It’s been about two weeks since I checked in that darkness demon dude. I haven’t had any new check-ins or anything like that since. Now, that’s not to say that weird shit hasn’t been happening, far from it actually. I think enough stuff has happened to warrant another entry into whatever this is. Lets call it my web dairy or whatever.
So a part of my job is doing nightly security walks. Not sure why, no one ever comes here really. Nonetheless I have to walk through all the hallways and stairwells and do a perimeter check of the grounds as well.
About a week ago I was on one of these security walks, a perimeter check. I was walking by the garbage cans when I heard the voice of a small child giggling behind them.
Now, before I tell you the rest, allow me to put a few things into perspective. It’s 2:00 AM in the morning. My hotel is located on the side of the interstate and there are absolutely no houses nearby. So I ask you dear reader. How in the actual fuck could a child find their way out here? So when I tell you that I promptly turned around and proceed to fuck right off and not investigate, please don’t come at me.
It’s not like I got too far anyway, because after about 2 steps the giggling stopped and I heard a small voice call out to me.
“Hey mister, aren’t you gonna like, save me?” The kid said.
“Uhhh.. Fuck no.” I said back.
There was a long pause followed by some shuffling behind the dumpsters. I don’t think whatever this was had ever gotten an answer like that before.
“Uhh… But I’m lost and need help.”
“Sounded like you were having a whole lotta fun being lost back there.” I said back.
More silence.
“Uhh… Well, uhhh. I was uhmmm.” It stammered.
At this point I was losing my patience. What the hell kind of bottom of the barrel, low budget, bargain bin ass set up was this? I mean if you’re going to make an attempt on my life at least make it a good one. So I decided to play a little game myself.
“If you don’t leave right now I’m going to go back there and blow whatever you have for a brain out all over the back of these trash cans.”
More silence and shuffling.
“You don’t have a gun.” It said back.
I turned my phone’s volume all the way up and opened a gun app on my phone. I chose the loudest sounding handgun, the Desert Eagle, and pressed on the screen to cock it.
“Oh yea?” I said.
All of a sudden a completely naked and bald man ran out from behind the trash cans and sprinted into the surrounding woods. I was shocked to say the least. I thought it was going to be like a spider creature or something. Not just some fucking guy. No wonder his trap was so half baked.
I raised my phone up and pointed in the direction he had ran and pressed the screen to fire. I even had it rigged to flash every time I fired a couple shots.
I heard a loud “Fuck!” and more fumbling in the brush. I think the fucker tripped trying to dodge the bullets! It took everything in me not to belt out laughing as I turned and walked back to the hotel.
I wanted to start this post off a bit lighthearted. Well as lighthearted as I can be with all the creepy shit that goes on here, but this one. This one is a lot darker and I’m not proud of what I did. Of how it ended.
So, this thing has been happening for a while. Only shortly after I started working here actually. Every couple of days or so some person would come to the front desk, usually around 3:00 AM and ask for someone. A Holder. A Holder of what? Depends on the person really. Most ask for the Holder of Desolation or the Holder of Contempt, but the one I get the absolute most is the Holder of Sight.
With all the other ones it’s usually a crap shoot who will enter and ask. Women, men, young and old it’s completely random. Except for the ones that ask for the Holder of Sight.
They are always well dressed and very well groomed. They are always so polite when they speak to me too, but even with all that there’s something off about them all. There is a hopelessness about them. A longing of sorts, rooted in the deepest despair imaginable. You could hear the utter desperation through their kindness, the frantic look of pleading when they see me.
I was curious about these people in particular because I kept seeing the same few people night after night. I began to see them as my regulars actually and they would perform the same song and dance every time they came.
First they would bow to me. Then place something on the front desk, usually some sort of trinket. I could tell by the way that they carefully placed these items before me that they each held important value to the person. Immense value. Some would even shed a tear once the item was placed. Then they would speak.
“I would like a parlay with the Holder of Sight.”
I’d then laugh and tell them to fuck off, well at least now I do. In the beginning I would actually check the arrival bucket, but after so many times they kind of just became annoying. Either way those weren’t the answers that they were expecting. Because every single time they would sprint to the front door and leave, making sure to grab the trinket they had placed before they made their great escape.
This made me curious. Who was this Holder of Sight? Why did these people come night after night to speak to him? Why did they all run like hell at my responses? What the hell was the right response anyway?
So many questions and too few answers. Every time one of these people came in, my curiosity only grew. It grew and grew until I decided that my questions would finally be answered. The person who would answer them would be Fred.
Fred was one of my regulars. He came in the most out of all of them in fact, about two nights out of the week. Week after week he would come in and do the same song and dance expecting god knows what. Week after week the look of desperation and sorrow he wore grew more and more.
It was just chance that Fred would be the one I chose to do this to. I didn’t seek him out personally or anything. He had just come in when I decided that my need for answers was just too great to ignore.
You see I have a small button next to the intercom at the front desk. This button locks and unlocks the front doors when I press it. It’s only to be used when I see some shady characters about to come in or a suspected homeless person. Given the isolated location of the hotel I rarely ever use it. Until now.
That night Fred came in and did the usual just as expected. He bowed, placed the trinket on the front desk, and asked to parlay with the Holder of Sight.
I just stared at him for a moment. Even through his slicked back hair and tailored suit, I could see the man was completely lost. It looked like he was on the verge of tears with his eyes glued to mine. Pleading with me. Hoping that maybe this time would be different.
I debated just scrapping the idea and not going through with it. Just tell him to fuck off like I usually do and forget the whole thing, but that nagging curiosity kept nipping at the edges of my mind. I steeled myself, because tonight, I was getting some answers so matter what.
“Listen to me very carefully I-”
Fred had already taken off running. I quickly pressed the button to lock the doors. Fred slammed into the glass double doors so hard I thought he might have shattered them. He started to pound on them and kept trying to get them open in a panic. I started to yell out my questions over his loud pummeling of the doors.
“Why the hell do you keep coming here?” I yelled.
“To see my wife one last time you stupid fuck!”
I could hear the desperation in his voice, but this wasn’t the usual tone that I was accustomed to. He wasn’t desperate for what he came for. No, he was desperate to leave. Panicked for his life.
“All you had to do was give me the keys goddamit!!”
His voice bellowed out and echoed through the halls. I could almost feel the guttural rumbling within his chest inside my own. He turned away from the door and started running at me. A river of tears whipped out of his eyes as he gained more and more ground.
“Oh shit” I said.
I hadn’t expected him to be this upset. Much less for him to try and attack me. I pushed myself back onto the wall behind me as far as I could and out of arm’s reach. He would have to go around the corner and through a door to get to me. A door that had no lock on it. That or jump over the desk to get to me. If he did either of those things I’m not sure what my next move would be.
Though, once he made it to the front desk I soon realized that I wasn’t what he was after at all. He grabbed the scissors we kept at the front desk and brought them down on his neck, spraying blood everywhere.
He screamed at the pain or at least he tried. All that would come out is high pitched wheezing and gurgling noises. His eyes were wide and in shock, but not at what he had done to himself. He was scanning the lobby. His eyes darted from one end to the other. I tried to follow what he was seeing, but I saw nothing.
The more he tried to track whatever it was the more panicked he looked. He pulled out the scissors for a final try at his neck until his eyes finally settled on me. I could see the hate in his eyes.
“I would take you with me if I could you son of a bitch.” His eyes said.
Just before he could bring the scissors down, he disappeared. He was just gone. No blood or anything.
It took a few moments for me to collect myself before I could get up. I leaned over the counter and sure enough Fred was no more. I sat back down in my chair and tried to process what had just happened when I noticed his trinket still sat on the counter.
It was a golden locket in the shape of a heart. I grabbed it and looked it over. On the front was a small rose. “To My Dearest, Fred” was engraved on the backside. I clicked the top and the locket flipped open to see a small picture of a couple. It was Fred and what I assumed to be his wife. He was holding her deep within his arms. They’re lips pressed into an even deeper kiss.
I keep Fred’s locket in a drawer at the front desk. As a reminder of how lethal my curiosity could be. Every time I look at it I can see Fred’s eyes bearing down on me. Burning a hole deep within my soul. I don’t tell my regulars to fuck of anymore.