Chapter Text
“Aaron, I really think you made a wrong turn…” Scarecrow said, leaning up to the front seats as he looked out the front window into the darkness. “We should have been there an hour ago…”
“I…agh, damn maps…” Aaron muttered, eyeing the mess of papers beside him. They had gone on a small vacation to somewhere more natural in the forests around Virginia to get away from the city, though the roads here were becoming…winding.
They had used the electric map for a while, but at one point they lost signal completely. They were in a dead zone, and now it was night and beginning to rain. It was foggy, and Aaron could hardly see the old road before them. To the sides, it was just eternal dark forests. They were relying on old paper maps, though they hadn’t even seen a road sign.
“Admit it, clockwork, we’re lost…” Scarecrow grumbled, his eyes tired as he stared at the map in Gabriel’s hands, the man frantically looking out the window and back to the map, trying to figure out where they were.
“I can’t even see any stars to help us…” Gabriel said sadly, glancing out the window. The sky was pitch black as a light rain began to fall, and Gabriel swore he could hear thunder in the distance. It would storm soon, and these hilly roads would become treacherous. All Gabriel saw out his window were trees blowing harshly in the wind, and he couldn’t see anything past the edge of the thick woods. It was just black. Eternal black.
“We should have passed a school, it said so on the map…” Aaron said, glancing down to the paper in Gabriel’s hands, illuminated by his cell phone light.
“We haven’t seen any buildings…” Enty said softly, his own gaze stuck out the window beside him. he could see better in the dark than the others, but even still…he just saw eternal night. Just deep woods. And all he heard was the strong wind and rain begin to pick up as it pounded away against the windshield.
“Great. Fantastic…” Aaron grumbled, turning back to the road. “Maybe we should just turn around…”
“I don’t know, clockwork…I hate to say it, but look at the gas…” Scarecrow said, pointing to the dashboard. Aaron let out a long sigh when he saw they were almost out. They’ve been driving for hours and hadn’t passed any buildings or gas stations.
And if they turned around…they would run out of gas in the middle of nowhere.
“Oh, fellas…we may just have to keep going and pray we find some life…its either we break down in the middle of nowhere, or we take a chance that there will be something ahead…” Aaron said sadly, his gaze now repeatedly going to the gas marker. They didn’t have much longer.
“Just keep going…” Scarecrow grumbled, though he wasn’t mad. He had been helping with the map himself, and these roads were maze-like and winding. It wasn’t anyone’s fault; it was just bad luck. And…they had a lot of bad luck to spare, it seemed. They were in an unfamiliar place in dangerous conditions. Scarecrow wasn’t mad, he just wanted his friends to find somewhere safe for the night.
It was summer, but the area they were in was a bit chilly, especially with the rain. He’d hate to have to make everyone sleep in the car, and then when the weather cleared, they’d have to walk god knows how far for help. It really was a bad situation.
“I haven’t seen any landmarks at all…” Gabriel said sadly, squinting as he looked the map over closer. “I’m not even sure where we took a wrong turn…this road doesn’t seem to even be on here…” He said looking the map over for the hundredth time. He had been mentally keeping track of the road shape and all the turns, and he just…didn’t see the road on the paper before him.
It was like it didn’t exist at all.
“We probably just ended up on some backroad, but those rarely dead end…” Aaron said quietly, keeping his nerves down. “These roads are a hassle and quite scenic, but they often end back in a populated town…”
“Well…hope you’re right…” Scarecrow said, sitting back into the backseat as he glanced out his own window. He just saw darkness. No lights, no houses, nothing. They were just…nowhere.
And Scarecrow couldn’t help but feel on edge. He squinted, leaning closer to the glass as he did his best to stare into the woods around them. He saw nothing but dark forest. They were alone, and yet…he couldn’t shake a bad feeling.
He prayed that’s all it was. Just a bad feeling…
~
“Oh, come on…” Aaron hissed in anxious frustration, his nerves climbing rapidly. The gas light had come on, and they would definitely run out within the hour. And they hadn’t seen a town, building, or alternate road for ages.
“There has to be fucking something out here, we were on the highway just two hours ago!” Scarecrow yelled, his own nerves climbing. He kept staring out the window into the darkness, but he saw nothing. Just nothingness.
“The hills have mellowed out a bit, though…” Enty said, noticing how flat the road had become. “Maybe we got through the mountain…”
“Maybe, but there’s still nothing out here…” Aaron said in frustration. The gas meter looked almost empty. There were still trees around them on all sides. No sign of life.
“Well, these roads are paved! Someone has to live out here!” Scarecrow yelled, throwing his hands down in anger.
“W-wait, look!” Gabriel said, pointing ahead. Aaron squinted and slowed the car a bit, his eyed widening when he saw what Gabriel had seen. With the light of the headlights and through the rain, they could see a faded street sign.
“It just says…hotel…” Scarecrow said, leaning forward as he read the worn sign, the thing obviously old.
“Odd…” Aaron whispered to himself, looking the sign over. It was slightly covered in vines, the once white paint chipping away to brown.
“Uh…I don’t see any hotel on here…not in the middle of nowhere where we have to be…” Gabriel said, looking the map over. “From where we stopped last, the closet hotel should have been the one we were going to…”
“Maybe it’s one of those small-town ones, not really liable to be put on the general map…” Scarecrow said, knowing there were a lot of one-horse towns around this area.
“Should we…find it?” Enty said, looking the old sign over. It looked ancient…
“As sketchy as this is, it’s at least a better chance at getting help than us being stranded on some woodland backroad…” Aaron said, continuing his driving. “If anything, it could have a landline phone we can use…if it’s not abandoned…”
Scarecrow paused then turned around, eying the rear window to look back at the sign. He squinted to get a better look, though a jolt of terror struck his heart when he thought he saw a dark figure standing on the road behind them. He blinked, watching as the rear windshield wiper cleared the rain off the glass.
With that, he saw nothing. The road was empty. He stared a moment, but he saw nothing else odd. Just rain. Soon, the sign even faded from view into the darkness and the rain as they got farther away.
“Damn weather…” Scarecrow grumbled to himself, slowly turning back around. It was just the rain droplets on the window. He was paranoid and on edge. He needed to calm down. He had to stay collected. They were just lost. That was it. He just needed to calm down.
For about twenty minutes, the group drove on in silence, with each of them keeping an eye out for a town. But all they saw were woods. Though, the woods seemed to clear a bit as some flat lands appeared before them, the dark sky finally apparent, though the rain was still getting worse. Some lightning was beginning to flash as well, illuminating the darkness around them.
“There!” Gabriel yelled, pointing ahead. The group looked up and relief flooded Aaron’s mind when he saw…light. A building.
“Thank god…” Scarecrow muttered, though his nerves weren’t fully gone. The building ahead was not huge, but it was larger than the average house. It looked like a smaller mansion, with old antique architecture and dark brown brick walls. He saw some chimneys on the top, and a few balconies on the front and sides, with glowing light orange windows giving off a warm light from the building through white curtains.
Some areas of the roof were pointed, and they could see some lantern lights on the outside of the front porch, where a stone path led up to the doorsteps. There were smaller shrubs around the outside, and Scarecrow could see a few vines growing up the side.
It…didn’t look that worn down. It looked nice.
But still…why would an ornate hotel like this…be out here?
“Well, god, if that isn’t fate…” Aaron grumbled, and once he said it, Scarecrow felt the car jerk a bit, then slowly come to a stop, the only sound now being the rain pounding away on the metal roof.
“Wow…” Scarecrow said flatly, eying the empty gas needle. He looked ahead and saw they were only a few yards from the building.
“Look, maybe we finally got a break for once…” Aaron said, switching the car off fully. “Let’s just…leave most of our stuff here, and see if we can use their phone…”
“You wanna stay the night?” Scarecrow asked, reaching behind him into his bag for some things. And for his knife.
“I mean…I want to call our hotel and explain the situation, but I highly doubt they’ll send anyone at this hour…” Aaron said, eying his pocket watch. It was just around midnight. “So…while not optimal, we may have to…”
“It looks cool!” Enty said brightly, eying the antique building. It wasn’t old from his time, but he could tell it was old from the modern time. It looked cozy.
Gabriel just stared at it, not sure what to think. He could see some movement from beyond the windows on the upper floors, so there were people there. That was good, but…he still felt odd. This place felt odd. And this was all highly coincidental. But…it was better than sleeping in a cold car in the rain. And as long as he had his family here…they’d be safe from anything weird.