Haunted

It was so quiet in my darkened hotel room, which was odd, since the Vegas lights were still gleaming through the cracks of the heavy curtains covering the giant window. I was only here for a work conference, so no real time to play in the lively city. I began dozing off into my soft mass of pillows. The digital clock glowed gently… It was already midnight. I yawned and closed my heavy eyelids. Darkness engulfed my vision, and sleep took over. I began to dream of a fantastical world of dragons and wizards, with vast lands to explore. My dreams, being almost always lucid, gave me free reign to do as I pleased; however, I began to lose control. I could feel myself struggling to breathe as a dark presence came over my dream world. I looked around me, and somehow I was surrounded by water… drowning. I had to force myself awake, gasping for air. I looked over at the clock, now glowing 2:30 AM.

“That was strange…” I thought to myself. The unease was still present… more so now. I looked over to my left, where the “living room” portion of my suite resided. I didn’t see anything at first, until… I noticed something strange on the far wall… a shadow? It appeared to be… swirling like a dark cloud of smoke, and in the center seemed to be a face… not human, to be sure. Sharp eyes stared at me and fangs curled slowly into a menacing grin. It kept swirling and staring… until it was just gone.

“I think I’m just going crazy…” I thought to myself once more, but then I heard something. A shuffling noise sounded from the couch. I turned my gaze slowly, not wanting to see what could be there. A darkened figure was sitting hunched over in the middle of the couch. I was frozen.

“Maybe just another shadow?” I prayed for it to be just that, but then a wet lock of hair slipped off the shoulder and dangled by the profile of their face. Petrified.

Someone’s in my room… I’m going to die… How did they get in!? Panicked thoughts flooded my mind. I couldn’t move or speak terrified of bringing attention to myself. I prayed they wouldn’t see me.

“Maybe they got mixed up? Maybe they’re drunk? But how did they get in?!” I racked my brain looking for an answer… None of them made sense. I heard the shuffling once more. I shifted my gaze back to the figure. Not much changed other than being further hunched over. Panic continued to rise through my whole body. I looked over at my phone, just out of reach on the side table. I needed to get ahold of someone, but fear kept me from moving. My co-workers were just a few rooms away… If I could just send a quick S.O.S. text maybe I’d be OK, but fear’s grip held me strong. I closed my eyes tight; maybe they will go away… I’ll just pretend to sleep and stay hidden under the covers… Yeah… My foolish hopes helped me rest, only for half an hour or so. My eyes shot open when I realized I fell asleep. Slowly I peeked out from my blankets… The couch was empty. I became frantic, turning my head to look behind me… nothing. Concern still flooding, my eyes scanned the entirety of the room. Nothing. Until I looked at the window. I couldn’t see the lights. No wait… I looked closer, straining in the darkness, but there was something in front of the curtains. Something large swayed in front of the crack of light… Something clawed and muscular. I stared harder trying to decipher the form that was standing there. I looked up higher and higher until I spotted two odd points above the top of the window, there one moment and then lowering the next. I looked a little lower, and froze. What looked like a sharp glowing eye stared back at me… It began shifting… then a second eye appeared… I also noticed sharp teeth bared with no lips to be seen. This “thing” wasn’t human. The room filled with a strong sense of evil, and my chest began to tighten with shooting pain. I could feel hot streams of tears rolling down and stinging my cheeks. My grandfather had always taught me if confronted with an evil presence, pray out loud and speak the Lord’s words. So I did just that in hopes of keeping this creature at bay; it didn’t come closer…

For the rest of the night I watched it stand there, shifting its weight now and then, its arms swaying slowly with each motion… lifting its head up and down… turning to look at me then look away as if by force… And for some strange reason, I kept having this feeling deep down inside that by the first rays of morning light it would be gone. I put faith into that, and continued to pray and quote Bible verses to ease my fears. We stared each other down for the remainder of the night, until dawn’s light broke through the window and it faded like a smoke. I sat up on the edge of the bed. I’m not sure if it was from relief or the overall fear from the evening, but I wept so fiercely my eyes burned and my body ached afterwards. It took me quite some time before I could muster up the strength to head downstairs for breakfast. There was only one more night before we left. I had hoped this was over for good, but I found out later I was very wrong.

I explained what happened to my friends and miraculously they believed me. I wasn’t sure if I could even believe myself. The morning was a struggle to get through with so little sleep and so much terror to have dealt with. So many meetings... Before lunch I had to return to my room to gather some items for the afternoon meetings. I could barely find the courage to turn the door handle. As I was packing up my book bag I noticed several lights in the room began to flicker all at different times. I paused only for a moment before zipping up my bag and rushing to the door. However, I was stopped short when a human shaped shadow passed along the wall in front of my bathroom. Trying to ignore it, I put my head down and bolted into the hall.

I told James about the latest occurrence. We made a plan to figure out what was going on that evening. I had also explained everything to my friend Jason, who was well versed in the occult and all things spiritual. However, his explanation and directions failed to ease my mind and heart.

"It sounds as though you unconsciously opened a spirit portal. The swirling shadow sounds quite familiar for it to be something along those lines," he explained.

"A spirit portal? What does that mean... how could I even do such a thing?!" I asked him, more questions and fear brewing inside.

"It's difficult to explain, but I've always known you had a strong power within you. Your... "sixth sense," we'll say, is quite strong, especially in your family. Your sister has it as well," he tried to explain. "As for the spirit portal, you created a rift in dimensions allowing these presences to enter into our own. Quite impressive, really, but it's also only an assumption based off of your experience."

"I see.... I think... What can I do for now? I don't think it's left," I asked silently panicking inside.

"For now... I would get some salt, create a barrier around your bed and along any doorways or windows, just to be safe. Also, prayer always helps as well, as long as it's spoken aloud,"

"I'll be sure to do that... Thank you for your help."

I texted James to let him know we needed some salt... well, a lot of salt. That night he came to my room with several packets of salt from the hotel food court.

"Nobody sells salt near the hotel... soooo... hopefully these will work," he said with a smirk and a chuckle. We placed salt around my bed and spread it along the window as best we could. There wasn't quite enough to go around... As we did this the lights began to flicker again. They also began to go dim but then brighten once more. We attempted to use that as a form of communication, and began asking questions. Male or female? Young or old? Starting with basic questions, we determined that lights going bright meant yes and dimming meant no. It would seem that it was a young female... The lights had become their brightest to those answers. We continued with our questions.

"Is this someone who has passed on?" The lights brightened.

"Did you die in this room..?" I asked... the lights went dim, and only flickered slightly. "Hmm... Did you die in this hotel?" The lights remained dim.

"I guess not... why is she here then?" James whispered as I pondered. I looked to James realizing I hadn't told him the portal theory as of yet. I decided I should, if we were to make any progress. I could see the wheels turning in his mind, upon receiving the information.

"Do one of us know you from the past?" he asked solemnly, and the lights grew brighter once more. "Do... I know you?"

The lights remained bright and flickered slightly. I could feel a weight on my chest growing.

"Can we go somewhere for a bit... " he turned to look at me. I could feel a heavy presence and saw pain in his eyes.

We wandered out to one of the hotel balconies, drinking some rum and cokes to calm our nerves. We talked about the past... about who he thought it could be. A girl... with long black hair. My memory flittered back to the long wet hair that had dripped off the shoulder.

"She was wonderful, but she struggled and I couldn't help her... couldn't save her," he said sipping his drinking and smoking a long drag on his cigarette.

Suicide... drowned in a tub... A shooting pain electrocuted my whole body.

"That's ... how I've tried to go... every time," I whispered choking back tears.

"Even just recently... I haven't told anyone about it though, for obvious reasons. But even being here..." I said gesturing to the bright city before us, "The thoughts don't leave you that easily..."

"Maybe that's why she connected to you? To try and save you from the same path?" He looked at me with all sincerity, and I could feel the tears burning my eyes. I smiled at the notion and took another sip of my drink.

"It's getting pretty late. Do you want to get some rest?" he asked, looking at his watch.

"Doesn't hurt to try, I suppose," I breathed deep of the night air stretching back as I gripped the stone railing. We headed back through the hotel halls, and reached my door.

"If anything else happens just call," he said with a smile.

"Thanks again, for all of your help."

I gently turned the handle of my door and slowly entered the room. I was still apprehensive, but there was no flickering... no shadows... no figures... I took a deep breath and headed to the bath. Didn't seem like the most sensitive idea, but I needed to unwind and soak my aching body. I was only a few minutes in when I swear I heard someone... A voice? I couldn't tell. I slid my head under water, and the sound came again louder this time. I still couldn't understand, but it was enough to get me out of the tub. That night the lights and TV remained on. Thankfully, the night was quiet and peaceful. The next day we were heading out. I had been talking to my mother about what happened, and Jason's portal theory. I noticed right as I began typing about it, the light next to me began to flicker at an incredible rate... and didn't stop until our conversation ended. I was very grateful to be leaving this place.

Things remained normal at home for a short time, until a few nights later, a lucid dream occurred... at least, I think it was a dream. My conscious was floating, looking for something... I didn't know what, but I knew where to find it. I felt very uneasy as I searched. I reached my body... standing, holding my phone... there was a video playing. It was of me walking down a hall... it looked almost like security camera footage, angled looking slightly down and to the side... so strange. After I passed out of view the camera flickered... slightly rewinding, going black and appearing again with the same footage, only this time a girl with long black hair appeared. She began walking a few feet behind me, but then stopped when she was right in front of the camera. I tried frantically to stop the video, clicking the screen furiously, but to no avail. She turned and looked at the camera, her face slowly changing as she did. Her mouth grew wide with fanged teeth, her eyes black and sunken, her skin pale and filled with dark veins. I could feel myself fighting to wake up, to escape the dream, until finally the screen went black, and I bolted up out of bed sweating. I looked around me and I saw it. That same smoke cloud with a fanged face... floating on my ceiling it stayed longer this time... staring at me, almost with a mocking grin. It's been a long time since then. A few strange occurrences have happened here and there. I pray to never see them again, though...

(Based on true events that I experienced in August of 2017)