The Stanley, Room 217

I finally managed to earn the copious amounts of money required to book a night at the famous Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Being a horror movie buff and a recreational ghost hunter, room 217 at the Stanley was the ultimate haunted room. Even though I had to book the stay six months in advance, I was beyond excited knowing I’d be able to stay there on June 25, the one night per year that paranormal activity was supposed to be at its highest at the Stanley.

The search for the mysterious girl on the playground continues. Could it be Ashley, or the figment of an imagination desperate for some modicum of hope? Meanwhile, Ryan’s eyes open to a new reality, one where the serum hasn’t simply regressed his adult mind and stripped away his masculinity.

After receiving a post card in the mail, Mike, a hard-core haunted house enthusiast, decides to check out the supposedly haunted Room 1408 at The Dolphin Hotel in NYC. What he quickly discovers is that no man ever leaves Room 1408.

Chapter 28

The night, once a time where Ryan Sullivan plied his silver tongue on vulnerable sorority girls in dim keg parties and bars, now has a new meaning. Fear. Monsters both real and imagined live within its confines terrifying the burgeoning little girl within. Who can banish that fear? Mommy and Daddy. Despite this clear defeat, Ryan/Kaylee continues to try and assert himself.

Excerpt:

Gradually, the banishment of the dark and the hand stopped my incessant, uncontrollable sniveling. Through it all, I shook and mewled words that mostly didn’t exist. I turned to face the two voices in my room. A smiling, yet worried Kathryn, hair mussed, clad in a silk nightgown, looked down at me. Within her look and her touch, there was love. It was palpable. Thomas stood next to her at my bedside. He was the one who plugged in the Frozen-themed night light.

Ryan continues to be at odds with his new parents, especially regarding his language, which continues to impact his screen time, the allotment needed in order to check and send e-mails to Eve and Greg. The illusion of choice presented frustrates Ryan, who quickly realizes that an option is not acceptable unless vetted by ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’.

Excerpt:
Kathryn looked momentarily defeated, and then she pulled out her credit card, grabbed me by the wrist while saying, “Ring me through please, Alexis. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Moments later, I was being dragged through the parking lot.

The car door swung open and Kathryn put me in the backseat. She slid into the driver’s seat, while the child locks on either side of me clicked shut. Like a snake, Kathryn’s head slithered into my view, the rest of her body either attached to some terrible monster or simply hidden by her seat.

Kaylee’s adoptive parents are revealed, and the slow and final dismantling of Ryan Sullivan begins. Trapped with those who treat him exactly as he looks, Ryan is desperate to maintain his adult and male self, but is he too far gone? Still, his new parents offer a new beginning, an opportunity to right the wrongs of his previous life, but most importantly, a chance to be loved unconditionally.

Excerpt: Ms. McDavid said, “Oh I’m sure she’ll adjust fine, Kathryn. Just keep in mind what I told you too, Kaylee’s probably picked up some bad habits working in Hollywood. It’s a different lifestyle, so expect some strange behaviour. That’s why it’s important to make sure she has as normal a childhood as possible.”

The man, whose name I recalled was Thomas, said, “What do you mean, Ms. McDavid?”

Ms. McDavid smiled, “Don’t be in a hurry to let her grow up too fast. Kids her age want a lot of independence, but you can’t forget how old she is. She’ll need your help to guide her. She’s also got a very active little imagination. Try and encourage her to use it as much as possible. But most of all, just let her be a kid!”

Life is short, sometimes. Does true love ever die? This story is very dark, it came to me in a dream that should have been a nightmare if it wasn’t for the strange look of peace on the heroine’s face…
Sorry this is a little rough but this is the only day it makes sense to post this here. It's the first time I've been brave enough to post anything, enough of the waffle, on with the story...

Is withholding the truth the same as an outright lie? What was done to protect Ryan’s vulnerable mind has driven the equivalent of a railroad spike into the fledging relationship between the two former enemies. Yet, the public adoption draws near and all must remain idyllic in the household, even with the betrayal.
Excerpt:

I wanted to run away. It is what I always did. Jessica continued to speak, but I didn’t hear anything. The barking dogs, the sweet incessant nattering of Jessica, her voice akin to taking a bite of candy and finding a railroad spike inside- all of it disappeared the instant I slipped out of Jessica’s grip and ran.

I ran as fast as I could, each section of chain link fence passing in a flash. Seconds later, I felt a firm hand dig into my shoulder, stopping my momentum dead.

Jessica said softly, “I don’t know if it’s the serum doing this to you, or if a part of you actually wants it, but if you don’t want me to say anything to Eve I won’t. You need to know though that there’s probably going to be a point of no return. And it’s going to be soon.”

http://youtu.be/ggk2qwOwDRA

Onboard SS ERIN 1400 09NOV17:

Tom Dodge, Tom junior and Professor entered Tom's cabin and all three sat down. Please continue Professor.

My thanks to Cressar for helping with comments, advice, encouragement, and editing

Halloween again!

Halloween comes around again

Witches and Warlocks all around

Ghosts and Spectres float in and out

Ancient covens of druids gather around open fires

In hidden groves among the forest trees  

Some looking for converts, others looking for victims

Here I am standing, waiting, willing for you to come 

The witching hour is drawing close and I am standing here 

Waiting

Ryan’s foolish and childish behaviour causes Eve to take a firmer stance with him. Meanwhile, despite his earlier bravado, Ryan learns just how deeply the serum runs. While he struggles with this, a simple knock on the door of the apartment changes everything.

Excerpt: I nodded, “No more closed door bullshit?”

Eve said, “None. We can talk about the adoption too. You’ve got a choice in this, Ryan. If you don’t want us to adopt you, we can look at other options. The best thing for you now though is to try to maintain control. Fight your impulses. You might find that when you start putting your thoughts down that you can better understand yourself and what you are going through.”

I had expected a completely different conversation, one that involved a lot of screaming and threats. If anything, I was impressed with Eve’s calm demeanour. That feeling of warmth was still there, but now that I understood what Eve was trying to do, it felt different. Maybe she was really just trying to help?

The world now knows of Kaylee’s existence. As talk of adoption heats up, Ryan’s mind, twisted by the serum begins to play tricks on him. Meanwhile, Ryan struggles with trying to reassert his identity through something other than the formerly tantalizing opposite sex.

Excerpt: But this was nothing like the sudden warmth I felt when the little girl hugged her mother. The warmth was not heat, unlike a blanket covering a shivering form, it elicited a response from my heart. I knew heartache, at least as long it took for me to find another girl, and another, to fill the void left by Hannah, but this was something else entirely.

My heart, my chest, my brain- everything was filled to bursting with an overwhelming sense of love- to give and receive it in an immeasurable fashion. The only thing similar to it was the intense, incredible high I got from sex, but it wasn’t lust, the hard wrenching of parts, stares and longing, until the moment of climax, and then nothing- no, it was something real. Lasting.

And that’s why it scared the fuck out of me. Because it didn’t exist. To me it had to be the serum, and I was staring at my future if I embraced this world.

Finally understanding that he cannot wage the war against the serum alone, Ryan accepts Greg and Eve’s help. After the close call with the doll, Greg’s suggests a trip to the beach to wake up the old Ryan Sullivan. Ryan readily accepts, but the trip will hardly be a simple day at the beach. While there will be a multitude of flesh to attract a red-blooded male, there also exists many attractions to awaken the little girl within.

Excerpt: The door closed and the footsteps rapidly retreated. I was left holding a plastic doll, and while my humiliation in Greg’s presence was staggering to both my male ego and my adult self, I couldn’t help but want to continue playing. It was like some drug filling my mind and body with such a real sense of happiness that it was easy to ignore the fact that such actions were eating away at Ryan Sullivan. The toys, the sense of adventure, the world of imagination that Hermie spoke of were the vultures circling over the soon-to-be corpse.

But it was rainbows, cotton candy, pretty dresses, and a life where finding someone to play with would be my greatest worry. I knew that children worried about more important stuff. Some of them even faced crippling anxiety. A friend of mine, the same one with all the incredible video games, was a wreck every time his dad went on a tour of duty. I knew better, but the drug swimming in my system was smiles and sunshine.

I desperately needed help.

After the visit to the studio, with his frustration mounting, Ryan retreats to one of his old vices. While the obsession with video games had seemingly doomed Mark and Devon, a greater danger looms just outside his window.

Excerpt:

A skipping rope slapped gently against the asphalt, each jump and each giggle caused candy-coated claws to dig into my mind, the claws digging deeper and deeper as my desire to join the girls grew.

“Wow! You did three skips that time! I wanna be good like that!”

I looked out the window and saw a skipping rope tied to a telephone pole. Two girls, one of them Kaylee’s age and one Ashley’s, were taking turns holding the rope. Each time they failed to jump the rope, they switched places. The whiney, nattering voice of the younger girl should have been a massive turnoff, like a beautiful girl with a mannish voice, but instead, it planted a powerful need, an alien yearning to reach out to these girls- to play with them, but it also caused a resurgence of doubt.

“Would they even want to play with me?”

While there is safety within the walls of the apartment, away from the prying eyes of the outside world, Ryan continues to struggle with who he is becoming, as the serum persists in eroding his masculine and adult identity. Meanwhile, Eve, who seems to have warmed to Ryan, attempts to get him to open up concerning what happened in the studio. Finally, even tucked away safe within the walls, Ryan cannot be saved from himself, and a brief exchange threatens that very safety.

Excerpt: I narrowed my eyes, while feeling my lower lip gently lower into a pout, “Do you really think I’m that weak? And Elsa and Anna were apart for ten years, living in the same castle. We could have done the same thing in the apartment.”

A look of shock crossed Eve’s features, her eyebrows shooting upward, and her mouth momentarily agape. She composed herself, and the softness, which had become commonplace, returned. It was a look I had seen rarely in the woman before my change, but the doe-like tenderness and warmth in her eyes, and even the way she held her mouth, in a slight and comforting smile- it made me want to spill my guts to her- to tell her everything.

http://youtu.be/Jy85N9gLMnM

Onboard SS ERIN 0830 08NOV17:

http://youtu.be/7YyBtMxZgQs

Onboard SS ERIN 0740 08NOV17:

"No one there is exactly what he seems" - G'Kar

http://youtu.be/bT7a8Gv9qdA

Onboard SS ERIN 0430 08NOV17:

I woke to a bitter taste and aching in my shoulders. Shaking my head was like moving through pea soup while pinballs rattled in my skull.

My hands were strapped behind me, as were my ankles to the feet of a chair.

“Hello?”

No answer.

The fog lifted and I found myself in a room with grey, cinder block walls, a concrete ceiling dripping with condensation, florescent lights blinking in and out, and a dirty mirror to veil my reflection with handprints and dust. Knowing my luck there were agents on the other side waiting to begin an interrogation.

http://youtu.be/4iOGeCLpAY0

Onboard SS ERIN midnight 08 Nov 17:

Today had been a long day for Eliza and her sister Chrissie. Packing, the long trip to the harbor, getting everything unpacked and stored in the much too small cabin the shared was tiring. Lunch was tolerable except for the most charming Tom Dodge who entertained everyone with his many strange sea tales that his son demanded. Each story more fantastic than the prior story. As a storyteller he was; well, he just was.

To Ryan’s horror, Ms. Daniels continues her bizarre transformation from network executive to doting mother-to-be. Despite this fact, Ryan is heartened by the return of Ashley. Unfortunately, not all was as it was before. Still, when all seems lost, a new hope for escape rises from an unlikely source.

Excerpt: The young woman easily pulled the covers away from my face and kissed me gently on the forehead. “I love you, Kaylee.”

She lingered for a minute, likely waiting for me to say something in return. With my silence, however, she trudged from the room.

I tossed and turned, my mind grappling with my inability to leave and the horrible fate that awaited me as the daughter of a madwoman. My body and mind exhausted with the struggle finally succumbed to sleep hours later.

With Ashley gone, the three remaining ‘children’ decide that escape is the only option if they want to retain their adult minds.

Excerpt: As Musica prattled on, urging me to get out of bed, my mind waffled back and forth between submission and outright defiance. A part of me desperately wanted to prove that Dr. Travers’ serum was a failure, that Ryan Sullivan would never become weak-willed, timid Kaylee. When he saw the defiance in me, the failure of his masterwork, would he show emotion? Would his face sag, his shoulders slump in defeat? I vacillated between the two mindsets, as Ashley’s voice played in an endless loop. “You aren’t a failure. Because you haven’t ever even tried.”

Chapter 8
With the threat of further regression, Ryan and the other transformed adults fall into their roles. As consummate professionals with a thorough understanding of proper technique and position, the filming unsurprisingly moves quickly. Meanwhile, an exchange with Ms. Daniels forces Ryan to consider life as Kaylee. As the filming continues, Ryan finds himself falling deeper and deeper into character, and when an opportunity comes to demonstrate his brazen, confident self, he struggles to reassert himself.

Excerpt: Ashley replied, “I’m not an expert on this, Ryan, but it sounds like you are fighting growing up. You run away from the things that force you to deal with harsh realities. You aren’t a failure because you haven’t really ever tried. From what you’ve told me with your past relationships and your jobs, you never put yourself in a position where you could grow. Did you know I’ve been in the business since I was eleven years old? I begged my mom before that, but she wouldn’t let me.”

She added, “For some people, it takes a really long time to break into acting. And how long have you been at it? Like two years? You didn’t fail. You just gave up. Just like you are now, but here- you have nowhere to go. Do you really want to let Daniels win?”

The fallout from the meeting with Hermie strains Ryan and Ashley’s relationship. Meanwhile, Ashley aims to curb some of Ryan’s more sexist tendencies while the two of them learn about their roles on the show- much to Ryan’s chagrin and continued embarrassment. While their bodies have undergone a massive transformation, their minds remain intact. However, with temptation in every corner of the playroom, they quickly learn that their minds could share a similar fate. Despite these challenges and the continued humiliation, a simple discovery ignites hope within the transformed group that escape is possible.

Ashley sighed gently, “I’ll admit that girls do it too, even me sometimes. Yeah, I will look at another girl and think, well she shouldn’t wear that because it’s not flattering. But I don’t make that part of who I am. And as for what you said, there’s no right way to be a man, Ryan. But I can tell you that filth like Mark aren’t the litmus test for how a man should act. He talks a big game, but I bet he goes home with his hand. Unless he’s paying for it.”