The Isles Hotel(Florence) ‘’A family trip, a nice family trip, come on you guys, it’ll be fun. Plus, you guys have to learn to be nice to each other.’’

A single mother, Emma says. She tries to persuade her two children into spending a week or two with her, in her hometown.

‘’No ew I’m sorry but I have no intention of wasting the holidays with you and Becca.’’

Emma’s eldest daughter, Joey retorts.

‘’I told you a week ago that I wanted to spend the hols with my boyfriend I mean come on mom I’m 18.’’

‘’Okay I’ve decided. I am coming. All that food and I cannot wait to laze around by the pool and all the hot guys and what not’’

Becca, the 15-year-old says.

Emma’s eyes light up from the thought of the pool and the hot guys.

‘’I’m in I’m in I’m in’’

Emma thanks her lucky stars for her two very intelligent and understanding daughters.

‘’So, I’ve gotten the hotel reservations for the three of us for a week and then after that we shall be staying at Milo’s for a week. Alright?’’

Milo was Emma’s stepbrother.

‘’Yes, all good.”

‘’We leave in three days, pack whatever you need and please, you guys no more fighting.’’

‘’Uhuh.’’

Three days later, all three of them are packed and ready to go. They reached the hotel in a couple of hours by flight and were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, excited for the long and relaxing holiday. Something looked odd. The walls and pillars on the outside of the hotel looked very unkept. The paint was peeling off. The potted plants looked dead and there were patches of weeds and grass growing unevenly on the huge plot of land in front of the hotel.

All three of them realized that something was not right and were cautious. They slowly went into the reception area and were pleasantly surprised. The hall looked grand with its marble floors and exquisite interiors.

They turned to each other and smiled. Emma rang the tiny bell and waited for the receptionist. They stood there waiting for quite a bit. Finally, after a whole 10 minutes, a tall, lanky woman appeared. She looked exhausted and her collar bones peeped out through her skin. Emma, at first glance was concerned but didn’t read into it too much.

‘’Hello, welcome to The Isles Hotel. Here are your keys, these have to be given to us every time you leave the hotel. Your luggage is being taken up to your connecting rooms. Lunch will be sent shortly to your rooms; we don’t do buffets.’’

‘’Oh, that’s quite alright, thank you very much…. what is your name? I notice you are missing a name tag.”

“I’d prefer to keep my name hidden, don't tell anyone please, but you can call me Rosa.”

Becca nudged Joey in worry.

They went up to their rooms in silence. Upon reaching their connecting rooms, they glanced at each other with uncertainty.

‘’What was that? Mom I’m creeped out by this. Why isn’t anyone else here? Where are the other guests? What about the staff? Why is this place so isolated?’’

Emma looks at her daughters and tries to figure out as to why the hotel was in such an unusual state.

‘’Okay, why don’t we grab some lunch outside, and then when we return back, we can figure something out.”

“Something?’’ Joey enquires.

‘’Yes. I’m not gonna risk it. This place feels out of sorts. I’ll ask Milo if we can go over tomorrow.’’

The three of them took a bath and got changed. As they headed down to get a taxi, they realized that there was no one on their floor. Not a single soul.

‘’Let’s check out the pool before we leave.’’ Joey exclaimed.

They go down the path way that was supposed to lead to the pool and are shell-shocked. The pool was filled with dirty, mucky water, with red stains on the walls and huge black plastic bags, were slumped against the wall.

‘’Come on, lets get out of here before anyone sees us, come on.’’

They hurry along the path way, set the keys on the counter in the receptionist area, and tries to get a taxi, smiling at Rosa as she appears and looks at them, a frightening stare.

‘’We can’t sleep there mom what are you going on about? They could be some sort of serial killers…… I DON’T WANT TO DIE.’’

‘’Same. I’m sorry but this is serious stuff. What were the red stains on the wall?’’

Joey and Becca desperately try to persuade Emma to find accommodation, till they can stay with Milo.

‘’You guys don’t understand, all other hotels are booked and Milo is on a business trip, we can go over to Milo’s tomorrow as he’ll be back by tomorrow morning. Our luggage is still up there in our rooms, so what we’ll do is, finish up lunch, have a walk around town, get some takeaway for dinner and go back to the hotel.’’

‘’Then?’’

‘’We’ll leave first thing in the morning.’’

‘’Okay sounds good. This place gives me the creeps and jitters. Ugh. Oh, and also, will we get a refund or something?’’

‘’Not sure. That doesn’t matter anyway.’’

They finish their meal and sit together talking for a while. They head to town and check out different stores and what not. They get some food for dinner and nervously go back to the hotel.

They walk into the reception area, tentatively. A crowd appears to be in heavy discussion. As they walk forward to get their key, a dozen heads turn to their direction, lifeless.

‘’What the hell?’’ All three of them mutter, under their breath.

Rosa hands Emma the keys and they sprint off, with fright.

They freshened up, ate dinner, watched some T.V, and by midnight, they were ready for bed. The three of them slept in one bed as they were so uneasy, with the doors and windows locked, curtains shut tight.

At 5am, Joey woke up to something. She got up in a moment’s time and looked around. The sound faded away and she calmed herself down. She stretched and immediately came to realization that her mother and sister were not with her. Not on the bed. Not in the bathroom. Not in the entire suite.

Joey tells herself that they must have gone out for yoga, which was a daily routine and occurrence in their household, and that they’ll be back in an hour or so.

She falls asleep and gets up after an hour due to the same faint noises. This time, they felt closer, right outside her room. She checked the room to see if anyone was hiding. Nothing.

'‘What the…? What is happening? If this is some sort of prank, I am killing them.’'

She slowly packs all of their suitcases, in the hope of them returning and waits, in absolute silence.

Two hours go by and Joey starts to get hungry and restless. She goes down to the reception area to get food. On her way, she hears screaming. Not just one person’s voice, but multiple. Different voices of different octaves, all mangled together in an ugly melody. Startled, she doesn’t run back to her room, but follows the voices, to reach her family. She goes down the pathway they took the day before, reaches the pool, takes a left, and reaches a shed.

Rather a large shed. A garage perhaps. She slowly raises her hand and reaches up to the huge handle and uses all her weight to open it, by force. The shrieking becomes clearer and with sweaty hands, she uses all her strength to open the shed. As and when she feels the door opening, a large object strikes her head and neck and she falls to the ground.

She gets up in a flash and punches, or tries to punch the man who tried to knock her out and, succeeds. As the man falters, she runs off, to hide.

She looked back and didn’t see anyone chasing her. She relaxed and slowed down. Her eyes darted from side to side. Beads of sweat rolled down from her forehead. The nape of her neck was in immense pain. She heard footsteps and swiftly hid behind one of the worn-out pillars.

‘’Rosa? What in the world is even happening? I- ‘’

Rosa cuts her off, and motions Joey to follow her, back to the shed. The man is no longer there.

‘'Must be somewhere out there looking for me. Pfft you’ll never find me.’' Joey chuckles.

Rosa works silently and diligently. She brings out a pocket knife from her dress, pulls out a little stool and ropes which were there near the shed.

‘’The police. Walk down from here and you’ll reach Navy Lane. Ask for directions if you don’t find the station but you will. Your family is safe…and so are the others. For now. We don’t have much time, please, we are counting on you.’’

Rosa spits out these directions, pulls out the stool, cuts the rope and tells Joey to use the stool and rope to scale the wall and jump off it.

Joey does, and lands on the ground with a mighty thud.

With the help of Rosa’s instructions, she finds the police station, and franticly asks for help.

‘’Please, I need help, quick.’’

Two police cars are sped up to the hotel while she, in the third, is heavily protected.

She narrates out all the happenings of the previous day and what she went through during the day.

The police were agile, and very fast paced and caught all the individuals who were part of the sneaky and mysterious ordeal.

Emma, Becca, Rosa and the others who were in the shed were retrieved, and were being treated.

The police fill Joey in.

‘’You, are a very lucky human being. The owner of this hotel is mentally unstable and was, is still in jail. But he has contacts. He picks out a family he wants to target every year, and with fake advertising, he leads the family in. You guys are the third family.’’

‘’BUT WHY? WHO WERE THE GROUP OF PEOPLE IN THE RECEPTION AREA WE SAW THERE?’’ Joey implodes.

‘’Unfortunately, we do not know why…and how. There is maximum security and the hotel owner, Max, still communicates with different people to carry this out. The group of people you guys saw down there, was the group of people who had come together to figure out how they would reel you guys in.’’

Emma and Becca chime into the conversation.

‘’I wanted some water. We didn’t have any bottles with us and I knew that there was a filter, near the elevators. I didn’t want to go alone of course, so I dragged mom.’’

‘’Yes, and we got the water, and as we reached the room, we fell faint. They had drugged the water.’’

‘’Wow. What about me? When were they planning to drug me or whatever?’’

‘’We are unsure of that. But with further questioning, we will find out and let you guys know.’’

Joey searches for Rosa.

‘’Hey.’’

‘’Smart one, aren’t you?’’

Emma smiles, proudly.

‘’I am Max’s ex-wife. I have no family and no home, so he offered a place to stay and work. I slowly found out that he was responsible for all the disappearing families. I had to obey as he said he’ll kill me. I’m sorry.’’

‘’It’s okay. All of us are alive and well.’’
The other two families of four beamed at Joey and thanked her, with glistening eyes, for they had been stuck down there, for quite a long while.

They are taken to Milo’s, by the police, and Rosa, along with the two families, the hospital.

‘’Well this has been eventful.’’

‘’Yeah, a nice family trip.’’

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