Taylor got up off the floor.
"What happened?" he thought to himself. He stood up and stumbled a bit. "Where am I?"
He caught his balance. Taylor looked around the room. He realized that he was in the hotel room with Isaac and Brooke. They were sleeping on the bed. He rubbed his neck. It felt sore. He shrugged. It took him a few more moments to come to his full senses.
"Elaine!" he thought suddenly. He ran over to the door that led to the other room. He threw the door opened. The room was empty. The covers on the bed were slightly messed up. Other than that, the room looked exaclty like he had left it, only Elaine was nowhere in sight.
"Elaine!" he called. No answer. "Elaine!" he called again. Silence. He walked back into the the room to join Brooke and Isaac.
"Isaac," he said, shaking his brother lightly. He laid still. "Ike?" he said again. Isaac didn't wake up. He went over to the other side of the bed and did the same to Brooke who gave the same reaction as Isaac. Taylor started to panic. He leaned over Brooke and shouted in Isaac's ear. No response. He felt Issac's neck for a pulse. He could feel a very faint, steady pulse. However, he felt soemthing else as well. Isaac's neck felt a little swollen. He lifted his fingers off Isaac's neck and say a little dot on his neck.
"What?" he thought to himself. He searched Brooke's neck as well and found the same dot. He ran over to the mirror and looked at his neck. He too had the mark.
"What the heck?" he mumbled. Taylor started thinking rapidly. "Oh god!" he exclaimed suddenly. "No way!" He started to panic.
"We've been drugged!" he said in disbelief. He tried desperately to think clearly.
"Where's Zac and Hope?" he said aloud to himself. "Zac?" he called. "Hope?" he mumbled. He didn't want to leave Isaac and Brooke but what choice did he have? He needed to look for Elaine and Zac.
Taylor walked over to the door and opened it. He peered down the hallway. Nothing. He turned around to look at Isaac and Brooke. They started moving. He ran over to them.
"Ike?"Taylor asked.
Isaac opened his eyes.
"Taylor!" he exclaimed. Taylor leaned down over his brother and gave him a hug. Brooke was awake by this point.
"What happened?" Brooke asked, groggily.
"We were drugged," Taylor replied. "Do you guys know where Elaien or Zac went by any chance?" Taylor asked.
"Hope and Zac went up to your room upstairs," Brooke replied, sitting up.
"What about Elaine?" Taylor asked frantically.
"She was in the other room with you," Isaac said. He too was sitting up by this point.
"Why? You can't find her?" Brooke asked worridly.
"She was suppose to wait in the room for me," Taylor told. "I need to go look for her," he told them.
"I'm coming too!" Brooke announced.
"No, you aren't feeling well," Taylor told her.
"Look fry boy, i feel fine. I'm going to help you find Elaine," she said. She got out of the bed. She stumbled a bit then caught her balance. "Let me use the bathroom and change real quick," she told him. She was dizzy and lightheaded but somehow managed to hobble over to Hope's things and steal an outfit then hobble to the bathroom.
"Isaac, I odn't want to leave you," Taylor told him once Brooke was in the bathroom.
"I'm coming too," Isaac told him.
"Ike! You can't! Your back!" Taylor told him.
"Taylor, thanks, but I'll be okay. Besdies, I'm not going to sit around useless. We got them into this mess, now we have to get them out of it," Isaac told him.
"But Ike, we didn't know this would happen!" Taylor told him.
"But it did. Now, I'm helping," Isaac told him. He stood up. Brooke came out of the bathroom. She had removed the wrap around her head. Her hair was tied back and she wore a skirt and a halter top.
"What kinda person is Hope?" Brooke asked, pointing to the clothes. "Whatever!"
"We ready then?" Taylor asked, sighing.
"Yep!" Brooke answered. "Isaac! You're up!" she exclaimed suddenly, noticing him standing up. "And you don't have a shirt on........" Brooke smiled.
"We can talk about Isaac's body later. Right now we have to find Zac, Hope, and Elaine," Taylor announced. Brooke and Isaac nodded. Taylor walked over to the door and stepped out into the hallway. Brooke and Isaac followed. The three of them went to the stairs and up to the room. The door to the room was wide open.
"Zac?" Isaac called. Immediately they heard running. Zac came plowing towards them.
"Isaac! You're up!" Zac exclaimed, hugging Isaac tightly.
"Yeah! But not if you keep squeezing," Isaac told him lightly. Zac let go.
"Where's Hope?" Brooke asked.
Hope came into view. "I'm right here," she replied.
"What are you guys doing up here?" Taylor asked.
"We went up here to look for food. Don't be so uptight," Hope told him.
"Good thing you were up here," Brooke told them.
"Why's that?" Zac asked.
"We were drugged," Isaac replied. Zac's eyes widened. "But we're okay. No big deal!" Isaac added, quickly.
"Where's your chick?" Hope asked Taylor.
"She's not my chick, never will be my chick. In fact, I don't want her as my chick. Got it?" Taylor snapped.
"Snapping much?" Hope said. "You're like a little snapping turtle. That's it! I'll call you turtle from now. Taylor "The Snapping Turtle". It has a nice ring to it," Hope said, grinning.
"Anyways!" Brooke exclaimed. "We don't know where Elaine is. We came to get you guys so we can be together and look for her," Brooke told Hope and Zac.
Hope and Zac exchanged looks.
"Okay," Zac finally said. "Let's go look." The five of them started down the hallway. They got to the doors that led to the stairs. Taylor pushed the door. Isaac helped Taylor. The door still refused to move. The five of them then pushed on the door. It opened with a thump.
"That was weird," Isaac mumbled. They stepped into the stair-well.
"Oh my god!" Brooke exclaimed. Her voice was shaking. She stood still and completely pale.
Taylor did the same.
"What's wrong?" Isaac asked. Brooke pointed. Laying on three steps down was a body. It was bloody and severely beat up. There was a knife sticking in the stomach. A piece of paper was laying on the stomach of the body with the knife through it. Brooke started shaking all over.
"Awesome!" Hope whispered to herself.
"You guys," Zac said nervously. "What are we going to do?"
"Run!" Taylor exclaimed.
"No! Wait you guys. I think I see a note," Hope told them. She stepped down to where the body was laying. She pulled the knife out of the body and picked up the note. She began to read: "Keep it up, and this will be you. Signed, a friend."
"Well, that's original," Hope said sarcastically. She picked up the knife and dropped the note then walked back up to them.
"Keep what up?" Brooke asked.
"I don't know," Taylor replied. Zac and Isaac both shot him a look.
"Taylor, can we talk to you for a minute?" Isaac asked. Before Taylor could answer, Zac and Isaac pulled him over to them. They whispered for a few minutes then broke apart.
"Brooke, Hope, there's something we need to tell you," Taylor sighed.
"What is it?" Brooke asked.
"Let's get out of this stair-well first," Taylor told them. The five of them stepped out of the stair-well and back into the hall. Taylor took a deep breath. Zac bit his lower lip. Isaac snapped his fingers nervously. The truth had to be told.
"You girls might want to sit down," Isaac told them. They both shook their heads no.
"I'll start," Isaac told them.