Black Metal Wings

Black Metal Wings

By Randi Fuller

Part One

-The Porthole-

Jake watched the pretty blond girl intently on the black and white screen, admiring her paintings as she unpacked. They were good, well constructed, but that wasn't what made them amazing. For someone who was around his age, living in such a drab place, it surprised him that they depicted such unconventional worlds. There were some that pictured the bottom of the sea, with creatures both imagined and real. Some that showed endless walls of mazes, and some that resembled where he lived.
"Jake- what are you doing? You're supposed to be watching the hotel. And tuck in your shirt."
"I'm sorry Mr. Linger … but there's this girl that could be a potential guest here-"
"Right … even though I'm always looking for potential guests, your job here is monitoring security. I think I pay you suitably, don't you? Don't make me regret giving you a porthole key, Jake."
"I won't." Jake promised.

























"Wendy, don't touch that!" Lindsey said. "You know you're not allowed to touch the thermostat after last time!"
"Oh it'll be fine, I'll just say it was you and Dad won't get mad."
"DAD!" Lindsey bellowed.
"Oh come on I was just kidding!"
The condo was one of the largest in Dalton, Florida. The Venus VII, it was called was right next to the shore so that you could hear the beats of the breaking waves from any balcony.
Living on the beach had been more Lindsey's mom's dream, but since her dad didn't have any particular location in mind, a life in paradise together seemed just fine. Lindsey's dad, John Wagner wasn't much for the heat and seaweed- but for her mom, Amy, he settled for authority over the thermostat.
"Girls … don't make me get your mother… "
Wendy and Lindsey scuttled away, and settled for arguing over who got the room closest to the bathroom. Their plastic shovels called to them from a big brown box labeled "sand toys".
Lindsey loved the beach. Wendy did too, but could only stand the heat and marine life in short intervals of time. Today they would have to unpack- but if they could get dad away from mom long enough to ask- Lindsey was sure he would let them play on the beach.
The rooms were a bright and shining white, begging for a stain to be thrust upon them. It was a refreshing change from their old apartment's stale beige walls. Wendy had taken it upon herself to sprinkle four bags worth of plastic glow-in-the-dark stars across both of their rooms.
"Wendy you could have asked me …"
"You don't like my design?" Wendy frowned in a sad, pathetic sort of way.
"I do …"
Just listening to them you would assume that Wendy was the youngest, despite her being eleven, a year older than Lindsey. They looked out for each other, although. Lindsey felt like she was doing most of the looking. They were best friends, even at school, and they both hoped that the kids at their new school wouldn't be as obnoxious as the ones at their old one. Still, they wouldn't have to worry about that for forty-two more days.
It happened as they were talking- rain. No wind or storm, but it was enough to prevent them from frolicking on the sand. Wendy pouted as she unpacked the rest of the day and Lindsey remained monotone, slowly arranging her bed for the first nights stay.
Lindsey lay tossing and turning, awaking in bed later that same night. The new condo was blank and uninviting. Against her parent's rules about leaving without their permission, she began walking down to the guest Lobby.
The winding walls seemed to suck her in further. At night there was an eerie disposition about the place, one she had never before experienced. There was a small, white, metal door raised above the ground like a water heater closet would be. She opened it and a world she had never before seen emerged.
Plain enough from the outside the door had been a porthole- to what Lindsey drew a blank. A dungeon-looking room made from stone went on for miles on a stretch of stone surrounded by grey water. It was a drab, dreary, yet interesting place. Lindsey's curiosity grew stronger as she inched forward. The water seemed too deep to fathom. The cave-like stone walls radiated a ghostly chill and off them ricocheted a drip-drip like a leaky facet.
It was so dark it was hard to make out. Instinctively she felt for a light switch, instead finding a button. Elevator doors lit up, and besides for their location, nothing seemed special about them. Then again, that's what Lindsey had thought about the raised door. Perplexed, she went inside.
Eight buttons were lit up. B, L, and 1-6. She pushed B and the elevator dinged; the doors opened to the base she had just been in. Fear held her back but curiosity pushed her on. Lindsey pushed L.
Although she was expecting something extraordinary, she was given a normal elevator ride, and a normal "ding" as the chrome doors opened to a place whose beauty was indescribable. It seemed to be a golden strewn restaurant. On a scale of one to five stars it was the galaxy.
Lindsey made eye contact with an intimidating butler who looked slightly older than her dad. "Excuse me miss, your party is waiting right this way."
The distinguished, tux-clad man led her down one of the gorgeous sections. Among the elegant chatting guests she stood in her sky-blue flannel pajamas. There was a handsome-looking boy with hair as dark as Lindsey's was light. His eyes, like hers, were a friendly blue. He was sitting at one of the round white-silk laden tables. Its candle illuminated his face, giving it a mysterious glow.
"Lindsey?" he said with nervousness in his voice." He stood up and pulled her out a chair. She took it.
"Do you happen to know where I am?" she said without thinking.
"I do … This is Gold Falls Hotel."
Lindsey stared, slowly raising her eyebrows.
"Oh!" he added "I chose for you to come here … the door was a two-way porthole."
"Not to be rude but, what do you mean you chose for me to come here? I walked here myself."
"You didn't notice it was a little odd walking down the hall in the middle of the night?"
"Of course but … how?"
"I'll explain that later. Right now I'm going to show you Gold Falls."
"I must be dreaming."
"We get that a lot … but if you decide to stay you'll realize-" Lindsey cut him off.
"No … no… no I can't … stay I mean." Lindsey blushed as she spoke. "I don't belong here."
"You don't?" He asked rhetorically.
"No."
"I think you do"
"I don't even know who you are …" Lindsey shifted in her seat.
"I'm Jake"
"And you …" Lindsey motioned for him to continue.
"I was born here, so that makes me hotel staff. I watch security cameras most of the time. Pretty dull actually."
"What about your parents?"
"Oh those … I don't have those. My parents left me here when I was born. I grew up here working for room and board. "Jake didn't look the least bit melancholy on the subject of his abandonment.
"Well okay … first how did you choose me, let alone know me?" Lindsey fiddled with the elaborate silverware in front of her.
"You know our security cameras?" Jake started. "Some of them watch this hotel, but some of them watch hotels and apartments in your world. I followed you them asked my manager if we could open the porthole for you. He said that he was always looking for suitable new guests, so I took that for a yes."
"One- I have no money, two- I'm ten years old, and three what am I going to tell everybody back in my world?"
"Don't you have to leave your family eventually anyway?"
"You're kidding, right?" Lindsey stood up. "Take me back."
"I'll take you back to the porthole under one condition." Jake said.
"Anything."
"You have to see the whole hotel before you say no."
Lindsey sighed. "Okay. But why me?"
"I was hoping you would ask me that." Jake said. "Your paintings mostly. They're like you- different."
"Different." Lindsey was insulted. She knew she was a little off, but not so much that she belonged in a different world. "So I'm like, a freak?"
"NO! I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that they were creative. They reminded me of a lot of the guests here. Only very special people can stay at Gold Falls. I'm not even sure I would be here if I wasn't left here."
"Oh." Lindsey avoided Jake's gaze.
"There was one with a scary-looking angel with steel wings and blind eyes … what do you call it?"
"Black Metal Wings."




Part Two
-The Base-

"I have pictures of your paintings in my room. They're in black and white and I blew them up so they're distorted- but … if I show that one to the owner of Gold Falls, she'd have to let you stay."
"Do you even know her?"
"Yeah!" Jake said "She was the one who let me work for my keep- she'd let you do the same if she knew about your talent."
"It's really nothing. I'm not any better than Wendy …"
"Who's Wendy?"
"That's my sister. Who I have to get back to. She's also my best friend."
"My best friend is Matt. He's sort of like my brother. He's sixteen and I'm twelve, but he doesn't treat me like a kid, you know?"
"Not really." Lindsey said. "I'm treated like a little girl pretty much all the time."
"Anyway I've seen Wendy's paintings. They aren't anywhere near like yours."
"So are you going to tell me where I am?" Lindsey asked.
"I already did- Gold Falls."
"So I entered a porthole to another dimension? Its like- Gold Falls is the Venus VI only …"
"That's an interesting theory. If you had to explain to me your world- how would you describe it other than your world?"
"I see. Your world is so beautiful though …"
"It is here …it's a lot like your world in a camera room though."
"Except you can see into people's lives in other dimensions …"
"Yeah." Jake said.
Jake then led Lindsey to the camera room where he worked. They went past the restaurant and into the elevator to level five, down a winding tiled hall that went off in four directions, and up a high and rickety ladder.
It was a small attic with five primitive black and white television sets. Just as Jake had said, one was focused on her condominium. She could just make out Wendy sleeping in the dark.
In front of one of the screens was a gangly teenager with greasy black hair and thick glasses. He had a friendly face with thick, black eyebrows.
"Hi Lindsey, I'm Matt."
"He knows about my plan to show your paintings to Mrs. Weatherly." Jake said.
"Yeah, it's right here Jake." Matt pulled a rolled up piece of paper out from a brown knapsack. "Mrs. Weatherly will love it."
Jake took it.
"But Mr. Wright asked me if I'd opened the porthole. I told him I didn't know anything about it, but I think he knows. I'd watch out if I were you."
"You said …" Lindsey started, but Jake cut her off.
"No time for that now. We need to go to the lobby office and mail this to Mrs. Weatherly." Jake waved Lindsey's painting.
"But it'll take days to get there!" Lindsey said.
"Your mail, maybe, but ours goes straight to where you want it."
"I'll mail it for you." Matt offered "You people need to get moving." Matt's frankness hit Jake.
"Come on." Jake said to Lindsey, and then led her down the rickety ladder, up the winding hall, and to the elevator.
Jake pressed B for base.
"Why the base? Won't he look there too?"
"Ha" Jake scoffed. "Wright would never go to the base."
"Why?"
"Well … it's kind of a scary place… but the creatures you drew… I think you'll be okay, it's not like we really have a choice."
"I do." Lindsey said
"But you said you'd look at the whole hotel before you said no … you said."
"Yeah well you didn't really give me much of a choice." Lindsey's words panged herself as well as Jake. Here she was in this indescribable new world- and she wasn't even going to look at any of it. This wasn't the person she knew she was.
"Sorry." she said. "I will see all of it… but I'm not promising I'll stay."
"Okay."
"How long are we hiding for?"
"We're not hiding." Jake said. "We're going through the base to the Ghost Hotel. Mrs. Weatherly lives there."
"The what?"
"Well it's not really called that. But that's what it is. It's the Gold Falls sister hotel. Gold Falls' ugly sister."
"Right … so why does she live there?"
"She's sort of a vampire."
"What?!"
"No- she won't suck your blood or anything! She a good monster- not a monster …they hate that word … but... yeah."
"Kay … and she owns Gold Falls?"
"Yeah … she has a lot of power… from Victorian ancestry or something. She created it."
"How?"
"I don't know- the hotel used to be a giant Victorian mansion. She made everything into Gold Falls except for the base. It was an underground dungeon leading to the other mansion- or the Night Hotel now."
The doors dinged open to reveal the place Lindsey had first seen through the porthole.
"Don't touch the water." Jake said.
"Why would I want to?"
They walked for what seemed like miles in the dingy place, until earth covered the stone ground completely. The dirt was soft and wet beneath their feet when they arrived at what seemed to be a normal graveyard. Wilted flowers donned the grey statues and tombstones.
"What was that?!"
"Just a ghost. Irritating little pests …" Jake said. "Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I believe in everything now …"
"How do you think ghosts get into your world?"
"I thought they were dead people."
"No." Jake said "They're just harbored thoughts of people from this dimension that have been let go of. They're nothing, really."
"So how do they get into my world if they're from your dimension?"
"Hotel Portholes. They can only enter the hotels with a humans help though."
The moans and chills persisted, as they went deeper into the yard. Soon it became darker and the ghosts came out to celebrate amongst the graves.
"Have you been in the base before?"
"Where do you think I was abandoned? I only ended up in the Gold Falls hotel." It was then that Lindsey realized where Jake got his dark good looks from.
"Are you a vampire?" Lindsey asked him.
"I think so, yes. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah- of course- I was just wondering."
There was what appeared to be a morgue whose concrete walls had been depleted over the years. Jake opened the door for Lindsey and they went inside.
Mirror after mirror after mirror stood before them. All with a shocking twist on their reflections. They saw themselves among the walking dead, each mirror portraying their deaths in more horrible ways as they continued forward.
Lindsey shrieked as she saw Jakes reflection with an ax to his chest. He put his arm around her shoulder unabashedly and told her to close her eyes. She did at times, but mostly her eyes were on her and Jake's feet, noticing their quickening pace the further they went into the horrible hall of mirrors.
"Finally, a door!" Jake said.
As they left Jake stood close to Lindsey, but kept his arms at his sides. There were cobwebs so clear they radiated the sky's purple shimmer. An old hag-woman sat by a rotting tree, a mad glisten in her cloudy grey eyes.
Beside her, a clear crystal ball about the size of a volley ball lit up her ancient, creased face.
"Your death is imminent here …" She called out, and then cackled madly into the deathly silent night.
"It's just like the mirrors, Lindsey, her predictions aren't real." Jake reassured her.
Lindsey caught a glimpse of the crystal sphere, two graves showing just beneath its shinning surface … she looked up.

Part 3
-The Deadliest Night-

There it was. The Night Hotel.
"Death is coming for you, too, sir …" Jake turned around to rebut her, but realized she was talking to another man.
Wright Linger stood behind them. He had followed them the entire way. Some how he knew they wouldn't look at their reflections in the house of mirrors, or maybe he was just banking on it.
"I got an idea from the house of mirrors, Jake …" Jake stood in shock. "How dare you undermine my authority by opening that porthole! I don't care what happens to you- or that little brat- but you're not going to Jean Weatherly … filthy vampires always have plans of their own don't they?! But Jake … I wanted you to open that porthole; I wanted you to give me a reason to get rid of you. And now I guess I have it." Wright pulled out a silver stake from his belt.
"RUN!" Jake grabbed Lindsey's hand and ran as far and as fast as he could with Lindsey behind him.
"WHY DON'T YOU TURN INTO A BAT AND LEAVE THAT STUPID LITTLE GIRL BEHIEND?!" Wright bellowed.
They ran to the nearest elevator and unlike Gold Falls, its steel bars resembled an animal's cage, it was undoubtedly as old as the Night.
Fortunately, Wright wasn't a very fast runner. Maybe all those years of getting other people to do his work for him had taken a toll on his already stout body. Jake and Lindsey were just far enough ahead for the elevator to open and shut.
"Mrs. Weatherly's on the thirteenth floor." The steel cage came to a stop and its doors screeched open. They ran out and frantically knocked on a random door.
"Help us- we're being chased!" Jake yelled, but it was only when Lindsey said "We need to see Jean Weatherly" did the door open.
A tall, surly man answered the door. He was undoubtedly a vampire. His pale skin glowed in the darkness and his black hair was only out contrasted by his piercing red irises. He did not look pleased.
"Who sent you?"
"No one, but our lives our in danger if we don't see her as soon as possible. It's Jake …"
"Come in." He said void of emotion.
The room was large, and filled with only the black and faded. The only spark of life came from a massive fireplace that housed a dying fire.
"How do you know Jean?" The man said, addressing Lindsey.
"I don't, but …" Lindsey told him how she had gotten to the hotel.
"JAKE!" cried a voice from outside. It was Wright.
"That's the man trying to kill Jake for being a vampire!" said Lindsey. And for once the man smiled.
"You have to get that stake." He said to Lindsey "We can't touch it." The man's mysterious smile widened. "I'll distract him."
Jake swung the door open as if he understood the man. Jake transformed into a bat and viciously flew toward Wright, sinking into his neck.
"AHHG!" screamed Wright.
Lindsey lunged into Wright. She struggled for the stake as he writhed and contorted, all the while clinging to it. He slashed her stomach and she felt the tip scrape in and out of her skin. She knew she had over powered him when he let out a scream of pain. The blood drained from his face and his eyes widened. She had killed him the way he had planned to kill Jake. She had killed a vampire.
"Here." said Jake holding the porthole key; he had turned back to his normal self. "It was never really mine, and since Wright is dead- you do what you want." Lindsey took it.
"I don't know what I want to do … I can't just go back and pretend like I never found this place."
"Then stay."
"I don't belong here … I wish I did… "
"Do you mean that?" Jake asked.
"Yes."
Jake bit her neck. A sharp pang shot through her body as if she had dove in ice water.
"Now" he said, wiping her blood from his lips, "you do."
And for once in Lindsey's life, she did.