A Haunting at Keystone Manor
Chapter sixteen
Alex
A family of four have just arrived at the manor; two young kids, a girl and boy, and their parents.
Kayla is currently getting them checked in.
As I watch them, an idea slowly forms. I don’t realize I’m smirking until Jake says, “Oh no, you’re not going to haunt these guests. We need them to keep up appearances.”
“But Jake,” I whine. “I need the practice, and it would be so fun!” He sighs, knowing he’s not going to be able to keep me from haunting the guests just a little. “You know why I need to do this.”
“I know, brat. Ok, you can scare them a little, but not enough to send them packing. Understand?”
“One hundred percent. A minor haunting. Hey, maybe that’ll drive traffic to the hotel. People love visiting haunted places. We could become famous!”
“Famous ghosts,” he deadpans.
“Exactly!”
“I doubt my father would approve.”
“Well, I have plans for your father,” I say ominously.
“What about Kayla?”
“Ooh, I’ve got plans for that bitch too.”
“Such as?”
“I don’t know yet,” I say and bite my lip. He snorts and shakes his head as he walks away, leaving me to my planning.
***
By the time night rolls around, I’ve decided exactly how I’m going to terrorize my victims. I mean, guests.
Since this is my first haunting I’m going to keep it simple.
Loud, unexplained banging noises, a door creaking opening on its own, the overhead light flickering.
That kind of thing. The family has just gone to bed, parents in one room, kids together in an adjoining room. I rub my hands together. Showtime!
Mustering all the energy I can, I open the door to the parent’s room, quietly so as to not wake them. Then, with a maniacal laugh, I slam it shut as hard as I can, making the door rattle in the frame. The parents wake with a shout, and the husband turns on the lamp on his nightstand.
“What the fuck was that? Who’s there?” he calls out. His wife sits up next to him.
“Honey, go check on the kids,” she says.
“Me?! You go check on the kids, Barbara.” She gives him a withering glare, and he begrudgingly gets out of bed. He briefly peeks into the kids’ room only to find them fast asleep. “Maybe it was the wind,” he says as he crawls back into bed.
“The wind? The window is closed, Derek.”
“Well, I don’t know then! Go back to sleep,” he says with a huff, and they both turn away from each other and eventually fall back asleep.
I stand there smiling at their sleeping forms. It worked!
I could definitely get used to this. I let them sleep for a bit before moving onto the next item on my to-haunt list. The unexplained loud banging noise.
A classic. I hope I have enough energy left to make it a good one.
I walk over to the far side of the room and bang my fist against the wall as hard as I can.
Ow, that hurt! I make a mental note to acquire solid objects to do any future hitting, and the couple wakes back up with a fright. The lamp clicks on again.
“Okay what the fuck, there is definitely someone in here.” I have a moment of panic thinking he can see me, but quickly realize that isn’t the case when he calls out again. “If anyone is in here, you better leave before I get out of this bed and kick your ass!”
“Honey, go check and see if they’re in the bathroom.” When he just sits there, Barbara nudges him out of bed. “Go! Think about the kids, Derek. What if there is an axe murdering psycho in here? Do you want the kids to get chopped up? Me?”
This pep talk is clearly having a different effect than intended, as Derek is looking a little pale now.
He takes a deep breath before crawling out of bed and slowly walking towards the bathroom, muttering to himself, “You’re a man Derek, you can do this.
You can’t look like a pussy in front of your wife.
” He reaches the partially opened door to the bathroom, takes a minute to steel himself, and tugs it open, free hand balled into a fist and ready to strike whoever is in there.
Derek takes a look around and sighs a breath of relief.
“There’s no one in here, babe. Just go back to sleep.
” The light goes out again, and I wait. Pacing is key during a haunting.
You don’t want to blow your entire load too soon, so I watch them sleep for a bit, listening to their soft snores.
I think about which item on my check list I want to try out next.
I’m debating between light flickering and feet tickling when one of the kids opens the door between the rooms and comes in, hugging a teddy bear.
It’s the little girl. I can’t scare a little girl, that would just be mean, so I stay quiet.
She looks over in my direction and rubs her eyes.
Then, she lets out an ear-piercing scream.
“Daddy! There’s a man in the room!” she cries, pointing directly at me. How the fuck can she see me? Oh shit, am I visible? I freeze, terrified all of a sudden.
Derek flails around for a minute, twisted in his sheets, before jumping up and turning on the overhead light. He assumes a fighting stance and holds his fists up, yelling, “Come out you pervert motherfucker! You wanna get fucked?” I snort and then slap a hand over my mouth.
“He’s right there, daddy!” the little girl says, still pointing directly at me.
I hold my hands up. “It’s not what it looks like, I swear! I just wanted to try my hand at haunting. It was just a prank bro!” I babble, hoping this guy isn’t about to kick my ass.
“What?” he looks over at me then at his kid. “Sweet pea, there is no one there.”
“Yes there is!” the little girl shrieks again. Derek lowers his fists before running a hand down his face, sighing.
“It’s just your imagination, there’s no one there. I told you not to eat candy before bed, you know it gives you nightmares. Let’s get you tucked back in.” He grabs the girl’s hand and walks her back into her room to tuck her in.
He comes back in the room and shuts off the overhead light before crawling back into bed, cuddling close to his wife. “This hotel is haunted,” he says to Barbara.
“Let’s just go back to sleep, we’ll get out of here first thing in the morning,” she whispers. “There’s nowhere else to go that’s open at this hour.” He agrees and they fall back asleep.
I continue to watch them, drunk on my newfound power, and debate how far to push this.
I still have a few items on my check list that I’m dying to try.
I stand there for a few hours thinking, until I see light just starting to peek through the window.
I’m running out of time. Okay, we’re doing the foot tickle, I decide.
I’ve been torturing Derek all night, so decide it’s time to give Barbara a little taste.
I walk towards the foot of the bed. Summoning my energy, I lift up the comforter and slip my hand under it.
My finger grazes her heel, but she doesn’t so much as twitch.
Emboldened, I attack her arch with a vigorous tickle, and she wakes up shrieking.
“DEREK! Something just touched my foot!” she shrieks, hysterical. I laugh as they both jump out of bed and frantically run around the room, gathering all their belongings.
“That’s it, we’re getting the hell out of here. KIDS! Pack your shit, we’re leaving! NOW!” Derek yells, and they run out of the room like they’ve just seen a ghost.
I follow them down the corridor and into the lobby. Kayla looks up in shock from her place behind the desk as they run up to her.
“Is something wrong?” she asks, looking confused.
“Yes. This hotel is haunted, we are leaving immediately.” Derek explains.
Kayla looks even more confused now. “Haunted? I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand—”
“This. Hotel. Is. Haunted. We were terrorized all night. Loud noises, doors slamming. Something violated my wife this morning. We’re checking out immediately.”
“I’m so sorry for your experience, sir. We’ve never had this kind of issue before. Give me a second to get you checked out.” Derek impatiently taps his fingers on the desk as she works.
“We’ll be leaving a review on the google, as well. I don’t know if one of your employees just has a sick sense of humor, or a foot fetish, but they should be fired immediately,” Barbara says haughtily.
“I appreciate you letting me know about this, I will be looking into it, and appropriate action will be taken immediately, I assure you. I’d like to offer you a coupon for a free night stay, for your troubles.”
Derek huffs. “Oh no, we are never coming back here again.” With that they hurry out the door and drive away.
I look at Kayla, who rolls her eyes, and I wince. “I may have gone a little bit overboard…”
Just then Jake appears beside me, giving me the look. “What did I tell you, brat? You can’t drive away all our business. Do you want to haunt an empty hotel?”
“Honestly, this may be good for business. If they leave a review saying this place is haunted, all those ghost hunting freaks will be dying to come stay here. I know I’ve explained this to you.
So, you’re welcome for that. The girl saw me, just so you know.
I'm getting stronger. Soon, I'll be unstoppable!” He rolls his eyes, fondly.