I was on vacation. I was headed to a hotel, just outside my city. It was located in a small forest, and from all of the pictures I saw of it, the only word I have to describe it was… majestic. Maybe it was the warm summer light in the trees, or just the fact it was outside of the busy city, but it seemed so perfect.
But as soon as my small car started up the gravel roads to the hotel, I sensed somehow, something was off. The warm light started to dim, making the forest’s shadows seem far more sinister.
I decided to push the worries out of my head, and as soon as I did, I had pulled up to the hotel. But again, something felt odd. I knew you shouldn’t trust everything you see online, but this was far worse than any photoshop I’ve seen.
The majestic hotel I was expecting was completely lifeless. The walls were cracked and dull, all the gardens were dead. The whole place looked straight out of a dystopian novel. A putrid scent hit my nose as soon as I approached the building. The whole place smelled of mold and mildew. But as I pushed open the large doors to the lobby, all my feelings of worry were affirmed.
The old walls were plastered in a hideous floral wallpaper, now that I think about it, the same wallpaper my grandma had. But it wasn’t the wallpaper that made me physically flinch, it was the dozens of animal heads on the walls. They looked like they were sloppily taxidermied and hung for the lowest possible price. The worst part was their eyes. The glazed, milky effect most dead eyes had simply wasn’t there. As I walked up to the front counter, the eyes seemed to follow me.
At the front counter, a young ginger man greeted me coldly. He simply looked up from his phone and said, “Oh, you. You’re the only one here, enjoy your stay.”
He handed me a key for room 13, and walked away to a room I couldn’t see. As I walked down the hall to my room, I looked into a mirror hanging on the wall. I could’ve sworn I saw a red flash, and something flesh-pink. But the uncanny feeling left when I approached my room, replaced by utter disappointment.
Room 13 looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned since the fall of the twin towers, and it was decorated long before then. The carpet was puke-brown and damp, and the wallpaper was quite literally peeling off the walls. The one light in the room kept flickering, and reminded me of a hospital waiting room.
But I decided to stay, get my money’s worth. A stupid mistake.
I dropped off all my things in the room, and headed for the hotel pool. I wasn’t expecting much of it, but after all, I am a swimmer. On the way, I passed the ginger man. All he said was “You again.” I quickly hurried past him, into the women’s changing room. Surprisingly, the changing room seemed pretty clean. Odd, but a welcome surprise.
However, the pool was not as clean as I’d hoped. After fifteen minutes of below-lukewarm water and an encounter with a slug, I called it a night. I went back to my room, passing the ginger man again, and made a microwave-dinner.
As I lay down in bed, all my uncanny feelings returned. I tried to tune them out, but sleep was not option that night. My most recurring thought was ‘No wonder I’m the only guest here’. Then I started to wonder. I sat up, made a cup of coffee (again, sleep wasn’t a viable option), and started to think out loud.
“How did this place pass health and safety?” “Why would this place still be open?” Many thoughts along those lines. Many more that went something like, “How does this place make enough money to keep running?”
As soon as I said that, I saw a red flash at my window. The same red flash I saw in the hallway. My clock read 1:29 am. Scared, I pulled back the blinds. Nothing. “Must have been my imagination. Now that I think of it, I’ve got a nasty migraine.”
I closed the blinds, but there was another flash. Panicked now, I quickly pulled back the blinds to reveal nothing. No, not nothing, there was a small, flesh-pink blob. The same pink I thought I saw earlier. Weird.
I turned from the window. BANG! I turned back, but there was nothing out there. BANG! Nothing. BANG! The sound kept hitting the window. Then from by door. BANG! Then a loud knock. BANG!
BANG! BANG! BANG! My window and door were rattling now. And I could see the same red flash coming out from under my door. The banging was getting intolerable. I called the police, but no picked up. No cell service. I stated to scream, it was all I could do. The pink blob had disappeared from my window.
No, it hadn’t. It had fallen onto my floor. I didn’t have time to wonder how it had gone from outside to inside though, because I heard a voice. A familiar voice. I stopped screaming, I was frozen in fear. I had heard this voice before. It was deep, cold, and malicious. It was the ginger man.
“I know you’re in there. You know who I am. Just come out, and this will be painless.” Jumping up from the floor, I broke out of my trance. I dragged everything I could in front of the door. He kept taunting me, but I collapsed in front of the door, to weak from terror to think of a plan to escape.
I don’t know how long I was on the floor crying, but after what seemed like hours, his relentless taunting stopped. So did everything else. No more banging, no more flashing lights, no more rattling. Complete and utter silence.
As odd as it seems, I started to laugh. It was over, finally over. I looked to the door, and all I could do was laugh. Because this was just a nightmare. “It was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare.”
But as I said this, a cold breeze somehow started to blow through the room. And I felt two cold hands on my neck. They started to squeeze, and I then heard his cold, unmistakable voice. And all he said was “If this is a nightmare, then wake up.” Then everything turned to black.
That was seventeen years ago. It’s fun watching you read this story. You think it’s just that, only a story. But I’m here, watching you. You should hope I spare you.