What the hay - let's give this a go....

Creative Writing Assignment Courtesy of Shane Nickerson =)

The hotel had passed through several owners since it’s opening. One to the other - each more eager than the next to unload what sounded like a great deal.

The first, second, and third time - no one ever questioned why it was being sold - the price alone made it attractive to any prospective buyers.

But this fourth go around was starting to make people cautious. The price didn't seem so attractive anymore. The rumors had begun and wouldn't be quenched. It seemed the time had come to start advertising outside the normal range.

The ad for the property caught Henry's eye one day. He'd been seeking a place to invest in with his father. A place that would provide a home and a living. His mother's disappearance had haunted him and his father. While no one ever questioned them to their face, the whispers had grown to be more than Henry could bear. Change was a necessity he was willing to shell out their life savings to secure.

Henry convinced his father to buy the place sight unseen. His father's grief overshadowed his ability to put up a fight. He signed his name without even reading the contract.

Henry was overjoyed with his purchase. He didn’t notice what had become blatantly obvious to those who lived in town. This newcomer would learn soon enough, their sad nodding and shaking heads said. It is only a matter of time.

Business was decent. Enough to break even, but not enough to live in style. That was never the point though and Henry was happy for his new surroundings. His father even seemed to come back from the shadows. Interacting with people who didn't know their past made this life more bearable.

Henry hired a photographer to capture them in their high spirits and their new home. To immortalize this moment in their lives in case hard times should hit again. A reminder of how quickly things change - for the better - or so Henry thought.

The desks they'd placed out for a seminar the next night were empty. Not even paper had been placed inside them. Henry and his father posed by the front desk. Proud of their accomplishment and their new life.

The photographer stepped behind his camera. To his eye, he saw just another job.

In the flash of the bulb, Henry and his father's attention was drawn suddenly and harshly to those empty desks. In that flash the lids of the desk flew up and displayed the past they had tried to out run, the harsh truth of where and what had happened to Henry's mother, the ensuing capture of the criminal behind her murder, and the subsequent trial and execution.

Henry saw the glare of his own future and his father saw the true nature of his son.

It was over in an instant. The moment, the slideshow of their past, present, and future. But it was the last time Henry and his father would ever be together.

The hotel went back up for sale. But nowhere in the description was it advertised this peculiar building's ability to read people's souls and show them their fate.