The Motel

The Motel

By Avery Martin

Dedicated to my cousin Dorian who died of cancer at the age of eight and him and his family will always be in my mind no matter what

Maple Leaf Book Project

Brattleboro VT

2016

Ring, ring, ring sounds the final bell of the school year at Seattle Middle School. Of all the kids rushing out of the school building, two of them are Ella and her best friend Izzy. They have been friends since preschool and they have just finished seventh grade. As they walk out the door Ella says, ‘’You want to come over to my house?´´

“Sure” says Izzy, “I’ll meet you there. I am starving and I have to stop at home and grab a snack.” They talk for a little bit more until Izzy turns down her street to go home. When Ella gets home, her parents tell her that they have a surprise. They say they are all going on a family vacation, and Ella can bring one friend.

“Well, before I decide who I’m bringing, I need to know where we are going,” Ella says. Her parents say they would be going to San Francisco, mainly because they got a great deal on a motel. Ella can’t wait to tell Izzy the great news! Ella has never been out of the state of Washington before, and she can’t wait to see California. Just then, Izzy walks in the door. “Hey Ella, what’s all the excitement about?

“I have big news! We’re going on vacation and I can bring one friend, so you want to come!”

“Well, where are we going?” asks Izzy.

“San Francisco”, Ella replies.

”That’s awesome! I’ll go ask my parents. When do we leave?”

“Next week,” Ella’s parents says.

A week later, they’re packing their bags into the car to leave. As they all pile in the car, Ella’s dad says, “I just called to confirm our reservation at the motel, and the desk person said we are going to be the only guests staying there this week.” Ella thinks that’s a little weird, but Izzy doesn’t care that much. Izzy is just happy to be going to San Francisco. Then Ella’s dad hands back the brochure for the motel, and says, “Look, they even have tours of the old mining village that used to be right on the spot where the motel is.”

And then Izzy points out, “Wow, the ocean is right near the motel! We can walk to the beach.”

Ella says, “And look at that, there’s even an amusement park down the road. This is going to be the most exciting vacation ever!”

As they arrive at the motel Izzy can see the beach and Ella can see the

amusement park. When they pull up to park they see no cars and Ella thinks she saw a flash of white. She says ‘’Did anyone else see that white flash?’’

Then her dad says, “It’s just your imagination.’’ They get out of the car and stretch. As they unload the bags, Ella sees the flash of white again, but keeps it to herself this time. They go to the main office to check in, and notice the woman at the desk looks like a witch with a creepy look in her eye and crooked teeth with white hair. She directs them to room thirty-six on the upper floor, and gives them their room key. When they walk in the room, they notice it is painted all black. Ella thinks, “That’s weird, in the brochure, all the rooms are white.”

They quickly put their bags down and unpack.

Then Ella’s dad says, “So, where do you want to go first?”

Ella says, “The amusement park!”

Izzy says, “The beach!”

Then Ella’s dad says, “Whoa, slow down, we have all week.” Izzy and Ella do rock, paper, scissors to decide where they are going to go first. Izzy wins covering rock with paper. They head to the beach. Ella’s dad says, “Don’t forget your suits.”

Ella says “We’ll meet you at the beach.” After being at the beach for two hours Ella finds a piece of paper saying, If you ever want to see your parents again you will find the answer to my riddle.

Just then Ella’s dad says ¨I’m going to go back to the motel, I’ll meet you up there.’’ After a few more minutes, Ella and Izzy leave the beach and go back to the motel. Ella asks, ‘’Where's Dad?’’

Her mom says, ¨I don’t know I thought he was coming with you.’’

Ella says, ‘’No he said he was going back to... well, here.”

Ella’s mom says, “Ok he’ll turn up.’’ They wait for a while and Ella’s dad doesn’t show up. So Ella’s mom calls the police anxiously to alert them that he is missing. After they go to bed, Ella is still worried about her dad and then remembers the note. Then Ella goes to sleep. The next morning when she wakes up, her mom says “I’m going to the store to buy milk.” and when she leaves Ella shows Izzy the note.

Izzy says ‘’How do you know that's meant for us, Ella”? Then Ella shows Izzy their names.

Izzy says ‘’Let’s go outside and take a deep breath.¨ When they step outside they find another piece of paper that feels crunchy like an olden day paper would feel and look like. The paper says Your first clue is “haunted house” if you don't meet me there at five they die. Then Ella remembers. ¨The amusement park! There’s a haunted house in it!¨

Izzy says ‘’But we don’t have the money to get into the amusement park, and according to your letter, your mom won't be back for a while.’’ Then Ella peeks into the motel room and sees her dad's wallet.

She says ¨Who said we need Mom’s money?¨

Izzy says ¨Is it really ok that we are taking your dad's money?¨

Ella says, ¨To save them, yes.¨ Izzy says “Ok”. As they get ready to leave Ella says, ¨Grab some snacks in case we get hungry.¨

¨Ok,¨ says Izzy and throws some in the backpack along with the park brochure, which was probably the most important thing because it has a map of the amusement park.

Then Ella asks ¨Ready to go”?

Izzy replies ¨Yes.¨ then Ella says,

¨Then let's go”. During the walk to the amusement park Ella looks at her phone and says, ¨we better hurry up it’s already one o'clock”. As Ella and Izzy arrive at the amusement park, Ella looks at her phone and says, “It’s one thirty now”. Then Izzy says, “Calm down, that’s plenty of time”.

Ella and Izzy pay the admission and go into the amusement park. They look at the map and find the haunted house and start to walk towards it. As they walk into the haunted house they see a man like figure and hear his deep low voice saying,

“ah, you're on time, as everybody else ran”.

Ella says, “What do you want?”

The strange man answers, “Just revenge...and to let you know, I put an extra page in your brochure.” Ella looks at the brochure and sees an extra page, but it is about 19th century miners. The voice says, “I will give you some time to think about it but meet me near the rocks at the beach at 5:30 tomorrow. Oh, and same thing goes for your parents”. As Ella and Izzy walk out of the haunted house they keep thinking about what the ghost-man said. They continue to walk out of the amusement park, and Ella studies the page again, thinking about 19th century miners. She takes out her phone and asks Google, “Was mining in the eighteen hundreds dangerous?” Google replies, “Yes, very”. Ella thinks that maybe the ghost was a miner but she doesn’t quite know what he is so angry about.

As they arrive back to the motel Ella tells Izzy about her theory.

Izzy says, “that’s a good idea but we’ll just have to wait ‘till tomorrow to find out if that’s true”.

Ella says, “Yeah, I guess, but we have a bigger problem on our hands. We’re running low on food and have no milk”. Then Izzy says, “So, let’s go buy some”. As Ella and Izzy walk out the door to go to a small market down the road, Ella thinks more and more. She thinks she might be right after all. At the store Izzy sees a book and decides she'll get it.

Ella and Izzy arrive back from the store and walk into their room.

Ella says “I’m starving. What did we get for dinner for the next couple nights”? “Just some microwave dinners and cereal for breakfast” says Izzy. Ella says, “Then let’s eat”. Later that night, after eating dinner, they are getting ready to go to bed. Then Ella says, “Today is tuesday we have to pay and check out of the motel by sunday.” Izzy replies, ”We better figure out his mystery quick!”

When Ella and Izzy wake up the next morning, Ella finds a note next to her bed. It says, “Remember... five thirty or your parents are gone”. Ella looks at the time, wakes up Izzy, and says, “It’s ten o’clock. We should have breakfast. We have another big day in front of us”. As they eat their breakfast, they start to come up with different theories and discuss plans just in case one of them goes missing. A couple hours later, they get ready to leave.

Ella asked Izzy, “Are we ready to go”?

Izzy replies “Yep”.

Ella says, “Then let’s go”. As they walk down to the rocks, they see the man-like figure more closely and they notice that he is wearing tattered clothes, just like the miners did back in the eighteen hundreds. He looks like he’s in his late teens, just like miner a would. As they walk closer to the man he spots them.

“Ah, right on time again,” says the man in his low voice

“Did you figure the first clue?” he asks. Ella replies, “Yes”, and tells the ghost her theory. The ghost replies,

“Actually, you're correct, but I didn’t hear about the revenge part.”

Ella replies,

“That's the part that you didn’t give us enough hints about.”

The ghost replies, “yes, that's your second clue. I will meet you here tomorrow. Right here, at the same time, and same rules.” Ella looks down at the next page in her brochure. It’s the address to the miners graveyard.

“Now put all the pieces together for the final test. The test is that I will ask you some questions tomorrow, and maybe, if you can complete my test, I’ll give you your parents back.” Ella and Izzy nod, struck with fear after their conversation with the ghost-man. But, they are hopeful that they have a chance to get their missing parents back. As they both walk back to the motel they think, “why would the next clue be an address”? Then it hits Ella like a train as they past the motel. Ella looks at the address to the motel. It is the same as the one in the brochure!

“Do you think that there are dead miners under our feet right now?” They both shiver at the thought.

Izzy says, “Yes, it is a good possibility.” Later that night, Ella and Izzy prepare for their questions. Ella asks Izzy, “Are we really ready for this? I mean, it’s a ghost for Pete’s sake, and this might be the last chance to save my parents.”