If there was one thing Steven Walton was good at...it was trivia.

That was how he'd wound up on popular TV game show "Guesstimate" and, unsurprisingly, blazed his competitors to ultimately win an all expenses paid trip to a tropical local in the Florida Keys. However, his joy was shortlived, because, as it turned out much to his dismay...his family wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of a vacation. Steven couldn't understand it. Even the night before leaving, when he and his wife, Gayle, were packing to go in their bedroom, she kept making somewhat disparaging comments about the situation.

"I just wish you'd taken into consideration the things the rest of us might've planned," she said, thumping in another pile of clothes into her suitcase, "because I have work obligations, and Laura probably made some kind of plans and-"

"Laura never has plans," Steven said as he tugged some more stuff from the dresser, "and I don't mean that in a derogatory 'our daughter is a loser' sort of way, I just mean she's antisocial and she never does anything. She takes after you in that regard, because outside of work you yourself aren't exactly Miss Popularity."

"Such a charmer," Gayle said as she slammed her suitcase shut and zipped it angrily.

Laura was in fact spending more and more of her time alone, partially because she was, as her father had so eloquently put it, antisocial, but also for reasons her parents never would've fathomed. She'd just turned 15, and she had become enamored with a fellow student in her chess club. A student she'd played against a number of times, who she enjoyed matching with. A student with long auburn hair and the greyest of eyes, named Lindsay. Laura felt so ashamed of herself for these feelings that she instead chose to withdraw further than the typical teenager usually does, and blocked out everything in the world aorund her, instead focusing on reading most of the summer...a plan her father had now unintentionally thrown a wrench into.

But who cares, she thought. She could bring some books on the trip.

And now, sitting in the car on the way to their resort - only about an hour from their predetermined destination at this point - she was indeed doing just that. Reading. Laura had always been able to read in the car, and this was a super power she was grateful for, as it allowed her to ignore things around her that she didn't want to focus on. For example, she could hear her parents talking rather animatedly in the front seat, but she could easily tune it out for the fantasy in her hands, playing inside her head. Her little sister, 7 year old Jasmine, was sitting in the seat beside her, fast asleep with headphones on. Jasmine needed her headphones everywhere she went, or the amount of noises easily overstimulated her.

"I'm just saying," Steven said as he came to a red light and stopped, "you can get some work done remotely from the hotel, but this is supposed to be a vacation. You should relax. When I was a kid, we went on family vacations like this every year, and we've only ever done it twice, and one of them was an absolute disaster. I wanna make good memories with you and the girls before time marches on too fast and the chance is lost."

"That's sweet and all, Steven, it really is," Gayle responded, filing her nails absentmindedly in the passenger seat, the air conditioner blowing her mop of curly tied up orange hair out of her face, "but I've got a high level position, I can't just bail on something for 'family time'. That looks bad to the man upstairs."

"You mean...God?" Steven asked, making Gayle chuckle.

"That's certainly how he sees himself," Gayle said, the both of them laughing now, which made Laura smile.

Laura liked when her parents got along, and lately that had been happening less and less. It seemed her mother was always too stressed over work while her father was too stressed over everything else - he worked from home so he was around the family more - and when they finally got to be together, it often resulted in pithy arguments about nothing that ultimately resolved nothing. After a bit more driving, they stopped at a small diner near the hotel, just to be able to get something to eat since they hadn't eaten since they'd left, and Jasmine in particular was getting grumpy because of the lack of sustenance. She had blood sugar issues, so if she didn't eat regularly, then she could get very angry or sick.

Sitting in the diner booth, beside her mother - her father and Jasmine in the seat opposite them - Laura continued to stay focused on her book to distract herself from the goings on around the restaurant. Or at least she tried to, until her mother yanked it from her hands, slid her bookmark into its spot and said this was not a time for recreation, to which Laura replied, "isn't this a vacation? Aren't those all about recreation?"

To which her folks had no answer. But big surprise.

The adults never seemed to.

                                                                            ***

As the Waltons quickly discovered, "all expenses paid" doesn't necessarily equate to "quality".

Not only was the rental car they'd picked up been shoddy, with a lot of things barely working, but when they finally arrived at the hotel - Blue Dog Hotel to be exact - they found that comfort apparently came at a cost. It wasn't that Blue Dog was a bad hotel, in fact it was pretty okay, it was more that it's the kind of hotel one stays in when the other, more well known, hotels are full up. As their rental car struggled to come around to the front, and a valet stepped forward to take it while a young woman in a bellhop uniform also stepped forward to help get their luggage from the trunk, Steven couldn't believe he'd finally get to have a vacation.

Some would argue his entire life was, in essence, a vacation, because he worked from home, but as anyone who works from home knows, that is not at all the case. Just because your venue is different doesn't mean your workload is.

As the bellhop tugged two of their bags from the back and put them on the cart, Steven decided to help her while his wife took the girls inside. After finishing and shutting the trunk, patting it to let the valet know they were done, the bellhop and Steven turned to face one another. She was a woman around his age, maybe a year or two younger, with jet black short hair and messy racoon style eyeliner. She put her hands on the gold bar on the cart and started to push as they entered the hotel, following his family.

"Been here before?" the bellhop asked.

"No, never, not even to the Keys in general," Steven replied, pulling a stick of gum from his Hawaiian shirt pocket and unwrapping it, popping it in his mouth to chew as they walked, his hands back in his shorts pockets now.

"Why'd you come here instead of literally anywhere else in the world?" the bellhop asked, and Steven shrugged.

"I won a game show," he said, "It wasn't really a choice, as much as it was forced upon us."

"That's very Florida, yes," the bellhop remarked as they came to the elevator. They didn't have to check in, as the game show had already done all that for them, so they could easily just head on up to their room. As they piled into the elevator with Steven's family, he offered the bellhop - whose nametag read Erin - a piece of gum, to which she politely declined before pulling her own pack of gum from her shirt pocket and taking one and saying, "Nicotine gum, trying to quite smoking."

When the elevator came to a halt at their floor, the 5 of them got off and headed down the hall. Laura saw her mother was holding Jasmine's hand and remembered when she'd been small enough to have her hand held like that, and felt oddly jealous. Things had been so much easier then. She hated being the age she was. They came to a stop at the door, where Steven pulled the rooms keycard from his pocket and slid it through the metal knob, allowing them entrance.

"If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call down to the front desk for any and all needs," Erin said in the most flat, monotone voice one could muster as she pushed their luggage cart inside, "because here at Blue Dog Hotel we strive to make your vacation blah blah blah blah blah tip me."

"Well, with such an earnest and heartfelt delivery like that, how could I not?" Steven asked, making Gayle laugh as she walked past him and entered the room. Steven dug into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and handed her a ten, much to her surprise. Erin smiled, thanked him and then left. Steven turned to his family, clapped his hands together and smiled as they all sat on the beds, obviously exhausted.

"So," he said loudly, "Who wants to have some fun!?"

                                                                             ***

The hotel room was actually a suite.

Laura wasn't old enough to have her own room, exactly, so instead they got a connecting suite. That was the only stipulation the Waltons had when it came to making the plans, was they requested a suite so the girls could have their own space and the parents their own. Laura got her things together and, along with her sister and her sisters things, unpacked in the suite. The girls room even had two beds, so they didn't have to share, which was nice because Jasmine needed her own sleeping space. She had to be completely constricted when being in bed, which was something Laura just couldn't handle.

As Jasmine sat on the bed with her noise cancelling headphones, watching cartoons on the TV on mute with the subtitles on, Laura - who'd finished unpacking - walked over to the window and pulled the blinds down a little, peering out and spying a pool, which was nearly empty. Laura walked back to the door connecting the two rooms and opened it, heading through to find her parents also putting things away.

"Dad?" Laura asked as she entered, "Can I go down by the pool? There's like nobody there."

"Yeah, sure, we can see it from our window too, so it's fine," Steven said, "just be careful."

Laura smiled and nodded, taking off through their door, leaving the connecting door open so they could check on Jasmine, who, in all likelihood, was going to nap anyway. Laura headed down the stairs and exited the back until she came to the large pool, where she embraced the silence and emptiness. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad vacation after all. Laura sat down and, kicking off her shoes, dipped her legs into the water, her shorts only reaching her upper thigh so she could put as much leg as she wanted in anyway. Laura shut her eyes and smiled, enjoying the solitude, when she heard someone sit down beside her and also dip their legs in the water. Taken by surprise, Laura's eyes snapped open and she looked to her side to see a girl about her age, with short sandy blonde hair and big teeth smile at her.

"Hi," the girl said, "I hope it's okay to sit here."

"It's okay, you just scared me."

"Sorry," the girl replied, "I've been known to have that effect on people."

"...is your family staying here too?" Laura asked, and the girl nodded.

"Mhm. We come here every year," the girl responded, "I'm Hannah Waters. We always come here for my birthday."

"It's your birthday?" Laura asked.

"Well, not for another few days, but yeah," Hannah said, shutting her eyes and relaxing, feeling the brisk pool water cool her skin on her legs before adding, "...It's my most favorite place in the world, I love it."

"Is there a particular reason? Cause so far it's not impressing me, though I've only been here for about an hour," Laura said, making Hannah laugh, which made Laura blush. She liked Hannah's laugh; soft and almost musical, she couldn't help but be delighted by hearing it.

"Well, when I was little, my Grandma lived out here, so I visited a lot, but now that she's gone we just come here cause it's so familiar. Feels like being with Grandma, ya know?" Hannah said, "What's your name?"

"Laura," Laura said, smiling as her eyes ran down to Hannah's smooth bare legs, admiring them before feeling embarrassed and looking anywhere else.

Suddenly, from somewhere across the yard, Hannah's name was called. She quickly sprung up.

"I have to go, I was just supposed to be getting a soda!" she said, "Bye!"

And with that Hannah shot off across the yard to god knows who. Laura stayed there for a while longer, just soaking her legs in the pool, blushing and feeling so strange. She hated this. She hated these feelings. All the other girls in her class talked about the boys they liked, and she could never participate. She wished she could be like all the other girls she knew her age. But then...that'd mean never liking girls the way she did.

And that wasn't something she was eager to lose either.

Life as a closeted teenager sure was frustrating.

                                                                           ***

The Waltons ate dinner at the hotel restaurant that night, a placed called The Doghouse - everything in this hotel seemed dog related - and sitting there at the table with her parents and little sister, Laura couldn't help but feel like maybe this wouldn't be such a bad vacation after all. Sure she was grappling with some things that she didn't know how to approach just yet, things that were somewhat scary to acknowledge, but overall it could be a lot of fun. However, the restaurant that night just happened to be absolutely packed, and between the noisy crowd and the general overwhelming lighting, Jasmine was already on the verge of losing her shit.

"Do you wanna take her out of here?" Gayle asked, looking at Steven, "She's going to flip out."

"What do I do about the food I ordered?"

"I can have them pack it up and we can take it back to the room," Gayle said, "don't worry about it, just get Jas out of here before it gets on atomic levels."

Steven nodded, standing up and, taking Jasmine by the hand, led her out of the restaurant, leaving just Laura and her mother alone at the table now. Laura nervously played with her utensils, tapping them repeatedly as her mother sipped her drink, waiting for their orders to arrive. Laura eventually looked up to see her mother watching her, smiling warmly. This display of parental affection only made Laura feel more uncomfortable, as she shifted uneasily in her seat.

"Do you like the hotel?" Gayle asked, and Laura shrugged.

"It's...nice," she said, "but I guess I can't really compare, since I haven't stayed at many hotels."

"I guess that's fair," Gayle said, chuckling, "we don't take too many vacations. Maybe your father was right. Maybe we don't do enough family vacations and stuff, and we should-"

And then Gayle's cell phone rang. She fished it from her pocket and answered, her face quickly souring, obviously work related. Laura sighed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. Seemed like mom was always on the phone. As Laura looked around the restaurant, she was surprised to see Hannah sitting at a nearby table. When their eyes connected, Hannah waved happily, and Laura, a bit cautious, waved back meekly. Hannah then asked her mom something, before standing up and walking over to the table, tugging at Laura's sleeve. Laura looked at her mom, but knew she wouldn't be finished anytime soon, so she decided to stand up and walk out with Hannah into the hotel lobby.

Once the girls had gotten far enough away from the restaurant, Hanna grabbed Laura's hand and, tugging her behind her, started heading down the hall and around the corner, towards the gift shop. Once inside, Hannah pulled her further into the store to the wall of keychains and finally let go of Laura's hand.

"What are we doing here?" Laura asked.

"I'm looking for my name, duh," Hannah said, "They never have my name in stock."

Laura nodded, and then started digging through the rows with Hannah, determined to help her achieve her goal.

Meanwhile, out in the hall near the candy machine that Steven had pumped a few dollars into to no avail in the quest to attain a treat for Jasmine, Steven couldn't help but feel defeated. So far this trip hadn't been going the way he'd planned. He finally stopped, looked down at Jasmine and shrugged. She didn't reply - in fact, Jasmine rarely spoke, she was mostly nonverbal - and continued to occupy herself with the stim toy in her hands. Steven leaned against the machine and sighed, when he heard a set of footsteps approach from behind. He looked to his side to see Erin standing there, chewing gum.

"That smells surprisingly good," Steven said, grinning.

"Well, it's supposed to mimic nicotine without being nicotine, so in essence you're admitting you like the smell of nicotine," Erin said.

"I used to smoke in college," Steven said, "hey, this machine ate my money, and I was trying to get some candy for my daughter, would you mind-"

Erin looked at Jasmine, then at the machine and nodded. She walked forward as Steven pulled away and, taking the keyring off her belt loop, she plunged the necessary key into the machine and unlocked it. Erin then pulled the door open and reached inside, grabbing a few bags of a few different things and then knelt down and handed them to Jasmine, all while Steven watched, surprised by her softness and generosity.

"I don't know what you like, so I got you a bunch of things," she said, as Jasmine happily took them and thanked her, the first time the whole day she'd actually spoken. Erin stood back up and folded her arms, standing by Steven, the both of them watching Jasmine tear into a bag of Skittles.

"You're good with kids," Steven said.

"I have a sister like that," Erin said, "well, had. Anyway, I know what it takes. Let me know if you need anything else."

With that, Erin patted him on the arm, then walked by Jasmine, patting her on the head and disappearing down the hall. As he watched her go, Steven felt an uneasy lump forming in his gut. Something told him this vacation was going to be worse than he'd been prepared for it to be, and that scared him.

                                                                              ***

Lying in bed that night, Laura couldn't sleep.

She was staring at the ceiling, then rolled onto her side and looked at her little sister, cocooned in her weighted blanket and fast asleep, clutching her favorite stuffed animal to her chest. Laura sighed and climbed off the bed, stood up and headed to the balcony. She looked down towards the pool, and smiled. She'd always liked the sight of a pool in the night. Something about the calm blue water illuminated by the soft lights underwater...it just made her feel totally at ease. Laura looked around, then noticed Hannah walking across the courtyard with her father, both eating ice cream sandwiches, and she felt a twinge of jealousy in her chest. She wanted to be that close to her parents again, but she didn't feel like she could be.

"Laura?"

Laura turned and saw Jasmine sitting up now, looking at her. She re-entered the room and shut the balcony door behind her, locking it.

"What do you need?" Laura asked, sitting down cross legged in front of her sister.

"I had a nightmare," Jasmine whispered.

Laura nodded, laid down and pulled her little sister against her, tugging the blanket up around the both of them. She started petting Jasmine's hair, knowing that always calmed her down.

"Tell me about it, and I'll tell you why you're safe," Laura said.

If there was anyone who knew about living through nightmares currently...it was Laura Walton.