Run Run Wyoming

As he crossed the everdale Wyoming border, he had realized that the rain had been following him all along. Thomas was drenched in water as his suitcase was cracked and his business cards bled. As he went door to door and town to town he was met with the same answer. Nobody wanted vacuum cleaners. And so the motel in Willow Hollow was his last stop that night. It was quite the sagging structure clawed by ivy and shadows. He saw woman at the front desk with robes made of crimson but no name tags. Her eyes had lingered and her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

Thomas was given the keys to room 6. The key turned and revealed the very stale air and faded wallpaper that peeled like cactus on the sunburnt sahara. The floor had a pair of worn slippers that were too small for any man. None of the lamps worked and the TV played static even when unplugged. Still, exhaustion dulled his nerves as he laid his head on the thin pillow with a damp smell that was moist.

He would wake up at the crack of night, 2:18 am. Footsteps dragged along the side of his room which quickened Steven’s pulse. The slippers were gone. He reached for his cracked suitcase, but to his surprise the suitcase was no longer under the bed. All his brochures littered the carpet and rearranged to form a crude frown.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Thomas opened the door. A lady stood barefoot with her hair dripped and bones dry. “You’re not safe here.” Her voice sliced the silence like a blade. He stepped back and she stepped in. The lady and him sat on the edge of the bed as the storm roared outside. She told him of the motel’s curse and how every year the motel took someone. The slippers were the first sign of the chosen one.

“You should go,” she whispered while caressing his skin. He wanted to, but watched her, her knotted hair and the way she flinched at thunder had a mystique to it. At that moment he realized she couldn’t leave her. He grabbed his face and kissed her with intensity. Then the door slammed open.

“Run!” the lady screamed.

He was pushed and stumbled into the hallway, slick with water and footsteps that weren’t his own. He turned but the door was gone. Just a blank wall.Only his suitcase stood upright, as if it was waiting for him. Thomas was paralyzed. From inside the walls, something breathed. Thomas went to the lobby of the motel to find the clerks but everyone was gone. He was afraid, but shocked with terror.