The Graveyard Hotel

I wanted to say something to William as he walked past me. His mind seemed so heavy I wondered if he even noticed me. I glanced back at the thick fog wondering what could have made him turn back.

I waited until there was a considerable distance between us until I followed him back to the hotel.

He was waiting for his wife to arrive but I haven't seen her yet. If there was a mix up with hotels, she would have been here by now. I wondered what more there was to him. Ever since he came to this hotel, he seemed bothered. Like there was something heavy weighing on his mind. First was the outburst at the front desk. Then his distracted thoughts right before his dinner arrived.

He paused for a moment to gaze at the fountain causing me to pause too. I watched him as he stood transfixed on the steady flow of water. As he stared at the fountain, his mind calmed instantly as if every worry he'd ever possessed had vanished.

By now, he had walked up to the fountain and was gazing directly into it. The way one gazes into a fountain after making a wish on a penny.

"I must return home. I cannot stay here forever," William murmured. Yet even as he said those words, his gaze moved away from the fountain, to the multitude of flowers that bloomed in the garden, before finally resting on the walls of the hotel.

I stepped closer, mesmerized myself.

Not even a man like William Bream could escape the allure of the Amulet Rosette.

William moved away from the fountain and sat down on one of the benches across from it. I took a few daring steps closer. I wanted to hear his story but didn't want to be intrusive.

I took a deep breath and sat on the bench William sat on. It was just long enough so two strangers could sit without feeling intrusive. I stared out at the fountain as though that was my intention all along.

I watched the flow of the fountain, following its rhythm with my eyes.

"Has anyone ever left here?"

I startled slightly as William's question shattered the silence.

I turned to face him.

"I've watched those gates for my wife's arrival and I have never seen anyone leave."

"Only to arrive," I confirmed.

"So you've been watching the gates too," he said, his gaze still on the fountain.

More silence passed before I dared a question. "Your wife. She went to another hotel?"

William took a slow steady breath contemplating his thoughts and I began to regret my question.

"We were on our way to a festival. It was far enough from home that we decided it was best to stay at a hotel there. On the way, there was a terrible rain storm. The visibility became so bad, I could hardly see the road."

"Like the fog," I said.

"No. Not nearly as bad as the fog," William replied. "But at the time, it felt like the worst I've ever experienced."

"My wife urged me to just pull over and wait out the storm, but I insisted if I just kept driving slow, we'd be alright and make it to the hotel eventually."

I could sense that something ominous was about to happen in his story and I waited for him to continue.

"By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. The last thing I remember was going down the embankment. That's the last thing I remember."

"I'm so sorry!"

More silence passed before William spoke again. "I saw this envelope on the ground. By some miracle I can't explain, even with it being exposed to the rain, it was still readable. I opened it." His voice trailed off as his eyes flickered with disbelief.

"It was an invitation to the Amulet Rosette, wasn't it? Addressed to you."

William could only nod.

"When the chauffeur arrived to take me here, The name didn't sound familiar but I still assumed I was being escorted to the hotel we had already planned on staying at. Or at least hoped. I've not seen my wife ever since. "

"Why did you come back?" I asked suddenly. "It was the fog, wasn't it?"

William shook his head. "No, I would have walked through that fog for as long as I needed to. I don't understand. I walked past those gates. Through that wicked fog! I didn't look back! Made no turns. Next thing I know, I'm back passing through the gates again as if I'd gone in a circle."

He looked directly at me now. "There's something off about this hotel. I could sense it the first time that carriage passed through those gates."

Despite the warmth of the garden, I shivered because I felt it too.