Goblin Bites: Scary Stories 13

Jim and Lois had been driving all day. They were traveling cross-country from their home in Pittsburgh to visit Lois's ailing Great-Aunt Ida in Santa Fe. Sure, they could've flown (it certainly would have been quicker) but Jim had a crippling fear of flying. Both of them figured a little road trip would be fun; it gave them a chance to unwind upon the open road, and get reacquainted with each other. Although they had been married for almost five years now, neither of them recently seemed to have the time to just sit down and talk anymore with their individual busy schedules.

It was day three of their cross-country trip, and while their romance had been rekindled it had also been tested a bit. They should have been in Santa Fe or at least near it by that afternoon, but they had gotten lost. Jim was the stubborn type who didn't like to stop and ask for directions, a quality that Lois was beginning to lose her patience with. They were both exhausted and honestly a little cranky, and the sun was rapidly beginning to dip beyond the horizon. Being raised for most of her life in the Southwest, Lois knew that it would be dark very soon, and suggested that they stop for the night at the first place they came to.

Fifteen minutes later, they saw a sign for a motel in the distance. Jim remarked that it was strange, considering there had been no bilboards advertising a motel for miles. At his wife's insistence however, he pulled over when the building itself came into view. It looked old to say the least; cracked stucco walls, a sagging porch, and a screen door that swung lazily back and forth on its hinges greeted them. "I don't think this place is even open," Jim mused, "looks like it was abandoned years ago."

Lois pointed to the flickering neon sign above the building, "The lights are on, and the sign says 'vacancy'. Maybe it's not so bad on the inside. C'mon, Jim, we're both beat."

Jim let out a sigh and pulled into a parking space, "Fine, we'll take a gander... but if I smell anything fishy, we're checking in somewhere else!"

Husband and wife both walked into the motel office and approached the front desk. There was a woman standing behind it, who looked almost as old as the building. Her wrinkled face broke into a warm, if a little unsettling, grin at the sight of her potential customers. "Checking in?" she asked.

Jim looked around the dusty, cobweb-covered lobby and suppressed a shiver, "Uh, we're not sure yet. Guess it's the maid's day off, huh?" When the old woman said nothing in response, Jim cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "So, how much for a room for the night? We didn't see a sign with your rates posted anywhere outside."

The old woman's wide, lamp-like eyes fixed on Jim, making him shiver. "How much?" she repeated.

Jim realized the old gal must be a touch daffy or perhaps a bit hard of hearing, so he repeated his question a little louder and slower, "Yes. How much do you charge for one night?"

The old woman stared at him silently for a long few minutes, still smiling, before she spoke again. "We hardly ever get guests here anymore," she explained.

Lois was beginning to lose her temper with the old woman and was admittedly getting a little uneasy. "Yes, we can see that," she said, "we want to check in, but we want to know how much it costs first. Can you tell us, please?"

The old woman then turned to Lois, still with that unnerving smile on her withered face, and held out an old fashioned brass key. "Room number five," she said, "it's at the end of the row. Can't miss it. Please enjoy your stay at the Oasis Motel."

Jim started to protest, but Lois took the key without question. She was too tired to banter with the old woman anymore, and desperate for a long bath and a soft bed after being on the road all day. When they got back outside, Lois and her husband debated long and hard whether or not to take the room they were offered. In the end, they decided to stay, hoping that in the morning they could speak to a manager, or someone else who could give them a straight answer about the charges.

When they got into their room, both were surprised to find it looked absolutely fine. There wasn't a spot of dust anywhere, and all the linens and upholstered furniture looked brand new, if a little dated. There was no attached bath, possibly due to how old the building was, but they had seen a sign pointing them to a communal bathroom a few doors down. Jim flopped on the bed and pulled out his phone, hoping to find a place nearby where they could order dinner from, while Lois grabbed her toiletry bag and headed off to take a shower. The communal bathroom was a small, concrete block building squeezed in between the motel's stucco buildings. The windows it had were narrow and very high up on the walls, which were lined with concrete partitions and studded with rusty shower heads.

Lois had immediate second thoughts about taking a shower in there. For one thing, the stalls had no doors, only short vinyl curtains that didn't go all the way to the floor. For another thing, it was pretty dark in there even with the lights on, and it looked like it hadn't had a deep, thorough cleaning in years. Still, she really needed a shower, so she sucked it up. She picked the cleanest looking stall of the bunch and hurried to do what she needed so that she could leave. The water came out cold at first, but it was clean and heated up fairly quickly, which was a huge relief. While Lois hurriedly washed her hair, she stopped when she thought she heard the door open. A wave of fear and embarrassment coursed through her, as she thought she and her husband were the only guests at the motel. They had to have been, since there weren't any other cars in the lot. She ventured a small peek outside her stall, and called out, "Jim? That you, Hon?!"

She did this for two reasons: one, if it was another guest, she wanted them to know that she wasn't at the motel alone just in case they tried to get fresh. Two, if it was her husband, she really would rather not have been alone in the creepy communal bathroom and hoped that he would offer to join her. She saw no one, puzzlingly, and shook it off, deciding that she had imagined hearing the door open. As she finished her shower though and began to dry off, the other shower heads began turning themselves on one by one. Lois stood in absolute shock watching the taps turn on automatically, not sure what was happening or if what she was seeing was even real. The communal bathroom began filling with steam from all the hot water, making it difficult to see. Suddenly, she heard loud crying coming from the stall next to hers. Lois swallowed dryly and slowly took a peek around the corner, then jumped back and covered her mouth with a scream. There was a young woman in a white dress, sitting on the floor of the shower. She raised a weak, bloody arm toward Lois, but the only sound she produced were hoarse, ragged sobs.

Operating on instinct, Lois snatched up her belongings and ran full speed out of the bathroom. She pounded on the door to their room and screamed for her husband to let her in, which he did thankfully a second later. Jim held his shaking, sobbing wife with alarm, asking her what was wrong, but she was too frightened to speak. "I want to leave," she finally managed, "I don't care if we have to sleep in the car on the side of the road, but I'm not staying here!!"

Once Jim managed to calm Lois down a bit, he loaded the bags back into the car and hurried to return the key to the office while she got herself dressed. The old woman was still there, smiling, behind the desk. "Checking in?" she asked, just like before.

Jim slapped the key angrily on the desk with a frown, "We already have, you crazy old bat, but we're checking right out again! I don't know what kind of operation you're running here, but my wife was just scared out of her wits! I'm just glad we haven't put down a deposit or anything, because I'd be asking for it back now if we had!"

The old woman's smile finally fell, and she looked at him in confusion, "Checking... out? So soon? Oh... very well. I hope you enjoyed your stay at the Oasis Motel."

Jim left in a huff, not surprised to see his wife already waiting for him by the car. They got in and started to drive away, when Lois finally spoke again. "I saw a girl," she said nervously, "in the shower room. I think she was hurt. Should we call the police?"

Jim looked at his wife in surprise, then narrowed his expression into a serious frown, "You did? Well, if she's hurt, she probably needs help. There's no cell service out here, but if we see a police officer or a payphone, we'll stop. Okay?"

Lois nodded her agreement, then fell silent again. They rode through the dark for about five miles before they saw a state trooper's squad car parked under the light of a telephone pole. Jim pulled over, and the officer immediately stepped out. "Evening, folks," he said politely, "Didn't think I'd see anybody out here this late. What can I do for you?"

Lois quickly told the officer about what she saw, and he became much more serious. "I see," he muttered, "sounds serious. I'll radio the local PD and send someone out to investigate, just in case. What was the name of the motel?"

Jim leaned across Lois to speak to the officer directly, "It was the Oasis Motel, about five miles up the road. Tell ya the truth, the whole place seemed a little shady to me."

The officer looked at Jim in surprise, then narrowed his expression into a glare, "The Oasis-? Hey, what do you think you're trying to pull here, Buster?! I don't have time for jokes and pranks!"

Jim looked at the officer, shocked and confused, "What? Officer, this isn't a joke! That girl could be in serious trouble!"

The officer folded his arms gruffly, "Sir, the Oasis Motel hasn't been operational since 1985! I should know, my great-grandmother used to run the place. Hell, she still would be if she hadn't died of a heart attack right there at the front desk twenty years ago! I suggest you two keep driving, and don't waste another minute of my time or else I'll have you arrested!"

Jim and Lois just looked at each other in shock. After a few more minutes, Lois mumbled an apology and rolled up her window, and the two continued on the dark road to Santa Fe in utter silence.