Having clearly seen better days the large sprawling Victorian esque mansion named rather uncreatively The Brimstone Hotel sat at the end of the road; what little starlight there was lit up the ever growing night just enough to make visible the  sickly yellow paint that had begun peeling and bubbling from years of neglect. As if defying nature itself though yearly tourists still occasionally came to stay at what looked like a scene from a one of the popular horror movies of the day-In a lot of ways the hotel itself looked almost scarier than the infamous abandoned house that lay directly on the opposite side of town. Logically the only real reason anyone would still come here was for the once world famous healing springs located in the much more well maintained spa buildings that were completely detached from the hotel.

	Dark wood floors creaked in agony as Brooks made his way inside the virtually empty lobby. An elaborate stone fireplace, currently unlit, was the centerpiece of the large check in area. Sporadically strewn about in a pattern that clearly allowed medium sized groups to sit separately was a random assortment of chairs, couches, and benches-all of which was in a style that very much looked as old as the building itself. 

	The only living soul visible was a single man whom was currently dusting the large oak check in counter with an elaborate looking feather duster. Based on the layer of dust that seemed to cake almost everything he looked like he was fighting a losing battle. He himself looked like quite the reflection of the building he apparently cared for; his ugly brown suit and poor attempt at a comb over combined with his sickeningly loose looking skin giving him a rather ghoulish appearance. 

	The tiny bell above the front door had caught his attention when Brooks walked in; immediately he hid the duster behind his back as if he'd been caught in the act of something sinister. “Good evening officer.” His monotone voice drug out painfully slow. “Is there something I can help you with? A Spa pass perhaps? Maybe a room? Or do you desire to dine in the on site restaurant?” He went on to blandly and boringly describe the many Hotel and Spa amenity's for sale.


"Brooks remained stunned in a brief moment of confusing, glancing around as the man continued listing the several attractions the hotel had to offer. Before the man could get any further however, Brooks interjected: “No- none of the above. I got a call from the hotel regarding a missing person. Was that you who called?” he glanced around the room once more, approaching the man as he sought a reply to the question."

At a steady but methodical pace the ugly suited stranger made his way around to the other side of the large check in desk seated directly in front of the grande flight of stairs that lead up. With a momentary clang he stowed his dusting wand in an unseen metal bin beneath the desk before giving Brooks his full attention. 

	Barely lifting an eyebrow his saggy face tried to form an expression of surprise at Brooks news but seemed utterly unable to do so. “Oh my.” He finally spoke in a manner that sounded more like he was stating a fact than displaying any form of emotion. “I assure you I am the only staff member operating the phones here tonight, and I have spent the better part of the evening quietly cleaning. No missing anything as far as I know of.” He folded his hands atop the ledger book on the table in an attempt to show he wasn't doing anything with them. “How rude of me though, as we've never had the pleasure of being properly introduced: naturally I know you by reputation though Mr. Brooks. I on the other hand am called Mr. Krandall.” 


With scowl creeping up on his face, Brooks glanced in the direction of the check-in desk, something felt off. The callers voice was monotone, precise, and adamant in Brooks’ arrival. All traits that were uncharacteristic with prank callers, from his experience at least. Brooks turned to look back at the gangly man who was now before him, rattling off an introduction. “A pleasure.” He tipped his hat in greeting before trying to shift the conversation on, “Listen even if it was a miss call or prank, i'm inclined to makes sure there's nothing going on. If you could help me out that'd be great.” He watched the man's reaction carefully, making it blatant that Brooks wasn't budging before he was satisfied everything being normal. 

Brooks started rattling off a series of questions. 
“Who else works here?”
“How many guests are there?”
“Anyone besides you that could have accessed the phones while you were distracted?” 


	Just as quickly as Brooks asked his questions Mr. Krandall answered in a similar rapid fire manner. He answered so quickly it was almost as if he had rehearsed the conversation-So far it was the fastest thing Brooks had seen the man do.

	“Several people from town are in our employ-a few staff members are on call at the moment but I am the only actual member of the night shift. It does get rather lonesome.”

	“How many guests? Hmm...let me check the ledger here...It appears as though only three rooms are currently occupied.”

	“Hypothetically I do suppose a guest or someone off the streets could have come in without my awareness and used the phone but...but I just can't imagine that being the case. Guest phones cannot dial out and, as I stated earlier, I've not explicitly seen or heard anyone using my phone. I assure you officer, it must have just been some lowly degenerate wasting your valuable time.” Upon answering the final question the wrinkled sagging folds that made up Mr. Krandalls face contorted into a yellowed toothy smile that was intended to be reassuring but only had the opposite effect.

"Brooks nodded along to each answer, brows still furrowed with uncertainty. “Alright, Mr. Krandall.” he shot another glance behind the checkin desk before stating “I’ll just have a quick talk with each guest, just to reassure myself. You don’t have to follow me on. This is most likely just a false alarm.” he made sure to give the man a sense of reassurance. He didn’t have any reasons to assume the worst, but something still felt off. He felt like Mr. Krandall was rushing him, trying to hide something. Then again, it could just be Brooks’ bored mind wishing that were true. “Can I have the room numbers please?” he asked adamantly, expecting Krandall to comply and be too boneless to reject him."

	Eyes widening in surprise at Brook's request Krandall took a step back and up onto the staircase, his flabby arms raising up in a horizontal attempt to cover the most space-sadly the staircase itself was far to large for this to be any sort of effective countermeasure. "I must plead with you to do otherwise, dear officer! Perhaps you could simply return in the morning? It is awfully late to be knocking on doors, especially considering the fragile health of some of our patrons." Lowering his voice a few levels and glancing around the clearly empty area somewhat nervously Mr. Krandall went on to add so that only Brooks could hear. "We really can't afford any more loss of business, Mr. Brooks." The look on his face made it appear as though uttering those words had been akin to Mr. Krandall ripping his own heart out. 

"Brooks paused, his suspicions rising at the sudden tonal shift of Krandall. “Mr. Krandall, I insist you comply. I’ll make sure to be cautious regarding my approach, i’m aware of the time.” he said, starting to make his way and pushing past Krandall up the stairs, unless stopped." 

	"Very well..." Mr. Krandall trailed off in defeat as he watched Brooks ascend the stairs. "Please do be careful though." 

–

	Usually Max would have thought it extremely odd that James' had the audacity to ignore his parents, only this night he himself was so out of it that instead he simply followed after his longtime friend up the stairs and to his bedroom. Almost immediately James' dove in to his thoughts on what had just happened and just what he wanted them to do about it.

	At first Max had been proud in James' newfound bravery but now he was finding it somewhat annoying-afterall, he was supposed to be the brave one and yet even here in the safety of James' room he still felt genuine fear. His body itself somewhat reflected these thoughts in the way his face was almost as white as his beat up old leather jacket-his very hands still slightly quivering with adrenaline despite his best efforts.Worse yet was the fact the Jame's was actually wanting to do something about the weird twilight zone episode they had just lived through.

	“Now, are you going to help me find out what’s wrong with our town or not?” Max listened to his friend finally ask. Hidden behind his long curly hair Max couldn't help but arch an eyebrow in genuine curiosity at this, his hand stopping mid page flip on the last months issue of Spider Man that he had mindlessly takein from James' secret comic stash to read in a futile effort of takeing his thoughts off of what had happened this night. Swallowing the lump in his throat he finally spoke up in his best effort to sound normal “Are you sure? I mean don't get me wrong...I, uh, totally want to.” He lied “But are you sure you don't just wana like...I dunno, tell your, uhm, parents?”

James raised an eyebrow. "Max, are you serious right now? We just saw someone levitate a FREAKING PERSON, and you want to ask my parents. They'll think I'm insane! They'll think you're insane!" He fell silent as realization hit. "Max, are you...scared?" It would have been comical, except for all the craziness he had been through this night.

	Without thinking Max bit down on his bottom lip much like his sister did when upset-eyes affixed to the floor he refused to meet James's stare. Finally the accusation of being scared was to much for him-not knowing what exactly he was feeling the one thing he was certain of was the fiery feeling of his white cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. Finally unable to handle the mix of emotions he defensively snapped back at James “NO I'm not scared! And...and this is stupid! I'm going home!” Tossing the comic in James's face Max turned and ran out the door for the second time this night.