The Happyness Motel: Living Water

The Happyness Motel

    I know what I gotmyself into as soon as the door closed. I just checked into Motel Weird.Hopefully the wind closed that door. I'm not usually this paranoid. I'm alsonot prone to staying at creepy motels, but there is a first time foreverything. My job requires me to travel much and the pay is great. When no onewants to fire their workers, an axe man is the way to go. We're not talkingpsycho serial killer here, I fire people for a living. I'm used to dealing withpissed off people but sometimes it can be exhausting. I just came from a job ata big lumber corporation in Illinois. Let's just say that lumber distributionis going down the drain thanks to recycling. Besides dealing with future axemen (the serial killer kind), while I was on my home to Ohio I decided to stopalong a quiet country road and take a nap. That's where all of this started.

    I awoke to ascream that could wake the dead. I don't remember where I pulled over exactly,all I know is that I was exhausted and it definitely wasn't this close to nighttime. I should have flown in the first place, but something inside me told methat the scenery should be nice. Clouds start to look the same after awhile.

    The scream camefrom my radio; apparently I left it on while sleeping. I must have been reallytired because I never do that. This program sounds oddly familiar. Ah yes, TheLodger: A Story of the London Fog. There's nothing like listening to a storyabout Jack The Ripper while staring at a deserted road. Not creepy at all. As thevoice of "The Man in Black" loomed all about me, I could almost seethe infamous Avenger strolling towards me as the sun sets. A tall man envelopedin a midnight colored cloak and coated within is the blood of his victims. ThenI recover from my terror, realizing he is a figment of my imagination and I amsafe.

    My car will notstart. I looked under the hood and nothing seems to be wrong. It could be thebattery, but the radio is working fine. My phone does not have service either;which is expected when I'm surrounded by trees. I decide to wait on a passingcar. As waiting, I lay my head on the steering wheel. Why is this car giving meso much trouble? It's a brand new Ford Taurus for heaven's sake. I'm startingto get a headache from all of this stress. I take off my glasses and startrubbing my temples. I'm becoming tired again.

    Just then I seelight surrounding me. It must be car headlights. I lift my head up, open thedoor, and stand outside about to wave my hands but then I turn to look at what'sbeside me and see a a giant glowing sign. How did I miss this before? What Icouldn't see during the day, I can see now at night. The Happyness Motel. Thatsounds legitimate enough; besides spelling happiness wrong. There is no vacancyand there seems to be only two cars in the parking lot of a two storied motel.Odd, I decide I wouldn't stay there if my life depended on it. I walk towardswhat seems to be a drab and inauspicious building. All I want to do is use their phone for a tow truck and get theheck outta there.

    It seems like thewidth of this road never ends. The gravel lot is before me. I take a step, nowtwo. I hear a loud click behind me. It was the red sign of NO VACANCY thatdisappeared and a green VACANCY has replaced it. I shrug it off because I'm notstaying as I said before. Every step I take seems to make an echoing sound onthe gravel and as I look down I can see what seems to be shadow-like figuresdispersing from underneath me. I walk faster.

    Finally I am underlight. Dim yellow light, but still light. I decide to look at the two cars inthe lot. You can tell a lot about a person by what they drive. For examplethere is a shiny, black '68 Chevelle which I presume the owner is male anddefinitely thinks himself a "tough guy". On the other hand there is alight blue, wood paneling Buick Roadmaster Limited Estate Wagon that screams family car. I proceed to push open thedoor to the motel lobby.

    The thing thatfirst hit me is the smell of what I can only describe as baked river mud mixedwith hot sauce. The second thing is that an eerie song is playing quietly.Something about green fields and love being lost. I walk up to the tallmahogany desk. "Hello? Is anyone back there?" I ask since I seem tobe the only person around. A grunt startled me. An elderly man reading thenewspaper on a bench behind me continues, "Try the bell." I tell himthanks. I ring the bell.  The onlydecoration on the brown speckled walls caught my eye. It's a stitched picturecontained in a frame reading, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to thewaters..." And I swear a black, beady eye looked right at me beside thatpicture.

    "I made thatyou know?" A cheerful voice brought me back. Her short, bright pink hairand candy cane shirt threw me off a bit, but her smile made me smile. Her nametag read Sweet, and that made total sense to me. Beside Sweet was Frank. Abald, sad faced man who looked as strong as an ox. Maybe he's the owner of theChevelle.

    "The name isFrank Ness and this is my sister, Sweet Ness. Are you interested in a room Mr.Uh..?" A stern Frank asked of me. Frank and Sweet Ness, this is just tooweird. And they're siblings? They seem to be the same height, but that's theonly resemblance I can see. Maybe the dark eyes. They stand so close to eachother, they must be really close. "It's Wesley Ow, and no, Mr. Ness. Mycar won't start and it's right out there on the other side of the road. Myphone doesn't have any reception out here so I was wondering if I could use yourphone to call for a tow truck?"

    "I reckon youcan use my phone, but it's past nine already and a Sunday. I don't think Joewould be running out this late with his truck. You can try though." Frankgave me the number for Joe's Towing. No answer, so I left a message."Where am I exactly?" I asked. "You're only at the cutest littlemotel this side of Blue River in Crawford County." Sweet continued,"Our momma had this place built for wary travels, such as yourself, longago. Since the beginning of time I would say. Are you sure you don't need aplace to rest your head if only for tonight?" Her soothing voice convincedme that I am a little tired.

    "It's companypolicy that you pay in advance, and we only take cash." Frank sure knowshow to live up to his name. He is a to the point kind of guy. I pay for theroom, they hand me the key, and tell them I'll be back after I get my suitcase."No need sir, I'll  be getting yourluggage." Frank insisted. "You look exhausted and should head on upto your room." Sweet mouthed through her persistent smile.

    Just then, thelights flickered. I felt chills roll up my spine. "Hello younggentleman." A little, old lady's voice prompts me to turn around. She haswhite hair pinned up into a bun, a pert smile, her wrinkly cheeks are pushed upso high that her eyelids are unable to open, her dress is floor length andtrails slightly behind her, and the Willow bark cane she grasps was carvedcrooked on purpose it would seem. "My name is Happy Ness, and if youfollow me I shall show you to your room." I gave Frank my car keys.

    I followed Happyoutside. Now I feel utterly stupid for thinking that this place was toohillbilly for me. The Happyness Motel is a perfect play on words, and thesepeople seem nice to me. I'm just being paranoid about all of the weird thingsgoing on. In the center of the motel area is a pool. It's a typical pool. complete with diving board and clear,chlorinated water, and it's definitely an upgrade to the rest of the motel. Westart heading up the stairs. I've already noticed that the numbers arescratched off on the doors. How does Happy know which one is which? How can sheanyway with her eyelids closed? She has run the place for many years like Sweetsaid, but I can hardly believe anyone can really know something that well. Andis it just me or are the lights dimming every time we walk under them?

    Room twenty-six,is not what I expected. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want stained sheets andblood covered walls, but this room surprises me more than that would.Everything is brown. A muddy sort of river-bed dark brown. When Happy took herleave, closing the door behind her, I decide to investigate more. Thebathroom's tiles are speckled brown and light brown. The shower curtain, tub,nozzle, sink, toilet, and even the toilet paper are some kind of brown. Idecided to lay down on the brown bed and rest a bit before Frank comes to giveme my luggage.

    It's only been twominutes, but I hear a loud knock. I step onto the furry brown carpet and headfor the door. I start to say, "Thank you Frank." But as I open thedoor there is no one in sight. My luggage sits up right in front of my dooralone. I lug it inside and as soon as I lay it on the bed the door shutsquickly. Chills again. I am almost afraid to look behind me and instead lookthrough my suitcase to make sure nothing is missing. I have ended up in MotelWeird, and I am missing something.

    My keys. Frankmust have forgotten to leave them with my suitcase. O well, it isn't a bigdeal. He's probably keeping them in the office for safe keeping. My headache iscoming back again. I should go swimming. It is the middle of summer andswimming has always eased my mind.

    The water looksdeep and inviting. I set my towel on a chair and my glasses on a side table. Iam now standing on the diving board, feeling it with my toes. As a child Iwould always lay on the diving board of my family's personal pool just to feelit's slippery, yet gritty texture. I take a breath and dive in. The water isperfect. Like there is nothing around me and I am floating in one space. I'venever held my breath for so long and I feel so at peace. I feel I am slipping,slipping away...

    A sudden splashand I open my eyes. I swim to the surface thankful for the burst of air. Thecause of the splash is a giggling girl kicking her legs in the water. She looksabout seven, red curly hair and freckles, with a green flowered sun dress on,and she is holding something.

    I swim toward her."Hello there, my name is Wesley. What's your's?" She didn't answer,just stared at me and smiled. "What do you have there?" She lifts itup and I swim back startled. It's the ugliest looking salamander I have everseen. It had to be about six inches long with slimy, loose looking yellowishbrown skin, a wide tail, and wiggling everywhere. I don't know how she kept agrip on it.

    "Don't bescared of him. He just doesn't like to be held that way. His name is Sally. Ifound him here. He was on the wall of my room. Happy says Sally's a Hellbendersalamander and that I shouldn't be playing with him, but he keeps fallowing meand is my friend. He likes to be pet under the chin, you see?" The girllaid him down in her lap, and proceeded to scratch under his chin. And wouldn'tyou know it, Sally loved it. We both began to laugh.

    "Jackie! It'slate child. Get away from that pool and head back to your room." Happy'svoice was demanding but her face was still half smiling. This is the first timeI've seen her eyes. They're big and dark just like Frank and Sweet's are. Thelittle girl, Jackie as it turned out, shuffled off and into a room clutchingSally close to her.

    "I see youare still with us Mr. Ow." Happy said. "Where else would I be Mrs.Ness?" I replied suspiciously. She shrugged my question away, so I askedanother.  "Mrs. Ness, is Jackie yourchild?" I ask while drying off my body. "Oh, no. She is a guest here.I only have Frank and Sweet." I proceed with more questions, "Whycouldn't she be out then? Where are her parents?"

    "You do ask alot of questions, sir." Happy decided to answer me, "JacquelinePruitt and her family are staying here for the night. Her parents and olderbrother are sleeping from their journey, and they left me in charge of her.They were particular about the pool. Jacqueline cannot swim." Ah, theestate wagon family.

    "Frank andSweet are really close I've noticed." I decided to change the subjectslightly. "Are they twins? Or just hang around each other a lot?"Mrs. Ness replied laughing, "Yes, you could say my twins are connected atthe hip." She must have caught my quizzical expression because she went onto explain. "Frank and Sweet are Siamese Twins. They are connected at thestomach. So yes, they are very close indeed." I went on to ask, "Wassurgery out of the question?" She did not reply.

    Happy Ness and Iexchange goodnights as she walks away. As I'm drying my hair, I hear paperrustling. I turn sharply. It's the old man again. "The name's Laird."I only thought about asking what his name was but I must have said it aloudinstead. "My name is Wesley Ow. Are you a guest here too?" He replieswith a sly remark, "Well I'm not here for the scenery, or thecompany." Taken aback by that remark I decide I should leave, "Idon't have the time for this. Goodnight."

    "Yes, no oneever seems to have the time." I stopped halfway up the steps. "Whatdid you say?" Laird proceeded, "Have you not noticed the lack ofclocks and calendars at this motel?" Actually I thought it odd that Ididn't have an alarm clock on my nightstand, or a phone for that matter."That's what I thought. You should sit down for what I have to tell younext."

    "It was manyyears ago when Mr. Sure and Mrs. Happy Ness built this motel." Doesn'tanyone ever have a reasonable name? "They were a great couple. Sure Nessnamed this motel after his lovely wife, and soon after it was all built Happyfound herself pregnant. Excitement beamed from both their faces everyday, tillthat fateful night.

    "Frank andSweet came out connected. Back then surgery like that was dangerous. Happywouldn't have anything to do with doctors in the first place. She knew she'dfind a way. Seemed like she was just waiting for a miracle to happen, her hairturned grey and she had to keep a happy-go-lucky smile on her face soeverything seemed okay. Some say she finally cracked one day and made a pactwith the devil. She begged that Frank and Sweet be separated and she'd giveanything, everything even.

    "It'sbelieved that Sure Ness left Happy after finding out about this pact, but it'sbelieved more that Sure was the thing Happy gave up for her children'sseparation, and her soul of course. That's the funny thing about making pactswith the Devil though. You never know what exactly you'll get from it. Frankand Sweet were separated alright. Their personalities were split right in half.Two extremes. That's why she didn't answer your question, son. Because thisstory is all true." He paused. "The reason why there is nothing thattells time is because there is no time here. Because this place is owned bySatan too."

    That was the end.I'm sitting here, watching him read the paper and the headache is coming backagain. I need to get out of here. No way am I staying around this craziness onemore second. I stood up and ran to the main office. All the lights are offinside. "What now?" I thought. Then I heard a sloshing and then clanksound near by. I think I saw a hint of Sally's tail slip inside that window. Ipropped it up and climbed in myself.

    It's dark, but Ifind a desk nearby with a lamp. I switched it on. I search the drawers for mykeys, but when I check the center drawer I find a single piece of notebookpaper. To one side I see a list of names, at the top is mine and Jackie'snames. Below Jackie's name are Samuel Pruitt, Herbert Pruitt, and Diane Pruitt.This is her family and they've all been scratched out.

    Something isdifferent for Samuel though. On the other side is another list, by his name itsays Lost, Herbert and Diane say Found. What does this mean? Whatever it is Idon't want to find out for myself. Keys or not, I'm leaving this place. I findthe door to the lobby. I'm running so fast I don't notice that the lights areon now or Laird saying, "You might not want to go out there."

    He was right. Tomy horror shadowy objects started covering my body. My legs start to vanish,then my hands disappeared before my eyes. Soon I was in darkness. My headachebecame worse and I started to scream but there was no sound. Suddenly a visioncame to me.

    I can see myselfdriving. I'm nodding off to sleep. This was today, I should be pulling oversoon. But I'm not pulling over. I'm falling asleep at the wheel. There'sanother car coming. It looks familiar... Jackie's family's car. I'm headingstraight for it. No, no!

    I found myselflying on the lobby floor. I sit up thinking I must have blacked out. "Itwasn't a dream Wesley." It's Laird voice. "That's what happened.Jackie and her family all died in that accident, and so did you. You bangedyour head up pretty good on that steering wheel."

    "I don'tbelieve you." I mumble under my breath. "You don't have to believe inanything I say. That doesn't mean it isn't true. By the way, where are yourglasses now?" I must have left them by the pool, but I can see perfectly.I don't understand. Laird is right, I don't need my glasses, I am dead. He wenton, "I'm going to tell you something, and you are going to take itseriously. I know you found the list. You are wondering what Lost and Foundmean.

    "SamuelPruitt  wanted to go back to the waythings were, back to life. He is one of The Lost now because he went outsideand never came back. He is gone, and now that you've seen what's out there, youknow that he is lost in his memories. His shadow of despair, you would say. Hebelongs to Satan now. The Found are completely different. Jackie's parentsknew  the true way out. It's not througha door; not out there. It's located in this motel. They chose to come to aplace where they move on, not to go back."

    "Why am I nota part of The Lost? I stepped outside, I saw what I did." I said confusedat what he's telling me. "You almost became a part of The Found tonight,you can be found again," was his only reply.

    "But whatdoes all of this mean?" I turned to ask Laird, but he vanished. I stood upand started to pace. I am dead, I guess I can believe that. This place and thepeople that run it are controlled by the Devil, explains a lot of thecoincidences. How do I get out of here then? I stopped at the framed picturefrom before. I read it again, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to thewaters..."

    Come to thewaters... Laird is right, they came to a place where they move on. They came towater. I felt myself slipping away while I was in the pool! I rush outside andfind the pool. I see Jackie sitting by it again. I walk toward her slowly.

    "I can't findmy parents, Wesley." Jackie is crying. "They left me here, and so didSam. I have to go find them. I have to get out of here." I sit down besideher. "Your parents didn't leave you Jackie. They've moved on, and theywant you to move on too. We all must leave the past behind us. Life requires usto take dives into unknown waters so we can grow. Will you take a dive with meJackie?"

    We're bothstanding on the diving board now. "Just think of something happy from yourpast. I'll be holding your hand." I'm trying to prepare her for escape,but also trying to convince myself this is the only way out. "Sally saidswimming is easy. No one ever tried to teach me how to swim, but he said no onetaught him either and he turned out okay." Talking salamander, who wouldhave known?

    It's time to jumpin. We take deep breaths, but something is grabbing my arm. It's Happy Ness,and her smile has disappeared. "You cannot leave, it's your fault thatJackie and her family died." I fell asleep at the wheel. I hit their car,but it was an accident. Then Laird's hand touched Happy's arm. "You arenot allowed to touch them Happy. Everyone chooses whether to be lost or found.Get back." Happy Ness glared at Laird and retreated into the shadows.

    I look down atJackie. Her deep blue eyes were already looking up at me, "I forgive youWesley. I'm ready to move on if you're ready too." We breathe and jumptogether. I can still feel Jackie's hand. We're going to a place through water,not a door. We know exactly what we got ourselves into; it is deep, it isinviting, it is the future.