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Yay for random fanficlet stuff thought of a year ago and written down now. Yes, I did go around saying "Mellon" to elevators when at a hotel in Utah. It was fun. And the characters are Midwestern, simply because I know the Midwest and plenty of below-said dinky Kansas hotels.
1.
Dani wriggled out of the car, barely glancing at the hotel. Some dinky little Kansas place, she was sure. "Would you quit it?" she growled at one of her sisters, who was tugging on her duffle bag in a cutsey and sticky fashion. "Get your ice-creamy hands off of my stuff."
"Soooorry," mumbled Bea. At least she didn't use that infuriating lisp.
"Be nice to your sister," her mother intoned. Nine hours in a car with a fifth grader and first grader who constantly bugged their irritable teenage sister could really grate on the nerves. "Be nice to your sister," had become the Tailor family motto.
"M'hmm." Dani absentmindedly strolled around to the back of the car, pushing open the trunk. "Sam, come get your duffle bag...I said get your duffle bag, not walk off!" She glared at the ten year old, who kept trotting toward the hotel entrance. "Get back to this car and the parking lot now!"
"You're not her mother, leave her alone." Mrs. Tailor wearily lifted herself and stumbled out of the driver's side. "Samantha, come get your duffle bag."
"Mo-om!" Sam whined, putting her hands on her hips and stopping abruptly; right in the middle of the parking lot (a brave choice). "I just wanted to see what they have here! Like if there's any pools!"
Mrs. Tailor looked beseechingly at Dani through her glasses. "Sweetheart? Please carry Sam's duffel?"
Bea wandered off after her sister, dirty blonde hair fluttering as she ran to catch up. "Sammy, wait!"
"...and Bea's?"
"Sure, why not, I'm just a human sherpa." Dani hoisted her own bag onto her shoulder, then grabbed Sam and Bea's be-flowered and be-Barbied bags, one in each hand.
"But we love our sherpa." Mrs. Tailor kissed the top of Dani's head.
"Beloved family sherpa, one Dani Tailor, dies in a freak duffle bag incident in the middle of nowhere," said Dani under her breath. She stomped after her sisters, calling, "If there is a pool, don't get your hopes up. Bet it's filled with toxic chemicals!"
Dani loved her sisters, but they got on her nerves frequently. So...needy, so sticky, so disobedient. She was horrible with kids, so she couldn't understand why all the neighbors called her to babysit. Wait. Yes she could. It was because she was the only moderately responsible teenager in the neighborhood. Thank goodness she'd developed a technique for dealing with the little brats: put a movie in, tell them to shut up and watch it, then curl up with a book. So far, no major incidents had occurred.
She placed her back against the clear glass hotel door, leaning against it so it opened enough for her to squeeze in. The hotel lobby was typical--clean, with modest flowered blue wallpaper and tasteful beige couches. Mrs. Tailor followed Dani, her thin frame weighed down by her own bag and purse.
Dani plopped on one of the couches and waited for her mother to check in. She wondered vaguely where her sisters were, and the question was answered as giggles and squeals emitted from a corner of the lobby. "Lookit, it's staring at me!"
"Fishie!"
"I like this one's fins. Hey, don't swim away!" Sam tapped a finger on the huge glass aquarium.
"Sam, stoppit, you're going to give those poor fish a heart attack," grumbled Danni. She really tried to be indifferent, but sometimes an annoyed comment slipped out.
"Nyeh, you're not my mother, I don't have to do what you say." Sam tossed her little blonde head.
"No do what y' say," parroted Bea.
"Girls? Girls, we have our room..." Mrs. Tailor waved a key.
"They're busy playing with the fish." Dani rolled her eyes. "You see if you can pry them away, I already tried." She struggled upright, bags hanging off of her like some strange luggage-tree.
Mrs. Tailor walked over, whispering to Dani, "You go up to the room and wait for me, the lady said the elevator was right around that corner. Third floor, room 308."
Dani saluted, almost hitting herself with the Barbie bag on her arm. Mrs. Tailor couldn't help but giggle. "Dear, I'll take those bags for you, Sam and Bea can carry their own." A grateful Danni handed the bags over, also dumping her own on the floor.
"Sam and Bea can carry my bag up, since they made me carry theirs."
Dani stalked away before her mother could object, taking advantage of her de-luggaged freedom. Elevator right around the corner, well all right. She almost skipped to where her mother directed her, spotting the elevator's chrome doors at the end of the hall. A few people were standing in front of her, presumably waiting for the elevator. A typical bunch: two middle-aged men, one stern, one kindly, and a somewhat pretty, youngish woman.
Ding!
The elevator opened, revealing a harassed-looking couple and a small redheaded girl. An older woman stood behind them, calm and comfortable. The child was in her bathing suit, with a towel wrapped around her; the couple and the woman had towels as well. The pool must be in the basement, reasoned Dani. The family filed out, and Dani and the other three stepped in. Dani could hear faint elevator music coming from hidden speakers.
"Momeeeee!" the little girl shrieked. "I wanna ride the lellovater s'more!"
Her parents had the weary, put-upon look of those who were raising a spoiled child. Just watch them give in, thought Dani.
The mother caved first. "Well...all right...only a few times, though! And we'll be watching right here, sweetheart, and...oh, Rich, would you go with Lily?"
The girl, however, had already bounced back into the elevator, little freckled face beaming. She stood right next to Dani, in the front, and she pressed the "3" button. "Bye bye, Mommy!" she chirped as the doors clicked shut.
"Who knows how long she'll ride," muttered the stern-man behind Dani.
A titter came from beside him, probably the young woman. "Just let her play, I'm sure she'll get tired of elevator-riding soon enough."
Dani's opinion leaned toward the man's. Let a kid mess around in an elevator, and you could be there all day.
They stood there in silence, which was broken only by little Lily's giggles. Ding! Third floor. Dani prepared to dash out of the elevator before Miss-Enthusiastic slammed another button. Just one small problem with this--the doors didn't open.
"What's going on?" asked the young woman.
"Probably jammed," growled Stern-man. "I have no time for this..."
Dani sighed. Those doors had better open soon, because being stuck in an elevatorful of strangers, one a little kid, was not her idea of a good time. Was it anyone's idea of a good time? Dani rolled her eyes and pressed her hand to the door. "Mellon," she said softly, snickering inwardly. Nobody said a word, except...did she hear a chuckle from the back? She shrugged. She hadn't expected anyone to understand her little Lord of the Rings joke.
"Did you, um, say 'melon'?" The young woman looked quite perplexed.
"I like wat'melons," announced Lily.
"Nevermind..." Dani shrugged, then turned her eyes to the elevator door, which...was opening.
"What did you do?" the woman whispered. Lily gasped and pointed, jumping around frantically. Dani took a step backwards.
Total darkness loomed ahead of them, made all the gloomier in comparison to the dim elevator light. Dani could make out elegant columns in the distance, and the heavy silence pressed around the elevator's occupants.
All was quiet except for that annoying, tinny elevator music.
"Holy--" Dani caught herself in time. It wasn't nice to curse in front of impressionable brats. The others seemed to share her sentiments.
The nicer-looking man stepped out first, dropping his bag in between the door and the darkness so the elevator wouldn't close on them. "Seems they decided to do some redecorating," he laughed nervously. Dani's kind of man, trying to bring humor into a desperate situation. She suspected he was the one who laughed at her joke.
The stern man closed his eyes and gripped his briefcase tightly. Because if he can't see it, it doesn't exist, thought Dani with an inner snort.
"I don't like thiiis," Lily whined, a pout contorting her round face. The young woman patted her on the head, murmuring something encouraging.
Tight-lipped, the older woman stepped out next, clicking her long nails against her purse. "Well, this is interesting."
"Um. Heheh," the young woman giggled timidly. "Guess we're not in Kansas any more...?"
All the elevator passengers looked at her, with varying degrees of un-amusement.
"That may have been in bad taste," said Stern-man.
Those who were still in the elevator--Dani, Lily, the young woman and the grumpy man--cautiously trickled out of the elevator. The man was last, and he just barely darted out before the elevator door whirred shut, slamming the kind man's bag between the rock and the door and clamping onto Stern-man's briefcase. Dani watched as he struggled to pull it out, but to no avail. It was stuck fast.
"I had my laptop in there!" he cried, thick eyebrows furrowed and his mouth sour.
The adults, and Dani, mumbled brief "sorry"s. Dani glanced over her shoulder at the kind man, who appeared to be thinking hard about something.
Their surroundings were dark, no cheery light of the elevator to lift their spirits even a tiny bit, and the silence was uncomfortable. Nobody knew what to say when they were trapped in some strange place and the elevator had closed. No way out, and no way to get the elevator open again. Dani saw a distinct lack of buttons on the craggy rock.
"I'm, um, Anna Finnigan," the young woman said suddenly. She put on a wide smile and held out a perfectly manicured hand. Dani, who was next to her, took it first and looked into her friendly blue eyes.
"Danielle Tailor, Dani is fine."
As each group member introduced themselves and shook hands with Anna, they instinctively arranged themselves into a circle, with Lily clinging to Anna's skirt.
"Mrs. Elizabeth Calla," said the older woman. She wasn't exactly old, maybe a bit younger than Dani's 60-year-old grandmother, and she had the air of a strict teacher around her.
The stern-man, still irritated over the loss of his briefcase, stuck out a hand awkwardly. "Rodney Winters." He looked to be in his mid-thirties, though seeing as he scowled all the time, the forehead wrinkles might be decieving.
"John Mitchell," said the kind man. He was probably in his late thirties, with salt and pepper hair, and a gentle face. Not extremely handsome, but not horrible to look at.
The redheaded girl piped up. "And don't forget me, I'm Lily Maria Berke!"
Anna patted her hair. "Of course, Lily, we wouldn't forget you."
Who is this 'we' you speak of? wondered Dani. She'd much rather forget Lily.
"Do you think we could be in some sort of tunnel under the hotel?" queried Mr. Winters. "I know it said we were going up, but maybe there was a malfunction?"
"The pool is the last floor," said Mrs. Calla sharply. "Nothing after that--at least, the elevator doesn't go there."
"Well...I think I may have an idea of where we are..." Mr. Mitchell scratched his chin.
Dani plopped down by the solid wall, arranging herself into a position where the rock wasn't scratching against her back. Her thin T-shirt offered no protection. "Tell us, Mr. Mitchell."
"I...think we're in...you're going to think I'm crazy when I say this...but I think we're in Moria."
"No way," Dani gasped. But...what if he was right? Somehow, it all clicked. She said "mellon" to the door, and it opened, and here was a dark, stone cavern sort of thing. But really, being in a deserted dwarvish mine was absurd...probably because Moria only existed in fantasy.
"What on earth is Mor-ia?" The name sounded unfamiliar in Mrs. Calla's mouth. Middle-aged women didn't go around saying "Moria", usually.
Anna snapped her fingers. "It's...it's...it's...the dark cave-thingy from that movie. The one with the hot elf. Lord of the Rings, that's it!" She wrinkled her nose. "But...that doesn't really exist, right?"
Mr. Mitchell shrugged nonchalantly. "It was just a suggestion."
"We can't be in a place that doesn't exist, it's preposterous! There's no such thing as magic, this place just doesn't follow logic." Mr. Winters crossed his arms. "I believe we have been knocked out somehow, and this is all a dream. Even that's better than believing in this...nonexistant place!"
"It doesn't look like it did in the movie," interjected Anna.
"So you don't think this is Moria because it doesn't match a movie's interpretation?" Mr. Mitchell spoke softly--a dangerous sort of soft.
"Well...um..."
"Do you know when the grown-ups will stop argooin'?" Lily had wandered over by Dani, and was now tugging at her hair.
"...no, I don't know, and would you please stop touching my hair?" Dani's hair was long, static-prone, and a drab light brown, but she was finicky about it. She didn't want it any uglier than it already was.
"'Kay, Miz...what's your name again?"
"Dani."
"Isn't that a boy name?" Lily looked incredulous, a strange sight on a six-year-old.
"It's a nickname, Lily," said Dani through gritted teeth. Snatches of the adults' conversation could be heard, mostly arguing and raised voices from Mrs. Calla and Mr. Winters.
Anna, surprisingly, was the one to come up with a good idea. "I have my cell phone in my purse! I could, like, call somebody!" She dug around in her pink purse, withdrawing a tiny silver phone.
The rest of the adults exchanged glances and brought forth cell phones from various pockets and purses-- except for Mr. Winters, whose cell phone had met the same demise as his laptop. Dani looked at them with envy. No cell phone for her, unless she paid for it herself.
One--two--three--dial! It was almost like a competition, Dani thought. Silly grown-ups. Anna pulled out of the race early; apparently her phone had run out of batteries. One by one each adult hung up, drawing the phones away from their ears with a look of confusion.
"It won't let me call anyone..."
"Same here."
"I guess our cell phone plans don't cover Middle-earth." Mr. Mitchell smiled faintly.
"This doesn't prove a thing," said Mr. Winters.
"Well," mused Mr. Mitchell, "I suppose we could try prying the elevator door open instead."
On an eviler note, the 9 pages of reading/notes for AP Euro kiiiiiilled my right hand. Two pages front and back and one page front in my tiny cramped writing...oy. Thank goodness I'm good at history.