“Wait!” Lola exclaimed “I remember something mother used to tell me!”

“what did she tell you?” I asked. 

“It was a story she told me once the night before she, um, left.” she trailed off, not wanting to remember what happened that night.

“Nevermind that” she continued “the story was about a little boy who lost his friend while playing in the dark, the little boy tripped and fell into a ditch and, well, he died” 

“Oh well that was a bit frightening for a bedtime story,” responded Elizabeth, “but go on” 

“Anyway” she continued, “After the little boy died his friend went looking for him in the dark, when he found his friend's body he was so sad that he didn't know what do to himself, and-” 

“ok lola, your rambling, can we please get to the point” I requested 

“oh yes of course.” 

“the boy wanted to bring his friend back so he took his hat and hugged it close and said ‘in life and in death, in sorrow and in joy, you will always be my friend, forever to the end’ mother told me to say those words whenever I was feeling alone in life, and she would be there, but I’ve long forgotten those words since shes passed.” 

As Lola ended, Elizabeth started slowly crying to herself, to see what the matter was I asked “Beth are you okay?” 

In that moment she burst out in tears crying “THAT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!” 

Once I realized they were happy tears I calmed down, and so did Beth. “So What you're saying is that if we say those words, your mother would appear and you could go home?” I questioned with a hint of hope in my words.  

“Yes” said Lola, looking not somber for once, “ok we could try it, but if this doesn’t work, I don't know what will” and with that we sat on the rotting floor in a circle like how we did before, and spoke the words in unison.

“In life and in death, in sorrow and in joy, you will always be my mother, forever to the end” as lola hugged her mothers scarf she started to say it louder, the wind picked up, and louder the windows shuddered, and louder, Tree branches hit the windows as if someone was trying to get in, it continued until we felt a cold rush of air flood in the room, I squinted open my eyes, I saw a woman standing in the middle of the circle looking to be in her late thirties, early forties, she had long dark hair just like Lola’s and she wore a long blue dress with a large crinoline and a blue corset with poofy sleeves, I tapped Lola’s hand and she opened her eyes, shortly after Beth did the same,

“It can't be, it can't” I heard Lola whisper,

The woman looked at lola with a look of sadness

“Dear God, child what ever happened to you,” The woman muttered, “Your hair it’s unkempt and your dress, it is stained of old,” she continued,

“Is that, is that really you?” Lola asked, eyes brimming with tears.

“Yes, it's me, but what had happened to you, why are you still a child, by God did they never let you out!”

“No, the hotel closed and they never found me, I was here for years alone, you never came back!” Lola yelled, She was sobbing now. 

Her mother saw her destress and embraced the girl,

“Thank you both” She muttered, turning to me and Elizabeth “You saved my child from being trapped for eternity, I can't thank you two enough”

“Oh, It wasn't’ any trouble” I mumbled quietly, I felt myself blush, nobody had ever been happy when I helped them,

Lola’s mother was now holding her child in a long warm hug.

“I wish I could stay but we don't belong here, goodbye children, thank you” The woman said.

“Bye Cass, bye Beth” Lola mumbled while waving

“Will we ever see you again?” I asked, my eyes brimmed with tears, and when I looked so did Eilzabeth’s

“Maybe” Lola replayed, but her voice trailed in a whisper

With that she and her mother disappeared leaving an outline of fog where they once stood

Elizabeth pressed her face against my side and I feel her tears, I held her by her shoulders

“Beth, they don’t belong here, wherever they are now, they're happier, think of that” I whispered to Elizabeth

She wiped her nose on her arm and mumbled, “Okay,” in a shaky voice.

“But what if they're just gone,” she muttered.

We walked hand in hand out the door of the hotel and into the woods behind it, we didn't know where else to go, through a trail in the woods we came upon a graveyard covered in moss and ivy and found two stones next to each other, One read ‘Here lies Clara Robertson, Beloved daughter of Alice and Albbert Barlow. 1586 - 1622 not dead, but resting from life's weary toll.’ and the second one read, ‘Lola Robertson, Beloved daughter of Clara and Oliver Robertson 1616 - 1622, A child never found, never more will her smiles be shared’

“They never found her body,” Elizabeth whispered.

“I know” I replied, stricken with sadness 

We heard a sound just then.