Moonlightaholics

Moonlight Fan Fiction
The Missing
Rated PG
By Ella713

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

When two college students go missing after ghost hunting in The Cecil Hotel, Mick makes his way to Skid Row to get some answers

"What do you know about the Cecil Hotel?" Beth asked.
"Hotel Death? I wouldn't book a room there and I'm an Angel!. Had the parents of Alisa Lam contacted me, I would have found their daughter quicker". He said thinking that Beth was going to tell him something that he couldn't ignore.
"Well, according the Herald, two college students are missing after going there to film something for Ghost Chasers. They've been missing for 3 days"
"What do the police say?"
"They had three officers go through the building and they found nothing but before you ask. they did check the water tanks on the roof and still no sign of the missing kids, so I was thinking that maybe we could go take a quick look around? I've always been really curious about that place" She said looking at him with excitement in her bright blue eyes. Mick had found he had a definite distaste for all things haunted and wasn't as excited as his wife to go through the structure.
"Wouldn't you rather go with Zoe? I means she knows more about this kind of thing then I do" He replied.
"Mick St. John? Are you scared to go with me?" She smiled.
"No but I'm hesitant after what happened before at Josef's haunted property, I'd just like to stay a safe distance away from structures like that".
"As you wish. I'll call Zoe because I know she's always down for something like this".

"Did you even have to ask?!" Zoe screamed into the phone. "What time did you want to leave?"
"How about at 5pm?"
"I'll meet you in the lobby!" Zoe said hanging up the phone and calling Gabriel to let him know she would be gone this evening.
"Why on earth would you go to that place? Isn't it closed?" Gabriel asked.
"Not as closed as the owners would like. Apparently two college kids went ghost hunting there and no one has seen them in three days. Beth wants to check it out" She said. Gabriel closed his eyes and shook his head. His wife and his mom were going to be the death of him and Mick!
"Look, I know all this haunted stuff is really exciting to you, but please be careful. That building seems to be cursed so if something feels off get the hell out of there!"
"I will. I promise but this is going to be so exciting!"

Mick thought long and hard about The Cecil Hotel. It had a long history of misery and suffering and murders and suicides.......hell who was he kidding, he knew he was going to go with Beth. Two kids were missing. He had to go.

They decided to drive to skid row but park far from it. If anything happened to Mick's car Beth feared for all mankind! They appeared on Main street right in front of the hotel.
"How sad is this? I'm sure this hotel was once the glory of downtown Los Angeles and look at it now" Beth said sadly looking at all the homeless tents running up and down the street. An elderly woman walked up to them.
"Can you spare some money for some food?" She asked not looking at them. Zoe quickly fished out a $50 bill and placed it in the woman's dirty hand.
"Here you are. You take care of yourself okay?" Zoe said but the woman had already taken off without saying thanks.
"You know she's just going to spend that on drugs or alcohol right?" Mick said.
"That's her decision. What I can do in good faith is try to help anytime I can. The rest is up to her." She said sadly. "Well, come on. Daylight's wasting" She said grabbing both Mick and Beth's hand and within seconds they were in the lobby of the hotel. "Look at how grand it was! I bet this was something back in the day" She marveled looking at the once glorious front room.
"Well, even though I know we could split up and have all these rooms cleared, I'd rather we stay together if you don't mind" Beth said.
"I was thinking the exact same thing" Mick agreed. Zoe rolled her eyes at them.
"Alright fine you big babies!" She said in mock anger.
They quickly went through the lobby checking anywhere that two kids could be hiding. Mick pulled out his flashlight and checked every corridor and room. He closed his eyes and focused on everything. He heard faint rapid heartbeats that he knew were vermin in the area but he heard something else.
"I think I hear something......it's definitely heartbeats.." Mick said.
"Well that rules out Ghost" Zoe said sadly, always hoping that she would at some point see a sprit of some kind.

"I think I heard something!" Ronald said looking all around anxiously. His pal Donnie stopped what he was doing.
"I don't hear anything. You're letting this place get to you" He said with a smirk.
"You don't think this hotel has got some bad mojo?" He asked.
"Nah. You know how stories get blown up after time. I mean yeah some unfortunate stuff happened here, but that was all by human hands not ghostly hands" He said with a chuckle. "Now help me tie her to the wall"
"You think the parents will pay up?"
"Did you see the kid's phone? That's a $1,500 iPhone! He don't look old enough to have some high paying job, so somebody's going to miss him! Wake them up!".
Ronald lightly slapped the two kids.
"Wake up! We need to take your picture!" Donnie said snapping the photo. "Now prop up the newspaper on this chest.....yeah, that picture's going to make his parents cry like babies! Now let's get out of here. If we send this photo to his folks from here, they're going to pinpoint our location pretty damn quick". He said picking up all the debris.
"You're really smart Donnie. I never would have thought about that". Ronald said.
"Let's head out by the alley" He said making sure to lock the door behind them.
"Did you hear that?" Mick said and took off to where he heard the sound. He ran out the back entrance which he noticed was unlocked. He looked up and down the alley but saw nothing. Whoever was here had disappeared into the area's homeless population. Something was going on here.

Donnie looked for the perfect location to send his email. It had to be somewhere crowded and also without cameras which canceled out all restaurants and diners. Almost every business had surveillance cameras these days. They stopped in front of The Little Tokyo Hotel. It was a small "seen better days" motel and they didn't look to have any camera's anywhere.
"This is it." He said walking to the back of the hotel and making the call.
"Hello" A pleasant sounding female voice answered.
"I have your son and if you don't send $100,000.00 to the address I give you, you'll find your precious Timothy washed up on the beach in tiny pieces" He said with a grunt.
"I don't believe you" The woman said defiantly. Donnie hit send and heard the woman scream.
"Don't hurt my son!!" She yelled.
"Don't make me hurt your son. I will call back with directions. He said hanging up on her before she could say another word.
"How do you know she won't call the cops?"
"She won't. She'll do whatever she can to protect her son. In 2 days, we'll be in Hawaii living the good life". He said with a grin.

Beth and Zoe were standing outside in front of the hotel when Mick showed up.
"Find anyone?" Beth asked.
"Someone was in that hotel. I could smell the.........sweat and the perspiration.."
'Maybe it was Security. They have to have someone guarding the place or it would be overrun by now with squatters and the homeless" Zoe said.

Timothy bumped into Trisha but she didn't move. He bumped into a little harder and felt her shoulder move a little. He used his own shoulder trying to move the the cloth they tied around his mouth. With a few more tries his mouth was free.
"Trisha! Wake up!" He said loudly, then he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Somebody help us!!!!!!"
Mick froze in place then disappeared. He closed his eyes and used his mind to roam all over the building. He concentrated on the heartbeat that would lead him. He quickly sprinted up the stairs and kicked open the door. He untied the young man and he helped untie the young woman.
"Is she dead? Is she?!!" Timothy screamed.
"No, but she needs to get to a doctor right away! Come with me!" He said as Mick picked up the girl and they hurried down the stairs. When Beth saw them emerge from the hotel she immediately dialed 911. They were waiting outside the hotel when Paramedics pulled up.
"I found them inside the Cecil tied up. I think these are the missing college students" Mick said. "The girl has been in and out of consciousness". Mick said as the police pulled up and not looking too happy to be called to this location. The EMT's began telling the officers about the condition of the two kids.
"Sir, can we have word?" One of the officers said to Mick. "Can you tell us how you came to be here?"
"We had heard the story of the two missing kids who were missing. We also heard they were ghost hunting here at the Cecil and given the background of this place we decided to come here and see if we could help. I heard voices earlier and when I went to follow the voices they came out round back, but by the time I got out here they had...well let's just say hiding in plain sight so to speak" Mick explained.
"Did you kids say who grabbed them?"
"No. The guy was too worried about his friend to be of any help"
"We'll we're going to need you to come downtown and make a formal statement"
"Sure. I'll be there whenever you need me to be". Mick said.
"First thing tomorrow." The officer said as he called his partner back who was questioning some of the homeless people who were camped out on the side of the street. Zoe stared hard at Mick then smiled.
"We're going to stay here aren't we?"
"Zoe, you're genius" Mick said with a grin.
"I try my best" Zoe joked and she held out her hand to Beth's and they were back inside the hotel.

Once they were inside Beth made a valid point.
'I think we need to discuss how those kids made it in here. The doors are all locked and the fire escape isn't down so someone could reach it, and even if they did I'm assuming all the windows are locked as well. So how did they get in? And where is security?" She asked.
"I was thinking the same thing babe. I mean someone had to let them in" He said pulling out his phone. "Logan, I've got a really interesting favor to ask you? You know The Cecil Hotel downtown?"
"Mick, that place is bad news. I stayed there once in the 70's and that place was creepy as hell and I was a vamp!" Logan said.
"Well I just need to know who currently owns it and how I can contact them".
"Give me a few minutes." He replied sitting the phone down. After 10 minutes he picked back up.
"Herb Chase was the managing partner and owner but he sold it. Right now that the space is currently being leased by the Simon Baron development company, who obtained a 99-year lease on the building if you can believe that! He wants to renovate it for low income and housing for the homeless, but noting's been reported yet. He said it was going to reopen in 2021 but again nothing's been done".
"Do you know who handles security for the place?"
"Yeah. A place by the name of Harrington Commercial. Sending you the number right now."
"Thanks Logan." He said hanging up. He immediately dialed the number. "Hello, my name is Mick St. John and I wanted to report a break in at the Cecil Hotel. You handle security for the building?"
"Yes sir we do.....you said you wanted to report a break in?"
Yeah. The police just left but we didn't see any security around and we wanted to make sure you had someone there".
"Yes, we do have someone there. Please hold while we call him" The dispatch said. In a few seconds dispatch was back.
"Our security guard was in the basement doing rounds down there. But he has been notified and will contact the police".
"Great. We just wanted to check you know. This neighborhood isn't too good" Mick said and hung up.
"I think this security company is in on this kidnapping. He said he was going to call a security guy who was already onsite but I heard him. He didn't call anybody. I'm going to go to the basement and check it out, you guys go outside and see if you can find a young guy roughly the same size as the guy they kidnapped. Bribe him, promises him food, whatever you need to. Zoe..." he said.
"I know. I'm going to be the girl. You know we look nothing alike except for blonde hair"
"I'll take care of the lights on that floor. They won't be able to see in the dark" Mick said taking off for the basement.

Zoe and Beth walked down the street keeping an eye out for any young men amongst the homeless.
"How about him? He's pretty close" Zoe said, knowing not to point as it might frighten him away. They walked over to the guy who looked to be sleeping.
"Excuse me" Zoe said tapping him on the shoulder. The young man slowly lifted his head and focused on the two beautiful blonde women staring down at him.
"My junk don't work so I can't give you what you're looking for" He said angrily.
"We wanted to hire you for about an hour. All you have to do is sit in a room and we'll pay you $100 bucks" Zoe said softly not wanting other people to hear they had money. The young man quickly looked around making sure no one else heard what she said. He slowly stood up.
"Lead the way" He said. They led him to the alley beside the Cecil and he stopped. "What the hell you want to go in there for?" He asked becoming a little scared that two women wanted him to go with them into a hotel that had been closed for some time.
"Do you want the money or not?" Beth said as she pulled out 2 $50 bills. He stared at the cash in her hands and thought maybe he could snatch it and get the hell away from them.
"You're not that fast" Beth said sighing and opening the door. He looked behind him to make sure these women didn't have someone ready to pounce on him.
"Ok. But I want the money first" He said walking into the building. He held out his hand for the money.
"There. All you have to do is follow us into the hotel and into a room. I'm going to tie you and my friend up to a wall and all you have to do is just sit there for a little while" Beth explained.
"And you ain't going to hurt me?" He asked looking at Beth nervously.
"No. Of course not. And no one else is going to hurt you either. All we want you to do is sit there." He nodded and followed them up the stairs.
"You got something eat?" He asked when they had climbed to the 4th floor. Zoe opened her purse and pulled out a granola bar and handed it to him. He quickly tore off the wrapper and shoved it into his mouth making satisfying grunts. They found the room that Mick had told them they found the kids and saw the straps attached to the wall.
"Okay you sit there" Beth said pointing to the young man. "And Zoe, you sit right next to him" She said getting the straps on both of them. "Okay. Mick's going to do something to the lights. You guys just be quiet" She said walking into the hall. She heard Mick making his way around the corner.
"You guys all set?"
"Yeah we found a guy surprisingly who said he help for $100"
"I don't know how long we have to wait for this guy to show up, but we might have to offer more than $100".

"Hey, what's your name?" Zoe asked.
"Scott"
"Don't worry about a thing. We just want to convince this guy that we're strapped in"
"And you swear that's it?"
"Yes. I swear".

Donnie heard his phone chime and saw it was the boss.
"What's up boss?"
"We got trouble. I just got a call from someone about the Cecil. He said someone had broken in and cops were called. Where the hell were you guys?"
"We walked about 10 blocks away and made the ransom call. I didn't want them to pinpoint the call to the hotel" Donnie explained. "Did they mention the kids?"
"No. But go make sure they're still there!" He said hanging up.
"What's wrong? I knew this was a bad idea" Ronald said under his breath.
"Nothing's wrong so shut up! We have to go back and check on them. The cops were lurking around, probably someone trying to break into the hotel". He said
"L.....look, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm getting bad vibes about it all" He said his voice shaking in fear.
"Fine! Then I get your share if you walk out!" He yelled.
"You can have it I'm out" Ronald said walking away.
"Wait!" He said jogging up to him. "You forgot this" He said reaching into his pocket and quickly pulling out a knife and plunging it into his gut. Ronald held his wound as he dropped to the ground bleeding out.
"Can't have you getting a conscious and blabbing on us" He said picking up a napkin from the ground and whipping the blade clean before tossing it in a nearby dumpster and casually walking away from the alley and heading back to the hotel.

Mick quickly went around the entire floor and took out all the lighting surrounding the room where Zoe was tied up.
"I want them to be in complete darkness" He said to Beth. "Let's see how how comfortable they really are in this place".

Donnie made his way back to the hotel. He looked all around and everything seemed to be exactly as he left it. He jogged quickly up the stairs and opened the door. The lights were out again!
"Dammit!" He swore to himself. He pulled his mobile from his pocket and used it to light his way.
"I hear someone coming" Zoe whispered anxiously. "Keep you head down and stay completely still" She said as she let her head fall. She saw a faint light coming towards them then it shined in front of them from the doorway. Donnie saw that both kids were still tied up so he punched in his boss' number.
"Yeah, the kids are still here so the cops didn't make their way inside" He said.
"Good! The parents should be calling you any moment now" he said hanging up. Donnie hung up and felt something breeze by him. He quickly turned and held up the light from his mobile.
"Who's there?!" He yelled. When he didn't here anything he sighed heavily. "This place gives me the creeps" He said to himself. Suddenly he felt a hard slap on his cheek. "What the hell!" He screamed. "Who's there!!!" Suddenly something knocked him down on his back and took hold of his ankles and pulled him quickly down the hallway as he yelled for help. Donnie screamed and tried to kick his legs free but whatever had grabbed him was strong.

Mick and Beth heard the screaming and left where they were hiding to check on Zoe.
"Zoe!" Beth called out.
""We're fine guys, but whatever you did to that joker worked like gangbusters!" She joked as she quickly pulled herself free and reached over to free her partner in crime. She grabbed the chains and felt nothing. "Where did he go? Did you see him?" She asked quickly jumping up and trying to look around. "Beth he was chained up right next to me the whole time!!" She began to panic. "I want to get out of here!" Zoe said and ran off. She quickly sped down the stairwell and flew out the alley door. Mick and Beth came out seconds after.
"What happened Zoe?" Mick asked.
"I'm telling you Scott and I were both chained up. Then that guy came back with his cell phone trying to flash it so he could get a look and make sure we were still there. We held our heads down so he couldn't see our faces. He called someone then walked out in the hall that's when we heard the all the screaming. I assumed it was you guys" She said breathing heavily.
"We were on the other side messing with the fuse box" Mick said slowly looking up at the windows.
"You think someone else is hiding in there?" Beth asked.
"I........." Mick started to say when they all heard a loud screaming and the thud of something hitting the ground. They ran around the corner and saw the dead body that had been thrown from the rooftop.
"That's the guy I just saw inside!" Zoe said staring at the mangled body. People started gathering around trying to see what had happened. Zoe and Beth stared up at the building and saw a curtain pull back and a face peak out of the window. It was Scott! Then he disappeared.
"Did you.." Zoe said softly almost whispering.
"Yes. I did" Beth said becoming really scared. "Mick let's get out of here. We rescued the kids now let's go home" She said walking towards where his car was located. Mick hung around for a few minutes talking to the police again trying to get information.

Zoe and Beth were leaning against Mick's car trying to wrap their heads around what they had just seen when the woman who had asked Zoe for money earlier approached them.
"You know that boy you was talking to was dead." She said. "He died in there you know. Some punks robbed him and threw him out a window. He come around every now and again" She said.
As brave as Zoe usually was something about the whole situation scared her more than she had ever been scared.
"How long ago was that?" Beth asked thinking she would
"1971 it was. His name was Scott Maxwell is what I was told" She said.
"I'm sorry, what's your name?" Zoe asked.
"Folks around here call me Pidgeon Goldie" She said walking away. Zoe stood frozen in place.
"Zoe what's wrong?"
"Sh.......it can't be.....Pidgeon Goldie died in 1964!" She said shaking. "Let's go! Let's go now!!" She said as she jumped into the car. Mick came walking up and saw something was wrong.
"What happened?" He asked staring at both of them.
"Zoe wants to leave" Beth said surprised that she was actually saying that Zoe was afraid of anything. Mick quickly got into the car. If Zoe was afraid of something, it was definitely time to leave he thought starting the car up and taking off. Zoe slowly turned to look behind her and she saw a small group of people including Pidgeon Goldie and Scott Maxwell who were all staring at them as they drove away.






The End