<strong>Jack</strong><br/>Jack woke up with a start, the sound of static blaring in his ears. He looks at the alarm clock beside the bed, the source of the sound. Slapping the off button, the cozy little hotel room fills with silence. It was supposed to be a radio alarm, apparently the station hadn't been set correctly. At least it had woken him up, like it was supposed to.<br/><br/>Through the lacy white curtains the first light of dawn breaks. He climbs out of bed, the floor giving a gentle creek beneath him. The hotel was once obviously a house, the rooms converted for commercial use. It still felt like a home, though, with all the little creaks and squeaks. Jack's room was small, but it had its own bathroom, shower, and a comfortable bed.<br/><br/>Jack showered, dressed, and left for work, heading downstairs to the hotel's foyer. A small front desk dominated the little room. Each morning, no matter how early Jack got up, the owner of the hotel, Mrs. Edina, would be sitting at the desk preparing for another day. This day, however, Jack arrived in the foyer to find her missing at her post.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Eric</strong><br/>Eric opened his eyes, and found himself staring up at a very familiar ceiling. For a moment, he felt like he was ten years old again.<br/><br/>Downstairs, Scrap was barking, the sound that had awoken him. Eric lay in bed, expecting to hear his grandmother give the excited terrier a talking to. After a few minutes of uninterrupted barking, however, it seemed Grammy was perhaps too used to it.<br/><br/>Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Eric got up and walked down the stairs. Scrap paused and turned at the sound of Eric's approach. The dog stood before the front door. Eric could see that Scrap had been so excited, he had clawed at the door, striping its peeling white paint at the bottom.<br/><br/>The small dog regarded Eric for only a moment before it turned and resumed its barking at the door, scraping at it as if trying to get at an intruder on the other side.<br/>