The Stranger in Room 24

It was Claire's first day of vacation. She was going to the Bahamas, her lifelong dream. She had always dreamed of going there since she saw the pictures of the place. Claire was a normal women who lived in New York. She had been saving up money for this vacation since she got a job. She was going to take a plane, and fly all the way from New York to the Bahamas. 2 weeks of relaxation. She was riding on the plane. Typical right? When suddenly the plane when dark. The flight attendants told everyone to stay calm, but the passengers were worrying too much to care. When the lights finally came back on, one person screamed and pointed at the nearby wall. It wrote. TURN BACK NOW. YOU FLY TOWARDS YOUR DEATH. When the plane finally landed, almost everyone left immediately. One or two people even threatened to sue the airplane company for not having better security. My vacation, thought Claire gloomily, hasn't even begun, and something bad has already started to happen. The scariest part was, no one snuck onto the plane. And no one saw what happened. This meant one thing. Someone on the plane did it. Either as a joke. or they were actually serious. . . . . No, Claire thought, don't jump to conclusions. Perhaps it was just a joke some person thought it would be funny to play. She scanned the people who were still there. Two tourist families. Three couples, and a group of friends. There were 5 people like her who were traveling alone. Anyone could have done that, but c'mon, this is supposed to be vacation. Let's not worry about that, and have some fun! Claire went to check in, but then something weird happened. The hotel manager said "Some of the rooms are out of maintenance, so you'll have to share." "Why?" she asked back. "Someone has been wrecking all the rooms", she admitted. "We don't know who. But do not tell anyone, because the last thing we need is everyone panicking." "Alright but two questions. One, who am I sharing a room with?" "Someone named Calvin Schmidt." "Alright and two, you dropped something. This glove." "Give me that please, we could use that to examine who is causing all this ruckus." She hurriedly snatched the glove out of her hands before running back. Weird, Claire thought. But she continued her way to Room 24. On the way there, she noticed some people in the bar, some people in the karaoke, it all looked fun. She couldn't imagine someone trying to tear all this down. She looked at the reference card the women gave her. It had the hotel name, and the phone number. On the bottom was a picture of two men. It wrote, Sammy Lawrence and Bryce Chen. The managers of this hotel! One looked like a person who looked like he was in his 30s, and the other man was much older, and more grumpy looking, at around 60. But anyway, she finally found Room 24. She opened it, and there was a teen about 20 years old, sitting on one of the beds. He looked miserable, so she decided not to bother her. But she only took two steps into the room, before the boy asked "Who are you?" "I'm Claire." she replied, introducing herself. The boy relaxed and said "Calvin." "So, you wanna help me?" "With what?" she said. "In finding out who is sabotaging this hotel. As you've seen my father works at this hotel, and I don't want anything happening to him." She felt a stab of pity for this boy, and said "Sure, when do we begin?" "Awesome, we can check out the hotel while everyone is sleeping." "Alright", she said. Uncertain about this, she fell into an uneasy sleep. It felt like 5 minutes before Calvin woke her up. "Oy, now's the perfect time." "Ugh, five more minutes please." "C'mon, you'd said you'd help me get to the bottom of this." "What time is it right now?" she asked, getting her jacket over her pajamas. "12:30 PM, perfect time." They walked around the hotel. Claire was about to give up, when she and Calvin heard voices arguing, in the Manager's Room. One voice said "We need to take action now!" "Everyone is scared about this hotel, we're losing customers. "Don't worry." said an older voice. "My private detectives will take care of it." "Your private detectives, have arrested 3 innocent people!" Don't you care about this hotel?" "Do not argue with me, we will catch him. I promise." "Ok. . " and the voices faded. What was that about, mouthed Calvin. Claire shrugged her shoulders. But she was guessing that the two voice were Sammy Lawrence and Bryce Chen. They were heading back to the hotel suite 24, when they heard a gruff voice say "Stop where you are." Both Claire and Calvin stopped and turned around. It was nonetheless, Bryce Chen. "Mind telling me, what you are doing so up this late?" his cold voice said. "We were out for a midnight walk." Calvin lied lamely. "Fine, but if I catch you snooping around. It is not safe. I suggest you get back into your suite." said Bryce Chen in a cold voice. Then he turned sharply and left. The next morning. "I THINK BRYCE CHEN IS BEHIND THIS!" exploded Clavin. "But we don't have any proof." argued Claire, "and who are they going to believe, the manager of this hotel or two 20 year olds?" Calvin sat glumily back in his seat. "I still think Bryce Chen is behind this." "We need more information, and we need proof if it really is Bryce Chen." "Good idea!" exclaimed Calvin, "I'll get a voice recorder and a camera." He ran off, and Claire thought that even though Calvin was almost 20, he still acted like 10 sometimes. Claire decided to go for a walk to refresh her mind. When she saw something stranger. She saw the hotel lady who snatched the glove yesterday walk into restricted area. She wanted to wait for Calvin, but this might be her only chance to find more out. So she followed the hotel lady. What she saw next surprised her so much. She saw the detectives, but they were dressed more as assassins than detectives. "You need to be more careful, she might have found you out because of your sloppy mistake!" "No worries, tonight we'll get more leverage. Sammy still worries me though." said the first one. "No worries", said the second one. We'll just frame it on Sammy after that." "Bryce might not be on our side though", pointed the third one. "Bryce is a sniveling coward", said the first one. "We'll do things our way, and pretty soon we'll have the hotel to ours." We can spare everyone but Sammy and that annoying bot." "They are the only people who might be able to interfere with our plan." "What's happening?" hissed Calvin. "SHHHHHHHH" said Claire, pointing to them. "This is not a safe area to talk." "We have discussed enough." Then they all left. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAIT FOR ME?" hissed Calvin. Claire glared at him. "That was our best lead. I would have lost it if I waited for you." "Fine", Calvin said fuming, "if your not gonna include me in this, then you can butt out." Calvin stormed away in a blur. Claire sighed. "Whatever, I can solve this mystery myself." However, she didn't sound that confident. The second night arrived, and Claire and Calvin went separate ways. Suddenly she heard commotion coming from the Manager's Office. She saw the three assassins and one of them was holding Calvin at gunpoint. The other two raised their guns at Sammy Lawrence and Bryce Chen. "Now", the first one snarled. "Who do you care about more about Bryce? A innocent defenseless kid, or your partner?" "Because one of them is going to die." he said in a cold voice. Claire felt fear, panic and guilt. She should have never left Calvin. Now, because of her anger, Calvin was going to die. She couldn't hide here and watch Calvin die. She was fully prepared to go down fighting. She leapt at the third assassin, when Bryce pointed at Sammy. The second assassin snarled and punched Claire, but Calvin was free now. Suddenly the police entered. But it was too late, the first assassin had fired at Sammy. But then something shocking happened. Bryce leapt in front of Sammy, and took the bullet for him. Several screams echoed the room. The first assassin, seeing his two friends tied up, leapt and grabbed Sammy, then ran for it. More cops chased after the first one, while his two friends were loaded on a prison truck. Calvin ran over and saw Claire was hurt. The second assassin had punched her twice to get her off his partner. "I'm sorry." said Calvin. "It's fine." said Claire wincing. The police officer picker her up, and put her on a stretcher. Then she went away. With Calvin left behind. The next morning. Claire and Calvin were greeted as heroes. But they looked at each other, and still had one more thing to say. There was one person who wasn't celebrating, and it was the lady that had betrayed the managers and helped the assassins get inside. "WE HAVE ONE MORE ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!" Calvin shouted. "THERE IS STILL ONE MORE BETRAYER HERE." The crowd gasped. "AND SHE'S THERE", Calvin said, pointing at the lady. The crowd leapt on to the lady as she tried to escape. The police arrested her, and all was well. No one acknowledged that Bryce was a betrayer, and everyone deemed him as a hero for saving someone from a terrible fate. There was a funeral planned for him, but everyone was talking about something else. The first assassin had mysteriously tied up Sammy, unharmed, and left a note of apology, saying he only did for the money. He was long gone by now, but the police probably didn't have to worry about him anymore. Claire smiled. It may not have been a perfect vacation, but it was sure one to remember.