"The blizzard came out of nowhere," Tony shook the snow off his heavy coat as he entered the hotel lobby. "I've never seen anything like it." He gestured to the snow that piled out on the midnight streets.
Aside from the thick mantle of white that blanketed every surface, including the rooftops of surrounding buildings and neighboring towers, not much else was visible under the cloudy sky. There were no stars, no moon, nothing but mist and glares from the street lights reflecting off the uneven flat surface of the flurries outside.
"Let's just get a room, we can finish the drive tomorrow," Corinne answered grumpily, also shivering from the cold that stayed as she followed behind Tony. A dark mood had hung on her ever since he first informed her they would be unable to finish the trip tonight. While not verbally chastising or outwardly complaining over the inconvenience, she made it obvious that the poor circumstances were not what she wanted to happen.
"Are there any rooms available?" Tony asked as he reached the reception desk where the clerk dozed softly.
The man started as Tony cleared his throat to get his attention. Blinking and licking his lips sleepily, he stifled a yawn by clasping one hand over his mouth, while the other wiped away invisible crust of weariness from his eyes. He looked at Tony disinterestedly before replying. "One moment please..." his expression bland while his lassitude speech plodded slowly towards civility, yet not quite getting there. After checking the reservations log, the clerk jerked awake alertly once again before announcing with a feeble effort of hospitality, "Ah, yes sir. There is one more room."
"We'll take it," Corinne answered abruptly and curtly.
The clerk turned his attention to her, looking mildly surprised at her impatience. His lips curled into a wry smile as he regarded her briefly, then glanced back at Tony who returned his gaze with a weak apologetic grin. The clerk's face then turned serious and he nodded, turning around to search for a key.
Corinne huffed angrily behind him, still shivering somewhat from the cold which stayed along her delicate frame despite her entering the lobby.
Taking the keys from the clerk when it came around to them, "Your room is on the fourth floor, 4015, hopefully, it will be to your liking." He smiled sarcastically when Corinne threw an annoyed look to him before she darted towards the elevators.
"Sorry about her." Tony apologized kindly in an under-tone to him, "She was hoping to get to see her boyfriend in Denver today, and quite frustrated because of the delay." Tony's apology went unnoticed by Corinne who entered the opened elevator doors as soon as they swung open.
"I'm sure she will calm down once she gets into the room and unwinds."
"One can only hope."
***
Corinne was speaking on the phone, her tone was angry, impatient, "Yea, we're stuck, in some hotel in a town I don't know the name of. Worse yet the room they gave us only has one bed!"
Tony, on the other hand, was in the shower, the hot steamy water running over his body, his head tilted up and eyes closed, enjoying the feel of the droplets splashing against his face. Corinne's angry ranting did not register to his otherwise submerged awareness.
"It was the last room they had, Hello? Hello?!" She pulled the phone away from her ear, looking at it in irritation, seeing the word 'disconnected' written across the small LCD screen. "Ugh, great! Just fucking great!" She yelled, as she placed the cordless phone back in its charging station. Lying across the spacious bed, Corinne heard the TV come to life as her eyes locked with the screen that lit into seemingly random flashing colors. In between the bursts of bright colored dots was a soothing music that widdled away her sharp anger gradually. Allowing her to relax as the bits of brilliant static swept through her vision.
"What is happening to me?" She muttered, as her vision began to blur and her mind drifted into a strange trance. "Why...can't...I..move?" She forced the words from her mouth as she struggled against unseen restraints. Ensnared by the Television's influence, the mundane program converted into a signal her brain can only recognize as comfort and peace. Her anger vanished as did the desire to fight, the haze in her eyes clouded entirely as her body lay limp in the spacious bed.
Her mind drifted as a deep velvet voice cooed into her ear, a presence she sensed, was now inside the room with her, although the door was still locked and the windows were shut. "That's a good girl, nice and easy," the voice echoed around her, enveloping her, embracing her.
Corinne felt the familiar tingling sensation spreading over her entire being, her arms and legs going completely numb, her vision still focused on the TV, but no longer conscious of the images. Her mind was filled with an empty whiteness, her thoughts replaced with a pleasant blankness, like a dreamless sleep. She couldn't tell if she was still breathing, her limbs were no longer there, the sensation of touch and the sense of her body vanishing.
"Relax, Corinne," the voice purred into her ears. The sound seemed to vibrate through her whole body. "Relax, Corinne," the voice whispered, the tingling sensation increasing.
Corinne obeyed helplessly, falling deeper under the trance, succumbing totally to the coaxing melody. "Mmm..." the relaxed sound escaped from her dangling lips as her limbs loosened on their own volition, melting like wax and filling out into the shape of a recumbent mannequin upon the lush white sheets.
When she came to, she found herself in the bathroom with no recollection of how or why she was standing in the tiled room, her mind was a mess and she felt the beginning of a headache coming on, dimly wondering as to her lucidity at the present.
"What am I doing here?" A shiver ran through her as she looked around the room for anything resembling pain relievers. Her eyes met her reflection from within the mirrors above the double basins. Her hair, which was still damp and did not completely dry hung almost ethereally like seaweed framing the outer shell of her face, emphasizing her darkened eyes and delicate red rouged cheeks. She was wearing an oversized plain t-shirt that hung limply off one shoulder showing no undergarment strap. Her long legs were otherwise bare, except for pink pajama shorts drooping at her slender waist barely clung to her curves beneath the loosely worn shirt.
Turning her attention onto her hands that gripped tightly on the basin sink, her eyelids fluttered as she tried to recall any piece of information, "Why can't I remember anything? What's happened?" The headache grew worse as questions crowded her confused thoughts. She could tell though her mental state to be mild fuzziness in which she struggled to sort out from within the murky cobwebs.
Eventually, she found some painkillers in the bathroom cabinet after ruffling around frantically. Ridding herself of two tablets, she consumed them greedily and returned the bottle to where it once was. She held tight onto the edge of the cold porcelain as she awaited the medication to take effect, feeling forlorn by this unfamiliar sight. "God, my head hurts..." she murmured.
"I should really get to bed." She stumbled out of the restroom a short while afterwards, spotting the image of the large King sized bed as she collapsed on it gratefully. A long exhale exited through her nostrils as her stiff joints loosened under the soft cotton comforters.
"You can have the bed, I'll sleep on the floor." Tony offered without question as Corinne claimed the expanse of the whole mattress, without responding.
No matter how deep she went under the covers, she never got comfortable, unable to shake away the chill and shivering, kept turning over and groggily waited for tiredness to take her. Tossing over onto her stomach, trying to get closer to the warmer parts of the blanket did little to help. Suddenly she sat up in annoyance and flung the blankets towards the middle, "I'm cold," she complained out loud. Looking over towards Tony who was lying across the carpet floor beside the bed looking up at her.
Tony stood up, "Want me to ask if they have a portable heater or something?"
"What? And keep you all night just to talk to some employee?" Corinne rolled her eyes then adjusted a pillow around the bulge she created with the wrinkled spread sheet, "Just get over here, Tony. Get into the bed with me. At least that way I won't be cold."
