Hotel

“What are you doing? I told you to turn right at that exit!” yelled Stacie.

“Stacie, I’ve told you a million times, I don’t need your help with directions!” Ben yelled back.

“Oh! So you don’t need my help?”

“Yes, with directions.”

“Ok,” Stacie put up the palm of her hand towards bens face, “if that’s the way you want it then I just won’t talk to you for the rest of the trip.”

Ben sighed, “Stacie, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“I meant that I know how to find my own way around.”

“So you don’t need me.”

“Oh, Stacie!”

“What? You said it, not me.”

“That is not what I said!”

“Well that’s what I heard!”

A small cry was heard from the back of the car. Stacie looked behind her seat at a small infant. She reached behind her to comfort the baby. “Now see what you’ve done? You woke up Karley!” she started to coo to Karley to make her calm down.

“Oh, so it’s all my fault?”

“Ben!”

“What? We were both yelling.”

“I know but now we’re upsetting Karley, and I hate having this same fight all the time.”

Ben sighed, “Me too. I’m sorry babe.”

“Me too.” Stacie sat back up. A confused look fell upon her face.

“What is it?” Ben asked.

“Where are we?”

Ben looked around. Thick overgrowth hid the sun light, the road was cracked and unkempt, tree roots stuck up out of the asphalt. Ben looked down at the clock on the car radio. 8:15 PM.

“Honey,” said Stacie in a shaky voice, “do you have any idea where we are?”

Again, Ben looked down at the clock. 8:15 PM. “I don’t,” he admitted, “but we need to find a place to stop for the night.”

Stacie looked back at Karley who was now sleeping. “I guess so, but where? I don’t even see houses out here and this road looks a hundred years old.”

“Hey, what’s that?”

A wooden sign appeared out of the trees. Ben slowed down enough to read it.
Hotel
Vacancy

“Hotel?” asked Stacie, “Out here?”

Ben stopped the car on the side of the road. “Umm…I’m going to go outside and look around. You stay in here with Karley.”

“O…ok, are you sure? This place is giving me the creeps.”

“Yeah. You just stay put and I’ll be back in a minute.” Ben found an old gravel path and decided to follow it to see if he could find this alleged hotel.

Stacie turned around to check on Karley. She was still asleep. She turned back around to see that Ben was gone. She noticed a gravel path on the other side of the road. ‘Ok, Stacie, don’t freak out. He said he would be back in a minute.’ She thought. She looked down at the clock. 8:30 PM. She took a deep breath and tried to relax. She slouched in her seat and closed her eyes, her thoughts racing. What if he got lost? What if something happened? What if he doesn’t come back? Stacie rolled down the window. “Ben?” she called, staring at the gravel path. Her heart began to quicken. “Ben!” She looked at the clock. 8:45 PM. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. “BEN…” A knock on the driver’s side window made her jump out of her skin.

“Hey.” said Ben as he opened the door.

“Hey,” Stacie gasped, “did you find anything?”

“Yeah. There’s actually a hotel about a quarter mile down that road.” he pointed toward the gravel path.

“How’d it look?”

“A little run down, but I think its okay.”

“Well, alright, let’s go.”

Ben started up the car and drove it down the gravel road. “Stacie,” he said, “are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Where is this hotel anyway?”

“We haven’t even been driving for five minutes. I think you’re just getting paranoid.”

Stacie sighed, “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m just really nervous. I mean, who would build a hotel way out here?”

“I don’t know. But anything’s better than nothing. Besides, we can always sleep in the car if we have to.”

The gravel road emerged into a dirt parking lot, and sure enough, there was an old hotel. The shingles were coming off of the roof, some of the windows were broken, and some cracked. The shutters were falling off; some were already lying on the ground. A giant sign on the top read: HO EL TR VELE ’S WE CO E. Stacie looked over at Ben who was unbuckling his seat belt. “Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“Oh yeah. Come on, let’s go inside.” he answered.

Stacie unbuckled her seat belt, opened the door, and went to the back seat to get Karley. They walked up to the front door which was standing slightly open. Ben pushed open the door. “Hello?” he called.

They walked further inside. Old couches, which seemed to be in surprisingly good condition, surrounded a round coffee table. A large, what looked like a receptionist desk, stood in the middle of the room with two hallways on either side. Doors with numbers lined the hallways. A dusty smell filled the room.

“Well, it certainly looks the part.” said Stacie.

“Hello?” Ben called louder.

An elderly man walked up to the desk from the hallway. He was rather tall with silver gray hair and tired lines on his face. “Hello,” he smiled, “how can I help you?”

“We just need a place to stay for the night.” said Ben confidently.

“Well you came to the right place.” said the man, “Please, come closer.”

They walked closer to the desk. Stacie still didn’t feel right about the place, but she trusted Ben and the man seemed kind. Suddenly a voice was heard from around the corner, “Laurence? Do we have guests?”

“Yes we do Sheryl. Come out and meet them.” he turned toward the couple, “I’m sorry, I haven’t properly introduced myself. My name is Laurence and this is my wife Sheryl.” He gestured toward a petit elderly woman with the same tired lines all over her face and the same silver hair, which was tied up in a tight bun.

“Hello.” she said.

“So you need a room I presume?” Laurence asked.

“Yes, that would be very much appreciated.” replied Stacie.

“Alrighty,” he turned around to a wall of keys, “how about room twenty eight? It’s got one bed, a bathroom with a shower, and a terrific view.”

“That sounds great,” replied Ben as he took the key, “how much is it for one night?”

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head about that.” said Sheryl.

“Are you sure?” asked Stacie.

“Absolutely. Now your room is in the hall to your left.” replied Laurence.

“I’ll go get the suit cases from the car, you go ahead and check out the room.” said Ben to Stacie. She nodded and headed down the hall as Ben went out the door.

“Oh! And one more thing,” called Sheryl, “whatever you do, do not open the door across from you; room twenty seven.”

“Ok, why not?” Stacie asked as she turned around. No answer and no one at the desk. She held Karley close to her as she hurried to the room. She fumbled with the key in one hand but managed to get it in and open the door. She shut it behind her and leaned against it. She took a deep breath and walked further into the room. It was just like the man said; one bed, a bathroom with a shower, and the view was pretty good. She laid Karley down on the bed as gently as she could. She sat down in one of the chairs in the room and closed her eyes.

A knock on the door made Stacie jump. She stood up, walked to the door and opened it to find Ben with all of the suitcases. She put her finger to her lips and stepped out of the way. Ben nodded and quietly came into the room.

“I really don’t have a good feeling about this place.” Stacie whispered.

“I know. Let’s just go to bed and we can get out of here in the morning.” said Ben as he set down the suitcases.

“The woman told me not to open door twenty seven. I asked why not but there was no one there. It’s like they just disappeared. Do you have any idea why?”

“I have no idea. Maybe we’ll just have to check it out for ourselves.”

“Ben, that’s not a good idea.”

“How do you know? They could just be trying to scare us. Maybe it’s their idea of fun.”

“Well, you can do whatever you want. I’m not going over there.”






A rattling sound startled Stacie awake from sleep. She looked at the clock on the night stand right next to the bed. 1:30 AM. She stared at the water damaged ceiling. Again she heard the rattling sound.

“Ben,” she whispered while shaking his shoulder, “Ben wake up.”

“Hmm?” he asked, still half asleep, “What is it?”

“Listen.”

Ben heard the rattling sound and sat straight up. He listened intently and both jumped as they heard it again.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“It sounds like a door rattling.” he replied as he swung his feet to the floor. He stood up and began to walk towards the room door. He slowly opened it as quietly as he could and peered out. The rattling grew more frequent and intense. Stacie joined him at the door. They stared at the door across from them. Door twenty seven was now vigorously shaking. The doorknob was twisting back and forth, as if something was trying to get out. Ben looked at Stacie, fear written across his face. Suddenly a blood curdling scream pierced the air. They both put their hands on their ears. Karley started to scream and cry. Stacie ran to the baby, picking her up and holding her close to her body. Again the scream pierced the air, but then, suddenly silent. The rattling stopped, the screaming stopped. Nothing. Karley slowly calmed down and Stacie put her back in her carrier.

“Here, give me the key.” said Ben.

“Why?” asked Stacie.

“Because I’m going to see what’s in there.”

“Ben, why on Earth would you do that? Besides, I bet our key won’t even work on that door.”

“But what if it does? And don’t you find it weird that we got the exact room across from that one. The exact room they told you not to open. Don’t you want to find out what’s in there? What they don’t want us to see.”

“Why are you always so curious? It always gets the better of you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Ben grabbed the key from the nightstand and slowly walked toward the door. He looked back at Stacie who grabbed Karley’s carrier and sat back on the bed. He looked toward door twenty seven. He stuck the key in the key hole. It fit. “I knew it.” he whispered under his breath. A knot was forming in his stomach. He twisted the key and creaked open the door. He poked his head in to see a very dusty room. Dust coated the single bed, the chairs, the table, and the window. He didn’t see anything in there so he stepped further in. he noticed a broken doll in the middle of the floor. He took another sweep of the room with his eyes and walked towards the doll. He stooped over to pick it up. The stuffed doll was missing a button eye and an arm. The yarn hair was so tangled that he couldn’t run his fingers through it. He laid it back down but suddenly felt as if something was watching him. He turned swiftly around to find the open door swinging slightly back and forth. He shook his head, “This is silly.” he scoffed. He calmly walked out of the room but couldn’t shake that feeling of being watched.

“So?” asked Stacie as he walked back in and set the key on the nightstand.

“Well, the key opened the door, but there was nothing inside except an old, broken, stuffed doll.” he replied.

Stacie took Karley back to her place on the floor beside the bed. They both climbed back into bed and faced each other.

“So, what do you think about that old couple?” asked Stacie.

“I’m not sure. I find it weird that they were so happy when the whole place has a funny feeling about it.” he replied.

“Yeah, it freaks me out that there was suddenly no one at the desk too.”

Suddenly Karley started to cry and scream. Stacie hurriedly stood up a picked up the baby. She tried to comfort her but she wouldn’t calm down. Stacie sat on the bed. “It’s like she’s seen something. She’s terrified.”

Ben breathed in to reply but stopped when he saw that Stacie’s eyes were fixated on something at the foot of the bed. Her eyes were full of horror and fear. He looked to find a deformed hand crawling up the sheets. It was nearly bone and the skin was pale; so pale that the veins could be seen. The hand crawled closer followed by an arm with the elbow twisting in a strange direction. His stomach jumped to his throat. He, like Stacie, was paralyzed with fear. The fingertips of another pale hand rose and crawled toward the couple. A wiry, oily head of black hair began to appear. There were eye sockets, but no eyes; the only thing that could be seen of the nose was the bone; the mouth was wide open, as if trying to breath. Stacie screamed at the sight of this thing. Ben crawled back against the bed post. The demonic creature continued to slowly crawl towards them. Karley was still screaming and crying. The face was as pale as the arms and hands. The skin looked like tissue paper; like it could be torn in an instant. The creature was covered in a child’s night gown which was torn and shredded in places. Its head twitched to the left and right. The feet, which were now on the bed, were missing toes. It was making a gasping sound constantly. It started to move toward Stacie and the baby. Stacie screamed and curled up in the corner.

“No!” screamed Ben.

The creature snapped its head toward Ben. It began to quickly crawl towards him. He smacked the creature, sending it tumbling off of the bed. Ben dropped his feet to the ground and ran towards the door. He signaled for Stacie to follow. The creature twisted its head around and stared at Ben. It quickly crawled towards him upside down, its head right side up. Stacie refused to move and screamed again, bursting into tears. Ben was trapped and the creature was coming straight for him. He had to think fast. The creature crawled right underneath him as he jumped over it. He slammed the door shut behind him. He ran back to Stacie on the bed. The door began to vigorously shake and the blood curdling scream again pierced the air. Ben tried to calm both Stacie and Karley down.

2:35 AM. The door was still rattling. The screaming stopped. Stacie, who had now stopped crying, held Karley close to her.ben was sitting close to her, holding her in his arms.

5:15 AM. The rattling stopped. Stacie, Ben, and Karley were all asleep, still in each other’s arms.

7:00 AM. Both Ben and Stacie were startled awake by a nightmare. They looked at each other and each could tell that the other wanted to get out of there. She gently set the baby in her carrier. They packed up their stuff and froze at the door. They were terrified to open it. Ben took the first look out the door. There was nothing there. He breathed a sigh of relief and signaled for Stacie to follow him out. They walked down the hall to the front desk. Laurence was waiting to greet them.

“Did you enjoy your stay?” he asked.

“Did you not hear the racket that thing caused all night long?” replied Ben.

“What thing?” asked Laurence. His smile turned into a frown.

Stacie and Ben looked at each other with surprise in their eyes.

“You mean you don’t know what’s in your hotel?” asked Stacie, “It’s horrifying! It’s pale, its nose is missing, its elbow bends in the wrong direction, and it doesn’t have eyes! It’s disgusting!”

“It sounds terrible, but I wasn’t aware of such a thing.” said Laurence.

“Are you serious? It must have come out when I opened room twenty seven-” Ben was stopped midsentence.

“You opened door twenty seven?” Laurence started to look angry, “We warned you about that room!”

Stacie stepped closer to Ben. He put his arm around her. “What exactly is that thing in there” he asked.

Laurence began to turn pale. The veins began to show in his wrinkled hands. Sheryl appeared from around the corner with the same paleness. Their eyes began to sink in their heads. “You know too much,” said Sheryl, “Now, we can’t let you leave.” Their clothes began to tear from their body leaving only shreds of fabric. They looked exactly like the creature from the room. Ben and Stacie ran for the door but one of those things stood in their way. They heard the sounds of hands and knees hitting the floor. They looked to find the creature from room twenty seven crawling toward them. They were cornered. With a shriek the couple and the infant were covered with the three creatures, never to see the light of day again.