I didn’t wake up for the rest of that day. I didn’t wake up that night either. I slept through and woke up the next day. Thankfully in my absence Lilly had taken care of things for me, cleaning up after the creatures and taking care of the nightly routine. When I finally awoke, the room was bright and sunny and I felt 100% better from the rest. I looked at the clock that read 12pm. I was shocked that I had slept for so long but I guess my body needed it. I got up from bed and dressed in a red t-shirt with a pair of ripped jeans and a faded jean jacket, along with my favorite red sneakers. I decided against applying makeup because I wanted to explore the town more, given that there was nothing better to do.
I headed downstairs, as I did so I happened to look at the picture just outside my room. The one that had always made me feel uneasy. I looked closer at it and for the first time noticed the two gold lockets hanging around the twins necks. I looked at how beautiful they were, and wondered if somehow I wound up with the other locket in the set. There was a third locket I noticed as well, that hung around Rosa’s neck. It looked eerily similar. So, there are three lockets I thought, very interesting. I pried myself away from the painting and walked downstairs to find Lilly in the sitting room.
“How are you sleepyhead? You get enough rest?” She teased.
“Only a little.” I played along.
“Well now that you are ready to face the day, what do you plan on doing? I do admit that it does get quite boring here, especially since this is a ghost town and hardly anyone knows of its existence.” She said turning the page of the old newspaper that she had found who knows where.
I was about to answer her when I noticed that on the front page of the paper was a picture of the town in its hay day. It was beautiful and there were so many buildings. I quickly got an idea that refused to leave my mind. I wanted to rebuild the town. I had all the time in the world, a whole near empty town at my disposal, and enough money from my own funds (my yearly salary had more than doubled remember) to support the rebuilding……it was a perfect idea! I quickly broached the subject with Lilly projecting my idea to her.
“Lillie?” I started. “What do you think of rebuilding the town?”
“What? Do you mean knocking everything down and starting over?” She asked confused.
“No, not knocking everything down. We could just add on to what’s already here and restore all the old buildings that still stand.” I answered her question.
“Well…..I don’t supposed that’s a bad idea but…..how do you plan on doing that? Everyone who comes to the town except the Natives gets stuck here. How will you get supplies in and all that?” She responded.”
“I hadn’t thought of that…….but……maybe I could call up Deb and ask her if someone from her people would be able to bring us the things we’d need.” Then I added. “And to ask permission to build on the land of course.”
“Why do you need permission from them? It’s our land!” She replied.
“Because despite what you may think of them, their opinion matters because this was their land to begin with!” I snapped at her. I ignored her comment from the other night but I wasn’t going to allow her to continue talking bad about the Pueblo people.
“There’s no need to get moody.” She retorted. “Besides the opinion you really need is Mary’s and Martha’s. “
I calmed down a little. “Well I suppose it wouldn’t be bad to get their opinion too, but I don’t have their number.”
“Just let me handle that. I’ll ask them in person.” She said with a wink.
“Do you think they’d be ok with it?” I asked.
“I’m sure they would be, given that they watched their home burn. To be honest I’m surprised they never rebuilt it themselves, but then again they probably ran into the supplies problem.” She said.
“Well it’s settled then! You talk to them and I’ll talk to Deb.”
So that’s what we did. I called up Deb and after the usual phone pleasantries, we got down to business. The call lasted far longer than I expected. She got all her elders on the phone and they made a few calls themselves. Long story short, after a lot of talking and debating, they agreed. I was so excited I could hardly contain it! All I needed was the approval of Mary and Martha and I could rebuild the town. I immediately ran to tell Lilly. She was shocked that they had agreed.
“So they actually said yes?” She asked putting the paper down.
“Yes! They agreed as long as the town is no bigger than it was originally.”
“Well, call me impressed. I don’t know how you reasoned with them.”
“It’s a little something called friendship and respecting boundaries and an entire culture.”I retorted trying not to sound too annoyed with her. As much as I hated the excuse, I did have to remember she grew up in a different time and it was going to take a lot to change her ignorance and the stigmas she grew up with.
“I guess I need to do my part then. I’ll head out and try and reach them but it may take a little time to do so. I would use the phone but it only goes one way with them. I’ll be back as shortly as possible. Till then just don’t forget to lock the doors.” She said as she headed out the door and to the edge of town.
I stood there a few more moments before deciding that I if I was to rebuild the town, I would need the proper blueprints and see who I could recruit. The best two people to help me were the librarian and Jasper. So off I went to seek out the help of the two. I decided I would go to the library first, and take a look at the blueprints and draw up some for myself. I had always been good at it in my old job, and rebuilding pre modern structures would be way simpler than post modern ones I thought.
Once at the library, I figured the best place to start would be the records section upstairs. I nodded in the direction of the librarian who merely just stared at me in return, and headed up the stairs. It took me a few moments of looking and digging around, but I finally found them near the maps section. I took the blueprints and spread one of them on one of the extra wide tables and the first one took up the entire length. It was your average blueprint, nothing overly special about it at first examination, but it helped me get a feel for the layout of the town. I wanted to put it in place so that the new town was exactly the same as the last one. I noticed that there were originally a grand total of 13 buildings including the ones still standing. Starting at the edge of town, was the gas station, how that had been built I didn’t know, and then there was the pharmacy, the library, the hotel, the post office. A carpenter’s shop, and a blacksmith/Ferrier. On the other side of the street that had been completely destroyed were the bank, a lawyer’s office, a saloon/brothel, a general store, a butcher, and the jail on the far edge of town. I assume farmers and ranchers lived on the outskirts of town but no houses were actually in the town.
I placed the next blueprint on the table. This one was the blueprint of the hotel itself. I looked at the various rooms and was surprised to find there was an old safe hidden behind an old painting in the lobby. I had never really taken much notice of the painting, it being hung behind the desk to the side of the letterboxes towards the cleaning closet. It was a painting of the town back in its glory days, in color made from oil paints. It was a beautiful painting, but like I said I had never taken much heed of it.
I took a closer look at the safe’s dimensions. It was a normal sized safe, 2 feet tall and 3 feet in width, its depth ranging from 3 ½ feet to 4 feet, and according to the blueprints was made of iron and steel. I was instantly curious. What was so special that it needed a safe? I figured the simple answer to that question was money from the various tenants and residents of the hotel, but nothing is ever really simple in this town and especially not in the hotel. I decided to put aside the blueprints for now and head back to the hotel to see if I could take a closer look at the safe.
Once back at the hotel, I walked around to the back of the desk and stood before the painting. I looked closer at it to see if I could make out who the painter was. After searching for a moment I couldn’t tell, but was amazed at the sheer skill of the painting itself. Whoever painted the scene was very good, their brush strokes were thin and precise, swooping and melding the colors where applicable, and they were light of hand and were able to properly capture the light and the true nature of a bustling town. I was impressed. I carefully took the painting down from the wall and set it against the desk behind me. Turning back around I was now face to face with the mysterious safe.
It was the size I thought it would be, yet somehow bigger than I imagined. It looked like your average safe, made of strong metal, a turnstile type mechanism popular back in the day, and a sturdy dial in the very center of the safe. I tried to open it, halfway hoping that maybe the last person to open it was careless and left it unlocked, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I played with the dial hoping that maybe I could find the numbers to open it. I tried the date of the grand opening of the hotel, nothing, I tried the date of the first official soiree in 1856 that I had attended, nothing, then I tried the date the town first became an official town, and still nothing. I absent mindedly played with the numbers, trying different dates and such with no further luck, when for some reason I put my birthdate in, 0-9-0-1, then to my surprise it opened! I was excited that the safe opened, but a little upset that once again, it seemed like I had been pre chosen for this job long before I had ever been born. I stood there for a moment longer before I began to open the safe, floundering with my newest revelation. I tried to shake it off and after a few more seconds I did, then I opened the safe
The first thing I noticed was a note that sat in front addressed to me. I took it out and read it:
To our newest caretaker congratulations you found the safe! I hope you can use what’s inside to help you keep track of various day to day happenings and events at the hotel and in town. If any questions arise please feel free to make the most of the library and other buildings and people in the town to help you solve any issues that may arise. Hope you have a wonderful stay!
-Mary and Martha
A short but sweet note, piquing my curiosity even more about what the safe held. I looked inside to find a red binder, exactly like the ones in the library, blank inside, and a fountain pen sitting atop it. I pulled those out and examined them, my name etched on the inside cover of the binder. I supposed perhaps all the other binders were given to the various caretakers to log their adventures, mishaps, and day to day life at the hotel. Taking note of this I figured those binders would be worth a read sometime. Placing them on the desk I continued to look inside the safe.
The next thing I pulled out was an old map of the underground, beneath the town and its various tunnels and where all they led. I tucked that within my binder. It would be worth a visit someday as well. Under that was another piece of paper filled with names and lines connecting them, dates beside them as well noting what I assumed was the date of birth and death of each named person. It was hard to figure out what the paper meant, some names had notes beside them, others were circled and some had been underlined in red ink. My name was at the very bottom, circled multiple times and underlined in red ink with a note beside it saying “She’s the one!” written boldly. It felt a little ominous to be honest, especially not knowing the context or meaning behind it. I set that aside and continued to look around.
In the bottom of the safe were two things, a gold engraved pocket watch, and an old revolver. I have not nor will I ever be someone who feels comfortable around guns. I carefully picked it up and set it to the side, just in case it was loaded, and grabbed the pocket watch. It was beautiful, being made of the shiniest gold, engraved with a picture of a bird flying in midair, it looked old yet it still ran. I put it up to my ear to listen to it.
My mother had given me one that had been passed down in my family for generations when I was young. I had always kept it, even though it was rusty and worn down by time, it still worked. I remember sitting and putting it to my ear as a child, listening to all the intricate mechanisms that ran within. It often soothed me when I was frustrated or sad. I had loved it even though it was in as bad a shape as it was. Seeing this pocket watch made me want to fix up my own. I took the new watch away from my ear and placed it within my pocket. I figured it would come in use helping me keep track of time in the hotel where time seemed fluid and strange.
Since those were the last two things left in the safe, I left the gun behind and closed it back up. I took another look at the things I had on the desk and carefully looked through them landing on the paper of names. Now that I had finished going through the safe I could take a better look at the piece of paper. It was a long piece of parchment that I recognized. It was the same letter head and parchment as my offer letter and my survival guide, and every bit as long and lengthy. As I further unfolded it the paper seemed to go on forever. Every name was linked in some way. The top names started with Rosa and John Bennett. It took me a moment of looking to realize I wasn’t looking at random names but actually a family tree. The Bennett family tree. With this realization, and taking into account my own name was on it, made me wonder for the first time, why was I on this page? Not wanting to be interrupted I took the paper to my room where I could spread it out and look at it better.
Once I did this the page seemed to make more sense. It was a huge family tree, and it seemed no name went unnoticed by whoever made it. The paper was long and wide, I trailed my finger down it as I read the names. I recognized a few from the doll room, each one circled. I figured after having taken a closer look, the names that had been circled were the names of former caretakers, the ones underlined in red ink and notes beside them were still a mystery. Some of the notes were strange:
“This one is too contrary”
“He isn’t up to any good”
“She is a cripple”
“They can’t be separated”
“This one is too angry
The list goes on. None of the notes made any sense to me, but to whoever made the family tree; these notes must have helped them keep track of something. I followed the tree down, further and further till finally I began to recognize the names. Sandra Parker was my great grandmother, Eloise Williams and Sara Fulton her children, and finally Eloise’s daughters, Mable Moore and Helen Winters. Right under my mother’s name was my own, Autumn Winters. I was shocked to learn that I was descended from the Bennett family. I wanted to know if this was real or not. I figured the only way to find out was to go back to the library and find out. Hopefully there they would have some sort of documentation regarding the family lines of the townspeople.
I walked with hurried purpose to back to the library. As I entered the librarian gave me a, what the hell are you doing back again look, as I rushed past her to the records department. I must have spent a good 30 to 45 minutes looking through town documents and letters without any luck. That was when I decided to look through town newspapers. Somehow there was a town newspaper that had spanned the entirety of the town’s existence. Who or what kept it going was a mini mystery in itself, but not one I had time to look through right now. I was dedicated to my current task of finding proof of my heritage. After looking through the papers I finally found what I was looking for. Slowly but surely, I was able to match birth announcements in the newspaper to the dates listed on the family tree. Sure enough in each article it always read “Newest Addition to the Bennett Family” followed by the name and time of birth of each member of the family tree and who the said child was related too. I must have sat there for hours mapping out my own family tree to compare to the old one from the safe.
Once I completed the new family tree, I compared it with the old one. Apparently, of the original Bennett children, only the twin sons ever had children. Whereas Lilly Bennett hailed from Westley Bennett, I descended from William’s side. I sat there swimming in feelings of frustration, anger, and guilt. The very family that had caused so much heartbreak, pain, and suffering was not a stranger’s family but instead my own. I was every bit as responsible for the horrors of the past as they had been. As I sat there I made a decision, one that I wouldn’t back down from then or in the future. The past wasn’t going to stay buried and forgotten, it wasn’t going to be spoken with disgust or indifference, it wasn’t going to be talked about in hushed whispers, and it certainly wasn’t going to be perpetuated. Instead the past was going to be laid bare, spoken of in reverence, and brought to light.
I wrapped up what I was doing and headed back to the hotel to finish up my nightly duties and try to come to grips with my new found heritage. Once back in my room I pulled out the pocket watch from my pocket. I played with it between my hands and felt the smoothness and coolness of the metal, and I placed it by my ear. I let the slow ticking soothe my nerves as I lay down on the sofa. I began to slowly drift off while the clock steadily moved its hands unseen, putting me to restful sleep.
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