Chapter 33

Chapter 33
Chapter 33

The office was now empty as the sounds of papers turning filled the entire air.

The clock on the wall ticked with each passing minute as the beads of sweat increased on the sides of Megan’s face making her black hair stick to her face.

Her eyes were puffy as a single desk light bounced off the lens of her thick glasses.

The cubicle was hot but Megan was in a trance now reading word after word.

She told herself that she would only read one more chapter before she went home but the more she read, the more she wanted to read.

Her eye glasses slid down to the bridge of her nose due to the mixture of sweat and sebum on her face but she made no live to adjust them.

Her hands were following each word as she read and she did not want anything whatsoever to tear away her focus.

Her breath was hit leaving a foggy mess on the lens of her glasses but yet again, she made no move to clean them.

It was safe to say that the words had her trapped.

“She walked into Room 324 and felt the walls shift, as if they were breathing. A note was waiting on the nightstand. Don’t let her in after 3:00am.”

Megan’s hands tremebled as her eyes raked over the next sentence.

The words felt familiar but she just could not place her hands on them.

It was almost like something she would have written. It was strange, new and utterly eerie.

“What happened next?”

She whispered to herself as her fingers got ready to turn to the next page.

A head of sweat dropped unto the page of the manuscript making a soaked patch but she paid it no mind.

Megan wanted to know what happened next.

She wanted to know what happened after 3:00am.

Her pen was laid useless on the desk, its cap open as the red ink dried up at the tip.

There has not been one correction on this manuscript so far.

Well to be fair, Megan was no longer reading to edit, she was devouring every word of it. It was to the point that she was afraid to blink.

Her eyes got wider as her breath got hotter word after word.

The farther she read, the more the story resembled her life. A woman, overlooked and invisible, trapped in cycles she couldn’t escape.
A hotel, cold and unfamiliar, with a room that knew her name before she even gave it. 
Megan put a fist over her chest as her chest tightened.
She turned to the cover again but still, there was no name.

Apart from publishing this book, she wanted to out a face behind the author of the masterpiece.

She thought that if she did, perhaps all that she was feeling woukd make some sense.

Finally, her fingers moved to turn the page over, making her entire body itch with anticipation.

“Megan?”

Cell heard from behind her and the reaction came in an instant.

Her entire body flinched, flicking the desk light and making some files scatter around.

She was perfectly sure that she was the only person left in the office.
Her head snapped up and she looked behind her to see Linda at the door frame.

She looked beautiful….more beautiful than she did this morning.

She had on a short gold dress with high heels. Her blonde hair was tied in a very neat bun and her make up was down to perfection.

Her body looked great in the tight dress and her fair skin looked to be sparkling of some sort. Her die eyes stared down at her and Megan could not help the wave of jealousy that flows through her very veins.

It has always been like this for her.

Whenever she saw Linda, she felt insecure and so far, she had managed for that feeling not to turn into hatred.

It seems like she was going on a date. Something that Megan hadn’t been able to get in long time.

“You’re still here” He said softly making Megan stare at her feet.

“You’ve been staring at that draft all day. Are you okay?”
“I-I just want to have a head start so I can finish it by Friday.”
Her voice as usual trembled.
Linda nodded her head in approval and let out a wide smile on her face.
“I think it’s a little funny. You always had a way of losing yourself in other people’s words but sometimes Melroy….”
She started as she clicked her heels against the tiled floors.  
 She hesitated to speak and soon, due to her presence, the entire small office started to smell of her sweet perfume instead of the smell of musty files.

Mehan subtly took in a deep whiff making her scent rush through her airways.
She immediately wished to know what perfume she was using and how she could have it.
Deep down, Megan also wanted to know who she was going to see and if she could see the person as well.
She had no idea what she was feeling but Megan gerald knew that it was ugly.
“Sometimes….I think you forget who you are.”
She finally finished her train of thought.
Those words felt heavy and if Megan didn’t know any better, she would have believed that there was something heavy on her chest without even as much as a shred of doubt.
“I-I don’t u-understand.”
Megan stammered as she fought the urge to start biting at her fingernails.

Linda’s smile dropped into a smirk as she tilted her head to stare at her.
Megan didn’t miss the way her eyes turned into pity.
She overlooked it and stared down at her fingernails thinking perhaps her staring at them would give the same effects of her chewing on them.

“Nothing Melroy. Just remember to get it to me by Friday.”
Linda said and immediately walked off.

The last line she’d read about the hotel room’s breathing walls was gone. 
In its place, scrawled in uneven red letters, were three words:
“DON’T TRUST LINDA.”