Chequered Nettle

"Terra this doesn't feel." Nell nagged as she walked behind me. I had convinced her to come with me since in all honesty I was afraid to walk into the room by myself. It wasn't Kara, who always seemed so strong, but Nell would have to do. Besides if I even told Kara about what I was thinking about she would have snitched me out to Sue already.

"Relax Nell. We're just gunna be in and out." I told her. Over the past few days I've been studying this strange nocturnal creature. Every day like clockwork he would leave just after the sun set and return right before it came up in the morning meaning that during the graveyard shift he would be gone. "Besides, he's not even in there right now."

"Yeah, but can't we get fired for this?" Nell asked cautiously looking down the hallway then back again checking for any sign of life.

"Not if you don't get caught." I assured her thinking back of all the times I had gone into rooms I wasn't supposed to. I just couldn't get this guy off my mind. Kara said he wasn't a vampire, but I begged to differ! Now I had to go prove her wrong. So if anyone's responsible it's her.

We arrived at it's door and I quickly pulled out one of the housekeeper's keys. Lisa had let me borrow it under the condition that I takeover her graveyard shift which worked out perfectly for me. Luck was on my side as Lisa only chose to hand over her shift when she began feeling sick. Guess a few laxatives in her drink does the trick just right. "How'd you get that?" Nell asked when she the card key.

"I'm just that awesome." I replied inserting the card into the thin slot. I waited until the tiny light flashed green and unlocked the door. Just as I pushed the door open Nell stuck her hand out and took a grip of the door holding it to keep me from opening it.

"We shouldn't be here." She warned holding the door tight.

"I'll be quick." I promised and she relented. Nell stayed outside as a look out to make sure I had a fair warning if someone came. If it came to down to it Nell would have to lie and say we were cleaning the room.

The first thing I noticed entering the room was that the maroon curtains had been replaced with sun-blocking black ones. Even though it was late at night, no light from outside penetrated the thick curtains. During the day they must keep most of the sunlight at bay.

The second thing that instantly caught my attention was that the room didn't seem very used. How long ago had it been since he first came? About a week or two. If he had been here that long why had he not requested turn down service.

As I walked into the bedroom the bed looked like it hadn't been slept in for days. The bedding looked crisp and clean. Do vampires sleep? I racked my brain to find this answer through all the vampire mythology I knew. Last time I remembered they didn't. But that didn't make sense. Why then did they need coffins?

When I was satisfied I wouldn't find anything in the bedroom I headed towards the bathroom. I walked in switching on the light. I half expected to see someone standing behind me in my reflection but I didn't. All I saw was myself and my stupid self.

Maybe Kara was right. Maybe I was overreacting. But I know what I saw! This man, or thing, dragged someone's body up the stairs. Maybe I was overreacting. I needed sleep to clear my head. All these grave yard shifts were keeping me from thinking straight.

I shut the lights and walked out of the bathroom to the door connected to the living room. When I had just convinced myself I might have been wrong, I tripped over something and fell flat on m stomach. I looked over at what I had tripped on and realized I had been wrong about being wrong.

It was right there peeking from under the couch. Extending out from the dark depths of under the sofa was the end of an arm. Whoever's arm this was their fingers twitched involuntarily. Like the kill had been recently made.

I slapped my hands over my mouth as if removing them would release the scream that threatened to escape my throat. Then I realized how stupid I was being. I was in a killer's room just sitting there too stunned to move. So I took off.

My feet grew wings as I bolted out of the room screaming at the top of my lungs. When Nell saw the condition I was in, she quickly followed suit screaming very loudly how she was going to die, and how she would surely be fired. Guests exited their suites to see who was responsible for the manic noise.

We had to hide. Both of us. Clearly if anyone had seen us at the scene they could point the direction we had gone. So had to hide, before anyone found us. "This way!" I shouted to Nell who, in a panic, followed me.

I led her into a janitor's closet and I instructed her to change into the janitor uniforms that were in there. At least then we could throw whoever was following us off our trail.

We were halfway through changing when the closet door opened. Both me and Nell froze in fear. What we saw was twenty times scarier than any vampire. Standing before us was an enraged Kara with deep bags under her eyes staring at us with murder in her eyes like a fire breathing dinosaur straight out of the Jurassic park movies. I said the only thing I could think of:

"If we don't move, she won't be able to see us."