The Most Magical Place on Earth: Chapter 1 (Patreon)

"Oh, isn't it gorgeous?" Beth gasped as she stepped out of the shuttle, gazing up at the luxurious hotel splayed out in front of her.

Paul stumbled out behind her, dragging both of their suitcases awkwardly out of the bus as the people behind him scowled and waited impatiently, even though he was going as fast as he could. She'd offered to take her own case, but that had hardly seemed right... He was treating her to this vacation for their one year dating anniversary, and he wanted everything to be perfect - and her having to lug her own things into the hotel hardly felt perfect.

"Not nearly as gorgeous as you," he smiled as he finally stepped beside her, planting a kiss on the cheek. "Come on, let's go in!"

Beth nodded, taking the lead and heading towards the main entrance of the building. Paul stood there for a moment, watching her go and smiling, before hurrying after her, waiting in line patiently behind her at check-in. He'd put the room in her name when he'd reserved it, at her request, though of course he was paying for it - he didn't mind, or even really think twice about it. He loved spending money on her, showing her just how much he loved her, and if having her name on the room would make her feel better in some way, he wasn't about to protest that.

It hadn't really been an issue, except for once, a week ago, when he'd tried to call ahead to get a bottle of champagne on ice waiting in the room for them tonight when they arrived. "I'm sorry," the man who had answered the phone had told him, "only the person whose name is listed has the authorization to charge anything to the room."

"Well, my name is on the card that's paying for the room," Paul tried to explain.

"I'm afraid I can't verify that," the guy on the other end of the line said. "Since you paid online, I don't have access to that information."

That seemed like a fairly inefficient way of doing things, especially for such a big company, but Paul decided not to push it. If he was being honest, there was something about the man's voice - deep and professional, yet still somewhat condescending - that intimidated him just a little. He'd thought about suggesting Beth order the champagne instead, but then the surprise would be ruined.

There had been plenty of people on the shuttle from the airport, and more than Paul would have liked had gotten in line before them, but the staff was ready for them, well-trained, just as he would have expected from a hotel of this calibre, and they were at the front of the line before he knew it. Beth slipped the printed confirmation e-mail out of her purse and handed it over to the woman working the computer, who scanned it in.

A smile flickered across the woman's face as she looked at the screen, then glanced up - seemingly almost breaking into a giggle as she eyed Paul before her training kicked in, though that might have been his imagination. "Of course, we have everything all ready for you!" she chirped, sliding a small, white, paper envelope to Beth that Paul knew had their key cards inside. "It's the top floor, suite three. Do you need any help finding it?"

"No, I'm sure we can manage," Beth picked up the cards and started to walk away, towards the elevator, Paul following along behind her with the luggage. He paused for a moment, something sounding wrong about what the front desk clerk had just said, but Beth was already almost at the elevator, so he didn't worry too much about it and hurried after - they could always come back down to straighten things out if there really had been some sort of mistake.

"Are you sure you don't want me to take my suitcase?" she asked again as he fumbled his way into the elevator. "I don't mind..."

"I've got it," Paul told her confidently. She shrugged and hit the top button on the elevator, its doors closing with a pleasant chime. After the airport, the plane ride, the shuttle trip here, and the lobby, it felt like forever since they'd been alone. Paul leaned over and down, giving Beth another kiss, this one on the lips. "Are you excited?" he asked.

"Of course!" she grinned. "It's the most magical place on earth! And I get to teach you all about it!"

"I can't wait," he smiled back. He had to admit, he really was looking forward to it... Maybe it was a little silly - a grown man, getting excited about going to Disney World, a place for little kids - but he'd never been. Beth had been a few times before they started dating, and it was one of her favorite places, so when he'd told her he was taking her there for their anniversary, she was ecstatic, planning all of the rides they'd have to go on, every restaurant they had to eat out, everything. 

"I'm going to show you the best way to enjoy it!" she'd promised.

"Show me your ways, oh, great teacher," he'd teased.

"Don't you worry," she'd grinned. "I'll show you all sorts of things..."

The elevator doors slid open again, and they stepped out, looking for their door. Beth walked straight towards one that Paul's eyes had skipped over, sure that wasn't going to be theirs - yet, sure enough, when she swiped her key card, there was a quiet click and she was able to open the door.

Right away, Paul knew something wasn't quite right. He'd disregarded the door because, rather than being white like the others, it was pink, its room number - which he now saw quite clearly was, indeed, 3 - inlaid in gold. As soon as the door was open far enough, his suspicions were confirmed.

The entryway was an explosion of pink - pink walls, pink, tiled floor - that didn't seem to get better the further in you got. Once you got past the entrance, and the sculpture of Tinkerbell perched on the wall, her hand raised, ready to sprinkle her pixie dust, the tile turned to fluffy, pink carpet. The walls were painted to look like a fantasy forest, though one with an apparently pink sky. Other fairies, ones Paul assumed were from the Tinkerbell movies, not that he'd seen any of them, decorated the walls of the living room, which also had a sculpture of an elegant, white unicorn in one corner.

"What is this?" he asked, looking around in shock. He'd expected a fairly normal, though certainly nice, room, not one that seemed fit for a six year old girl. "There must have been a mistake..."

"Are you mad?" Beth asked, nibbling on her bottom lip nervously. "I was afraid you'd be mad..."

"Wait, you did this?" He looked around again, this time noticing that the pink 'sky' sparkled slightly, realized there must be glitter in the paint. Beth had never struck him as being this girly before. 

"We can go back to the old room!" she said. "It's just... This was where I stayed the first time I came to Disney World, as a little girl. They've updated it a little, but it's still very similar... I remember loving this place so much, and when I saw you'd booked a suite in the same hotel, I couldn't help but call in and see if this one was open instead. It is a little more expensive, but not much... If you hate it, though, we can probably get them to switch it back..."

He knew that she would go along with it if he said yes; he could also tell, from her tone alone, much less her expression, that she didn't want to. This wasn't exactly how he'd planned on spending his vacation, but it was still a nice, big room, and if it was what she wanted, he couldn't bring himself to tell her no. 

"It's fine," he smiled. 

"Thank you!" she clapped her hands, then threw her arms around him. He couldn't help giggling, briefly seeing her as the little girl who'd stayed here all those years ago. If he could bring a little of that pure, childish joy back, then this was all worth it.

"Come on, let me show you the bedroom!" she exclaimed, leading him to one of the closed doors, shaped to look like a castle tower. She threw it open, and inside there was a princess's bedroom. A huge canopy bed with a large, ornate headboard sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by pink drapes; as if to mirror that, the walls of the room had curtains hung on them as well, some pulled aside to show a large bay window with a comfortable looking window seat, or a large bookcase filled with replica knick-knacks from various Disney movies, and some closed. A couple large, plush chairs sat in various places around the room, and a long, padded bench ran along the foot of the bed. 

"Isn't it great?!" Beth gushed, finally taking her suitcase and plopping it down on the huge bed. 

"It is nice," he had to admit, even if it wasn't what he would have chosen. He set his suitcase down next to the bed, while Beth unzipped hers and began to unpack, slipping some of her clothes into the huge, ornate dresser on her side of the bed, then pulling back one set of curtains to reveal a door, which opened into a closet.

"I think you have a closet there, too," she gestured towards some curtains on his side of the bed. 

"Okay," he nodded, though he didn't care quite as much about unpacking right away. He did open up his suitcase, though, grabbing out a change of clothing. "I think I'm going to go take a shower," he told Beth, who nodded.

He headed back out into the living room, then into the other closed door he'd seen when he'd been in the room earlier. Sure enough, it was the bathroom, and quite the bathroom it was. There were two sinks - ornate, golden-framed mirrors hanging over each - a toilet, a claw-footed tub with a shower, and, most impressively, a jacuzzi. It was set into the floor, with a few small steps leading down into it, and the walls surrounding it had columns built into them, and stained glass windows, with the ceiling over top painted to look like a skylight looking up at a starry night, making it look like a sacred pool from some fairy tale castle.

He chuckled, shaking his head as he headed into the tub instead. It was undeniably fancy, and he wouldn't mind soaking in there some night with Beth, but he definitely didn't feel the need to indulge in it tonight. He never would have expected Beth to be into all of this, though, to be fair, nostalgia was a powerful thing. He was sure most little girls would fall in love with a room like this, and it wasn't too surprising that it would have made such an impact on her that she would still remember it all these years later.

By the time he finished cleaning up, refreshing himself a little from his day of travel, Beth was finished unpacking, and gathering up a change of clothes for herself. "Feel better?" she asked, turning and smiling at him as he stepped through the doorway, hair still damp.

"Yep," he replied. "Hey, where'd you put those key cards? I want to put mine in my wallet while I'm still thinking about it."

"It's on top of my dresser," she said, pointing at the small envelope sitting there. "They only gave us one, though... Weird, huh? We'll have to remember to get another one later."

"That is odd," he agreed. Why would the staff think they'd only need one card? He'd told them there were two adults staying there when he booked the room... Surely that would clue them in that they'd each need a key. But that was something simple enough to fix when they were back in the lobby. 

Paul still didn't really feel like unpacking, but with Beth in the shower, he didn't have much else to do, other than seeing what was on TV. If he kept putting off this, however, he might never get it done... Which wouldn't bother him all that much, but Beth wouldn't let him hear the end about it. He unzipped his suitcase, then turned to the closed drapes Beth said led to his closet. He pulled them aside, and, sure enough, there was a door there.

When he pushed it open, however, he didn't find a closet... Or, rather, not just a closet. His eyes widened as he stared into a whole other bedroom - similar to this one, but a bit smaller. The curtains around the bed were closed, as were most of the ones around the walls. Instead of the puffy armchairs in the other bedroom, there was a single wooden rocking chair, and a giant, pink teddy bear that looked taller than him. He stepped inside sniffing the air, detecting a faint, sweet scent that was dimly familiar, though he couldn't quite place it.

A faint ray of sunlight trickled in between two of the curtains, so he headed there first, pulling them aside to find another window seat, like the one in the main room. Or, that was what it seemed to be at first glance, anyway... As he sat on it to look out at the world below, he heard a slight crinkle. He put his hand down on the cushion and realized it was covered in plastic. He hopped back down and took a step away, only then noticing the shelves built in underneath the seat. There were some containers there, and stacks of something folded. 

He picked one of them up, hearing a similar, though softer, crinkle to what had greeted him on sitting on the window seat. The thing was thick, and firm, pink, covered in little pictures of crowns and fairies... It took him a long moment to realize it was a diaper, partly because he'd never seen one so large. Then again, he didn't see many at all, so he wasn't too familiar with how big they usually were, but he was sure this one was far too big for any baby he'd ever seen...

He set the diaper back in its place, rubbing his hand on his shirt as if the garment was going to infect him somehow. When he looked a little closer, he could see that the containers held baby powder, baby oil, baby lotion... After another moment, he realized this wasn't just a window seat - it was a changing table with a view.

He walked over to the bed, peeling back the drapes around it and finding what was undeniably a crib; like the diapers, it seemed far too big for a baby. He could probably have fit into it himself... What was it doing in his room? He hadn't read the description of every suite in this hotel, but he hadn't noticed any of them advertising that they had a nursery, especially an oversized one.

He made his way around the room, pushing aside the curtains, wondering what else he was going to find. Mostly, it was just walls, but he did find one more door. This one actually did lead to a closet, but, to his surprise, it was already full. It looked like a full wardrobe, one meant for a little girl - there were dresses, onesies, shortalls, pajamas, all covered in lace and ruffles and bows... And all looking much too big for any little girl he'd ever met.

He hadn't realized how long he'd been marvelling at this strange room until he turned away from the closet and turned to see Beth standing in the doorway, towel wrapped around her hair, watching him with an amused expression.

"Look at this!" he exclaimed, gesturing towards the crib. "Isn't this weird?"

"I guess," she shrugged. "I told them we weren't going to really be using the second bedroom, so they must have left it the way it was... The last people who came here must have had a baby."

Paul wrinkled his forehead, looking again at the crib. Could that really be meant for an actual baby..? He supposed it was possible... They did seem to do everything up big here, and while it seemed like an oversized crib would be more of an inconvenience than a help, he didn't know much about looking after kids.

On the other hand... "Look at these, though!" he stepped aside, making sure Beth could see the clothes hanging inside. "Do you think the people who stayed here before just left all this behind?"

"Who knows?" Beth shrugged. "Maybe the family was super rich, and couldn't be bothered to pack... Or maybe those are from the hotel... You know, like a dress up closet. It really doesn't matter either way, does it? We aren't going to be spending any time in here. Now come on, I'm getting hungry..."

Paul looked around the room again, her 'answers' doing little to make him feel more at ease. He supposed she could be right, but the more he thought about it, the less realistic her words seemed. He couldn't help but feel like there had to be more to it... 

But she was right. They had their own bedroom, and it was more than big enough for the two of them. They could just close this door and not think about it again. He nodded and walked over to her in the doorway, ready to do exactly that; he managed the first step easily enough, but the second proved far more difficult as they made their way to the living room to peruse the room service menu, both agreeing that they were too tired to go out that night. He couldn't help but feel like there was something off, something wrong about that room... 

Little did he know just how right he was.