Without a word, Alicia had slipped outside of the hotel room; truthfully, it was no easy feat with a father who would not let her out of his sight, but he couldn’t watch her all of the time. She slipped out with her bag slung over her shoulder, fully intending on finding a nice spot to practice her sketching and though her father’s eyes were not on her, she couldn’t help but feel someone else was watching her. Initially, she ignored the feeling for the simple reason that she had nothing to fear within the walls of the hotel.
The arrogance behind that thought was purely inspired by who her mother was -- the owner. Oh, certainly she was aware of her mother’s absence for so many years of her life, but who was really about to mess with the daughter of the hotel owner? Alicia’s steps were quiet in the carpeted hallway and it wasn’t long before she found a place to sit down and begin drawing. She chose to sit in the middle of the hallway rather than with her back to the wall for one reason alone. She could still feel eyes on her.
The voice behind her caused her to pause and look up from her drawing, but she didn’t immediately turn around. She rose easily and kept her sketchbook in front of her, a set of very stark eyes looking up from the exposed page. Her book was full of drawings of her mother, but this one was different. The eyes held the same darkness as her mother’s, but they were not hers. They were his. The strange man who appeared in her dreams.
“Hello,” Alicia greeted, finally locking eyes with her mother. She did not mirror the sort of cheer that was on her mother’s face. It was the sort of cheer that didn’t sparkle in her eyes and couldn’t be trusted. “He does not know that I am alone. Are you going to tell him?”