I could see my reflection as I walked on the shiny waxed floor of the hotel. The sounds of my mother’s heel clicking as we walked over to the front desk to check into our room. I waited on the side for her to be done. I just want to get into our room and sleep. We had an early flight and I couldn’t sleep on the plane since the passengers in front of us didn’t know how to shut their kid up.

“Do you want to check out the pool?” my mom asks.

“No,” I simply say.

I leaned against the wall as my mom chatted with the people at the front desk. I sighed in relief when she got the key cards and I didn’t hesitate to make my way to the elevator before my mom could even say ‘thank you’ to the people at the front desk when they told us to ‘enjoy our stay.’

When my mom said she had “BIG plans” for us this summer, I didn’t think she meant that she would be dragging me all over cities for her stupid business meetings and conferences. I had much more in mind and frankly I kind of wish I stayed home. I could be doing whatever I want, sleeping all I want, and just not doing anything. Even though I haven’t been doing anything since this crazy trip started, I still prefer to be doing nothing, just at home. Then again, I doubt my mom would let me stay home alone all summer. She’s too paranoid. Like myself.

I kick my shoes off the moment we entered the room and threw myself on the mattress and I felt myself sink into the cool covers.

“Is this how you want to spend your summer, sleeping all day?” my mother scolds as she removes her heels and sets them down gently on the side.

“Yep. I have nothing better to do, might as well sleep the summer away” I say into the pillow.

“You could try to do something productive” she suggests

“What’s that?” I ask sitting up pretending to be interested in what she had in mind.

“You could read a book, or take a walk, explore the city and find out what history it has to share” she says.

“This hotel room has nothing but a menu for room service, which I will gladly read when I’m hungry, and even if I do take a walk, I wouldn’t know where to begin, or where I would go. I would probably end up getting lost. Then you have to come and find me” I say.

My mother groans under her breath and walks out to the balcony. I didn’t even see that there was one.

The next morning after breakfast, of course, my mother got herself ready and headed to the conference room that was located in this fancy hotel. After flipping through the channels for a good half hour. I became bored. There was nothing to watch. I grabbed my key card and left the room. A little exploring never killed nobody, I guess.

I started my way from the penthouse and made my way down. The penthouse was huge! It had these glass windows that let you see far off the city. The balcony was the coolest, but scariest part was the floors we're glass. I explored the small gift shop, but that was the highlight of the whole hotel. There was not much. I mean there we're some activities to do, but I wasn’t feeling it. I waited for the elevator to reach my floor so I could head back to my room. Maybe I could find something on TV that can put me to sleep.

I sighed in relief when the elevator doors opened. It took forever. As I entered, the door man, I recognized from when we first came greeted me. I greeted him back. As I was about to press the button for my floor, I saw it was already pressed. I shrugged it off.

“Are you enjoying your stay?” the doorman asks

I didn’t want to be rude, so I answered, but I didn’t lie. “It’s okay. I’d rather be home though.”

He laughs and nods his head. “You’re not the first to think that. There have been others like you. Then again many of them found their way to stay”

“They enjoyed it that much?” I ask

“You could say that,” he says with a laugh.

“I feel like there is not much to do, I just explored this place.” I say

“You aren’t looking hard enough then.”

I shrug. I didn’t what to respond to that. I look at the tiny screen as the numbers go up floor by floor. I look back at the all the buttons and back at the screen wanting this thing to get to my floor already.

“If you do find yourself wanting something entertaining, the 11th floor is where I would go” he winks. And at that moment, I never felt more creeped out.

Finally, the elevator doors opened and I couldn’t be happier. I exit as I tell the man good day, and make my way back to the room, running.

“Where have you been?” my mother says as I enter the room and almost jump of fright. I thought she would be gone all day.

“Exploring,” I say catching my breath

“Found something fun to do, I heard this place has a lot to offer.”

“I highly doubt that,” I respond grabbing a water bottle from the mini fridge.

“We're you running?” she asks

I set the bottle which was now half empty and sigh. “Sort of. How was your meeting?”

“Tiring. I need a nap, but I was thinking maybe we could go out to eat”

“Why don’t we just order in?” I suggest

“I don’t know. I want to explore this city” she says

“I could go out and get whatever, since you’re tired” I offer.

My mom has been out all day, so the least I could do is make a quick run to get some food. And I kinda want some snacks.

“Are you sure you won’t get lost?” my mother jokes

“Ha-ha, very funny. What do you want to eat?” I ask

The doorman's word repeatedly played in mind as I got into the elevator once again. I shoved the little sticky note which has a list of things my mom wanted in her salad. As I looked at all the buttons, I realized the 11th floor was the only odd number there. I contemplated about pressing it, just to stop by. Then thought against it, maybe afterwards.

“Hello again” the doorman greets me as I enter the hotel with food in hand.

“Hi’ I say and thankfully the elevator was already on the lobby. My eyes never left the 11th button. Maybe a quick peek won’t be so bad, I told myself as I pressed it.

As I got off the floor, it looked like any other floor, with all the rooms. The bell from the elevator went off as the doors closed. I set the bags of food aside so I know to take them just as I leave.

“Welcome” someone tells me

I look around to see where the voice came from, but there was no one.

“We’ve been expecting you” the person finally comes into a sight, a girl no more than my age.

“You’ve been expecting….me. How so?” I ask

“Don’t worry all your questions will be answered later.” she says. “Come I’ll show you around”

“I really should go. My mom is waiting, and the food….” I point to where the food was.

“It’s not going anywhere, relax” she says and grabs my hand as she leads me down the hall. Each room had a glass door and something different inside. Almost like a club. As we passed by each room, I was given all sorts of stares, and in others they seemed too occupied with what they we're doing.

“So this is like a lounge for people our age” I ask

“You can think of it like that” she laughs

I don’t see why she found it funny. It was a pretty decent question if you ask me.

“Can I offer you something, maybe a drink, something to eat, or maybe show you to your room?” she asks

“My room, what? No. I’m staying with my mom on a different floor. There’s no need for another room.” I say

“Well you’re going to be asking for a room later on, especially when you get tired and want to sleep.” she says

“Hence why I have the room with my mom. I can sleep in there all day” I say. “Thanks for showing me around, but I really should be going. My mom is waiting,” this was getting way too creepy for my liking. I make my way back the way we came, but it felt like it was taking forever. It was almost like I was going in circles.

“Lost?” the girl pops up again scaring the daylights out of me.

“Jeez! You don’t just pop out on people that way.” I scold

“Well, I’m not going anywhere.” she says

“Sucks for you. Where are the elevators?” I ask

“What elevators?” she says

“Don’t play dumb. How else do people get to the 11th floor, besides taking the stairs” I ask

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about” she shakes her head.

Is this girl serious, or is she really that dumb? I give her an annoyed look, and took a deep breath before speaking again.

“Take me to the place where I left my bags of food. You know the ones that weren’t going anywhere,” I ask ever so kindly. You can probably hear me rolling my eyes.

She nods with her annoying smile and I follow. “Here we are” she says and there we're the bags of food, but what once was an elevator was now a wall.

“That’s impossible!” I say

“Nothing is impossible,” she says

“I’m not talking to you” I snap as I look at the ceiling. “Is this some sort of joke?” I turn and ask her.

“Jokes are supposed to be funny,” she says

“Yes, and this isn’t funny! Where the hell are the elevators!” I was getting more annoyed with every passing minute.

“There are no elevators.” she says

I run my hands through my hair grabbing a fistful before letting go. “Fine. Where are the stairs.”

“We don’t have that either” she shakes her head.

“You’re insane. Like literally insane.”

“You’re the one asking for things that don’t even exist” she crosses her arms over her chest.

“How else did I get here? Fly!” I snap this time.

“I think counting to ten will calm you down Rose.”

“Don’t tell me to calm…… how do you know my name?” I switch sentences before I finish them.

“We’ve been expecting you,” she smiles

“Where are the exits?” I ask once again