An Unexpected Boo-king

I met my semi-regular fubu, and we checked-in our usual spot. It’s a motel which has individual cottages instead of rooms. We were given cottage #44, which the guard said was at the end of the row of cottages.

This place is discreet. Not only are the cottages at a proper distance from each other, there are lots of plants and trees beside and around the cottages.

When we got there, we saw that beside it was another cottage that was closed down; trash and other old stuff were stacked on the balcony, blocking the door. You knew no one goes inside that cottage.

When we went inside #44, we immediately noticed how older it was compared to the other cottages (yes, we’ve been there several times before, in different cottages). The floor even creaked, and we joked that we shouldn’t do it standing over that spot on the floor, otherwise we’d crash through.

Afterwards (sorry, this isn’t about the sex, although it was great) we were resting in bed, with him lying down by the side table of the bed. Suddenly he jumped up, and I knew he had freaked out because he saw something but was trying to hide that fact from me.

“Ano yun?” I asked. “What did you see? What is it?”

“No, nothing, nothing,” he replied.

“You saw something. I’m sure of it.”

He kept denying. I kept insisting.

After a pause, he asked, “Are you easily spooked?”

“No,” I replied. “What did you see? Tell me.”

“Nah, later. I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said, sounding more sure of himself. “I’m okay.”

I tried a couple of times, but he insisted he’s okay. So I decided to stop asking.

While we were talking about another topic, we heard a sudden sound, like the crumpling of a candy wrapper. Or a very dry leaf falling and hitting the ground. Except it was inside, in the middle of the cottage.

He raised his head and turned to me, “You heard that?”

“Yes I did.”

He lay down again. “Okay.”

“Do you want to check out now?” I asked.

“No, no, I’m okay,” he assured me. Then he looked at me, “Do you want to check out now?”

Honestly I did, but only because I really wanted to know what he saw, and he’d only tell me if we’re already in the car driving away.

“No, I’m fine,” I lied. “We can rest a bit.”

After a few minutes of discussing where we wanted to eat afterwards, we decided to check out. I noticed he sat on a chair away from the bed.

In the car as we drove off from the place, I asked, “So what did you see?”

“I saw his reflection on the TV screen,” he said. Each cottage has a small, old 12-inch TV hanging at the foot of the bed. The TV was off the whole time. When you look up, you can see your reflection on the dark TV screen. It’s blurred and ill-proportioned, but you know it’s your reflection.

He continued, “I saw his reflection. He looked like a masculine guy, well-built but not, like, muscular. Just ordinary. I could only see the upper half of his body. He was shirtless.”

“Did you recognise him?”

“No. The reflection isn’t that clear to distinguish his features,” he said. “But for a second, when I saw his reflection, he looked straight at me and nodded. That’s when I reacted.”

“Where was he? You said you saw his reflection—”

“He was seated on the side table beside me,” he said.

“He was beside you? Why didn’t you say so?” I asked. “And why did you agree to stay on? I offered to check out.”

“I have always been sensitive, even when I was a kid,” he said. “I was told to not mind them. They won’t bother you if you ignore them. So I just ignored him. Even when he made that sound. You also heard the sound, right?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“That was him.”

“And then what happened afterwards? I mean, we stayed for a bit more.”

“I was ignoring him the whole time,” he said. “So I think he was just there. I didn’t look towards him anymore. And when you called front desk to check out, he wasn’t there anymore.”

“I see,” I said. But I noticed he kept looking towards the back seat of my car. By this time, we were several kilometers away from the venue.

“Why are you looking at the back?” I asked. “Is there someone seated at the back? Did he follow us into the car?”

He looked at me, startled, but didn’t answer immediately.

I forced myself not to freak out. “Can you see someone in the back?!”

“No!” he replied.

I was not going to take chances. After I dropped him off, I parked to the side, took off my t-shirt, and wore it backwards.