Page 11 of Tasting Innocence
VIOLET
Chapter Four
Turnsout the rooms in this place are creepier than the rest of it. After looking in one that was filled with porcelain dolls, I moved on to the next, and that had a table full of dead insects in jars, along with some things I couldn’t quite make out. After hearing from some of the other people, I was aware I wasn’t going to find a normal room. Jayden got a clown room, Trevor’s has dark stains on the walls and ceiling, and Renzo and Ronan chose one that only had red light bulbs and wallpaper that had people’s faces on it.
I end up choosing one that has a hole in the wall that looks like someone was trying to make their way out. Dex stopped by to assure me it was just part of the theme, but it still gives me the creeps.
Monique struts in, flawless as always. Her usually curly hair is straightened and hangs down her back, and her makeup is applied perfectly. I’ve never been able to get down the whole contour and highlight thing, but Monique could be a makeup artist.
“This place is all sorts of fucked up.”
“You’re not wrong about that. Did you find a room?”
She lifts up the covers on the bed to inspect it before sitting on the edge. “Yeah, it’s like three rooms down, though. Scarlet is even farther. I still think we should all rip the blankets from the beds and sleep on the floor together.”
“There’s hardly any room for that,” I say, looking around the jail cell sized room I’m in.
“True. Mine’s small as hell, too.”
I pull a hairbrush, lotion, and perfume out of my bag and toss them on the bed. Monique snatches the lotion up and squeezes a drop in her hand before massaging it into her dark skin.
I wander over to the tiny table pushed in the corner and sift through the papers lying on top.
“Umm, this says this place used to be a home for girls, ran by nuns, and before that it was a prison. A prison?!”
Monique rushes over. “Stop! What?”
She takes that paper from me so I read another. “At least three people have died here. A baby, a seventeen-year-old, and an older woman.”
“Okay,” she says, dropping the paper and holding her hands up. “If I see a ghost baby crawling down the hall.”
I bark out a laugh. “Stop! It’s probably bullshit. They need a scary backstory.”
“Mmhmm,” she murmurs, tucking a piece of black hair behind her ear. “So anyway, I saw you and Dex having a moment earlier.”
I roll my eyes and sit on the bed. “Hardly a moment.”
“When are you gonna tell him you like him?”
“Probably never.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think he’s really into me like that.”
“You told me yourself that he was being flirtatious at the cabins on Christmas break. He kissed you!”
“Just my cheek,” I say, downplaying it even though I freaked out about it afterwards.
“Yeah, but he’s never done that before. All of a sudden he’s grazing your ass, saying these little comments and then kissing you goodnight! What? He’s so into you.”
“Dex isn’t a serious relationship kind of guy. He probably was just drunk and horny and thought I’d give in to his advances.”
“Yeah. We did just walk in on him after fucking that girl at the party.” She scrunches her nose. “Man-whore.”
I shrug. “He’s single, he can do what he wants.” I dig into my purse for my phone. “And let’s not even touch the fact that Renzo would lose his mind.”
She pulls a face. “Yeah, he wouldn’t like that.”