Karma kitty's Arc

Chapter 6 of 8

The extension bought Karma ninety days, but her paycheck was still a week out. She needed a break from the empty rooms and the long list. A flyer had come in the mail: a Halloween weekend at an old mountain hotel. Free tour, it said. She left Catpocino with a full bowl and drove up through the autumn woods. She wanted one day that wasn't a problem to fix. The road ended at a sprawling hedge maze. Crisp walls of green rose above her head, tipped with orange leaves. A sign said the hotel waited at the center. Karma stepped in. The passages turned and turned. She took a left, then a right, then found the same dead end twice. Wind pushed the vines. Somewhere ahead, she heard a hum, like small wheels on gravel. She followed the sound and broke free into the clearing. The hotel loomed over her. Nine stories of stained stone and dark green roofs climbed into the gray sky. Cracks ran down the walls like veins. The front doors stood open. Karma's breath fogged. She told herself it was only paint and plaster, nothing worse than her own ruined house. She went inside. A striped runner stretched down the hall, light and dark brown, worn soft by years of feet. The lobby was silent. Dust hung in the air. Then the hum returned, louder now, rolling toward her. Around the corner came a boy on a small red tricycle. He pedaled slow and steady down the carpet. He never looked back. His shoulders were stiff, his brown hair neat, his small hands tight on the grips. "Hey," Karma called. "Are you lost?" The boy did not answer. He turned the trike down the next hall. Karma followed. Her boots were loud; his wheels made no echo now. He rolled past shut doors, past a dead clock, past a chair with no one in it. She kept twenty feet back. Her heart beat hard, but she would not leave a child alone in this place. The boy stopped. Ahead of him stood a pair of elevator doors, polished bright silver against the old wall. They reflected the empty hall. They reflected Karma. They did not reflect the boy. She stared at the smooth metal. The carpet behind her showed in the shine, but the trike and its rider were gone from the glass. Karma turned her head. The boy was watching her now. His face was pale and calm. Then the doors slid open with a soft chime.