Every moment with Emma felt so right. She was just so outgoing that it felt so fun having her around. A total contrast to the kind of person he was. Maybe that was the reason he feels so attracted to her. They both spent the day by going around the town on foot and experiencing the everyday lives of the locals. They both went in stores and tried out weird looking hats and sunglasses only to come out with only a bunch of fridge magnets.
As dusk approached, they took a cab to the beach to witness a splendid sunset over the waters of the Andaman Sea. The sky was bright yellow, then it turned into a spectacular iridescent orange and finally, a deep indigo as the sun dipped below the clear azure sea. What a sight to behold.
They were sitting on the warm beach sand when Joseph turned to look at Emma who had already set her eyes on him. Those blue eyes looked more beautiful the longer he stared into them. Her smile as she was looking at him was sweeter than a jar of candy. She looked so amazing that he just kept on looking at her. This too, was a feeling that he had not felt in a very, very long time.
The ride back was quiet but so full of sparks. None of them said a word in the cab ride back to the hotel. It was because both of them were exhausted, if it were up to them, they wouldn't stop talking to each other. Emma leaned her head on Joseph's chest all the way back. The silence of their words were replaced by the loudness of their actions.
Joseph helped Emma get out of the taxi when they reached the hotel. He held her hand to support her exiting the vehicle. Then she just continued holding his hand and led him back up to their rooms. They passed by the bellboy who helped Joseph the day before as they walked together lazily towards the elevator. The bellboy nodded at Joseph out of recognition with a slight smirk on his face and he nodded back in acknowledgement, a grin on his.
"Well… here we are… Room 403 and 404." Emma sighed in disappointment.
"I guess all good things do come to an end, huh." Joseph continued.
"It doesn't have to."
"Right. Wanna go island hopping with me tomorrow?"
"That sounds good, but," She said as she drew in closer, "what are we doing tonight?"
Joseph stuttered. How does one respond to that?
"Come into my room." Emma invited ever so coyly, "Just say 'yes'." She helped him answer when she saw his mouth gaping open like goldfish. Emma opened her door and pulled Joseph along by his pants' waist.
When they walked in, she told him to go wait by the bed because she needed to change her clothes in the toilet. He did not resist one bit. Joseph emptied his pockets onto the bedside table. He did that through habit. For one, his room back home had a bedside table and he would put his things right next to his alarm clock. Also, this room was identical to his next door. It became a tendency.
Joseph paced the room thinking on about how luck was his now. He felt like the universe was gifting him so much in such a short span of time from being able to travel all the way to Asia to being able to spend the night with a stunning girl in her room. This trip is perfect, he reminded himself as he plopped down on the foot of the bed.
"Ouch." Joseph blurted. His head hit something hard on the bed. He sat up and looked around and saw that there was nothing there. What was that? He decided to stand up and pat around on the bed but nothing was there. So Joseph started to apply pressure around the surface of the bed while crawling on the bed to see if he could find anything. A bump. He found it. Must be something under the bed, he thought.
The bedframe had side skirting that covered the empty space beneath the bed. Joseph only noticed this when he tried peeking the hard stuff that was poking out from below. Nothing can ruin tonight, he said to himself.
Joseph stood up and walked around to the side of the bed facing the window. He slid his fingers underneath the mattress before attempting to lift it up and see what was underneath. Before he could lift it up, his fingers retracted. They had felt something cold on the underside of the mattress.
Taking a look at his fingers, he could not digest what he was seeing. His fingers were stained with a red liquid. That can't be it, right? Joseph slid his fingers back in quickly before he finally lifted the mattress. What he saw turned his blood to ice and his limbs to jelly.
Trapped between the mattress and the bedframe was a mangled body of a man wrapped in translucent plastic. His face was contorted, his body bleeding from all over the place, his eyes milky white, his throat slit wide open. Blood covered the whole bottom side of the mattress. Most spots were starting to dry, some were still very much wet and tinted in gruelling red splotches.
The bathroom door slammed shut. Emma stood in front of the bathroom in a baggy pink T-shirt and cotton shorts. Her blue eyes stared in shock and her mouth was wide open. Then her whole face turned into an expression of disappointment.
"No, baby. No. You weren't supposed to find that yet."