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The Overlook was turning out much better than Barbie had imagined. A big beautiful hotel with a fully stocked cupboard, a lot of books and nooks and crannies, and a history that had gotten him a lot of hell when they moved in.
“It’s haunted? Okay. I get that, Julia, but that means they’re less likely to look for us here.”
Which he believed, even if she didn’t believe it was haunted. It was a nexus for bad things, but not haunted. Of course she didn’t believe in ghosts. Until a few months before Barbie was pretty damn certain he didn’t believe in ghosts either. But then he hadn’t thought aliens were real either and then they were trapped by aliens and they had been used and nearly killed and still were on the run so… He’d learned to be a lot more open mind about what might or might not be real.
That Julia’s view on such things hadn’t changed actually made him smile, kind of liking the fact that with everything they’ve been through, she is still very much the woman she had always been. Strong. In control. Powerful. All of the reasons that he had practically fallen in love with her from the moment they met.
In the end though they had agreed that a haunted hotel in the Colorado mountains that had yet to be turned into a ski lodge with rich playboys and brightly dressed snowbunnies on every snowy hill was likely the best spot they had for the winter, and it was not only free but they were being paid for living there.
Even their one housemate, the relative of the would be killer that had last made a splash with Overlook news seemed relative sweet and down to Earth in Barbie’s book, and if she was willing to share her weed with him and regale him with stories about her uncle well then, so be it.
It took a couple of weeks to really settle in, making a routine out of the lights, of the heat and the cooking, and in the evenings it became a group venture to gather in the big living room with its windows looking out over the snowy vistas and watch movies on one of the streaming services. Popcorn was made over the fire in the fireplace, and Barbie had teased about looking through the cupboards for chestnuts, though they all admitted to not having a clue of what they would do with them if they found them.
During the days though, Barbie and Julia avoided the massive library where Jackie continued to work on a book about her family and the Overlook that she admitted to them she had been working on for nearly three years, and they enjoyed the house.
There were snowball fights and meal planning and time spent just talking and planning what their house would have and what they wanted for their future. Children’s names were thrown about, but mostly it turned into a game of who could come up with the worst idea for a name, even as they discussed softly the ideas of Linda and Angie and Joe, though it wasn’t long before they realized that most of the names that came with fond memories were women.
The day the knocks came at the front door, they had been there nearly a month. Beyond the three of them, they saw no one else, and while the house certainly creaked and groaned, it had never come with such a distinct and clear sound of knocking until that moment.
Barbie froze, looking at Julia. Both pausing, holding still and holding their breath as they waited. Then the knock came again. Three of them. Julia took a knife from the butcher block and Barbie, wishing he hadn’t left his gun in the bedroom, took down the cleaver from the wall. Even as they headed for the main lobby, they both heard the same sound. Unmistakable and clear. The sound of the front door opening.
“Maybe someone got lost and think the hotel’s open,” Julia whispered, even as she headed for the lobby. They didn’t get far before there was sound.
“Jackie Torrance! Get your cute ass out here and say hello.”
The voice bellowed from the lobby, echoing off the walls and making Barbie cringe. Rule number was now broken and he didn’t want them to be blamed for this, though they couldn’t have known someone would just come walking in the door without knocking.
Not that Julia isn’t wondering about the locks, and if they had locked them or had Jackie gone out that morning and forgotten to lock them behind her. It would be something they would talk about later, after whoever this stranger that obviously knew Jackie had left and moved on with his life. Even if he’s a boyfriend or the like, Julia knew enough about the hotel to know that no one stayed long. Eventually they became uneasy and left. Some sooner than others, depending on the way the house accepted them, she was told. She didn’t buy that, and she figured that was why the house didn’t bother her or Barbie. They weren’t letting the house bother them.
Neither was Jackie. Not given how happy and content she was in the house from everything they’ve seen.
Even if now there was a scream from beyond the huge doors to the library, a terrifying and horror movie sound, and then there was the loud bang of the door opening just as Julia and Barbie came into the lobby. They were just in time to see Jackie in a pair of fire engine red jeans and a black tee with some kind of rhinestone pattern on it race out into the lobby and launch herself into the arms of the stranger.
The stranger that was a tall, lanky man with a moustache and a goatee wearing a lot of denim and not of a coat for the winter there in the mountains. Not that he seemed to care, with the door still open behind him as he held Jackie tight, spinning her around. Both of them were smiling and laughing as they clung to the other.
Julia glanced at Barbie who only managed to shrug, lowering the knife to her side as she moved around the pair to at least close the door and stop the blast of arctic air from rushing into the room. Closing it maybe a bit louder than she needed to, causing the man to jump as he spun around so that he could see the door, and Julia.
“What? Huh? Whoa. Oh man, I’m sorry. Hey.” Slowly he lowers Jackie to the floor, grinning as he looked around as if just realizing that they weren’t alone. “I thought Jackie was doing the whole winter survivor thing alone. Sorry.” He stepped forward, offering his hand to Julia. “Duke Crocker.”
She stared at him for a long time, brow furrowed and her mouth set in a hard line as she took him in. After a moment she took his hand, shaking it. “Julia, and that’s Barbie. We’re the caretakers,” she allowed, still watching him curiously as he moved to shake Barbie’s hand.
Barbie who had to move quickly change the cleaver from one hand to the other so he could greet the man. To his credit, Duke laughed as he shook the man’s hand.
“Hey, I don’t blame you there,” he said. “Everyone knows this place is just a wormhole away from Maine,.”
He and Jackie laughed at that as if it was all a joke, though Julia only frowned deeper. Given what they had dealt with in Maine, with the aliens that were still after them, she was suspicious enough about strangers. Strangers making wormhole jokes only made her glad she still had the knife on her.
Barbie wasn’t willing to be as subtle.
“No offense, Mr Crocker, but can you explain that?”
“Oh, whoa. One, it’s just Duke. No one calls me Mr Crocker.” And he didn’t want to be entirely known by that family name. If people didn’t know the history, good. If they did, that could get ugly and he knew it. “Two…” He glanced at Jackie, one brow arching.
She stared back, nodding at him. “They’re from Chesters’ Mill.”
Duke blinked then, looking between Julia and Barbie and then he gave a whoop. “You are! I remember you both from the news. Well, holy shit.”
Barbie moved then, edging closer to Julia and putting himself between the pair and the mother of his child. Peripherally he saw her moving closer, felt Julia’s hand on his shoulder. While they had been on the news and all, neither of them had mentioned their ordeal to Jackie or when Barbie had applied for the job.
“You knew, Jackie?” Julia’s tones were soft, but the accusation in those few words was clear.
“Okay, you guys are kind of famous,” she pointed out. “And especially back home. It’s literally a short walk from Castle Rock to the mall in Chester’s Mill,” she said, shrugging, despite the defensiveness in her tones, the way she shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans and hugged her arms tightly at her side. Okay, so maybe she’d already put together a few things about them showing up here to be caretakers and hadn’t mentioned it.
“Besides,” Duke said, seeing that defensiveness and understanding it, but not wanting to get Jackie dragged into the middle of it either. “I wasn’t kidding about that comment, except it’s not really a wormhole. The Overlook though, it’s linked to…”
He pauses then, sighing deeply as he considers this. “Look. I was hoping to crash here with Jackie for a few days because honestly much as I needed out, it’s hard being away too long. If that’s not cool with you guys, so be it and I’ll move on. If it is cool with you? I cook, and I am a damn mean bartender, and all set up a dinner and drinks and the whole nine yards and then fill you guys in over dinner. Drinks will make it easier,” he said, getting an eager, head bobbing nod from Jackie.
“Fill us in on what?” Julia demanded, not willing to agree until she knew just what she was agreeing to and why.
“Fill you in on Maine, on how it’s different than other states. At least to the best we can figure out.”
“It’s part of what I’m working on here. I only discovered it because of my uncle, but it goes way deeper than the Overlook, or Castle Rock and Chester’s Mill. I promise. We aren’t crazy, and we aren’t trying to hurt you or scare you but… You, of all people, deserve to know. It’s why…” She makes a face. “I asked Duke here, okay? So that we could tell you guys about this. You’re Julia Shumway and Dale Barbara. You deserve to know the truth. All of it and not just the truth about the aliens.”
Barbie jerked at that, glancing at Julia. She was pale and wide eyed.
“No one said anything about aliens,” Barbie pointed out, folding his arms over his chest with the cleaver still in his hand. “And we won’t say anything about them.”
Duke smiled, but there was a furrow on his brow and a darkness to his expression. “You didn’t and don’t have to. I kinda… I have a way of seeing into things, of knowing a bit. Your troubles, they’re not like mine, or Jackie’s, but it’s part of your life whether you like it or not.”
“Troubles?” Julia made a face at that. “What are you talking about?”
“Dinner and drinks and answers? Deal?”
He held out his hand once more. Julia and Barbie stare at him for a long time before Julia moves to step around Barbie to take the man’s hand. “Deal. But if we don’t like what you have to say…”
“Then I’m out of here, in the dark, and risking the mountain. Now, show me where the kitchen is so I can do some planning.”
Barbie didn’t look happy but he gave a jerk of his head. “Come on. This way. Let Julia and Jackie talk,” he said, gesturing for Duke to follow him.
Duke laughed at that. “Yeah, I’d like to not be in the middle of that talk,” he admitted, showing that maybe he knew even more about Barbie and Julia than just what the media showed when the Dome came down.
“You and me both,” Barbie muttered, heading quickly into the kitchen.