Hotel

Separated from the modern world stood a structure of old. A hotel which was outlined by the starts in the sky as it stood on a cliff with waves hitting rocks and ships passing by. It looked like a Victorian manor, dark blue color and towers on each of the sides. When families visited, it was a great celebration and a wonderful time, but not so much so for the lonely travelers and those alone.

I was one of those lonely coast traveling men, an aspiring journalist, young and learning to live, getting odd jobs as I studied and read. I heard much of this inn and despite the price, I collected my savings and paid for three nights.

When I arrived I was met by a tall handsome man, he said he was fifty, but looked no more than thirty. This was the owner, Mr. Tallin, he lead me up to my room through beautiful rooms and halls. He asked many questions, specifically of family and friends and sadly my answers were that I didn’t have much of either. He nodded his head and pat me on the shoulder, he told me that is a good thing, for I’ll reap other great rewards. At that time I felt encouraged by those what I thought to be kind words. It was close to night time, I greeted a few others in my hall and went to sleep for I was very tired.

The first day there I saw several families come and go, but I remembered seeing a young lady that was staying in a room across from mine, in the morning I saw that her room was being cleaned. She must have left very early, that was my thought. She was a pretty lady in a gorgeous red dress and in the back of my mind I regretted not offering to buy her a drink.

I went downstairs and sat at the restaurant table next to the window overlooking the ocean and the beautiful cliffs. The waves were wild and the sky was rather grey, but I enjoyed such look and weather. I ordered a waffle and two coffees. I needed to wake myself up better before heading into town and asking questions. I wanted to write a journal about life on the coast and later have it published. A waiter with droopy eyes and pale round face brought me my breakfast, which I enjoyed at the utmost slow pace, especially the coffees.

Then I thought I noticed something strange, something red among the waves, but it quickly disappeared. I shook my head, I though it must have been imagination of my writer mind running its wild course.

I left to check the town and I wasn’t disappointed. Town was authentic and preserved traditions and its look. Center square had a large stone statue of a humanoid creature with tentacle filled face, holding a trident and riding a seahorse, rather creative and I made a further note of it’s originality. I found a big discrepancy between the people, some were very friendly and informative about the town, but others didn’t even want to say a word to me. It was okay because I gathered enough information by the end of the day and as the night began to fall I headed back to the hotel on the cliffs.

There was a new person that was being situated across from my room, an older man, traveling from up north. He was polite, but said little as he wanted to get rest and closed his door.

This night I went down to the bar and got a drink, with it in hand I came outside and sat on a bench overlooking the dark ocean and powerful flow of the eternal waves. I leaned my back against the wall behind the bench and was memorized by the soothing sounds of the water as I sipped my drink, I felt connected to the nature.

I spent some time there and saw most of the lights at the hotel go off, then I heard a loud thud on the side of the building and something falling. I slowly crept inside a bush a peeked around the corner. Something was loaded into back of a car trunk, I was too late to see what, as the trunk was shut by the man none other than the owner, Mr. Tallin.

He proceeded to walk around the building, carefully inspecting the premises. I set quietly inside the bush. Finally he came up close to the cliffs and looked down, I heard him say something, but I couldn’t make out what because of the waves crashing against the rocks and the wind shaking the bushes. He then went inside his car and drove it just around the corner, down the road and closer to the ocean. I could see the car lights in the distance, but once he switched the light of I could no longer see anything.

I snuck back in through the door and sat at the bar. The bartender was an old man with grey hair and a beard. He smirked at me as I ordered one more drink. My imagination ran wild and was making me uncomfortable, but I told my self that was just it, imagination. After another drink I felt a hand pat my shoulder. It was Mr. Tallin. He sat next to me looking abnormally happy and excited. He told me I should be careful with how much I drink in a place next to the cliffs and left. This again made me uneasy, I could barely sleep that night.

The following day I had a headache and couldn’t wait to get down and have my coffee, on my way out of the room I saw that the older man’s room staying across from me was being cleaned and he was gone. Did he too leave very early?

I sat at the same table and watched the waves, trying to clear my mind and relax. I ordered an omelette with tomato and two coffees again. After I had those, I felt a soothing feeling of satisfaction, but my mind kept racing. Even when I went back to town I couldn’t regain focus, I decided to do something drastic and weird.

That night I hid in the bushes by the water and waited. I sat there for hours, but nothing happened. Finally in the middle of the night I went back up to the hotel. Before entering I looked up and saw Mr. Tallin on one of the balconies. He waved at me and again made the remark about drinking near the cliffs.

It was my last day and night here. I had to convince myself that sinister thoughts I had were just creation of my mind and I stayed in the bushes again, waiting. After several hours a car parked close to the water. Mr. Tallin came out of it with two other men, I could recognize my waiter as one of them. Mr. Tallin said several lines in a strange language and then kept repeating them. Finally he stopped and they went and opened the trunk. To my horror, they pulled out a young man, he was alive and conscious, but his mouth had tape on it and his arms and legs were tied. They placed him on the sand and stood there close to him, quietly chanting.

Out of the dark water emerged a thing resembling a mix of crocodile and a seal, it crawled towards the wiggling young man and grabbed him with its teeth, within seconds he was gone and so was the monster. I was shaking in terror, praying they dont notice me. Mr. Tallin collected something of the ground that looked like a mussel and ate it. He had a huge smile on his face. The he turned his face towards the bush and said the comment about drinking and the cliffs again. I ran as fast as I could, I didn’t care what I left behind in the hotel, I wanted to survive. I kept running along the road and heard the car coming up behind me. I jumped into the trees and bushes to the right of the road. They drove by and for a long time I walked inside the cover of the trees, until I saw them driving back. I hid once again and then continued on foot along the road.

A long time has passed since the horror I experienced, I never thought I’d need to write down those events, but yesterday I had a box delivered to my new place, inside were the things that I left behind in the hotel, and a note.

“Be careful drinking near the cliffs.

”