Another work of fiction that I had been working on, this is a story that comes from our collection of really scary ghost stories. It is intriguing because of the way it ends. I surmise scary ghost stories should end with a wicked sense of apprehension, and that’s exactly what I was planning to achieve. It is dark and it is bold, and I hope that you delve deep into the story living each moment as its protagonists live.
I would love to see all these scary ghost stories be illustrated or filmed because hey! Wouldn’t that give wings to our imagination? Please do comment after reading scary ghost stories on this website, that’s one way to know and have faith in continuing this bizarre hobby.
Alright, without wasting any more time, let’s get to this ballsy addition to our scary ghost stories box. Till then I will be lodged in knee deep to scour for more scary ghost stories for you. Feast on it:
Scary Ghost Stories: The Couple
“C’mon Darlene! Ghosts do not exist! You should know this by now. I mean look at how grown up you are. Why do you still think like a child?”
Mike was busy lecturing her again.
“No, but I am just saying…”
Darlene was cut off mid-sentence.
“Answer this: Did you ever come across a ghost yourself?”
Darlene tried to answer,
“No, but Karla said…”
“Forget what Karla said.”
she was cut-off once again.
“Karla doesn’t know what she is talking about. She has been watching far too many horror shows and reading God knows how many scary ghost stories a day for crying out loud!”
“Five scary ghost stories every day.”
she completed him.
“See?”
The Smiths walked down to the reception desk as they argued. They were somewhere in their mid-thirties and had a 2 year old kid who was yet to learn the pointlessness of speech. The poor chap walked alongside them looking from time to time at the strange hotel they had walked in and then at their parents.
It was a shabby old hotel they had luckily bumped into whilst they were on their way to meet Darlene’s parents in Ogden. It was a long and punishing ride and a proper pit stop was inevitable.
The Old Man
An old man sat at the reception desk reading his paper. He was a shrivelled poor thing, wore thick specs, and was draped in a torn waistcoat. He hadn’t had a bath for days. You could tell.
They were still blabbering when they reached the desk. The old man looked up for the first time at them and groaned,
“Yes?”
Mike felt interrupted as he replied,
“We are looking for a room for the night.”
The old man struggled with the keys as they followed him into the dark hallway. He lit a faint warrior down the corridor as the couple kept arguing in the backdrop. The little boy was used to it. He held to his mother’s legs, as the caretaker opened a room to show a single bed waiting.
“What? We are looking for a room with two beds.”
The old man roared,
“All the rooms here have single beds. You will have to take another room. Or adjust here.”
Mike’s eyes popped,
“What? No? I want to have a good night sleep.”
He wasn’t convinced and was thinking about taking another room.
“Honey! Wait a minute, we can share, can’t we?”
Darlene was too scared to be left alone.
“Oh! C’mon Darlene! You will have Zack to give you company.”
he pointed at the gawking lad on her knees. Mike was too pissed to comfort her.
“You know what? I will take the room right next to yours.”
Darlene had no choice but to comply. She was too sick to make him understand how she felt about strange places, and especially those that were out in the woods. She went in then remarked,
“Why are the lights so dim here?”
The old man shrugged before leaving her and the child to get settled in.
Mike’s Room
Mike was waiting at the door next to the room Darlene and Zack had taken. The old man made his way towards what was going to be Mike’s room. He opened it, as Mike went in to check the room.
“Could you switch on the lights please?”
The old man struggled with the switch in vain.
“Ah! Perfect! So there are no lights here.”
Mike mocked.
“I will change the bulb right away.”
the old man said, and started for his desk. Seeing him crawl slowly, he decided to let things be.
“You know what? Just leave it. I am gonna head straight to the bed anyway.”
Mike switched on the torch button in his mobile to grope for the hangers. He hung his shirt up, checked for the bed before throwing himself on it. He was fast asleep within seconds.
Darlene’s Room
In the other room Darlene was prepping herself to sleep. She heard a loud thumping noise on the wall and figured it was Mike trying to check on her. She reached for the door as Zack struggled to get on the bed. The door opened, she peeped out towards the left. It was dark down the aisle. A single bulb lit there, flickered at times as if there was no hope for the light in the world.
Just then she turned towards her right, and freaked out. That old man was standing right next to her.
“You scared me!”
Darlene could manage.
“Do you need something?”
the old man leered at her nightgown.
“No, thank you.”
He made another attempt to drool by adding,
“If you do, just press 9 on the phone.”
Darlene quickly added,
“Okay, I will. Thanks.”
She watched him leave before she closed the door. She couldn’t have dared to visit Mike in his room after watching that forlorn corridor out there.
“That guy gives me the creeps.”
she returned to her bed where Zack was busy rubbing his eyes.
There was a loud thump once again that came from the wall, supposedly from Mike’s room. She wondered if her husband was trying to play a prank or was saying something in his geeky morse code.
“Honey? Is that you?”
she went near the wall.
She pounded back. There was a loud pound this time. It scared her, and she rushed towards her bed. She left the lights on as she got under the blankets.
The Door
Zack was asleep in no time. He was yet to encounter the concept of fear. But Darlene couldn’t sleep. All those horror movies she had seen growing up, and all those scary ghost stories she had read in magazines, were constantly playing on her mind. Then there was Karla, her sister who had told her about haunted happenings around the place that they were parked in. But Mike wouldn’t listen.
Darlene had a funny feeling about everything. The way the hotel wasn’t directly located on the road itself, and that they had to follow a trail to get there. Something wasn’t quite right. She had smelled fishy minutes ago.
She waited listening to her own gasps for a while holding Zack tighter against her. Soon in that hushed silence, she began hearing voices, hushed whispers that seemed to be coming from the aisle.
She removed the blanket cover to breathe properly. But she was taken aback. The door to her room was open. The darkness from outside gawked at her. Her eyes were open wide in shock. She couldn’t understand how.
“Maybe that creepy bastard opened it.”
She thought to herself, before slowly alighting from the bed and moving towards the door. In a cursory glance, she noticed that the corridor light was no longer switched on. It made her dead scared. She locked her door once again this time making sure it was fastened properly. There was a bolt from the inside that she had overlooked somehow. She fastened it this time.
Darlene looked around her room to check, then quickly peeked under her bed to establish nothing. She went to the phone but soon realized it wasn’t working. She went to bed once again mad as hell at Mike to leave her out in a strange place that creaked and thumped, where the phones didn’t work and where she couldn’t sleep.
“Oh! Mike! Where are you?”
she wondered out loud.
Mike’s Night
Mike had one of the most uncomfortable naps as he woke up startled by a sudden nudge on his hand. It seemed something had brushed against him. He woke up looked around, with eyes semi-open. Then groped for his mobile in the dark, but couldn’t find it. So he went back to bed.
This time the touch was so palpable, and because he wasn’t asleep he sprang up at once.
“Who’s there?”
He felt someone push him from the arm. A nudge followed from the back. Then there was another push from his right side. Then a loud slap on his bare chest. Realizing he wasn’t dreaming after all he fell from his bed. Gasping for breath, shocked at who had suddenly come into his room, he scampered scared till his hand found his mobile. He lit it up once again and tried to see who was in his room.
Nothing.
He switched on the torchlight and once again checked, under the bed, opened the cupboard, but nothing. It was the strangest thing he was experiencing for the first time in his life. It was too much to take. Just then he heard the walls thump and he ran for the door, his mobile falling off in the process. In that brisk attempt to flee, he felt he was being followed.
He opened the door to utter darkness but he remembered his wife’s room to be next to his. So, he groped for the wall and kept walking against it. But no door came. Only more wall. The dim light from the lobby was the only thing he could see. But why wasn’t he moving? He used all the force he had. But it was as if something was pulling his other hand, stopping him from going.
The walls wouldn’t end.
He shouted out loud,
“Darlene! Help!”
The Help
Just then a door opened from the left and the light shone bright at his face blinding him instantly. It was Darlene.
“Mike! Mike! are you alright?”
She came rushing out picking Mike up from the ground who had fallen. She was taken aback at once to find Mike like that. He looked all drained out, sweating profusely. There were red marks all over his body. He was hurting gasping for breath. Confused he tried to look behind, but it was dark everywhere. He could only manage the first thing his mind could register:
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Darlene rushed in to get Zack, and came back within split seconds.
“What is this God forsaken place?”
she was talking out loud as she picked him up and they made their way to the lobby.
The Lobby
The old man was silently reading the papers there. He looked up at his guests, and was aghast to find them in a troubled state.
“What the hell is this place?”
Darlene shouted at the top of her lungs.
“What happened? Are you alright?”
the old man replied.
“Clearly there is something wrong with this place. We would like to leave right now.”
she said.
“Alright”
the old man said calmly. He took out his register and pointed,
“Just sign here to check out.”
Mike moved forward, took the pen from his hand, and signed. He was paying in cash when the old man leaned forward and said to him,
“You should have listened to your wife. Usually they don’t bother people much. They keep to themselves. You provoked them.”
Puzzled Mike looked at him.
“What….What are you saying?”
he faltered.
But all the old man did was stare at Mike. He didn’t understand but he was beginning to.
“Mike are you done? Let’s go.”
Darlene tugged at him from behind. They were half way towards the gate when the old man shouted at the top of his voice.
“Madam, I think you are taking something that belongs to my hotel.”
the old man pointed at her shoulders with his eyes.
“What do you mean I….”
Just then Darlene looked at what she was carrying. It wasn’t Zack. It was a pillow she had been holding all this time. She let go of it screaming at the top of her voice.
Just then they heard the voice of a crying Zack coming from the corridor they had managed to escape from. Mike looked at the old man. There was a big grin on his face as he said,
“They gotta feed.”
There wasn’t a second to waste. Mike ran like hell into the hell that waited for him in the darkness ahead. The empty hotel rang with the sound of Darlene’s yelp.
That was effing scary
Glad you liked it. 🙂
That was creepy as heck and the ending was perfect.
Thank you Nicole 🙂