Smith 6

Sumer SmithCreative Writing 2Professor Schoolcraft2/11/15Beyond the Terror of Adventure

It was roughly seven in the morning when Semi had pulled in front of the townhome belonging to his friend. He turned off the car, gathered his things for the trip and walked up the steps to the door where he proceeded to knock violently until no answer came. Sighing he bent over and grabbed the key from under the weird googly eyed rock, unlocking the door he was greeted with a familiar and yet unpleasant smell of Averys apartment. God damn Avery havent you heard of Airwick or some shit? he covered his nose walking past the litter box used for her opossum; he looked around the lifeless living room and saw the scattered jackets and thrown backpack lying on the ground in defeat, there were papers lying on the table with titles of the next few projects the blog had given her. Semi was glad he didnt get stuck with handling the paper work; it wasnt something he was fond of and apparently neither was Avery. He sat down on the beanbag and took out his iPad; he began to look over the footage of film he pieced together last night, it started with a zoom in on the hotel they had been assigned to as it continued on the video explained that ghosts and spirits have been showing up and roaming the hallways the footage stopped and showed a few pictures taken by guests and employees of said spooks. Avery heard him come in, but she just laid there amongst the blankets that surrounded her. She stared at the black curtains hiding the morning sun from peeping in on her, her eyes were beat red and she had been crying the night before. The weight of everything was crashing down on her, the bills were beginning to pile up and this internship wasnt covering anything. Her eyes glazed over as she began to hear the x-files theme play in the dark apartment; she checked her phone once again and the time read 7:25 AM, she unlocked it and flipped to the screen that had the weather displayed. It was currently 57 degrees with a high of 77 and so on throughout the months of summer break. She sat up and rubbed her eyes lightly trying not to irritate them even more than they already were, she pushed the blankets off to one side and made her way towards her bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, what stared back at her was a mess; red eyes, bruised nose, caked on blood from the fight last night, and worse of all her red curly hair. It fell just above her tail bone and looked like she hadnt brushed it in years, how could she the last time someone tried to brush it for her they almost lost the brush. Her friend had asked why she doesnt straighten it; if she did it would be over four feet long and would reach her calf. Avery shook the thought from her head she fluffed her hair up a bit and when she was satisfied with how it looked she decided to take care of her face. The bruised nose was clearly broken but there wasnt much she could do besides put a white strip of medical tape over it to keep it from breaking any further. The blood was easy to clean up though how it got everywhere was a mystery to her; she remembers the fight but after the punch it was all a blur. She ran the warm water; watching it fill the sink up and the steam rise to hit her face. Semi heard the water turn on, he looked towards Averys room and listened as she sung to herself. He was used to that he knew it kept her calm in situations she didnt remember or understand, it was frequent in their classes together. When the water turned off he saw her walk back towards her bed and fall back onto it. You got to be shitting me. He groaned getting off the beanbag, he headed towards her room stopping at the door frame he leaned against it, Are you really going back to sleep? Were supposed to be heading up to Estes Park here at like what, he looked down at his phone, 8:30. She didnt respond to him, Avery get up. More silence. I just saw you go back to your bed, Ive been here for a good fifteen minutes. Movement from under the blankets and she was sitting back up, Fine I hear you loud and clear chief. Semi took notice of the large bruise located on her right shoulder, Another fight? he questioned. She scoffed, Cant remember man I guess so though. She turned to smile at him he always noticed her missing front teeth, Just get ready please we need to beat traffic. She held her hand indicating that she got the message. It wasnt long until she was out in the living room carrying a duffle bag, You wanna grab McDonalds for the road? she asked putting the bag down and gathering a few more things. I guess. Itll be better than starving on the way up there. Semi was gathering his things now seeing as Avery was ready to go. Youre driving right? she asked turning to him, he saw the broken nose but decided not to mention it, How exactly would I get footage of the trip up there if I drove? he questioned her, Right. She answered back picking a few drinks from her fridge to bring with them. Once they were ready to go Avery locked up and headed towards her car; unlocking her side first she popped open the trunk, it was surprisingly clean compared to a month ago. They packed their things and headed out. The ride to McDonalds was silent, By chance do you have directions to Estes? Avery broke the hold, You forgot didnt you? Avery nodded in defeat, Yea I got them dont worry about it. She smiled again, So whos watching Clementine while youre away? he questioned not looking up from his phone, Elias is. He has a key already so I didnt have to leave him anything but instructions as to what he needs to do with him. Why did you want me to bring him with? she teased him, You know we do not get along, he bit me last time. Semi gave her a look, You threatened his habitat. She smirked, He gave me rabies. The smile crept across his face and soon they were laughing at the old memory. It wasnt long until they were at a gas station with a McDonalds located within it. You go order the food Ill get the gas for the trip. Avery opened her wallet and gave Semi thirty dollars for food, Get me that pancake platter without the eggs. Avery withdrew her attention on him to begin unscrewing the gas cap. Alrighty Captain. He disappeared into the station; Avery paid for the gas and put the nozzle inside the tank the morning sun began to beat down on her, groaning she opened her car door and dug through her backpack for a hair tie. Finding one she proceeded to pull her hair into a messy bun, it worked for a minute or two before her curls began to eat the tie. The gas clicked indicating that it had reached its limit. Semi returned with a bag full of food he got back into the car and wait for Avery. When she got in the car he handed her the pancake platter she took it and opened it picking up the top pancake putting it in her mouth. I got directions itll take us a good 3 hours to get there. He said loading up the GPS, it began to talk to them giving them directions to the interstate. Take a right and in a quarter mile take the ramp onto I-25 north to Denver. It said in a robotic voice, Avery grinned, She sounds a bit rude. Semi looked down at the camera in his lap, it was small enough for a hand held he checked to make sure the battery was fully charged and that it worked when it passed the test he set it back down and stared out the window. Avery turned on the radio soon the car was filled with music from the cd in her player. The band was recognizable and soon enough she had begun singing along to the words. Sure her pitch was not perfect to the singers but thats what made Avery, well, Avery. The cars AC finally kicked in and gave the car a nice gentle feeling to it, If it gets too cold let me know Ill turn it off. She said between a break in the song, he only nodded and smiled.It wasnt long until they were passing castle rock and its shopping outlets. The GPS has stopped talking since their last bathroom break with the windows cracked the wind blew some of Semis hair cooling him down for a while, Colorado heat wasnt as bad as other states but it did make it up there with the others. The cd had ended a while ago and she replaced it with a new one, the group played a type of dance music and the lyrics seemed to speak to both of them. Whos this band? he asked looking at the back of the case, Mystery Skulls. Avery was bobbing her head to the beat, semi began to listen even closer to the words. Theyre good. He mumbled to deaf ears, Avery moved a strand of curly hair from her face and switched lanes to get around the two cars holding up the middle lane. The song changed and as he laid his head against the seat he began to drift off into sleep. Avery had grabbed the camera from the passenger seat, they had stopped once more for a break, she opened it up and flipped the viewer so that she could see herself; she hit record and cleared her throat. Yo Semi whats up man I know youd rather be doing something better than spend your summer on this stupid internship but thanks for sticking with me. Youre a real friend dude and Im glad youre here with me. She smiled and ended the recording. Setting it back on the seat she rolled down her window and lit a cigarette; she watched the smoke rise from the burning end, ash fell onto her skin and she brushed it off taking in another puff of the toxic air. Semi was walking out of the 7-11 with a drink in his hand and a bag in the other when he sat down he dug through the bag and pulled out one of Averys favorite food items, shredded beef jerky Here thought youd like some. He handed it over to her. She dropped the cigarette on to the ground and grabbed the treat from Semi. Thanks man, I love this shit. She opened it like it was going off the shelves. How much longer do we have? he mumbled checking his phone, the GPS said another hour and they would arrive to their destination. He looked around the small town they were in, across the street was a fudge-candy store and next to it a clothing shop for famers and small town life. They made their way through the town and soon were back on a long winding road with trees surrounding them. Semi opened the camera and began to film, he filmed the trees and the sky also the view from where they were. He pointed it on Avery, Say something. He whispered, Welcome to another episode of The Hauntings, in this weeks episode my partner and I will be heading up to Estes park in order to film the famous hotel Stephen King based his movie The Shining on The Stanley Hotel. Known for its rich and large grounds its an ideal place for tourists. Not to mention the convenient town filled with shops and entertainment for all ages. During this episode we will interview the employees of the hotel in hopes that they can enlighten us on the spooks that roam the hall ways at night. He shut the camera down and looked at her, You did great Avery. She smiled, I spent all night learning that damn script hopefully this trip is worth it. Just as they rounded another turn the GPS spoke up, In a quarter mile you have reached your destination. The town expanded from one side to another, the streets were busy with traffic and tourists carrying items back to their parked cars. I told you we shouldve left earlier. He grinned filming the people, Yeah, yeah whatever look the hotel is up the street. He pointed the camera to it and counted Avery in, 3.21 go. She took a deep breath and continued on with her speech, Welcome back did you miss us, well here we are in the town of Estes the hotel is just up the street. We are excited to finally arrive and get to work. You can see through the busy streets that this is in fact a popular tourists attraction, the sights, the foods, the shopping everything is what a tourist dreams about. Not to mention you get to see elk run around here. Semi nodded indicating for her to continue, Now I know you all are waiting for this and I honestly cant tell you how excited I am to start but we are at the breaking point so with that well be right back.