Hσŧεℓ Nεƈŗσþσℓïş discussion
Fℓσσŗ 1
>
Pσσℓ
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
[deleted user]
(new)
Jul 04, 2015 11:55PM
The huge indoor pool of the hotel.
reply
|
flag
Elliott Ceridwen did not like to speculate about life. It gave him headaches to think about why he was there and what would have happened if another sperm had beat him to fertilization. However when he did speculate, he liked to be alone. For example, he liked to sit underwater in the shallow end of the Hotel Necropolis pool, where the only numerous visitors were bacteria.
This is what he did every Tuesday afternoon. And today was Tuesday, and it was 2 PM.
Elliott stood at the edge of the pool, clad in a pair of swim trunks and staring down into the chlorine blue water. He slid his towel off of his shoulder and tossed it to the side as he took a step into the pool. A minute shiver crawled up his back, leaving goosebumps across his fair skin. He adjusted to the water and cracked his neck before jumping in so he would land in a sitting position. His entire body was submerged in water, his eyes closed, his breath held. Elliott thought about life. He thought about why he was in Oregon when he had lived in LA his entire life. He distracted himself with this thought for about a minute before his lungs constricted and he realized he couldn't breathe. With a small splash, Elliott hauled himself out of the water, sputtering and making unappealing noises in an effort to get air.
Clementine was sitting cross legged on the tile floor, watching Elliot with her head tilted to the side. She began to run her fingers through her hair. Her fingers had just reached the end of her hair for the 10th time when Elliot came back up for air. "What are you doing?" Clementine asked curiously.
((Sorry. Haven't been on my computer in a few days.))Elliott's head snapped in the direction of the light and curious voice, which for some reason reminded of a cloud floating across the sky. He had thought he was alone. When his eyes settled on the transparent figure by the pool, he felt his heart nearly stop. "Holy-!" He was about to say before another bout of coughing interrupted the thought. He was vulnerable and helpless, afraid of this figure and unable to do anything about it since he was stuck trying to clear his lungs of water. He kept his eyes on the girl, and while she didn't seem to be a threat he still found himself swimming away as though that would protect him. Elliott's skin seemed to be a bit paler than it usually was, fear striking through him like a sharp, sharp knife. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought this girl was a ghost. But Elliott didn't believe in that stuff.
((It's ok!))
Clementine frowned. It hurt her feeling that this boy seemed afraid of her. "What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. She stood up and walked around the pool, trying to get to Elliot. "Where are you going? I didn't mean to scare you, I'm really sorry if I did!" she told him. Sometimes people did get scared when they saw her, though. Maybe this boy knew why.
When an abrupt pain hit the nerves on Elliott's back, he finally stopped moving. He regulated his breathing, figuring if he got more oxygen into his body then this apparition of sorts would disappear. It didn't. He swallowed a lump in his throat and eyed the girl, examining her and the seemingly genuine sincerity in her eyes. "Who..." Elliott began, attempting to form words in a situation where there were no right ones, "Who are you?" He figured that would be a good first step. It wasn't every day you saw a see-through girl. Perhaps it was just the lighting.
Clementine stopped at the edge of the pool and sat down, putting her legs in the water. Her legs didn't get wet though, they just swished through the water. "Clementine." she said, holding out her hand as though Elliot could shake it. "What's your name?" Clementine noticed that the boy still looked sort of afraid of her, and she tilted her head to the side a little. "Are you afraid of me?" she asked.
Elliott's eyes followed her legs until they nearly dissipated into the water. He wasn't quite sure if this girl was real anymore, and despite no apparent mental alteration, Elliott made the decision that this girl was just a figment of his imagination. "No," he answered honestly, his shoulders relaxing. Now that he had reassured himself that this was just his mind playing tricks on him, he wasn't all that scared anymore. "I'm Elliott," he stated, though he didn't reach to shake her hand. Hallucinations couldn't get offended, right? At the moment, the worst thing wrong with him could be a brain tumor. Even that was more acceptable than seeing a real, actual ghost. "What are you doing here?" he asked. He took note that his mind could conjure up some pretty cute apparitions.
"I'm waiting for my family to come back." Clementine said. She took her hand back, seeing that Elliot wouldn't shake it. "I don't know where they went, but they'll come back someday. What are you doing here?"
"Swimming," Elliott said curtly, though the word swimming didn't quite accentuate the deep thinking and partial drowning he was doing. He took in what she said about her family, and tried to think of a reason his brain would have her say that. His interest was peaked, and he pushed himself up onto the edge of the pool to sit next to Clementine. "Tell me about your family. Where'd they go?" Maybe he could make sense of it all if he gauged more out of her. Of course he knew she didn't have family at the hotel; None of the staff had a daughter named Clementine and there were very few guests this week. He would have noticed a girl like her coming in. That is, if she was actually a real person.
"Well, I was on vacation at this hotel with my mom and dad, and my little brother Jason. He's just 7." Clementine began. "But then I got my first boyfriend here, and I didn't tell my parents about him immediately, so my dad got really mad when he saw us together. Then he pulled something out of his coat and I can't remember anything that happens after that." Clementine paused, remembering that day. "But they'll all come back soon!" She had been waiting for a really long time though. She wondered why Elliot was so curious about her family. He was younger than her, so maybe he was just a really curious teen? Clementine wouldn't know.
It would seem that Clementine's story would make more sense if she was a ghost, but Elliott still wasn't up for considering that possibility. "Okay, Clementine..." He couldn't quite conjure up any explanation of the symptom, so he just settled on good old fashioned befriending. Most people go insane if they don't learn to like themselves, right? And Clementine was just some girlish part of himself. He sat for a moment and stared at her expression, the real hope that her family would return. "Hey, Clementine--Can I call you Clem?--Do you want to go somewhere else? You must be hungry after all that waiting you've been doing." Elliott seemed to be toying with her, patronizing her.
"Sure! My parents and Jason called me Clem sometimes. But I don't really like Clemmy because it sounds like Clammy. Or Clumsy." Clementine stood up. "Where's the food? I haven't gotten hungry in a while, so I never checked!" Hm...usually Clementine ate a lot. Oh well! She would be eating now.
Elliott chuckled weakly, amused by Clementine's cheerfulness and enthusiasm. It wasn't something he was around a lot, since he was usually by himself and and he was neither of those things. "Okay, Clem," he started, testing out the new nickname, "there's a kitchen down the hall. Let me just grab my towel and we sneak into the fridge without the chefs noticing." It was something he liked to do when his family was irritating him and he didn't want to join them for dinner. He'd sneak in and grab a plate or cheese or some leftover chicken and sneak back into his room. It was a lot more convenient than having to go through the family interrogation about his homework at the dinner table. Elliott stood and leaned over to swipe his towel up, swinging it over his shoulder in one motion. "I'm not sure what's on the menu today; Hopefully you like crackers just in case. You can always rely on crackers here."
Elliott didn't have many friends. It was nice to indulge even the not-so-real ones.
"Great!" Clementine smiled cheerfully. "And crackers are good." She started to walk towards the door. "Do you have any siblings, Elliot? I'm really curious now, because I've mentioned Jason a bunch." Then she walked right through the door without even opening it. Clementine didn't really notice.
((There's no hallway topic so I'm just going to have them here until they get to the actual kitchen))"Unfortunately," Elliott replied with an irritable sigh. "I've got three of them. Two older, one younger. I don't spend a whole lot of time with them, though. Not really my cup of tea." Elliott paid no mind to Clementine's ability to pass through doors. Nothing ghostly she could do would shock him at this point. He gave her a forced smile when he spoke about his family. While he didn't hate all of them, he wasn't all buddy-buddy with them either.
((Yeah.))
"Ooh, nice! What's it like to have so many siblings?" Clementine asked. She took a few steps down the hallway, waiting for Elliot. She could be a bit impatient while waiting to eat. He did seem kind of irritated by his family though. But families weren't irritating! Clementine had never really found Jason annoying, it was just when he threw a tantrum that she got annoyed at him.
Elliott shrugged, "It kind of sucks. Always being overshadowed by your siblings. Never measuring up to them." Elliott spoke the truth. At least that was his truth. He had always felt as though his parents favored his brother. Even when Elliott began making progress in music he felt unnoticed. "We're almost to the kitchen. You have to be really quiet, okay?" he instructed.((I'm going to bed now, goodnight!))
((Goodnight! Do you want to post first in the kitchen or should I?))
"Okay!" Clementine said cheerfully, walking through the door to the kitchen and looking around. "I don't see anybody!" she exclaimed. That was a good thing! Then they couldn't get caught by all the nasty people Clementine's parents had always warned about. The nasty people who made up 99.8%of the population on Earth. She wouldn't want to run into even one of those people.
