Chapter 4

Chloe opened her eyes allowing them time to adjust to the darkness of the room. She could barely make out the posts of her bed. There was a misplaced silence in the room and Chloe couldn’t quite understand why the silence was not supposed to be there. Yawning Chloe reached over to the left side of the enormous bed and switched on the table light.

            As if the sudden illumination of the lamp reminded her of her last thoughts just before she had drifted off, Chloe jumped up from her bed. They had arrived in the morning hours and glancing at the clock beside her bed she realized that her short nap turned out to be a twelve hour monster of a nap. It was eight o’clock in the evening and she had just wasted her first day in Galisha sleeping.

            A soft knock at the door startled Chloe and she rushed to open it ready to begin pleading for forgiveness from Phillip. A few quick steps and Chloe turned the large knob of the door and pulled it open. Expecting to find Phillip on the other side of the door Chloe was startled at the precarious man that stood towering over her. Chloe arched her head back to look into the face of the large man and was startled at the sight before her.

            The tall figure had paleness to his skin that Chloe could only remember seeing once on the corpse of a man that they had fished out of the river near her home. His eyes and cheeks were sunken in giving him a starving look to his face. His nose was a long crooked mess and sweat slide down the length of it causing Chloe to wonder what he had been doing just before he knocked on her door. He wore black trousers and a large black overcoat that reached the floor of the hall.

            Chloe noticed a small white daisy neatly tucked in the breast pocket of the overcoat and she crinkled her nose at how out of place that tiny flower seemed on this man. Chloe couldn’t decide if she was more baffled at the misplacement of the flower or the deathly sight of the emaciated man.

            Chloe’s eyes were locked on to the man’s beady gray eyes as his lifted his hand slowly from his side and pointed a long bony finger directly at her. The finger hovered in the air inches from Chloe’s face and she felt the air being drawn from her lungs as if the hand itself was stealing her precious oxygen by simply being there.

            Trying to draw herself out of the trance Chloe turned her head to the left and clasped her eyes shut. Almost at the same instance of shutting her eyes Chloe’s ears were assaulted by a sudden shrill screech and a large gust of wind clashed with her body knocking it to the floor. Chloe looked up to from the floor to find the man had vanished and she sat dazed on the cold hotel hallway floor looking about for a logical reason for the disappearance of the man.

            The door next to her was thrown open so hard Chloe heard the wall cave under the violent pressure of the door knob. Turning her head Chloe met the terrified face of Phillip staring down at her in disbelief. As if frozen in place by his gaze Chloe sat facing him in silence as his eyes searched her body for any signs of injury. Once he determined she was fine he reached out for her and in one swoop of his arms he lifted her from the floor and carried her back into her room.

            Phillip set her down gently at the foot of her bed and quickly stepped back a few feet from her. His cheeks began to redden in what seemed like embarrassment and Chloe stood dumbfounded looking at him.

            “What’s wrong Phillip” Chloe suddenly felt self-conscious and followed Phillips eyes to the source of his embarrassment.  Looking down at the towel that still clang to her body Chloe suddenly remembered her near nakedness and felt her face grow hot and she knew that it would quickly overshadow the color that sat on Phillips face.

     She quickly grabbed the dress from her bed and ran to the bathroom. She had meant to dress before she had succumbed to her earlier slumber and was kicking herself for not realizing her indecency sooner. She quickly pulled the dress on closing the buttons up the side and exhaled.  She had never felt so relieved to have her dress on before and she turned to look at herself in the mirror.

            She was more than startled at the sight before her. Despite the red in her cheeks she was noticeably pale and she raised a hand to her face and they felt icy to the touch. Her eyes drifted to a small patch of hair that had fallen in her face and held her breath. The two inch thick patch had turned from its normal auburn color to white. Holding the strands in her hands so she could better inspect them she ran her fingers along the length of the hair and felt a small static charge coming from it as if whatever had changed the color was still lingering within the strands themselves.  

Struggling with trying to remember what had just happened to her in the hallway Chloe could only remember bits of the event.  She remembered a man when she opened the door and then finding herself on the floor outside the hall but she couldn’t recall what the man had looked like or what their conversation was about and even more puzzling to her was the lack of memory as to why she found herself on the floor alone in the hall. Something had to have happened but why could she not recall anything of the incident. It was like a distant dream and Chloe resigned to opening the door to the bathroom and asking Phillip about it.

“Um, Phillip, can you please tell me exactly what happened? Why was I on the floor of the hall and who was the man that docked on my door?”

“What man Chloe? I opened my door and found you standing in, um, your bath towel and just staring down the hall.”

Chloe struggled to remember the now faded memory and felt as if her thoughts were clouded and she crinkled her face in a disapproving frown. Had she been sleep walking and the man be simply a dream? Feeling as if she was losing her mind Chloe swatted a hand in the air dismissing the entire incident and looked at Phillip. It was as if he was concentrating deeply and staring into her eyes. Chloe blinked and gave Phillip a puzzled look. Seeing the look on Chloe’s face he raised and eye brow and she thought he was about to say something to her but thought better of it.

“Well lunch was a bust so how about some dinner? I am sure you are starving and ready to get out of this stuffy room.” The bright smile, that she had come so accustomed to, returned to his face melting all the reserve that she held and she took his arm in hers and allowed him to lead her out of the room.

“I truly am sorry that I slept the entire day away Phillip. I only meant to lie down for a moment. I didn’t even know that I was that tired.” Something about her last comment troubled her. She didn’t remember being sleepy at all when she left the train station and it was very unusual for her to sleep the entire day away. She tried to dismiss the thought but it lingered at the back of her mind and she couldn’t help but toil over it as they walked down the staircase.

“I was quite startled to find you asleep when I came to get you but I am sure you were just exhausted from the train ride. Those seats were not the most comfortable and offered very little in the means of relaxation. It seems like I felt every single bump and tug of the train so there is no wonder you were so tired.”

Annoyed by the fact that he had entered her room without her knowledge she allowed him to lead her through the front of the lobby and out the front door. Chloe was ready to leave everything that had happened at the hotel and enjoy her first official night in Galisha.

The warm night air did wonders to help with this and she relaxed instantly. This was going to be a great night indeed.