Hmmm my bestest guesses: you are 

A. Periwinkle

B. Silver Crystal

C. Someone else entirely  

also I have actually eaten straight marinara sauce, never chugged it though; I did however squirt a bunch of ketchup into my mouth and it was really gross 

Day 1, Part 3

 

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! 

 

 

Fenrir opened her eyes to see the source of the terrible noise: an alarm clock. She threw the evil thing out the window, got up, and prepared for the day.

 

 

When Fenrir came downstairs, she saw Rose reassuring a concerned Sterling, who’d witnessed the windows in their room moving around. 

 

 

“That’s just the hotel trying to provide you with the best view possible,” Rose promised. “Perfectly ordinary.”

 

 

For breakfast, Rose made French toast (she, herself, was not a breakfast person, but she knew what she was doing when it came to food). All the guests enjoyed the French toast, which had been lathered with butter and syrup. Atom did not eat the French toast. He instead poured Cheez-It crackers into a jar of peanut butter and ate that with a spoon. Gross.

 

 

After breakfast, Rose brought all the guests into the lobby.

 

 

“Hello everyone! Are you ready for the first day of excitement and exploration?”

 

 

A few people cheered.

 

 

“Great! Let me take attendance to make sure everyone’s here.”

 

 

Rose called out all the names, and everyone said “Present” when prompted. 

 

 

“Okay then, I believe we’re ready to—”

 

 

“Erm, excuse me, but I believe you’re forgetting someone,” came a gentle voice with a British accent.

 

 

Everyone turned around to see a young woman, barely older than a teenager, with bright blue hair in a braid, freckles, and dark circles under her eyes waving at them. She wore a black blouse with sparkly stars all over it, a leather skirt, and black low-tops.

 

 

“Echo?” Rose asked, surprise and what seemed to be fear on her face. Next to her, Atom looked just as surprised, and although they were trying to hide it, the hope in his eyes was undeniable.

 

 

“No?” The blue-haired girl said it like a question. “I’m Saphrosyne. You could call me Syne, if you like. I like that. Syne.”

 

 

The hope in Atom’s eyes melted away, and he murmured “Of course not” under his breath. Rose gave a smile that seemed like it was forced and said, “Hello, Syne. I’m Rose.” Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

 

 

“Are you all right, mate?” Syne asked, making her way down the stairs. Though she did seem genuinely concerned about Rose’s well-being, she did not wait for an answer. Instead she said, “I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t believe I know where I am. But that’s all right, yes? I’d imagine it’s good to have some adventure every now and again.”

 

 

“Y-yes,” Rose nodded. “Yes, adventure is good. In fact, we’re headed on one right now. Would you like to join us?”

 

 

“Yes, I think that’d be lovely!”

 

 

So Syne joined the group, and although nobody said anything, every guest was terribly confused. Who was this person? Echo or Syne? Or someone else entirely?

 

 

Rose opened the doors, and the guests gasped in awe at the beauty.

 

 

A beautiful jungle filled with big green trees and brightly colored flowers lay in front of them. A trail weaved its way through the forest.

 

 

“Ah, Krystal’s Jungle! I love this place!” Rose exclaimed. She turned back to the guests. “At the end of this trail is an enchanting little waterfall.”

 

 

So they walked down the trail. Foxwood saw a toucan gliding from tree to tree and pointed it out excitedly. Flamarestii, too, was enthusiastic about their surroundings, admiring the colorful flowers.

 

 

After about an hour and a half of walking, they arrived at the waterfall, and it was quite a sight. Pressed between two rocks, it was not huge, but it was most definitely stunning. The sun glinted down onto the water, creating a sort of rainbow that reflected everywhere, and the waterfall came down into a small pond filled with shiny rocks. 

 

 

“Beautiful,” Syne whispered. She sat down on a rock to admire it.

 

 

 

They all stared at the wonderful scene for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, Syne spoke, without an accent.”

 

 

“What? What’s happening? Where am I?” 

 

 

Syne’s eyes were wide—wild—as she looked around, terrified. 

 

 

“Echo! It’s okay, Echo, you—”

 

 

“Rose, who are these people?” Echo gestured to the guests. “What’s going on?”

 

 

“These are the guests I invited over. Remember?”

 

 

“You actually did that? I just thought you were joking—I’m in no condition to host, Rose! Look at me!”

 

 

“But Echo…” Rose sighed. “I’ll bring you home. Atom, will you stay with the guests?” 

 

 

Atom nodded, their face unreadable. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll stay.”

 

 

Rose led Echo away, and the moment they were out of earshot, Darkvine demanded, “What was that?”

 

 

Atom was quiet for a long time, staring at the muddy ground, and just when it seemed like he wasn’t going to answer, they said, "Echo has something called Dissociative Identity Disorder. It means that, when she was a child, she lived through something scary and heavily traumatizing, and in her mind she created…. “Alters—” completely different people, with complex personalities and histories—to protect herself. Like Syne. You can always tell it’s someone else in control of her—in control of her body when they’re speaking differently and are confused about where they are. Echo’s had this her whole life, but she had her alters under control until a few weeks ago. And now…” Atom’s voice trailed off, initiating a long, awkward silence. Eventually, he decided, “We should head back to the hotel. It’s going to start raining soon.”

 

 

As if on cue, it started raining. 

 

 

“Let’s go,” Atom said, and everyone followed them.

 

 

As they headed back, it was almost completely silent, questions and fear hanging in the air: what was happening? Who was Echo really? And just how safe was it to be with someone so unpredictable?

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

I'm not so proud of this part, but oh well

 

 

 

@Silver Crystal, thank you, and nope, I'm not in this ski lodge as anyone other than the writer!

 

 

 

@Writing, thanks, and no, but good guess!

 

 

 

@Darkling--dang it! You got me, I'm Periwinkle. 

 

 

Day 1, Part 4

 

 

By the time they got home, everyone was cold and wet.

 

 

“I’m going to go upstairs and take a long, hot shower,” said Sterling. The other guests nodded, and went to their rooms to do the same.

 

 

While everyone was upstairs, Rose made lunch—grilled cheese and tomato soup. Atom went and spoke with her.

 

 

"What are we going to do about Echo?” Atom asked.

 

 

“I don’t know,” was the only response Rose had to offer. “But it’s going to be okay. It’s always okay, in the end. Right?”

 

 

Atom didn’t answer.

 

 

Rose was growing increasingly concerned, but she pushed it away. She was sure she could fix whatever the world threw at her. She would be fine. She was just… In a rough spot.

 

 

Atom, on the other hand, was not nearly so optimistic. He knew there wasn’t much he could do, however, so they went up to their room and did some journaling. He wrote his journal in regular entries, poems, and illustrations, depending on how he was feeling. Usually, he liked to perceive the world in the most realistic, simple way possible. But even they needed an escape from reality now and then.

 

 

Today, he drew two versions of an all-too-familiar-looking girl with blue hair staring at each other, a toucan, and a few of the guests at the hotel, except they had devil’s horns and tails and were laughing evilly as they burned his bedroom to the ground. 

 

 

Pleased with himself, they titled the three illustrations “Echos of Echo,” “Loud Bird,” and “Nightmare.” He nodded, wrote a quick entry about the day, and shut the journal. As they were shutting it, however, a page flew up with an illustration in brown pencil of a rusty watch in the corner. The word “Safari” had been written next to it, then quickly scratched out.

 

 

He paused, and eventually murmured “She’ll be okay.” Then they slammed the journal shut, firmer this time, and bit back a stingy feeling in his eyes that felt a lot like tears.

 

 

 

Back downstairs, Rose had just finished serving the guests lunch. Most of them had gone upstairs to play board games, but Foxwood and Reuby stayed downstairs to take care of their foxes, who were tussling. Reuby’s fox had just eaten Foxwood’s fox’s collar (nobody planned to be around when he barfed it up later), so the two were quite unhappy with each other. Entertained, Reuby and Foxwood laughed as both foxes growled at the same time, then seemed very perplexed.

 

 

“These two,” Foxwood said, scratching her fox’s head. “So ridiculous.”

 

 

“Yeah,” Reuby laughed. Although she was usually quiet, she felt much more content around Foxwood and her melanistic fox. She felt as though she had settled into someplace new, someplace different. Maybe even someplace better, if she was lucky. This hotel wasn’t so bad, even if it did have an obnoxious curfew, Reuby thought.

 

 

Rose entered the lobby, holding a tray of grilled cheese and soup leftover from lunch. “Hey, could one of you do me a favor and bring Fenrir’s food up to her room? She wasn’t down here for lunch.”

 

 

Foxwood nodded. “Sure, I’ll do it.” She took the tray from Rose and headed up the stairs.

 

 

While they waited for Foxwood to return, Rose asked, “Are you liking the hotel so far?”

 

 

“Actually, yes,” said Reuby. “I—”

 

 

Suddenly, there was a scream. 

 

 

Reuby and Rose rushed up the stairs, and by the time they got there, Atom was already in room 22 with Foxwood, and there were a few guests crowded in the hallway. Rose and Rueby worked their way into the room to see Fenrir laying on the bed, her dark hair spread out around her, and her wings wrapped around her body like a sleeping bat—or perhaps like a shield attempting to protect its user—as Atom took her pulse, and slowly, slowly, shook their head.

 

 

 

And although nobody said anything, everyone understood.

 

 

 

Fenrir was dead.

 

 

 

 

~~~

 

It... Would seem that we need to, um, keep track of who's alive and who's... Not alive.

 

 

 

Oh, Atom, that's awful!

 

 

 

Yes, but it's convenient.

 

 

 

Fine, but it's your responsibility, not mine.

 

 

 

 

Very well...

 

 

 

Dead: 1 (Fenrir)

 

 

Alive: 12 (like, everyone else) 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

@Reuby, how's that little fox scene?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just noticed that to, I found out about them by a documentery, how bout you. By the way, what's you fox's name?

Day 1, Part 5

The thing about dead bodies is, they take up space, and after a while, they start to smell. 

 

 

Oh, and, also, they’re dead people. People who are dead. And people only die if something—or, you know, someone—kills them.

 

 

That left Rose, Atom, and Echo (well, really only Rose and Atom; Echo was, predictably, hiding in her room) with two problems: one, there was a dead body in their hotel, and they didn’t really know what to do with it; two, there was a dead body in their hotel, which meant someone had died and they had no idea how.

 

 

It was Shining Star who offered a solution to the second problem. With shaky hands, she picked up a jar of jam that lay open on the nightstand. The label read “Blackberry Jam” and was handwritten. 

 

 

“Oh my—Didn’t Fenrir bring poke berry jam?” Rose asked. “I’d put some blackberry jam in her room—I put a toaster in everyone’s room in case they didn’t like the breakfast, and I thought she’d like something to have with her toast—but there was no label on it. She must have meant to label the blackberry jam but accidentally labeled the…” Rose’s voice trailed off, and it was obvious she blamed herself. 

 

 

“It’s not your fault, Rose,” pangolin promised. “You were just trying to help.” Everyone nodded in agreement. Then Atom said, “I guess we have to… You know… B-bury her.” 

 

 

A few people shivered, but what else was there to do?

 

 

The funeral was that evening. Rose had activated EHDT, Emergency Hotel Day Teleportation. The hotel rarely teleported during the day, but nobody was comfortable with the idea of having Fenrir's body in the hotel all night, just sitting there. The hotel chose a forest with lots and lots of trees. The guests picked a tree with red and orange autumn leaves to bury Fenrir. Echo was there. She wore a black turtleneck hand-knit out of thick, wooly yarn, a black skirt, and sandals. 

 

 

Watching Atom and Rose work together to dig the hole brought Echo back. She could remember that voice…

 

 

"We’ll put him right here, underneath this tree. Okay, Echo? I’ll dig the hole.”

 

 

No, Echo thought. Not again. Never again. She closed her eyes. Layla? Are you there?

 

 

The darkness was unnatural.  The internal world was often depicted as a sunny hill covered in sunflowers. Someone had turned off the lights.

 

 

Layla, this isn’t funny, Echo called. Let’s turn on the morning scene again. 

 

 

But I like the moon, came a child’s voice. I’m looking for it. Where did the moon go, Echo? 

 

 

Echo sighed. It’s just a cloudy night, Layla. She pushed her consciousness upwards, reminding herself that she was in control, and a sky full of stars, including Layla’s favorite constellation, Monoceros, and a full moon that illuminated the sunflower hill and revealed the small, purple-haired girl with freckles and big, starry eyes staring at her. The minute she saw the sky, her worried expression shifted into a huge grin. Look, Echo! It’s the moon! And the unicorn! 

 

 

Echo chuckled. Of all her personalities, Layla was the one Echo felt the worst for having created. Layla was just a girl. She did not deserve to be trapped in Echo’s mind. It wasn’t Layla’s fault that she was an accident.

“Accident” didn’t have to mean mistake. 

 

 

Oof, Echo, what are you wearing? It looks so… Sad, came another voice. 

 

 

Echo sighed again. Haven’t you been watching, Aesthete? This is a funeral. One of the guests, Fenrir, died—she stopped when she heard Layla sniffle. 

 

 

Oh, Layla, it’s okay. It’s okay, Echo whispered, lifting the small child and hugging her. She’s in a better place now. Okay? 

 

 

L-like Safari? Layla asked, wiping a tear. 

 

 

Echo paused and exchanged a glance with Aesthete, who had stepped out of the shadows. Aesthete nodded. 

 

 

Yeah. Like Safari. Echo looked up at the moon as she mumbled the words, as if everyone they’d ever lost was up there hiding behind it. 

 

 

I don’t like this. I want it to stop, said Layla. 

 

 

Me too. Echo knew what Layla was about to do, and so did Aesthete. The only difference was, Echo was nodding and Aesthete was shaking their head. It’s not safe! Aesthete cried. 

 

 

It’s not forever, Echo said. Nothing is. But Rose wanted us to be happy. And is it really fair to let the guests’ whole trip be ruined when Layla knows how to help? 

 

 

We both know you’re not doing this for the guests, Echo. 

 

 

There was a long pause as Aesthete allowed the words to hang in the air, hoping they’d make Echo change her mind. But they didn’t. Eventually Aesthete said, fine. If you’re going to make yourself and everyone else sick with illusions that everything’s fine, go ahead. But I’m not going to stick around to watch. I’ll be in my trailer if you come to your senses. 

 

 

Aesthete disappeared back into the darkness, but Layla didn’t seem to notice. She was overcome with grief and fear—but she knew what to do about it. Echo watched as the girl look up at the moon and screamed as the uncontrollable emotion bubbled to the surface and into the sky, creating a terrible storm that raged out of Echo’s body and into the world—

 

 

 

Atom finished shoveling the last of the dirt over Fenrir’s body in the hole. They all bowed their heads in a moment of silence for Fenrir, but all of a sudden…

 

 

“What? What’s going on?” Said Rose. “What are we doing, just standing around? We need to get back into the hotel! It’s getting dark. Come on, everyone!”

 

 

She led the confused guests inside, Echo trailing furthest behind. And when they got back into the hotel, everything was perfectly okay. There had only ever been 12 guests, after all. 

 

 

They hadn’t lost anything.

 

 

~~~

 

Hey, I'm back! Layla's name isn't a reference to Moon Knight, btw, just thought it went with her character nicely. Sorry it's been a while, I was having some writer's block but I got a good idea so part 5 is here at last :)