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  D. K. KNIGHT

  Dead Rose Garden

  First published by D. K. KNIGHT 2022

  Copyright © 2022 by D. K. KNIGHT

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  D. K. KNIGHT asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  D. K. KNIGHT has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

  Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

  Author Note: This work of fiction makes references to cannibalism, violence, frightening situations, and blood shed. By reading this, you have accepted the written work of this author in it’s entirety and released the author from all liabilities.

  First edition

  ISBN: 9781005944773

  This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

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  Dead Rose Garden

  Jessica Danes arrived at the Rose Garden Hotel in the town of Rosewater just two days after her parents were killed in an accident with a drunk driver. Now Jessica is your typical 17 year old and she had the world on her shoulders. She was a gymnast with black hair and a great physical form, a popular high school boyfriend until that day happened and her parents were lost. Jessica’s whole world died that day and for 48 grueling hours she was trying to put the pieces together about what happened, a woman opened the door and Jessica snapped out of her blank stare to see a lady in her 70’s watching her. The social worker helped her out and grabbed her stuff from the trunk of the car. They both ascended the stairs and met the woman at the top.

  “I am Mrs.Winters the owner and your new Guardian,” she huffed.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” they both replied simultaneously.

  “Those are gorgeous roses you have here,” the social worker commented.

  “Yes they are and they are rated the best in the county,” she responded.

  Mrs.Winters turned and led the way into the hotel and Jessica noticed that the place had only four other people in the building. Jessica was met by a young man who grabbed her bag without a word and started to head up the stairs to her room.

  “Follow my grandson to your room and then after you settle in come back down for supper while I tend to paper work,” Mrs.Winters ordered.

  “Yes Ma’am,” Jessica responded.

  Jessica turned and ran to catch up with the bellboy. As she ascended the stairs, the young man turned and smiled. He turned around and continued to ascend up the stairs and she continued to follow. As they walked down the hall Jessica noticed a painting on the wall that gave her an eerie feeling. The young man stopped a couple doors down from painting, placed the key into the door and then opened it and entered. He turned to Jessica after placing her bag on the bed.

  He said, “Hello, I am Kyle, and if you need anything please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “It is a pleasure to meet you,” she replied.

  Before another word could be spoken Kyle turned and walked out the door. Jessica decided to unpack and place her clothes in the dresser, and after taking a few minutes to herself, she exited her room. As she started to walk down the hall, she turned and examined the painting on the wall, but as she examined it, she noticed that the painting looked just like her mom and dad. Later she arrived down stairs and headed to the dining room. A table was already set and Kyle was waiting. Mrs.Winters came in and sat down as the kitchen staff prepared a stew for the evening meal. After the meal Jessica decided to head up to bed for the night.

  She politely asked,“May I be excused for the night ma’am?”

  Without a word Mrs.Winters nodded with approval. Jessica headed up stairs to her room, and decided to take a shower. As she got undressed, and turned on the water to get in, she had this sudden feeling like someone was watching her. She quickly wrapped up and went into the rest of the room and saw no one there, so she returned to the bathroom and jumped in the shower. After she got into her nightgown and climbed into bed, she fell asleep. A short while later a noise suddenly woke her up. She quickly got out of bed, and crept across the room. She noticed the clock said it was 2:00 am in the morning. As she reached the door, and as quietly as she could, she opened the door, and noticed Kyle dragging a large black bag down the stairs. Jessica remained quiet as she wandered over to the railing, and as she peered down through the rail, she saw him dragging it across the lobby, and towards the kitchen. Jessica moved closer to the stairs, and just as she was about to get up to descend them, a hand touched her shoulder causing her to jump and scream. As she turned, she saw Mrs.Winters.

  “What are you doing out here young lady?” she asked.

  Jessica was about to answer when a voice rang out from below.

  “Is everything okay?” the young man asked.

  “Yes,” they both replied.

  Jessica stared at Mrs.Winters and spoke, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t sleep because I was woken up by a thumping noise. I will return to bed now ma’am.”

  Mrs.Winters stared at her as she returned to her room, and as Jessica entered the room, closing the door she put her ear to the door and indistinctly heard chatter fading in the distance as the voice of Mrs.Winters traveled back down the hall. Jessica climbed back into bed, and managed to fall asleep for the rest of the night.

  The next morning Jessica got up and got dressed, and headed down stairs for breakfast. As she passed the lobby she noticed luggage sitting there but no one was around. She continued on to the dining room, and sat down, then moments later a member of the kitchen staff brought out breakfast.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  The staff member walked away and returned to the kitchen. After breakfast Jessica decided to wander around the grounds and check out the place she would call home. She got up and sauntered through the back doors and outside in the back of the grounds. She proceeded to walk around, and eventually she came across the famous rose garden. As she opened the gate and wandered in.

  A voice called out, “Hey, don’t go in there, Mrs.Winters will get very upset.”

  Jessica turned and saw a handsome tanned young man walking towards her.

  “Hi, I am Jessica,” she introduced herself.

  “I am Omar,” he replied back.

  Omar ushered her out of the gate to the garden, closed and locked the gate up. Jessica was confused about why she couldn’t just enter the garden to look around. Omar spent the rest of the day escorting her around to keep an eye on her, so that she doesn’t enter into the garden, the storehouse, or the basement which were all off limits. During the rest of the day, Omar and Jessica enjoyed each other’s company and conversations. She explored where she was allowed to go, and he remained by her side for the duration. The day wore on and it was about time for Omar to head home for the evening. They walked over to his truck.

  “I had a wonderful day hanging out with you,” she told him.

  He smiled at her as he was climbing into his truck and rolled the window down.

  “So did I, maybe we can do it again sometime?” he asked her.

  She gave him a slight shy smile, and responded, “I would like that sometime, see you around.”

  Omar smiled as she stepped away from the truck and sauntered away heading back inside as darkness began to fall. Jessica headed up stairs to wash up for dinner, and a short time later headed to the dining room for dinner, and as she approached the table Mrs.Winters and Kyle were already receiving their food. Jessica sat down to eat her food.

  “I heard you tried to enter the garden today, well I will let you know now that no one is allowed in there except me,” she told her with an irritated edge on her voice.

  “I am sorry, I didn’t know, and Omar advised me after,” Jessica responded.

  “Well that is no excuse, and I hope he told you the basement, and Storehouse are off limits as well. If I find you have been in any of those places I will severely punish you, now get out of my sight child,” she said firmly.

  Jessica was forced to eat in another room, afterward Jessica headed to her room to shower before bed. She finished up and got dressed, climbed into bed and fell asleep. Around 2:00 am she heard a loud thump again, except this time in the room next to her, and opened her door a crack. No one was around and so she knocked on the door, and got no answer. She figured she was just hearing things, and headed back to bed.

  The next morning as she was coming out of her room, she accidentally ran into Kyle who was bringing luggage out of the room next to hers. He quickly shut the door as she bumped him.

  “Hey, what are you doing?”
Jessica asked.

  He set the bags down as he replied, “I am removing luggage from the room and putting it in the lobby for holding. The couple who were in the room broke a few things and made a hole in the wall, so they have to pay or we take their stuff as payment till they reimbursed the hotel for damages.”

  “Oh, okay, well let me help you out then,” she responded as she picked up a couple of bags.

  They walked down the stairs together, and he showed her the closet where they could be stored. During breakfast, Mrs.Winters came into the dining room, she stood there staring over at Kyle and Jessica.

  “Today, Jessica, you will not wander, everyone here helps out and you will be a new maid. I expect you to be up by 7:00 am every morning and ready to go for the day. You will eat breakfast around 8:00 am and by 9:00 am I expect you to help clear out the rooms, clean them up, and put fresh linens. Kyle, you will help her till she gets a handle on it, and I expect you to make sure she knows where the luggage goes if a guest damages the room as collateral.” she told them.

  “Yes ma’am,” they both responded as she turned and marched out of the room.

  After breakfast Jessica followed Kyle to the closet where they kept the cart, and he showed her how to put it together with supplies for the room, and notepads to write down any damage to the room.

  ”Now it is very simple. You enter the room, write down the damage, and put new blankets, and sheets, empty the garbage, and pick up the questionable items some people leave behind. Afterwards I will show you where the laundry room is to wash the blankets, sheets, pillowcases, and more,” he told her.

  “Okay,” she replied.

  “I will be back in a bit to see how you are doing,” he told her as he walked away.

  Jessica used her key to unlock the door that was next to her room. She put on her rubber gloves and noticed a used condom on the night table.

  “Eww, that is gross,” she said out loud.

  She picked it up and threw it in the garbage can, then she picked it up and dumped it in the main garbage bag attached to the cart. She re-entered the room and began to clear the blankets and found a small blood stain on the sheet

  “Great, that is disgusting, it is called a pad or tampon,” she said.

  She continued to strip the bed and put fresh clean linens. After she finished, she moved on to cleaning the rest of the room, and next to the dresser near the bathroom door, she knelt down and discovered a tooth. She entered the bathroom, and noticed a few drops of blood. She dropped the tooth in the sink and rushed out of the room, and ran into Mrs.Winters.

  “Why are you rushing? And why are you not done yet in that room? I need to have Omar fix the holes in the wall, and replace the broken lamp you forgot to pick up,” she yelled at her.

  “I am sorry ma’am, I found a tooth, and some blood in the sink, and a blood stain on the sheet,” she responded.

  “Well let’s take a look then,” she snapped.

  They entered the room and then she walked over to the sink, and saw the blood drops, and the tooth, then she walked back out of the room.

  “The couple who rented this room got into an argument, and she must have knocked out his tooth with the lamp, he must have fallen on the bed and was bleeding. And that would explain the blood on the sheet, and the bathroom sink, because she had a busted lip. I ordered them out of the hotel, and then they were gone,” she told her.

  Jessica stared at her in awe, and didn’t say anything at all. Then Mrs.Winters walked away. The rest of the afternoon Jessica finished the room ,and moved onto the next. The rest of the week it was the same, she would get up, eat, and then she would work at cleaning the rooms of the hotel. Occasionally her and Omar would get a few minutes to hangout, and sometimes sneak into a room to make out. It appears Jessica has found a guy who has gained her affection. This went on for several weeks, and as time went on she settled into her role as a house cleaner. Jessica however did notice that strange noises and behaviors happened only at night and she noticed that some of the staff were acting strange as well. Jessica knew if she wanted to look into the strange occurrences, she would have to break the rules in order to discover the secrets behind the Rose Garden Hotel.

  The following day, she continued to do her duties to avoid the wrath of Mrs. Winters.

  “Jessica, take out the trash in the kitchen after you have finished the rooms,” Mrs. Winters ordered.

  “Yes ma’am, right away,” she responded back.

  Mrs.Winters turned and walked away. Jessica left the cart, and headed down stairs to the kitchen, where she grabbed the garbage bags and headed out back to the garbage bins. After a short walk, she opened the lid and screamed, dropped the bags, and ran away. Back at the hotel she burst through the door and ran into Kyle who was mopping the kitchen floor.

  “Kyle, Kyle, I…I…I found a head in the trash,” she stammered to get out.

  “Wow, slow down, what are you talking about?” he asked.

  Breathing heavily, she caught her breath and responded, “I found a head in the trash, come quick, now.”

  Kyle and Jessica exited the hotel and Kyle followed her out back to the garbage bins. Jessica threw open the lid and Kyle stood there confused because he didn’t see any head in the trash bin.

  “Jessica, I do not see anything. Where did you see the head?” he asked.

  “It was right there in the bin,” she replied.

  “Well, I don’t see it. Are you sure you’re not imagining things?” he responded back.

  Jessica pushed him out of the way and looked again and saw nothing, so she started to pull bags out of the bin and still nothing.

  “I swear, I saw something in the bin, please you have to believe me,” she told him.

  He stared at her and then they both jumped when they heard a voice yell out.

  Mrs.Winters stood at the door yelling out, “Stop playing in the trash, put those back in the bin you wretched children.”

  Jessica and Kyle both hurried to place the bags in the bin and headed back to the hotel. Mrs. Winters stared at them as they returned to finish out the day of work and headed to supper. That night Jessica lay in her room going over everything in her head about what she saw in the trash, but still confused about where it could have been or if it was even real. As she lay there drifting off to sleep, she sprang up in bed as she heard children laughing. Jessica jumped up and quickly heard it again as she opened the door and saw nothing, not a single person around, actually it was quieter than usual at night. And so she closed the door, lay on the bed and drifted off to sleep. As time passed she forgot all about the head and the noises that were occurring at night. All was quiet and she figured she was just scared because it was a strange place, new people. After all, she thought as she cleaned the rooms, her parents died and nothing else has happened since.