The room was dark. Pitch black. She was sure that she wouldn't even be able to see her hand in front of her eyes.

It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't lying in bed. In fact, she was standing upright, the cold stone floor digging into her bare feet. Did I sleepwalk? she thought, but it didn't feel right. She'd never sleepwalked before. What is going on?

She lifted her hand and flinched as it brushed something on her side. A leaf. It rustled, the noise sounding like something was walking. Ashley took a deep breath. This was not the right moment to freak out.

Slowly stretching out her arm, she tested her surroundings. There were plants around her, right above her and in front of her. But not behind her. Where the hell was she? Cautiously turning around, she took a step. A second one. The floor stayed the same cold stone. The plants around her changed but they weren't naturally grown, she was sure of that. The distance to their stems was too even.

She walked, always one hand to her left, the other to her front. What felt like a hundred steps couldn't have been more than ten. In the dark, nothing seemed real. Time had stopped.

A plant was right in front of her. She quickly stopped in her tracks, feeling around to see if this was a dead end. When her fingers brushed something warm in between the leaves, she yelped and jumped backward. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. That hadn't been a plant. That had been a hand. A hand that now grabbed her wrist, soothingly caressing the back of her hand.

A woman. A woman's voice said something, whispering calming words. Ashley's heart was racing but her mind was empty. Every thought she had had, was gone. Vanished.

She could see the silhouette of the woman in front of her. Her hair was put up in a bun. She had delicate shoulders and a tight, long dress. Ashley blinked, trying to clear her vision. The light got brighter, even if she didn't know where it came from.

The woman was still talking, now she had taken both of Ashley's hands in hers. Even if Ashley didn't understand what she was saying, the words calmed her down and made her breathe more regularly.

Ilse was smiling at her. Ashley's lips quivered as she tried to smile back. Her heartbeat slowed down. She knew this woman. She knew this place – or did she? It didn't matter. She was safe. She felt safe.

The plants around her were all in pots, the marble floor was white with black swirls. Behind Ilse, Ashley could see panes of glass shielding them from the outside world. Lights on the roof were too bright and the glass mirrored the woman's back, but Ashley saw the snow outside, falling slowly, covering the world in white.

And then she realized she had no reflection. Horror made her body stiffen, as she looked at Ilse's reflection, standing in front of emptiness.

Ilse smiled. She slowly raised Ashley's hand and pressed a kiss on her ring.

Then the world was dark again, and the cold floor under her feet disappeared.

"Come on Ashley," Kris said, roughly grabbing the redhead's shoulder and shaking it. "Wake up, we're leaving."

Ashley drowsily opened her eyes. Everything was blurry at first, but then her vision started to focus on the face in front of hers, and the ceiling above her. She mumbled something inaudible and turned to the other side.

"Ashley," Kris sighed. "Seriously. I don't want to spend any second longer than necessary in this hotel. Let's just leave."

"She's still not waking up?" another voice chimed in. It took Ashley's brain a moment to connect it with a face. Colby. "Is she okay?"

"I think so, she's just refusing to stay awake." Kris sounded frustrated.

"Ash, come on. We can finally leave."

Ashley squinted and pulled her blanket up to her chin. Colby sighed and put his hands on his hips.

"Jeez, Ashley, what happened? Yesterday you jumped out of bed five seconds after your alarm rang. Do I need to bring an air horn?" Kris asked, nudging her shoulder again.

Ashley wanted to get up. She wanted to sit up and quickly change. She didn't want to keep lying in bed in this damned hotel.

"What do we do, pull her out of bed?" Colby suggested. "Or pull the blanket off her. That'll probably work too."

"I don't think so," Kris said. "Ashley, seriously though. Are you alright? Did you stay awake long?"

Ashley shook her head sloppily. Her eyes were falling close again.

"What's going on here?" Sam asked, entering the room. "I just spoke to the manager. We'll get compensation for the night we were forced to spend here and don't have to pay for it. Let's go, shall we?"

"Ashley is refusing to wake up," Kris explained. Her voice sounded far, far away. Ashley was barely able to hear Sam's snort anymore, her mind was drifting off.

A snap in front of her eyes brought her back to reality.

"Jesus Ashley, what, are you passing out?" Colby asked. "Come on, don't you want to leave?"

She took a deep breath and slowly began sitting up. Her body felt unnaturally heavy, and she wished she could ask someone for help, but the others had already turned away to continue packing. Ashley's vision blurred, and that was when she realized that something might not be right.

Only a croak escaped her mouth as she tried to speak. Then her left arm gave in, and she slid to the floor.

As soon as she lost touch with the mattress, her head snapped up, suddenly wide awake. "Oh my god," she mumbled, freeing herself from the sheets. "What the fuck."

"You alright?" Colby asked.

"Well, now I am," she sighed, quickly rubbing a hand over her face. "That was fucking weird."

"What, that you didn't want to get up? Yeah, I think so too. How did you wake up so quickly yesterday after half the amount of sleep of today?" Kris asked. She was closing her bag on the other bed, stuffing one last purse in it.

"No, I wanted to get up, but I physically couldn't. Whatever, I was probably just tired." Ashley took clothes from her bag and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. The smiley on the mirror was gone again, and she, following an impulse, breathed against it to draw another one. This time its mouth was turned upside down, looking sad. She sighed and began changing.

After she had quickly refreshed herself in the same way as the day before, and brushed her teeth, Ashley walked back into the room. The others were done packing already, all bags standing next to the door. Ashley hurried up and just threw her clothes and other stuff in her bag after checking that everything was there – including the ring.

She knew she should be happy about leaving. Probably relieved. But something in her pulled her back to the bed, pulled her back to sleep, to the dream. The dream she'd had. With Ilse. But it had just been a dream. Her brain, trying to process the day's events.

"Ashley, are you coming?" Kris called from the door. The redhead nodded absentmindedly and turned around, grabbing her bag.

Sam held the camera as they locked the doors one last time.

"Bye, bye, hotel room that will give me nightmares," Kris said silently. "I won't miss you..."

Sam, Colby, and Kris were silently talking all the way down the stairs, and Ashley followed them a few steps behind. She wasn't concentrating on their conversation; her thoughts were replaying the dream over and over again.

They were on the third floor when she stopped. Ashley turned around and glanced at the painting of Ilse. The woman in her dream had looked just like her, but her smile had been... more honest? It had reached further than her eyes, embracing her whole body.

"Ashley, what is going on?" Colby asked. He walked the stairs up to stand next to her.

"I don't know," she muttered. "I kind of want to stay, you know?"

"Can't relate," he scoffed. "Come on. Let's go." He slightly touched her arm, motioning for her to follow him. "Please, Ashley, you're like actually freaking me out right now."

Now that she had said it, she felt her body refuse to move again. Why would she ever say she wanted to stay? It horrified her. The thought of spending another night here. Staring into Ilse's eyes. She felt her heart speed up again until she felt a pounding pain behind her temples. Her mouth was dry, and even though she could feel the comfortable feeling from before, it didn't feel comfortable anymore at all.

"Ashley!" Colby called out.

She ripped her gaze away from the painting and rushed to the stairs. Two steps lower, her feet tripped over something, and she was sent flying down the steps. A scream erupted from her lips. For a split second, she was convinced this was it. She would hit her head on the stairs and die. Ashley couldn't feel her legs anymore. Her bag was somewhere, probably rolling down the stairs. Her hands were searching for anything to hold onto, but there was nothing but thin air.