Extended Stay Hotel

Staying in hotels from time to time never freaked me out. I mean, what was there to get freaked out about? They were secure places....right? Well one hotel changed my mind forever. I was staying in what was called an "extended-stay" hotel. It was for people who needed to spend more than a week or two away from their home. In my case, my house was being worked on due to a small but damaging fire. I had to stay there at least two months or until the contractor was finished.

The first week was fine. The hotel permitted cats, so my tabby lounged on my bed every night while I slept.

The second week was different. On Friday I finished doing the dishes in the cramped little kitchenette, watched some TV until 11:00pm and then went to bed. Two hours later I awoke to the sound of my cat hissing. Daisy hardly ever hissed at anything. I was a little alarmed but she was still on my bed so I just figured she had heard someone next door that had disturbed her beauty sleep. I put my head back down after petting her a little and closed my eyes.

My light sleep was cut short ten minutes later when I heard Daisy hissing again. I sat up and noticed that she was no longer on my bed, but on the floor near the couch, glaring at the door. Her hair was on end and her back was arched. Not a good sign. I dared to focus on the door, afraid to see what was scaring my tough cat so much. There was nothing. Then the door knob started turning. My heart went from normal to high speed in two seconds as someone or something tried to open the door! Luckily I had the chain secured, but that didn't seem to stop whoever was trying to get in. Over and over, the door opened and then slammed when the chain couldn't go any further. I ran to the phone and called the front desk. Since I was on the first floor, a staff member could easily check my door.

As the door kept slamming shut, I got a call back from the desk. They said that there was no one at my door. As the digital clock on my nightstand turned 1:30am, the door shut for good.

I slept very little that night and was up at four in the morning the next day to ask about the disturbance. The person at the desk, the one who had been there earlier, said that they had not seen anyone at my door at the time. I was so exhausted from lack of sleep that I turned around and went back to my room.

The next night was a little different, but the first part was the same as I awoke to hear my cat freaking out. This time, though, I sat up and waited to hear the door. Sure enough, the opening and slamming of the door started my heart racing. I sat and waited for it to pass for the night. Then I heard someone screaming. A man's shriek could be heard over the deafening door slams. My eyes grew wide as the man shouted through my door...

"Let me in! Please help! He's gonna kill me!"

Then the door slammed shut like it had the night before. I called the front desk and asked them to check my door. I told them what I had gone through and asked them if they had heard anything. It turns out that everyone on that floor had heard it, but nothing had been seen.

The next day I saw a different person at the desk. I told them what had been happening the past couple nights. That's when the woman told me that there had been a murder ten years ago in the very room I was staying in. The victim had escaped the killer the first time, but the second night he had not been so lucky.

That was all I needed to hear. I made arrangements to move out of that hotel and stay in a different one a couple streets down. All I got in the new hotel was a peaceful night's sleep. I guess someone took the name "extended stay" a little too literally.