The sound was rhythmic, deliberate, like fingernails dragging across the stiff, cheap carpet tucked beneath the box spring.
I stood in the center of Room 314, frozen between the twin beds, my keycard still gripped in my hand. The air in the room smelled of faint bleach, stale air conditioning, and that strange, metallic tang of an old radiator. Outside, the rain tapped steadily against the windowpane, but inside, every drop of my attention was locked onto the dusty floor gap beneath the floral bedskirt.
My initial thought—that the handwritten note was a lingering prank left by a previous guest—shattered into cold dust.
I took a quiet step backward, my sneakers squeaking against the tile entryway. The scratching stopped instantly.
Silence fell over the room, so thick I could hear the erratic rhythm of my own pulse in my ears.
“Hello?” I called out, trying to project a confidence I didn’t feel. “Who’s under there?”
No answer. Just the quiet hum of the mini-fridge in the corner.
I pulled out my phone to call the front desk, but the signal bar in the top corner showed a hollow, searching indicator. No service. The hotel wifi had dropped off the moment I walked into the third-floor corridor.
Scricker-scrack.
The sound returned, louder this time, accompanied by a dry, rhythmic thumping—like something hollow tapping against the wooden frame of the bed.
Panic was telling me to bolt out the door, down the stairwell, and straight into the lobby. But curiosity is a insidious thing. It convinces you that the unknown is always less terrifying once you put eyes on it.
I grabbed the heavy metal ice bucket off the dresser, gripping it like an improvised club. I dropped to one knee, keeping my body as far back as possible, and extended my right hand.
With the tip of my index finger, I hooked the edge of the dust ruffle and pulled it back an inch.
I flicked my phone’s flashlight beam into the dark narrow gap beneath the bed.
There was no monster. No killer hiding in the dark.
There was only a mirrored tile, about two feet wide, laid flat on the floorboards directly under the center of the mattress.
