seat again and quickly skimmed through the call history. For the 30th of June, there were only two calls. One incoming, from Autumn. The one before that, outgoing, to a number that wasn't in her contacts but she knew was the Seven Pillars hotel.
The line crackled and hissed.
Click.
'Your place has already been taken,' robotic and monotone, declared her own voice.
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