I’m on a trip with my family and it’s most likely the last one I’ll ever be on. Let me explain.
Currently, I’m holed up in my very own hotel room. It’s got all the amenities you could ask for and amazing room service. There’s just one thing that’s seriously been bothering me lately. The staff at my hotel have been acting pretty strange.
Let’s rewind a few days back so I can catch you up…
I stare at the dark void that is the empty wall in my hotel room. Once again, it’s late at night and I’m awake…
I look over to my left and impatiently stare at my younger sister as she snores in a deep deep sleep from across the room.
I’m a VERY light sleeper. A bird shitting a half a mile away could wake me up from a deep slumber, and snoring could keep me up indefinitely.
I know what you’re thinking: take a melatonin and crash in seconds it’s not that big a deal!
I’ve tried everything.
The unrelenting thunder that comes out of my sister each night is enough to make to gods quiver.
Something needed to change.
My parents have been looking forward to this trip and shamefully, I have not. I graduate college next year and will go on to do very mediocre things. Alone. Until then I have to suck up my last few moments under their control until I am finally free.
My parents and I have never really seen eye to eye on things, they wanted me to go into business I wanted to be a writer. I guess we all have our ambitions.
We were on a trip to Prague and while I was excited to see new things and stumble through a new language, I was not excited for all of the skirmishes that were to come.
I had built up enough money through my job as a struggling waiter the previous year that I was able to do some research on how to make my stay here more… comfortable.
I pitched the idea of staying in a separate hotel after the first few sleepless nights. They reluctantly agreed as long as they didn’t have to pay. We were here for a while so I was prepared to spend some extra dough.
I did some research and found this super cheap hotel called “The Belphy” that was conveniently only half a mile away from where my family was staying. When I say cheap I mean really really cheap, I guess I should’ve seen this as the first red flag but hindsight is a bitch ain’t she.
I moved in after lunch and a short fight with my dad. It was nice to get away and have some time to myself.
The building itself was old, looked at least a few hundred years old, and the staff seemed eager for my arrival. The staff were all dressed in matching red suits with blank name tags. Massive grins covered their faces as they carried my luggage up to my room. The place was pretty much empty which struck me as unusual considering the many reviews and photos of their yelp page.
I’m guided through a narrow red hallway after getting my key from the concierge. As I walk up to my room I wade through a sea of smiles from staff who eagerly walk me to an elevator. They were almost shaking with excitement. My phone buzzes as I approach the door. It’s my Dad.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I love you and dinner is at 7:30.”
I smirked at the last comment. The company has been shit but oh my god the food has been incredible.
As I look up from my phone I am immediately greeted by a set of beady eyes and an all too familiar wide smile. He is standing all to close catching me off guard and forcing me a few steps back, causing me to bump up against the wall.
The elevator is small only able to barely fit 2 people.
The ride only lasted around 30 seconds but I swear his eyes never left me. His smile never faded, and I don’t think he blinked once. It still brings me chills thinking about it.
“Your room here” The staff member says in broken English and a Czech accent.
He points to the door inviting me in.
I walked in, watched them set down my bags, and crashed.
I woke up to the sound of my phone flopping around like a fish out of water on the desk next to my new bed.
Shit.
It was 8:38 and I missed dinner.
“Where the fuck are you?!” My dad said in hysterics. “Your mother is having a fit!”
“Dad I’m so sorry I must have slept in” I pleaded.
“Fuck it, stay where you are.”
He hung up leaving me alone with nothing but my guilt and the silence of this dead hotel.
I got out of bed and rubbed my eyes a bit. I never really got a chance to explore my room. Other than the few moments it took me to put my phone on “Do not disturb” and close my eyes, I didn’t really see much of my room.
It was a nicely sized queen bed with a nice view of the pool a few floors below me.
The pool was surrounded by lounging chairs each covered in tarp that trapped what appeared to be pillows waiting to be rested upon. Only a few chairs remained uncovered.
As I’m staring out the window I hear a loud knock from my door which nearly made me jump.
“Dinner sir” A grinning staff member greets me at the door holding a tray of steak and french fries.
I scarfed down that food faster than I’d like to admit. It was amazing.
Being alone was nice but I’ll admit I did feel guilty about leaving my family. I laid back down in bed with my full stomach and quickly fell back asleep.
My first night at the hotel I woke to the sound of moaning protruding from the hallways. I figured it was nothing and tried to go back to sleep.
The moaning appeared in intervals through the night waking me up a few more times. I just figured it was someone who had too much to drink the night before and was able to block it out.
I woke up the next day to texts from my parents,
“Brunch at the hotel 11:30”
I still felt guilty about missing dinner the night before so I quickly got up and started to head out the door.
“Lunch sir?”
I nearly knocked him over. The same staff member from last night was standing barely 7 inches away from my door holding another tray of food.
He smiled at me with the same wide grin and beady bloodshot eyes that indicated a lack of sleep.
“No thank you I actually am on my way to meet my family right now” I told him as I walked past him.
He turned slowly with me as I walked away. As I do he let out a faint squeal to himself as if he was being stabbed by my words. I could feel his eyes watching me as I passed him and sped walked to the elevator.
I felt uneasy after I left the hotel. The way he looked at me just didn’t seem right.
“You’ve barely touched your eggs” my Mom exclaimed.
“I guess I’m not that hungry” I fired back.
“How was the hotel? It seems like you finally got your beauty sleep.” My sister said to me in a snappy fashion.
I could tell that leaving her alone with my parents wasn’t her ideal vacation but I didn’t regret leaving.. Not yet.
The day went pretty well, I could tell that my sleep put me in a better mood and I was finally able to enjoy everything Prague had to offer. Things with my parents also hadn’t been that bad so I guess the separation really helped. Although I still couldn’t shake off the staff members eyes.
The next night I was exhausted, I got a few beers at dinner and was ready to hit the hay.
My night went about the same way as the first. Moaning, very similar to the night before. Only this time I wasn’t able to shake it off so easily. I hopped out of bed and decided to peek through the peep hole. What I saw genuinely scared the shit out of me.
A pair of bloodshot eyes staring right back at me barely an inch away from the peephole.
I almost let out a yelp, but was quick enough to catch it in my hands. How long had he been there? Is he watching me? Did he know I saw him?
I backed away from the door to catch my breath. I noticed I was shaking a bit when I went back to check if he was still gone. He was. And so was the moaning.
I nervously crawled back in bed. I didn’t sleep much that night.
The next morning it took me a while to brave the journey out of the hotel. The lobby was curiously empty but I still had the feeling like something was watching me.
I didn’t talk much to my family this day and definitely did not want to admit I wanted to go back to their hotel.
I walked around a lot before I finally braved it to the hotel. The walk from where my parents were staying to The Belphy wasn’t too bad and it comforted me knowing they were so close.
When I finally reached the archaic hotel I took a few deep breaths and walked up to the front door. Once again I sped past the concierge and straight to the elevator.
I anxiously waited for the elevator to reached my floor and half expected to see the nameless staff member to be waiting for me when I arrived.
The second I heard the ding and the doors opened I sprinted to my room and slammed the door shut.
I grabbed some tape from a store on my way back and carefully covered the peephole on my door after putting up the “do not disturb sign” on the outside handle.
I then popped a melatonin and prayed for the night to be over quick.
After about an hour of anxiousness and hiding under the covers I was out.
That night, I woke up to the eerily disturbing and familiar sound of moaning.
I slowly opened up my eyes and reached over to my phone to check the time. It was 4 am. What the fuck.
The moaning sounded louder and louder the more my body woke up. Just as I turned on my phone’s flashlight I realized I was not alone. Standing in front of me and staring right at me were those fucking eyes.
“What the fuck!” I yelled out.
He didn’t budge. He just stared at me with that horrible grin. His eyes even baggier and more bloodshot than yesterday, like he’d been staring at something for too long.
I wasted no time and jumped right out of bed and out of the the room. As I ran out I looked behind me. Only his head and smile moved as it followed me out of the room and through the narrow hallway.
Once I got to the elevator I started calling and texting my dad.
“Are you guys awake? I need a place to stay.” I was done hiding my fear. I was terrified.
Once I got to the lobby I was confronted by the concierge who looked almost like he was expecting me. I stumbled backwards as he blocked the exit and reached his hand out.
They all had the same smile, like they knew something I didn’t. Like they really wanted me exactly where I was.
I ran out the back and reached the pool. This time I could see they were following me.
I saw the covered pool chairs and realized I could hide under them. I wish I just ran.
I unveiled the chair, revealing a pale and smiling corpse. I was in shock. This was no staff of this hotel, he was in civilian clothing. I looked around and realized just how many chairs were covered. I felt a lump in my throat.
I looked up back to the hotel and saw a group of grinning staff staring at me. It was dark so I could only really see the white of their teeth and the red-white of their eyes.
I backed up ready to go into a full sprint the hell out of there when instantly everything went black.
I woke up back in my hotel room. My head hurt bad. Like something had hit it. I must’ve been out for a while because it was light out now.
It’s been a few days since this night like I previously stated. My door locks from the outside now and I haven’t been able to reach anyone in my family.
I really wish I stayed in my old hotel and just enjoyed my vacation. My only real entertainment has been watching the pool slowly fill up.
I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be here, but hey at least the food is good.