Where to Even Begin?

I'm the guy Tia and Lis keep mentioning: the boyfriend, the nice guy, Blake. I guess introductions are a good place to start.

Lis won't stay asleep. Tia just went to sleep. She doesn't trust sleeping after being left alone for I don't know how many days. It was a lot to go through, I don't blame her really. Admittedly, I'm no better at the moment, but I did sleep some in the car.

We're a good distance away now. Not that it feels any safer. Still, it's something to get distance between us and that hotel. I am not leaving either of the girls alone again. It's just not going to happen.

So, I suppose it's me who gets to go over what happened after Lis found me. I don't actually remember much about my little corner or phase of existence or dimension or whatever you want to call it. I remember blood. A lot of it. On the walls and floors and me. It was just gorey and brutal. Most rooms didn't have any reason for the red everywhere, but where Lis found me, with the body, that was where I went into shock. I couldn't tell you how long I was standing there. I could tell you that my legs are still sore from standing and my wrists are still raw from how long I was wringing them.

After Lis snapped me free of my shock, something shifted and we left the mess behind and found ourselves in a pristine part of the hotel. Everything was symmetrical and clean and it was cold. Very, very cold. If it weren't for the pressed flowers framed in the hallways there wouldn't have been any color in the place at all.

Lis had to stop for a spell, so she made a blog post, and then we kept going. We checked a few rooms, but they were all empty and blank. Lis was smelling fire, but all I remember smelling was the flowers. We followed Lissie's nose, as she seems to be the one who can figure these places out for whatever reason, and it led us to Tia.

She was sort of in the check-in area, sort of not. It was more like a living room, with just a coffee table and a couch. The not-quite living room was uncomfortably warm, especially compared to the halls and rooms we'd gone through before finding Tia. Maybe that was due to the candles surrounding her. They were almost... ritualistically placed. They weren't standing on anything, and they didn't burn down or melt. They just were. They seem to match Tia's candle from before she passed out. I didn't notice that until later, and I didn't count them; it didn't matter when we entered the room anyway.

She was passed out on the floor between the couch and the table, I could tell she was breathing, but it didn't change the panic attack I almost had. It was terrifying to think that what happened to Marie could've started to happen to Tia. My Tia. She didn't wake up when I held her or called her. She didn't stir even a little when I touched her.

It wasn't until Lis started snuffing the candles out that Tia started stirring. Smart Lissie, always figuring out things that I wouldn't think of at all. I'm not... familiar with this sort of situation. When the last candle was extinguished Tia woke up, and the surroundings shattered. We were back in our hotel. Lis managed a raspy crack about Tia being sleeping beauty and then we checked out. Right fucking then. Didn't bother showering, just grabbed our things, checked out, and started driving.

We got ourselves a fair distance away and stopped for a decent meal, and by decent meal I mean Waffle House at 4 am. It was the best damn meal. I'm still not entirely comfortable with this situation, but this isn't really the sort of situation people get cozy in. We'll survive.

Now we're... where we are. Location released at Lis's discretion. Maybe we'll catch a break. I can be optimistic.