Day 684

The hotel was quaint, a little three storey house and extension converted to nine rooms all with dainty little en suites. It was the perfect getaway for a couple of days, just enough for him to miss the St Patrick's Day hangovers and somehow-still-drunk revellers. The only downside was just hos isolated it was, sitting part way through a forest accessed only by a thin country road that he'd almost missed entirely.

With no internet, one small TV and no pressing matters to hand he felt he could truly relax. This lasted a grand total of four hours. As 23:00 rolled across his mobile's screen he began to notice small details in his room that he hadn't before. Like the faint rust-red stains on the floor by the window or the flecks of paint missing on the radiator that begun to resemble claw marks.

The sound of several doors downstairs slamming startled him and he instinctively switched off all the lights and hid underneath the bed, just like he had as a child. Mere seconds after he'd managed to calm his staggered breathing his own door was barged down by something he could only describe as putrid.

It stank like rotting eggs and the coppery tang of blood, its flesh bare and glistening in the low light coming from the hallway. It made noises like half formed words mumbled through glass, jaw clicking as it ground its teeth and began to circle the bed. He noticed that it was carrying part of a metal headboard in its eight-fingered hand, dripping and severely bent already.

He'd heard no other commotion aside from the slamming of doors so maybe it hadn't found anyone, maybe everyone was safe and it had caught a deer or something outside. Maybe he could catch it unaware when it turned to leave - if it turned to leave. Something told him that it knew he was in the room somewhere and that it was just waiting for him to make a move, make a mistake and give his hiding place away.

He heard a gurgling groan and felt the bed compress above him as the creature seemed to be laying down, waiting for him to come out or maybe just resting. After waiting several tense minutes he checked his phone, reading 00:45 on the screen and deciding that as he'd heard no movement all the while it was safe to assume the creature was asleep.

Seizing a sudden burst of courage he slid out from underneath the bed, looking about for the bent headboard that it had been carrying and spying it on the other side of the bed, propped against a side table. Creeping around, keeping his eyes on the creature all the while he took hold of the metal frame securely and after a few testing movements he brought it down with enough force that the frame embedded itself deep within the creatures head and upper torso.

He wrenched the frame free only to bring it down again and again and again, thrashing the creature's body into a bloodied pulpy mess. Staggering back he leant against the window to catch his breath, the room span and he dizzily made his way out of the room.

The hallway distorted before him, curling down and down and endlessly down like a centipede startled into its hole. His choices flashed around in his mind, a mixture of run, fight, turn around, god don't turn around just run I can hear it breathing still, how is it breathing, I killed it, how it is breathing?

Taking a deep breath he leant forward.

The hallway seemed to lean towards him and he tumbled down, passing open doors and catching glimpses of bodies beaten to a pulp just like the creature panting and gurgling behind him.

Taking a sharp turn he found himself at the front door, now wide open and blood stained. Barely pausing to catch his breath he half-ran-half-staggered to his car, hands shaky and fumbling about for the spare key he kept taped to the vehicle's underside. He just about managed to get in,lock the doors and turn the car on when the creature slammed itself into the passenger side, leaving a large bloody imprint.

It was still as mangled as he'd left it, if not more so as parts of its head and torso seemed to have either fallen off or been torn off in his aftermath. With a scream he revved the car and swerved away and out of the small car park, tearing down the small country path and onto the main road, glancing behind every now-and-then to check if it was still following him.

He began to relax hours later, as he parked his car outside his home, picking his spare key out from the fake rock near his door and slipping it into the door with the awkward fumblings of a man who'd seen fiction brought to life and regretted ever leaving the safety of the inner city.

The next thing he knew it was late afternoon and he was groggily waking up in his own bed, still fully dressed and on top of the covers. Hoping to himself it was all a dream he begun his usual wake-up routine of shower, dress and eat.

It was all going so well, so normally until he opened his bedroom door and saw the broken headboard placed just in front of it with large bloody footprints leading through the living room and out his open front door.