Harper's Hotel Ghost Girl

by Amy Cross

  Nathaniel Harper seems much more driven, and more enthusiastic, than his late uncle. I think he might actually be able to push Harper's Hotel into the next phase of its life.

  “Impressive, isn't it?”

  Startled, I turn to see Hannah leaning against the wall nearby, with her arms folded across her chest.

  “I had to come and see the launch of the place,” she continues with a smile. “Relax, I made it so that no-one else can see me. I didn't want to look weird, standing here and talking into thin air.”

  “I called for you,” I tell her, unable to hide how relieved I am that she's here. “Martin tried to destroy the hotel and kill everyone here. I was sure you'd come and help.”

  “I've been busy,” she replies. “Besides, if things had been truly bad, my bosses would probably have sent me here. The fact that they didn't means there was always hope.” She steps toward me. “And now look at you. The ghost of Harper's Hotel. Or one of them, at least. Is that weird guy still lurking in room 119?”

  “You mean Humphrey?” I nod. “I don't see him that often. I overheard some of the builders talking about that room, though. I don't think they saw him, but they definitely felt weird in there.”

  “I definitely always felt weird near him,” Hannah replies. “And I don't think that's because he's a ghost.”

  “You have to see the dining room,” I say, stepping past her. “And the new kitchen! And the rooms upstairs! Oh, and there's a new office, and -”

  “Actually, I have to go.”

  Stopping, I turn to her.

  “I just came to check that you're okay,” she continues. “I've been... around since I last saw you. I know it's only been two years from your perspective, but for me it's been more like two hundred. I never forgot about you, though. I always planned to drop by next time I got some time off.”

  “You didn't get any time off for two hundred years?” I ask, and she nods. “Wow. And I thought I had it bad when I was working here.”

  “I finally figured out why you had to die,” she says. “It's... a weird one.”

  “I was a bad person who did awful things?” I suggest.

  “There was a kid staying at the hotel a while back. He was here with his parents. His name is Oliver Duggan.”

  “I remember him,” I tell her. “He was always wearing a red sweater.”

  “Close your eyes,” she replies.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  I almost ask again, but then I realize I might as well just do what she wants. I close my eyes, and in an instant I feel a flicker of uncertainty in my body.

  “Open them again,” Hannah says.

  I open my eyes, and then I gasp as I see that we're no longer in the hotel. We're standing on a platform, overlooking a vast, starry sky with huge wheels and cogs slowly turning all around. I turn and look in every direction, and after a moment I spot a set of shooting stars rushing through the gaps in one of the cogs.

  “The machinery of the universe,” Hannah explains.

  I turn to her.

  “It's hidden from most lifeforms,” she continues. “Don't worry, I managed to sneak you in. The cogs aren't exactly what this place really looks like, but I figured it would be an approximation that'd help you understand. The thing is, the laws here can't be broken. If they were, reality itself would break down, and you saw how that went. Your death, Stephanie, was necessary in order to save all of this.”

  I open my mouth to ask how that's possible, but instead I simply stare in awe at the vastness of the machine all around us. I feel as if I'm looking at the heart of everything, and somehow it all makes sense.

  “Do you... Do you live here?” I ask finally.

  “No. That'd be boring.”

  “Do you come from here?”

  “No.”

  “But you work here?”

  “I work for... people who understand this place.”

  “But -”

  “And that's all I'm going to be able to tell you,” she adds. “I don't want your brain to explode.”

  “I -”

  Suddenly, as I blink, I find myself back in the hotel.

  “His name won't mean anything to you,” Hannah continues, “but one day, the adult Oliver Duggan is going to... Well, it's difficult to explain, but he's going to be one of the most important people in the universe. None of that would have happened, however, if he'd died here at the hotel. That's why reality itself started to break down when it became clear that he might not survive to adulthood. I'm sure the necessary computations were carried out. I'm not privy to the precise details, but apparently the only way to save him...”

  Her voice trails off.

  “Was for me to die?”

  “I guess only a ghost could do it.”

  “That seems...” I pause for a moment.

  “Unfair?” she suggests.

  For a moment, I agree with her. Then, slowly, I feel any anger begin to subside. Maybe I should be furious, but instead I'm awed by the idea that everything Hannah has been saying is true. There's some kind of structure to the universe, some kind of order in the chaos.

  “Does everyone have a role to play?” I ask finally. “It can't just be me, right?”

  “I can't give spoilers,” she replies, but now there's a glint in her eye, “but your situation was just an extreme example of something that certainly applies to the vast majority.”

  “But -”

  “Now don't ask any more questions about that,” she adds, “because I won't be able to tell you. To be honest, I've already given you more information than I should. I'm kind of treading on thin ice with my bosses already. They seem pleased that the Harper's Hotel situation was resolved, but I'm pretty sure they're keeping an extra eye on me. I need to keep my head down for a while and be good.”

  “I have one more question,” I reply. “What happened to Mr. Harper? After he died, he seemed to just... fade away.”

  She seems nervous for a moment.

  “He was a man with a lot of guilt in his soul,” she says cautiously. “That guilt dictated where he ended up after he died. He's in a bad place, but he can leave that place as soon as he faces up to his mistakes.”

  “Will he?” I ask.

  “I have no idea. Some do. Not many.”

  “I'm sure he'll be okay,” I say, even though I know I probably sound quite naive. “He'll figure things out.”

  “I'm sorry we never caught the person who killed you,” she replies. “I looked into it, and there were some serial killers operating in the area for a while. I never quite managed to link them to your murder, but maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere. You seem to have gained closure. That's healthy.” She smiles again, and then she turns to walk away. “Happy haunting, Stephanie. You'll be fine. I'll try to drop by occasionally and -”

  “I know who killed me,” I say suddenly.

  She glances back at me.

  The moment has finally come. I've been delaying, but I have to tell her everything.

  “It took a while,” I continue, “but eventually I remembered everything that happened to me in room 119.”

  “You did, huh?” she replies. “So who was it? I had it narrowed down to two guys. One was a serial murderer named Robert Kensington, but he was a vagrant most of the time and I don't see how he'd have gained access to the hotel for so long. The other was a guy called Mark Pompingham who had a tendency to cut his victims up and -”

  “It was you.”

  She opens her mouth to continue, but then she hesitates.

  “I'm sorry?” she says finally. “For a moment there, I thought you said -”

  “It was you,” I say again. “In room 119. You were the one who murdered me, except... You were older. You had a few gray hairs, and a scar on your chin, and there was something in your eyes. Sadness. Pain. You looked older than you even look now, but there's no doubt about it.” I pause for a moment. “Hannah, you killed me.”

  “That's impossible
,” she replies, stepping closer. “I would never do that.”

  “Apparently you will, one day,” I point out. “From your perspective, at least. You travel in time, don't you?”

  “Sure, but -”

  “So I saw you,” I continue. “You even talked to me, briefly, while I was dying. I forgot at first, but now I remember. You told me you were sorry, that you hated having to do it, but that it was completely necessary. You said that she would understand one day. By that, I think she was referring to her younger self. To you as you were then.”

  “No way,” she replies, shaking her head. “Are you seriously suggesting that I was playing a game of chess against myself? And that one day I'll come back here to Harper's Hotel, hide away in room 119, and wait to murder you?”

  “It doesn't make much sense,” I admit, “but it happened. It will happen.”

  She opens her mouth to reply, but for a moment she seems genuinely shocked.

  “I promise you,” she says finally, “that I would never do anything like that. I help people. I save them. I fix things. The idea of me ever coming here and doing something like that is... It's just not possible.”

  “But -”

  “And a scar?” she continues, before forcing a laugh that seems a little unnatural. “I won't go into the details, Stephanie, but I have certain powers and it'd be basically impossible for me to get a scar. You make it sound as if I turn evil. As for gray hair, I simply refuse to believe it. I mean, sure, I age, but... Gray? Seriously?”

  “Just a few strands,” I tell her. “I can't pretend to explain any of it. I can only tell you what I saw, and what I felt, and what happened in those moments. I don't know why, and I don't know how long – from your point of view – it'll take, but one day you're going to come back here and kill me. At least you claimed you had a good reason. You didn't tell me what it was, but...”

  My voice trails off.

  “I really need to get going,” Hannah says finally, and she seems a little chilly now, as if she's feeling unnerved. “See you around, Stephanie. And don't worry. I promise, hand on heart, that it wasn't me who murdered you. That's impossible.”

  “You said that someone named Daniel was after you.”

  “I'm not -”

  Suddenly she hesitates, and I can see that the name means something to her.

  “Everything's fine,” she says after a moment. “I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this. Whatever you think you saw and heard, it was probably just some kind of trick. See? It's simple, when you really think about it. It was just a trick.” She forces a smile, but I'm starting to think that she's trying to persuade herself not to worry. “Thanks for the warning, though. I appreciate that you tried.”

  With that, she turns and walks away.

  “But it was you,” I whisper, feeling a flicker of sadness at the thought that one day she'll come back here and do what she did to me. “There's no doubt about it. You're the one who killed me.”

  I watch as she heads outside, and then I take a deep breath. I take deep breaths quite often, even though I guess I don't actually breathe. It's just habit, I guess. Maybe I'll never quite get used to being a ghost, but there's a lot to learn and I didn't exactly receive a guidebook after I died.

  Heading across the crowded reception area, I make my way past the desk where Manfred is grumbling as he makes some notes in one of the books. As I pass, I reach out and slide one of the sheets of paper off the desk, and as I reach the door I hear Manfred complaining about freak gusts of wind. I'm not going to be mean, but something tells me that I might be able to have just a little fun around this place. Besides, having a ghost gives a hotel a certain degree of extra character and charm. Maybe I'll even become an urban legend.

  The Ghost of Harper's Hotel. The Gray Lady of Harper's Hotel. No, I need something with fresh and different, but also something modern and cool. Wait, I know! I'll be the Harper's Hotel Ghost Girl. There's a nice ring to that, isn't there?

  And I've got a funny feeling that one day I'll see Hannah again.

  BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

  1. Alice Isn't Well

  2. The House on Everley Street

  3. The Dead Ones

  4. Harper's Hotel Ghost Girl

  COMING SOON

  5. Jane on Fire

  OTHER BOOKS

  BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE

  Horror

  Stephen

  The Farm

  The Haunting of Hardstone Jail

  Asylum (The Asylum Trilogy book 1)

  Meds (The Asylum Trilogy book 2)

  The Madness of Annie Radford (The Asylum Trilogy book 3)

  The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)

  Like Stones on a Crow's Back (The Deal book 2)

  The Devil's Blade

  Haunted

  Devil's Briar

  The Night Girl

  Last Wrong Turn

  Friend From the Internet

  The Haunting of Caldgrave House

  The Haunting of Blackwych Grange

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House

  The Ghosts of Hexley Airport

  The Curse of Wetherley House

  The Haunting of Marshall Heights

  The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel

  The Body at Auercliff

  The Soul Auction

  The Border

  Eli's Town

  Laura

  Annie's Room

  The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)

  Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories

  The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories

  Room 9 and Other Stories

  Fantasy / Horror

  Grave Girl

  Raven Revivals (Grave Girl book 2)

  The Gravest Girl of All (Grave Girl book 3)

  The Library

  Beautiful Familiar

  Dark Season (book 1, 2 & 3)

  The Hollow Church

  The Vampires of Tor Cliff Asylum

  Dead Souls (book 1 to 13)

  Lupine Howl (books 1 to 6)

  Dystopian / Apocalypse

  Ward Z (The Ward Z Series book 1)

  Terror at Camp Everbee (The Ward Z Series book 2)

  The Dog

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE FARM

  No-one ever remembers what happens to them when they go into the barn at Bondalen farm. Some never come out again, and the rest... Something about them is different.

  In 1979, the farm is home to three young girls. As winter fades to spring, Elizabeth, Kari and Sara each come to face the secrets of the barn, and they each emerge with their own injuries. But someone else is lurking nearby, a man who claims to be Death incarnate, and for these three girls the spring of 1979 is set to end in tragedy.

  In the modern day, meanwhile, Bondalen farm has finally been sold to a new family. Dragged from London by her widowed father, Paula Ridley hates the idea of rural life. Soon, however, she starts to realize that her new home retains hints of its horrific past, while the darkness of the barn still awaits anyone who dares venture inside.

  Set over the course of several decades, The Farm is a horror novel about people who live with no idea of the terror in their midst, and about a girl who finally has a chance to confront a source of great evil that has been feeding on the farm for generations.

  Also by Amy Cross

  ALICE ISN'T WELL

  (DEATH HERSELF BOOK 1)

  “There are lots of demons in the sky above London. The problem is, this one came crashing down to earth.”

  Ten years ago, Alice Warner was attacked and disfigured by an attacker in her own home. She remembers nothing of the attack, and she has been in a psychiatric hospital ever since. When she's finally released, however, she starts working as a security guard at an abandoned shopping mall. And that's when she starts to realize that something is haunting her, keeping just one step out of sight at all times...

  M
eanwhile, seventy years earlier, a little girl named Wendy is left orphaned after a World War 2 fighter plane crashes onto her house. Taken to a monastery, Wendy is quickly singled out by the nuns for special attention. They say she has been possessed by a demon, and that there's only one way to save her soul. Fortunately for Wendy, however, there's someone else who seems to know far more about the situation.

  What is the shocking connection between Alice and Wendy, reaching out across the years? Does a demon really lurk in the girl's soul? And who is Hannah, the mysterious figure who tries to help Wendy, and who seventy years later begins to make her influence felt in Alice's life too?

  Alice Isn't Well is the first book in the Death Herself series, about a dark figure who arrives in the night, promising to help deal with the forces of evil whenever they appear.

  Also by Amy Cross

  MEDS

  (THE ASYLUM TRILOGY BOOK 2)

  “Welcome to the Overflow. And remember, all roads lead back to Lakehurst.”

  At the edge of a ruined town, a burned-out hospital houses one final, functional ward. There, a small group of doctors and nurses tend to patients who have been consigned to the Overflow. Unloved, forgotten by the people who knew them, these are the patients who will never receive visitors. If something happens to them, no-one will ask questions.

  When she starts work at Middleford Cross, Nurse Elly Blackstock thinks she's getting a second chance. She soon discovers, however, that this particular hospital is unlike any other. In one of the beds, an old man grapples with the horrors of his past, while in another there's a woman condemned to a life of darkness and silence. Ghosts stalk the corridors, and more ghosts are on the way. And watching over all of this is the hospital's administrator, Nurse Kirsten Winter, a woman who is desperately searching for someone named Annie Radford...