ROOM 16

It was the time of evening, and I was coming home from my friend’s party. I was feeling very, VERY tired at that time, so I thought I’d wait and rest at a hotel near the village. The hotel was normal and didn’t seem any big, but for some reason, it seemed creepy.

  After check-in, I got my room number and key. My room number was 21.

  I walked along the hallway. When I was going through the different rooms, I heard the sound of a girl screaming. It was from Room 16 which was 5 doors away from my room.

  I stopped and turned back. Then I noticed the door of the room was pretty old and there was a large keyhole in it. I started to feel a bit curious about what must have been going inside. I brought my face close to the door and peeped through the keyhole.

  Inside was a girl and her head was to the ground. I couldn’t see her face clearly as her thick hair was covering her face. She wore a white dress, just like in the ‘90s.

  I found this odd, but I still ignored it. It’s a little girl, after all, I said to myself. Then I entered my room, closed and locked the door, and went to sleep.

The next day, I found myself walking through the hallway again. I don’t know why, but I felt that I had to peep through the keyhole again, as I did yesterday. So, I bent my body and looked through.

  This time though, I didn’t hear any sound nor did I see the girl. The whole sight through the keyhole was just red. Maybe she saw me yesterday, I thought. She covered the keyhole with a red cloth.

  I found this a bit childlike and gave a small laugh. With this, I walked down to the reception again to check out.

  Before going back home, I asked the woman at the counter, “Hey, what’s exactly going on in room 16? Why is the door different and why is the girl living alone?”

  The woman stared at me as if I told some gibberish. Then she suddenly responded, “Oh, room 16? A couple and their girl used to live there when this hotel wasn’t renovated. They used to come and stay there for vacations. One day, for some unknown reason, they killed their daughter. And when the cops turned up, both the man and his wife committed suicide.

  Soon after this, strange things started happening. Many of our guests told that they’d seen the girl walking in the hallway. They also mentioned that the girl’s eyes were totally red, with no Iris or Pupil.”

  I was shocked after hearing her words. My heart started beating fast. I couldn’t speak anything. What was the red thing in the keyhole? Was the girl even seeing me . . . just as I was seeing her?

I just realized that this story actually has an abrupt end. But I hope you at least grew anxious for a second!

Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of my imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental. || Contents of this story should not be reproduced in any manner without permission.