Merritt and Emma had gone to the pool and were just wading around talking. Mostly about the fact that they were just wading around. Talking.
The mission was vague, but memories from the duplicates included some events of time-shifting that didn’t seem to amount to much of anything, yet were deemed important for some reason. The idea of ripples in a pond spreading out and having an effect far away sometime later had been conjured to explain it.
As Merritt and Emma strayed near the side 2of the pool they became aware of the motel manager nearby trying to get their attention.They looked up from the pool.
“I had a complaint about someone screaming in your room last night.”
“Pardon me?” Merritt said, looking at her.
“Was someone screaming in your room last night?”
Merritt looked at Emma. He was confused and had no idea what the manager was talking about.
Emma looked at the manger. “Like around dinner time?”
The manager shrugged. “Could have been.”
Emma shook her head. “Well, I screamed once. I sure wouldn’t call it screaming.”
“You screamed?”
Emma pointed at the room. “We were out on the patio earlier and I went in for a nap. When I woke up, I didn’t know anyone else had come in, and I opened the bathroom. Kent was… standing there… you know…”
“So you screamed?”
Emma shook her head. “Call it a loud gasp. I was startled. And embarrassed.”
After it happened, they all had talked about it briefly. It was awkward, but deemed the consequence of being in close quarters.
“Well,” the manager said, “be mindful that there are others in the motel, okay?”
“Of course,” Emma replied.
“What are you four doing here, anyway? Where’s your car?”
“Car?” Emma asked.
Merritt quickly answered. “We were dropped off here. Just for a few nights.”
“That British fella that paid for the rooms?”
Merritt nodded.
“Listen,” the manager said, “I don’t want any nonsense or trouble. Is that understood?”
“You have nothing to worry about,” Merritt replied. “I give you my word.”
No comments:
Post a Comment