Vincent Moore sat on the floor in his room, ready to take advantage of the fact that his roommate, Kelli Anderson, had stepped outside. Kelli was staying in Vince's room with him so he could keep an eye on her at this hotel where they were all being held captive. He didn't trust Rory Kahn, their self-described director of proceedings at the hotel, and what he had in store for them.

"This is driving me nuts," Vince said. "I've got to see if I can use any of my powers here to connect with people back at home. My mom…my sister…I have to let them know that I'm not dead."

Vince had only been at the hotel for a few days, but he had no idea how long he had actually been gone from Marquette Cove. In between being falsely presumed dead, buried alive, and then whisked away to this town by the name of St. Laurent, Vince had no idea how long he had been held unconscious before showing up in the limousine.

For all he knew, he could have been unconscious for weeks…months, even. If it could happen on a soap opera, it was probably even more whacked out if it was happening to him. Given the fact that in the span of a year, Vince had received an angel as a guardian, discovered that his father was murdered by his uncle, been arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend, gained psychokinetic powers, and been kidnapped by a cult with an alternate reality version of himself…nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him at the moment.

"Alright…let's see if I can reach somebody," Vince muttered. "Anybody."

As Vince tried using his powers, he began to levitate in the air. Once he was a few inches off the ground, the door to his room opened. Vince crashed to the floor and saw that Lori Racine was entering his room.

"Lori!" Vince cried. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'm sorry, I thought this was my room," Lori said. "What's going on in here?"


OUTSIDE THE HIGHWIND
LAKESIDE

Kelli Anderson stood outside, gazing at the snow surrounding her. She couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by everything. She felt as if she was trapped inside, and the fact that the hotel appeared to be surrounded by a large wall of ice didn't help matters either. There was no way for any of them to escape and return home to Marquette Cove.

Besides, none of them had heard of St. Laurent before anyway.

She zipped up the winter jacket that she'd found in her room upon arrival, and turned around to find that someone was approaching her. Their face was covered with a hood, and she didn't know why they were advancing on her.

"Who's there?" Kelli called out.

The person still didn't respond, and so Kelli began to back away from them. She reached onto the ground and picked up a snowball, then tried throwing it at him. The snowball hit him in the face, causing him to stop.

Kelli continued backing away as the man removed his hood, revealing himself to be Duncan Kincaid. Kelli breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kelli demanded.

"I'm sorry!" Duncan cried, laughing. "I was just coming out to take a walk, and I saw you."

"Oh," Kelli said, picking up another snowball and throwing it at Duncan. "Jerk."

"Hey!" Duncan picked up a snowball himself and threw it at her.

Kelli smiled and continued attempting to throw snowballs at Duncan, while he did the same. Eventually, they had moved closer together and were only smashing piles of snow in one another's faces.

Their snow fight was soon interrupted when someone called out Duncan's name loudly. He paused and turned around to find his brother, Detective Joel Kincaid standing a few feet away from them. Kelli threw another snowball at Duncan, but it accidentally sailed past him and hit Joel in the face.

"Oops," Joel muttered.


THE HIGHWIND RESORT
MELISSA MADDOCK'S ROOM

Melissa Maddock gazed at the picture frame holding a photograph of her family that was resting on her bed. The fact that whoever was holding them hostage had given her a family photograph wasn't the troubling fact, it was that this particular picture could never have been taken. It included Melissa, her daughter Erin, her cousin Aaron, her father William, and her brother Alex.

Whoever had placed this picture in Melissa's room had to know that Alex committed suicide in his early twenties, and could never have taken that picture. Or rather, the official story was that he had committed suicide. He knew that the real reason Alex died wasn't from suicide, it was because a hit had been placed on him by Kevin Hanley.

Though she had never been able to prove it, she knew that Kevin had been angry with Alex for crossing him on numerous occasions. Regardless, Alex hadn't lived to meet his niece, Erin, so there was no way this picture could have been taken. It was also debatable whether or not William could have been in the picture, because of his death a few years earlier, but Melissa knew that the photograph was a fake.

"This is sick and completely disgusting," Melissa muttered. "Who would do something like this? Remind me of the family members I've lost?"

Melissa threw the picture frame at the wall. The glass in the frame broke and fell onto the floor as Melissa sat back down on her bed. She felt her stomach and prayed silently that the child she had been carrying in Marquette Cove was still alive.

"Please let me be pregnant, if only for Robert's sake," Melissa said. "I couldn't handle losing another child, but…Robert was so excited. I don't want to do this to him."

Melissa wiped away tears that were forming in her eyes. She only wished that she were able to remember the events leading to her arrival at the Highwind…if she did she might be able to find out if her child was dead or not.


OUTSIDE THE HIGHWIND
LAKESIDE

"I'm so sorry, Detective Kincaid," Kelli said, apologizing.

"I need a moment with my brother," Joel said.

"Of course," Kelli said.

She turned around and started toward the hotel, as Joel frowned and faced his brother. He stuck his hands into his pockets and stepped forward to face his brother. "Having fun?"

"What do you want, Joel?"

"Shouldn't you be trying to figure a way out of here instead of you know, playing with underage girls in the snow?" Joel demanded.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "My sex life is none of your business."

Joel opened his mouth to say something, but Duncan shut him up quickly.

"I was joking," Duncan said. "I am not a rapist, nor am I a pedophile, Joel. No matter what you may think about me, I'm not a criminal and I'm not sick either. So you can keep your goddamn smart-ass comments to yourself, because I'm tired of hearing them."

"That's too bad," Joel said. "Because you —"

"I what? I killed your wife?" Duncan asked. "You're still spinning that broken record? Even after you tried to kill me and landed us here in this prison? Look, I'm going to find some way out of here. And when I do, I'm going to save everyone but your ungrateful ass. You're on your own, Joel."

Duncan pushed his brother out of his way as he stormed off toward the hotel. Joel clenched his teeth and watched his brother with a cold intensity.

"On my own," Joel muttered. "Just how I like it."


THE HIGHWIND RESORT

Kelli walked through the hallway, removing her jacket as she neared Vince's room. As she passed by one of the rooms, she felt a chill run down her spine. Kelli paused and turned to stare at the door, wondering who was staying in the room.

She knew that neither Duncan, Melissa, Joel, or Lori were staying there, so Kelli had no idea if anyone was even living in the room. And if someone was in the room, then there was a possibility they would be able to shed some light on everyone's current situation.

Kelli stepped forward and knocked on the door. After a few moments, Kelli heard what sounded like someone moving inside the room. She pressed her ear against the door to listen closer.

"Is someone there?" Kelli called out.

When there was no response, Kelli reached for the doorknob and tried opening the door. She found, however, that the room was locked. Kelli called out for someone to answer the door once more, but when there was still no response, Kelli sighed and reluctantly walked away from the room.

"I know someone was in there," Kelli whispered under her breath. "But the question is…who? And if they want to be so secretive, why didn't they put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on their door?"


VINCENT MOORE'S ROOM

"I was…I was meditating," Vince lied, climbing to his feet. "You should try it sometime. It's very relaxing."

"So I've heard," Lori said, approaching Vince. "So, how's it going?"

"Other than going crazy because we're being held captive on this island?" Vince asked.

"Island?"

"Island…of a hotel," Vince replied. "Hotel island. Anyway, I'm doing fine. I wish I knew a bit more about the employees here, but they all seem to be programmed to give responses that our director of proceedings obviously implanted in them."

"Yeah, it's weird," Lori replied. "Like that Monique girl…I tried talking to her, but she's really odd. Did you know that in addition to working at a strip club, being a recreational cocaine user, and an employee here that she's also legally mentally retarded?"

"No, I didn't," Vince said. "I guess you learn something new every day."

"I guess so," Lori said. "But anyway, I'll leave you alone with your…meditating. I'll talk to you later."

"Thanks," Vince said. "And don't worry. We'll be out of here and back home soon enough."

Lori sighed. "I hope so."

As Lori left, Vince walked to the door and made sure it was locked. As he turned the lock, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side. Vince cried out as the pain shot up through his head and caused several foreign images to flash in his mind.

Before he had a chance to react, Vince collapsed and fell onto the floor.


MYSTERY GUEST'S ROOM

Thankful that his hotel room was locked, the person on the other side of the door Kelli had been standing at was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. He hadn't been discovered at the hotel by any of the new guests yet, which was perfect. He couldn't let any of them know he was there.

"I'm going crazy in here," He muttered, crossing over to the desk in his room and lifting a photograph that had been resting there. "Especially knowing what's going on only a few doors away from me."

He stared at the picture in his hands, which was one of Kelli and Vince sleeping in the same bed at the Highwind Resort. Both were fully clothed during the photograph, but still, the person holding the picture knew that it had to potential to lead to something else.

He ripped the picture in half and threw it into a nearby trash can. "I'm going to have to put a stop to this…one way or another."