Among the winter stricken pines lies an old motel; It’s wood is stained a darken coffee hue which melts down the inner wrings of it’s timber. An ongoing blizzard berates the abandoned building, drowning it in snow.

A single pine cone takes cover inside on the now frigid hardwood floor. It stumbled in through the smashed window burned yellow from time. It lays there gently swaying with the breath of wind leaking in from the winter storm outside.

A mouse skitters on the rafters in the attic. The mouse stops momentarily, sniffs a damp crate, and continues on it’s journey where only it knows the unplanned destination.

A fox stumbles in the lobby acknowledging the front door loose from it’s rusty, copper hinges. Head swinging like a pendulum, it explores rooms devoid of their owners. An empty hat rack stands inside a closet. A couch with it’s innards exposed sits in the corner. A pillow with feathers flowing out sticks to a leathery, decaying bed. The cold fox finds a spot of unspoiled rug and curls into a ball before letting it’s warm dreams drift it to sleep.

Blanketed in deep snow, the motel resists the thick clouds, rooms remaining silent under the persistent storm. Trees around shed their snow from the nasty, freezing air as winter moves it’s blizzard elsewhere.

The old log motel sits among the winter stricken pines, providing shelter for it’s grateful inhabitants.

When I first met John, I thought he was a gopher. It’s a day later, and I’m still not sure.

On a flight home, I had a layover at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in upstate New York. Christmas was only a few days away so the bustling airport was more crowded than usual. Pensive businessmen with well appointed briefcases and children with worn out parents rushed to their respective gates. I had an hour to kill between flights and headed to the Anchor Bar to fill up on buffalo wings. When in Rome.

It had been snowing all day, with a couple of inches on the ground, though not enough that caused any concern. The airport personnel approached the storm with a degree of nonchalance. It was an attitude I was used to having grown up in the area. When two inches of snow blankets southern New Jersey, the residents considered it an emergency. In Buffalo, they yawn and roll their eyes. I was pleased to see snow, especially during the holidays. I’ve never understood the appeal of living in a place where all four seasons are comprised of endless sunshine and drought conditions. What am I, an iguana?

There was a hypnotic attraction to watching the snow fall to the ground. It raced towards the finish line at an uneven pace, like marathon runners at a charity event. The flakes that were on a leisurely stroll were outpaced by their speedy companions. When each reached their final destination, they basked in the accomplishment. Afterwards, if they loitered too long, the participants were ushered away.

The battalion of snow removal vehicles at the airport appeared to manage the accumulation of the large heavy flakes without incident. When I entered the restaurant and ordered my wings, the snow was a chilly backdrop to a spicy meal, not much more than background noise.

Twenty miles away, John was returning to the Sunshine Motel, having spent the day at a gaming exhibit that featured arcade games from the eighties. A large section of the convention center was filled with machines that were free to play. His afternoon was no different from those of his teenage years, other than the drain on his wallet one quarter at a time. He jousted atop flying ostriches and punched out computer animated competitors. When he stepped outside for fresh air and saw the heavy snowfall, John knew he’d better get back to the motel before the roads turned too treacherous to drive. He didn’t want to spend the night with Ms. Pac Man. She was spoken for and didn’t put out.

After emerging from the restaurant, I checked the nearest bank of monitors to make sure the departure time of my connecting flight was still on time. Every flight had been cancelled. I rushed to the window to look at the tarmac but the white out conditions restricted my view. Lights from the stationary airplanes, parked for the night, flashed in and out of view, despite being no more than one hundred feet away. I felt taunted. The way my parents moved aside a blanket they momentarily hid behind and screamed “Peekaboo!”. It may have been an innocent prank when I was a toddler but it wasn’t as funny at my college graduation. I retrieved my luggage and hopped on the first airport shuttle I came across. When I saw the motel was named “sunshine”, I felt taunted a second time.

An hour later, the shuttle arrived at The Sunshine Motel. If the building hadn’t been painted yellow, I don’t think the driver would have seen it. The two story building was attractive. A variety of shrubs sat covered in snow like the soil that encased its roots. There wasn’t much contrast between the snow covered driveway and the snow covered grass, but at least there were shoveled piles of snow to break up the monotony. Drifts of snow covered the parked vehicles up to their door handles, making me glad I hadn’t rented a car. With the roads near impassable, any vehicle other than a monster sized truck would have seemed like another taunt.

The following day, I awoke to gentle knocking on my door. In a sleep deprived mumble, I asked my sleeping companion which one of us was going to answer the door. I pulled her close and waited for a reply. She didn’t respond. I asked again but was met with the same cold shoulder. When I opened my eyes, I found myself alone, spooning a pillow. The memory of my sleeping partner had been a dream. I wished the knock had been one too.

I shuffled to the door with a blanket wrapped around me, and opened it but no one was there. The hallway was empty. Before climbing into bed, I heard the knock once more, only this time it came from the opposite side of the room. It sounded like a bird pecking at the window. I pushed aside the curtains and jumped back, startled by the sight. Outside the window, there was nothing but snow. It was piled higher than the ceiling of the room.

Burrowed into the snow was an opening for a tunnel, approximately four feet in diameter. A parka clad man was crouching inside of it. The windows, stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and were unable to be opened, unless the glass was shattered. When the man spoke, the glass muffled his voice. He introduced himself as John, a patron of the motel. He claimed to have dug a series of tunnels, laid out behind him, as if he was a prisoner trying to escape incarceration by digging in the wrong direction. He waved for me to follow him before disappearing down the tunnel. Unsure what to do, I flipped an imaginary coin and made a decision.

Liana watched as the ice and snow rapidly blundered around, causing a high pitched whistle through the small cracks in the motel brick. Her unnatural green eyes flooded her sockets, beside from a small black dot in the middle. ‘This is what human climate is like?’ she asked, blinking slowly, taking the weather in expressionlessly.

‘Well—yes, yes,’ Amelia beside her pushed up her circular rimmed glasses, pointing on the condensed window. ‘This is called snow. It is moving at a dangerous pace. At high speeds, they are called blizzards.’

‘Blizzards,’ Liana repeated, with a blank tone. ‘Such an amusing name for such devastating climate.’

‘Is it not like this on your planet?’ Amelia asked, facing Liana with her hands full with large books, yet Liana’s gaze remained on the window.

‘It is not. We have acid rain. Do you have that?’

Amelia snorted. ‘Acid rain? Wow. Here I thought you would have— I don’t know— raining shards of glass?’

‘Oh, we do,’ Liana interjected calmly. ‘But it’s sideways.’

‘Sideways?!’

‘Yes,’ she tilted her head, her bush of blue hair bouncing. ‘What is the matter? I thought you had visited Armeona before.’

‘I did, I did,’ Amelia insisted, watching the snow whirl around. ‘It’s just— I was there at some sort of season— one that happens in the second— no— third month, umm—‘

‘Tehka season?’

‘Yeah! That’s it!’

‘I see,’ Liana’s face changed. it looked like she was smiling. ‘Tehka translates to peace in Armeonan. It is the one month that all stops and rests.’

‘I wish it could all stop and rest once.’

{ I got my inspiration from watching many crime shows, specifically “Castle” it’s on Hulu if you want to watch it!}

“Hannah! Hannah, wake up!” “Huh, what?” “Look outside!” said my sister Rachel. “What is it?” I said, half awake. “Can’t you see I’m trying to sleep!” “Just look outside!” Rachel said annoyed. “Fine! What is it-“ I stopped mid-sentence when I looked out the window. “What in the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos! I can’t see out the window, it’s covered in snow!! Aren’t we on the 2nd floor?” “Yup, we’re on the 2nd floor.” She replied, grinning. I hastily got up and changed. Then, I went to go find my friend Anna who was in a different hotel room than I. We had decided to go on a trip to Alaska together and on our very first night here we got snowed in. As soon as I got out of my hotel room, I took the elevator to the first floor, or at least I tried to. The elevator wouldn’t budge because the power had gone out, so I ended up having to take the stupid, freaking steep, stairs. “Ugh!” When I finally reached Anna’s hotel room, I found the door half open. I walked in, and found a blood splatter on the carpet. “What in the world!” I said, startled. I continued walking and found a bloody handprint smeared across the wall, at this point I felt very concerned. I walked over to the bed and found Anna lying on the floor unconscious behind it. “Ah- “ I stifled a scream and continued into the bathroom. I cautiously walked in and to my horror I found Anna’s mom, Jenn, dead. She was lying on the floor with 3 stab wounds through her heart. I couldn’t believe it, my fun trip to Alaska had turned into something straight from a nightmare.

To be continued…

The bored looking college kid who has been sitting at the desk this whole time found me a sheet pan. I assume it came from their sorry excuse for a kitchen, which they use to heat up their sorry excuse for a breakfast every day.

I put on the warmest clothes I brought - pink yoga pants and a grey hoodie - and put socks over my hands since I have no gloves. I was packed for Spring Break in SoCal. My flight of course was canceled and now I am stuck in this dumpy hotel until the plows come through. I have been teaching middle school for three years now and this was going to be my first vacation in that whole time. I spent two hours trying to dig my car out of the snow using nothing more than my sock covered hands and the flimsy cookie sheet. Needless to say I failed. So now I am soaking in the most likely not-very-sanitary hotel hot tub while the feeling slowly returns to my extremities.

There is a family of six staying down the hall from me. The four kids have been in the pool basically non stop since the freak blizzard hit three days ago. Those kids are having the time of their lives. College Desk Kid has been letting them eat whatever they want from the snack pantry for free and I have heard them saying they hope the snow lasts until the end of the school year so they never have to go back. Mom Of Four has been spending most of her time sitting by the pool with her nose buried in a romance novel. Dad Of Four has been pacing the lobby a lot, watching the weather channel and yelling at someone on his cell phone.

The only other guests are a group of middle aged church ladies who have taken up basically the entire second floor. When they come down for meals there is a lot of praying and singing, and a lot of loud talk about Linda’s daughter and her new “Universalist” church, which they have all decided is basically Satanism, and Brenda’s niece who she is supposed to be picking up from the airport this weekend, since she found herself “in a family way” and her parents want her to disappear for a while until the baby has been born and spirited away to some acceptable Jesus loving adoptive family.

From my seat in the hot tub I can see Dad Of Four sitting in the lobby. One of the church ladies, probably the youngest of the group, has been making eyes at him for the last two days. She is out there too, standing at the desk. I raise an eyebrow when Dad Of Four makes his way down the hallway that leads only to the first floor bedrooms and she follows him, just a few seconds later like she is trying to be inconspicuous.

Getting out of the hot tub and wrapping myself in one of the scratchy, much too small pool towels, I look down at my beet red hands and feet. Too much of a harsh shift from cold to hot I suppose.

I walk down to my room, ignoring the scandalous sounds coming from across the hall. I consider trying to clue Mom Of Four in on what is happening, but then realize she probably already knows. I throw on some dry clothes and look out the window just in time to see the snow plow make a pass down the road in front of the hotel. My excitement is quickly dashed when I realize that all the snow that used to be in the road is now piled in a four foot mound blocking the parking lot.

I crawl into the not-very-sanitary bed and pull the covers over my head.

101, 102, 103.

I knocked on the dark wooden door, bouncing on my feet. “Room Service-!” I called, slipping my key into the lock, unlocking the door as I stepped into the room. It seemed empty, how weird…the storm should’ve trapped everyone inside. Maybe they’re in the lobby, I guess I’ll just wait.

I walked into the kitchen to look at all the utensils, looking into the sink I picked up the black handled blade. How strange, did they bring this from home? I guess it’s mine now. I shoved it into my pocket, humming as I searched the rest of the room.

It sure did smell weird in here- like meat that had gone bad. I walked into the bedroom and oh my! What a mess- and there was someone sleeping on the bed- I tiptoed over and picked up the dirty wet clothes- putting them in a basket. That’s better- much cleaner. I looked at the person.

They must be a very sound sleeper, I walked over to pull the blanket over them. Their clothes were wet too- with a red sticky substance. I decided it was probably wine- I mean we did get a lot of wild teenagers In these parts.

Finally, after cleaning up the rest of the room I walked into the bathroom. Where the rotten meat smell was the harshest- gagging as I pulled the curtain back.

There was a teenager in the bathtub. Oh god. Oh my god.

I staggered backwards with a gagging sound- holy shit. I stared at the blood soaked bathtub- before I turned back to rush into the bedroom, running to the lady who was in the bed, yanking the blanket off her.

That was not wine. I stared at it and backed up again- before a man spoke, standing in the doorway.

“Did you not see the do not disturb sign on the door.”

His voice was deep, grizzly, I stared at him in horror as he walked towards me- I inched back- digging in my pockets for….. There it is. When he went to put his arms on me I lunged forward with the sharp blade I found in his sink- his eyes widening as he dropped to the floor and looked at the woman on the bed. He looked terrified- I smiled. It always went this way.

I clicked my tongue as I rushed to the phone by the bedside, “Security! Security help-! This man- he attacked me….! Please hurry-“ As security arrived the dragged the man away and I was brought to be interviewed, they always asked the same questions- who were the victims, how long they had been staying, what i had seen, heard, done. My answers were always similar “I don’t know- I’m just the maid- I- I walked in and they were dead- I found that knife in the kitchen- I- I was lucky I was able to defend myself”

Works like a charm. I was eventually able to leave the motel once the storm cleared, I searched the map for the next one marked on the map. Folding my outfit and putting it in the back of my van. I smiled as I got into the drivers seat.

Maybe next time I will be caught, or not? Who knows.

All the kids are still running around, annoyingly happy because they got to skip school. There are six of them. Kimi, Wyatt, Amanda, Dean, Yvet and Jon. None of them like each other, so naturally they didn’t want to be snowed in together. “Nope, I don’t wanna.” “Yvet, please? I really need you to.” Yvet rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine.” She stood up and tossed the charger at Jon. “Thank you. That was really helpful.” She mimicked him. “ThAnK yOu, ThAt WaS vErY hElPfUl.”

The shower turned off. “YOU GUYS, STOP ARGUING!! YOU’RE TALKING MY EAR OFF,” Wyatt called from the bathroom. Amanda ran into the hall. “I CALL THE SHOWER NEXT!! MY HAIR IS DISGUUUSTING!” Wyatt snapped, “Nobody cares how bad your hair is, Amanda! We’re all snowed in, anyway.” He took the towel, rubbing it through his damp blonde hair. She called, “You were the one who was just talking about now arguing! What the-!” The door burst open, letting the frigid Ottawa air. Wyatt shivered. “Please shut the door! My abs are going to freeze off!” Kimi giggled and she and Dean stomped their snowy boots on the carpet. “We’ll, looks like we’re snowed in for about another 3 days. That’s what the front desk lady said.” 

The shower turned on again, Amanda shutting the bathroom door quietly. The crew soon heard Taylor Swift blasting. Dean turned to Jon, mouthing “Earworm” and pointing to the door. Jon laughed. 

Story from here for a quick read: Each is good at something unique needed to solve the mystery, and so they think it’s all a prank the motel set up for them to get them to like one another, but the victim is actually dead.

2/22/22 (Taco and Tutu Tuesday)

I squeezed my eyes shut as the screaming continued from the other room. After being stuck in this godforsaken motel for the past 4 days, I still wasn’t used to it. I flinched and opened my eyes as I heard something shatter next door. Then more screaming. I couldn’t be the only one who was hearing this. I was only supposed to be staying here for the night, a brief rest stop during my failure of a road trip from Connecticut to Maine. When the snow started, I thought little of it. But what started as a few inches led to a foot, and a foot led to a few feet, and now it’s been 5 days and we’re all stuck here.

The motel itself wasn’t bad, it was actually pretty nice. The food was excellent, there was free Wi-Fi, and the beds were soft, warm, and welcoming. My only genuine issue was the couple staying in the room next to me. I did not know what they were fighting about, nor did I care, I just wished they would shut up so I could at least get 5 minutes of sleep.

I checked the time on my phone. It was noon. I should eat. I shrugged on my coat and boats and headed outside towards the communal building of the motel. As I trudged through the deep snow, I silently cursed at myself for not packing my snow boots. By the time I get to the building, my converse will be frozen and filled with snow.

As I entered the building, I noticed everyone seemed in high spirits, making conversation and laughing with each other. I turned to the nearest person next to me, a girl sitting in a chair reading a book. “Hey, not to sound rude, but why is everyone so happy?”

She cocked her head to the side, looking at me with a small smile, then laughed. “What do you mean? Did you not notice the snow had stopped? It’s been like this for a little over two hours now.”

I looked outside again and realized that she was right. I had been so focused on getting through the snow that I didn’t even realize it had stopped. Relief rushed through me. If the snow stopped, that means the plows will be out clearing the roads soon; which means I can leave this place and continue on with my trip. I thanked the girl as I continued towards the dining area. Maybe this trip would not be a failure after all.

“I can’t believe we’re stuck here for 3 days because of this blizzard” Emma groaned. “Hey, it’s not that bad,” I said. “We can hang out in here a while, no problem.” “Really?” She asked. “Yeah, sure!” I shrugged. “We’ll play games, watch movies, build forts, it’ll be fun!” “Fine.” Emma said, smiling as she got up from the chair she was sitting in, which now has a slight butt dent.

Three days later.....

“Emma! Guess what! The snow’s cleared up enough. We can go outside!” I said, bursting into our hotel room. She was sitting on the butt dented chair again, reading a book. “Well, maybe we could stay inside a bit longer.” She said. “Really?” I asked. “Nope! Let’s go!” She replied, jumping up and grabbing her jacket. “Hey wait for me!” I said smiling as I pulled on my boots. After we were both ready, we ran through the lobby and out the front door. “Race you there!” Emma shouted, running past me. “Hey, wait up!” I yelled back, laughing. We both raced up the hill, laughing the whole time.

A very uneventful night at a roadside motel in Billings, Montana, but a very exciting one for a 19 year old girl named Jennifer.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow! Skiing down the slopes of Beartooth Mountain will be so fun, I bet I’ll be the best skier there!” Jennifer says excitedly talking to her mother on the phone.

“Ohh I bet you will be too honey, but be careful, I have heard it is pretty dangerous skiing on Beartooth especially with so many people that will be on it tomorrow with the perfect amount of snow and—

“Don’t worry mom, I will be just fine. I will be back in one piece when I come back to Idaho with you. Miss you already, goodnight.”

“Goodnight sweetheart.”

And with that, Jennifer ends the call with her mother. Since she is so excited, she has a hard time falling asleep but eventually tiring herself with all the excitement finally falling asleep…

The next morning, Jennifer awakes with a start, wondering what the loud banging is. Soon, she hears men talking downstairs,

“Dang it! The door’s stuck. It must have snowed a crap ton for the door to not be able to open!”

Eventually, more banging came from downstairs. Jennifer climbed out of her bed, got out of her room, and walked down the stairs to the entrance where two men stood.

“Hey, what’s going on, I’m trying to get good rest here!”

“Ma’am, the door’s stuck. Now if you plan on getting out of here anytime soon, that’s gonna have to wait. If you wanna find out why the door is stuck, then go to the window over there and see for yourself.”

As Jennifer walked over to the window, she immediately noticed some snow…but wait…she couldn’t believe it! It was so much snow that she couldn’t even see anything BUT snow.

“Holy crap!” She exclaimed, almost waking the whole entire motel, “how did it snow this much just last night!”

One of the men did a slight shrug and continued to try and pry the door open. Pretty soon, all the residents of the motel were climbing down the stairs one by one, coming to see what was going on. Many shocked faces roamed the entrance as each face peered out the window.

“Hmm…so I called the snowblower and they are on the job, but other than that, we just have to wait so everybody please do not take this into huge concern.” One of the men informs all the worried people.

“How long will this take?” Jennifer asks worriedly.

“About 4-6 hours depending on how fast they get here. But it could take all day, who knows.”

“ALL DAY?! I won’t be able to go skiing. Let alone, get to Idaho!”

Jennifer’s hopes sank to the bottom that she wouldn’t be able to go skiing. This trip to Billings, Montana did NOT go as planned for Jennifer who has to wait in a motel all day…with many other residents that had other plans as well.