The Aliena Hotel is a small chalet in the heart of the woods, surrounded by a maze of branches, roots and leaves. Sometimes birds of various species can be seen; the lucky guests may be able to spot a hare or even a deer among the green.

An isolated place, where very few people come to stay round for the weekend, mostly to admire the marvels of the nature or, more likely, to retreat to themselves. A place where, right now, four young girls and a guy, perhaps in his middle twenties, are staying.

One of them, Janey, a short, blonde-haired 21-year-old is pacing back and forth in the hotel's hall, looking restless and having no idea of what to do as a pastime. She has already been for a walk in the woods, taking pictures of every single tree and even spotting a small lake whose waters are shiny and bright, almost crystalline.

On the other hand, 19-year-old Charlotte, a brunette with light blue eyes, is holding a guitar on her lap, playing it softly. Delicate notes fill the room, accompanied by her sultry voice. Next to her, another girl her age with black hair and dark eyes, perhaps of Asian descent, is following through the lyrics, singing as well.

But the fourth girl, the youngest of all the girls at the prime age of twelve, stands staring out the window dreaming of the day the rest of them would let her explore. She's been locked in this tiny hotel room her entire life. Twelve years of waking up and looking out this window, begging the others to let her go out and play, but twelve years of them turning away, telling her no, and going outside anyways.

Lacey isn't fragile, she doesn't feel weak, but for some reason everyone else in the room seems to think that way of her. She's always been able to explore the hotel, her mind driven crazy by the carpet as the patterns never line up right. Yet she roams in hopes that one day those beautiful creatures the others always talked about will appear inside the hotel. Maybe the large brown one with the antlers hunters will decorate themselves with, or even the tiny soft furry ones. She can't ever remember all of their names, having never seen one up close. But one day, and soon. Lacey can feel it in her bones as she looks out the window this morning.

Today is going to be slightly different.

***

Janey stops pacing through the hall and stands next to Lacey, patting her shoulder. "Don't worry, Lace. One day, you'll be able to explore outside this hotel. But this is not the moment. You're too young." These last words don't sit well with Lacey. She's been told too many times that she's too young to do certain things, which disheartened her and made her lose hope in the future.

Meanwhile, Charlotte and the girl of Asian descent have just stopped singing and making music, noticing that Lacey is sad and Janey's attempts to comfort her are not so successful. "She must feel like a bee in a trap," states Charlotte, looking outside the window, where birds and butterflies are dancing in circles, creating an amazing show.

The other girl replies, "I know, Charlie. But she seems to want more than just freedom."

"Maybe you're right, Iona. Let's try and find out." Charlotte smiles, then she places her guitar back in her case and closes it. She sits by the window, listening to the birdsong and feeling almost hypnotized by it, or at least until she notices Janey and Lacey cuddled to each other. She puts a hand on Lacey's lap, eventually encouraging her to let herself be driven by the melody.

Meanwhile, Alex, the guy, a young man of Hispanic descent (at least on his mother's side), who's been staying on his own for the last couple of hours, stands up and reaches for the stairs. "I'm going to call Jenny. She's still upstairs and I need to know what she wants to do right now."

Jenny is an 18-year-old girl with a soft spot for art and a tendency not to make many friends. She's thought to either look like a saint, because of her petite, slender figure and strawberry blonde hair, or a mean girl since she always shows her smile off with a little bit of malice.

"Jenny!" calls Alex, "You coming?" There's no answer. Jenny's room is close to the stairs, so she should hear him. Alex sighs.

"I'm getting really tired of her two hour makeup routine," he grumbles before hopping up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Lacey watches him until he and his plaid flannel disappear up the second floor and around the corner. She feels tempted to follow. Jenny's room is a beautiful sight to behold, filled with detailed sketches and watercolors of things she had never seen. But Jenny doesn't like her, so Lacey stays put and listens to the birds. Charlotte has just begun to hum along to the tune of a robin's call when Alex's strangled voice breaks the calm once more.

"Charlotte, Janey, Iona, I need you up here now," he says. Lacey looks up to see him at the top of the stairs again. The blood has drained from his face, and he speaks with a sense of tension and urgency that she's never heard before. Charlotte and Janey leave their spots at the window and wordlessly hurry to join him. Lacey starta after them too, but Alex holds up a shaky hand to stop her.

"Not you, Lacey. Stay there," he says.

Lacey watches with growing unease as her older friends disappear up onto the second floor. She leans against the windowsill, heartbeat thumping through her ears.

Tap tap tap.

Lacey jumps at the noise behind her. It comes from the other side of the window. She spins around, and her heart nearly stops.

Jenny is not in her room, much to her friends' growing worry. Meanwhile, Lacey's heart is pounding in her chest so much that it hurts, while she lets tears pour down her face. She can't believe that a friend disappeared, even though they were not exactly in good terms.

Alex, Janey and Charlotte rush back downstairs, looking frantic. Their faces are bloody red, beads of sweat are running down their cheeks. The former, not being able to bear the sight of Lacey crying, walks towards her and holds her tight in a huge hug. "Don't cry, Lace. Jenny will come back, I promise," he says, trying to force a smile, but failing.

Meanwhile, Charlotte addresses to Iona. "Jenny is kind of used to leaving without telling any of us," she states. "But this time she's gone too far! What if something bad happens?" She's a mess, her nerves are a wreck, her heart is about to explode in her chest. She finds herself having a hard time breathing, and even Iona's attempts to calm her down end up in failure.

Suddenly, the noise of a door opening slowly and screeching from the third floor makes everyone jump back, including a desperate Lacey. As it closes, a petite, lean figure shows up. A girl, most likely in her late teens, with long strawberry blonde hair and big deep brown eyes, seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

As the girl is done walking down the stairs and reaches the halls, Janey tries to keep Lacey from having any over-the-top reactions, but she herself is struggling to retain her sweat to the point that she uses her white T-shirt to wipe it away from her face.

Alex has no doubt. He definitely recognizes the girl. He knows he has seen her at the hotel before. More precisely, he saw her in the morning, during breakfast. His heart is racing. His blood is running furiously down his veins. He perfectly knows what to say.

"Jenny."

She meets his eyes and scowls, and sprints past all of them. She climbs the stairs, and enters her room, slamming the door shut with spite. Alex turns to follow her, but Iona grabs his wrist, stopping him. His head turns to face her. "What? Let me go!" he shouts.

Iona shakes her head and lets go of him. He stares at her, almost begging her to let him go after the girl. "No. Something tells me that she really does not want to be spoken to."

Meanwhile, Janey has slipped out the door, following the impressions Jenny's heels have left in the soft dirt. They lead through a grove of birch and cherry blossom trees, towards the shimmering lake she had seen before. Her pace increases as she approaches it. The prints wrap around the edge of it, toward a hollow tree. She continues to follow them, admiring the beauty of the lake to keep her calm.

She finally reaches the tree, in which lays a white jacket adorned with lace, and a necklace with a rose quartz pendant. Her fingers wrap around the necklace, which is damp with lake water. She picks up the jacket with her free hand. Though it does not look it, it also is wet.

"Ugh. I can't believe she's so forgetful. I mean, what a beautiful jacket... and now, it's all wet!" Janey groans, remembering that she'll be the most likely to do the washing, since no-one else seems to be very keen on doing so.

She returns back inside, realizing only last minute that water is dripping on the floor, irritating Charlotte, who likes cleanness and a tidy environment. "Janey, I think that jacket is dripping a lot of water. Let me take it to the laundry," she offers, but Janey raises a hand, declining her help offer.

"I can do it on my own," she insists, leaving Charlotte confused. Meanwhile, Iona has just found a mop somewhere in a service room and is drying the wet floor. She lets the mop glide through each water stain, wiping them off the parquet surface.

Suddenly, Lacey breaks the awkward silence that has since fallen in the hall. "When are we going to have dinner?" she asks impatiently, causing the older girls to frown. She realizes that her question might not be appropriate, so she shuts herself up and turns back at the window, trying to immerse in the colors of nature.

Meanwhile, Iona has headed up the stairs and past Jenny's door, towards the one at the end of the hallway. She knocks carefully, and a voice tells her to come in. Her hand closes around the knob, and turns it. The room beyond it is painted white, with pale green vines with pink flowers decorating the edges. A large bed with white and lace sheets is pressed against the space under a window, which has lace curtains.

The entire room screams of girliness. Sitting on the bed was a girl, no more then 20, with carmine colored curly locks. Her eyes were a stormy grey, and her skin was incredibly pale. "Deirdre." Iona says kindly.

The girl looks at her with a quiet interest. "Yes?"

"I think you should speak with Jenny. She disappeared, and left her jacket and necklace in that hollow tree by the lake. I think she's been meeting someone."

Deirdre turned her head and looked out her window. "I'll think about it." she answers, her fingers clawing at the embroidery on her dress.

***

As Iona leaves the room, Deirdre can't stop thinking of what Jenny really means to her. She is the first one who didn't judge her for her passions, such as embroidery and birdwatching; moreover, she's also the first one who bothered talking to her, while the rest of the group considered her awkward.

"I must find Jenny, talk to her and convince her to make it up with the others. Iona looked sad," she states. Therefore, she leaves the room and walks down the hall of the second floor. As she finds the door by the stairs, she gently knocks it, hoping to get an answer.

"Jenny... can I get in?" she mutters, expecting that Jenny won't hear her clearly; still, she does.

"Who is it?" Jenny asks suspiciously, giving the impression that she's pouting.

Deirdre insists. "Come on, Jenny, can I come in? It's just me, Deirdre." She puts a hand on the door knob, ready to open it; however, she's caught by surprise as she sees the door open and Jenny poke out of it.

"Come in. I guess you want to talk to me." With that said, the two girls get into Jenny's room, full of paintings and sketches, and Deirdre closes the door behind her as Jenny checks that the window is closed properly. They sit on the bed, staring intensely at each other.