Episode 16: Bedtime

                                    

                                          
"So, what's the plan then? Use your magic hearing to save the day?" Tyler sarcastically remarked.
"I'm sorry, do you have a better idea, Mr. Hernandez? Why don't you share with the class?" I responded with the same amount of sarcasm. The two of glared at each other for a moment before Tyler sighed and went back to removing the chair legs.
"I think we should stay here for now so we can rest and...prepare ourselves. Once we go outside, there's no telling what we'll encounter. And let's not leave the living room if something happens, I don't want to be split up. There isn't much we can do right now, so do some mental exercises," Ashlyn suggested.
"Mental exercises?" Aiden questioned.
"Imagining yourself in certain situations and seeing how you will react," Ashlyn explained, "Any time you aren't asleep, that's what you should be doing."
"Yeah, great plan. Daydream and sleep with monsters outside the door," Tyler sarcastically remarked, a remark that Ashlyn ignored.
"We'll take turns keeping look out. Logan, is the time still 12?" Ashlyn asked. Oh yeah, that was another weird thing. The clock wasn't changing. It has definitely been more than an hour yet the time had remained 12, not even a second had past. Was time frozen or something? If time was frozen, how we able to do literally anything? Everything takes time, so shouldn't the lack of time mean we'd be frozen as well. God, my head hurts.
"O-oh um-I'll check..." Logan stuttered. He checked his phone, it was still 12:00 AM, "It hasn't changed."
"Alright, we'll keep resetting a timer every hour then. I'll take the first shift, who wants to go after?" Ashlyn asked.
"I'll take the first shift, Ashlyn. You get some rest, you're the only one actually injured," I said.
"You sure?" Ashlyn asked.
"Yeah, it'll give me some time to...think," I said and Ashlyn nodded.
"Then I'll take the shift after you," she said.
Everyone laid down on the floor for the 'night' and soon fell asleep, as I stared at the door. I put earbuds in and listened to music while keeping my eyes trained on the door. If Ashlyn is right and only she can hear the creatures, then it's not like I'm gonna miss anything by having earbuds in. As I listened to my playlist I thought about everything. Time is frozen, there are monsters outside, there seems to be no one else around but us, and this is one LONG nightmare.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I slowly woke on the couch in my motel room. I sat up slowly and began to get a dizzy feeling causing my head to throb. I collapsed back on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief, it was just a nightmare. A long one but still, a nightmare. I checked my phone, 12:06 AM. What? That nightmare felt like it went on for hours, no way it was just 6 minutes. 
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Who would be knocking on a motel room door at 12 in the morning? I got up slowly, my head pounding, my vision blurring. I opened the door to see a familiar smiling face.
"Oh, dude, you're in your room too. Crazy how we just moved like that," Aiden exclaimed.
"Huh?"
"What? Don't you remember what happened?
"What are you talking about?"
"The monsters," Aiden said with the same smile. My heart stopped for a moment, maybe he was talking about the Sorrel Weed House?
"Are we still talking about that stupid prank at that house?" I groaned as I prepared to close the door.
"There's no way you still think it's a prank after what just happened," he laughed like I was an idiot.
"Nothing happened!" I exclaimed before slamming the door in his face.
"Man, you're more stubborn than Tyler," I heard Aiden say through the door as he walked off. I let out a sigh and sat by the door, putting my earbuds in and listening to music to calm myself. There was no way he was referring to the nightmare, right? That wasn't real. As I slowly stood up, I felt dizzy again like I was about to throw up. I made my way to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. Did I get food poisoning or something from the restaurant?