Room 354

I had been driving all day, and darkness began to set in; the blacktop on the roadway was starting to melt together, creating images of things only the soulless speak about. I looked at the radio, and it was already 8:00 pm. I needed a break to think about the events that unfolded today. My arms were still shaky from earlier, and the blood around my chest had dried up and pressed upon my shirt. I could still smell the tobacco and whiskey on his breath, it sent shivers down my spine, and flashes of his twisted smile began to creep into my mind, so I knew it was time to pull over and find a place to sleep for the night.

Neon lights were flickering ahead, and I pulled over, hoping to find a room to crash for a few hours and figure out my next move. I grabbed my small bag and parked out of sight and walked inside on this stormy night.

"Hi, Can I help you?" the slender woman at the front desk, wearing cheap perfume, with a cigarette in one hand and a glass in the other, said.

"Hello, my name is Sam, and I was wondering if you have any open rooms?"

The slender woman began to laugh, but a deep cough caught her from the expression, "Honey, that is all we have around these parts."

"Great, you guys take cash?"

"Girly, that is all we take in these parts."

Was is it just me, or was this all the wording the forty-something could muster up, "these parts."

After paying my dues, I walked back outside with my room key and followed the narrow stairs up to the third floor. Room 354 was my last stop for the night, and I was bursting with excitement to wash the events from earlier off finally. Ace was his name, and he had stolen my mind from the moment I met him; I knew he would be trouble. Tall, dark, and well, you know the rest. Hanging with Ace made me feel free, that I could do anything. Never could I have imagined that meeting Ace would make me a killer.

The shower felt so good; as the lukewarm water washed over my blood-covered body, I began to have flashes of the events from earlier.

"Ace, what did you do? Where have you been? Why are you covered in blood'?

"Sam, shut up, okay? Listen to me; I need you to pack your things; we are leaving this crappy town."

"Ace, I can't just leave here; my job is here, my momma, she needs me, you know she is sick."

"Listen to me carefully, you idiot; I didn't ask you to get packed, I am telling you."

"But, Ace, please, listen, I love my life here, I am not leaving, and you can't make me!"

Before I knew it, I was on the ground, and Ace's body had me pinned beneath him.

"Ace, I can't breathe; get off of me!"

"You, intolerant loser, I cannot believe you haven't figured it out yet; why someone like me would ever date someone like you!"

"The guys and I sought you out; we knew we could use you to get into your bosses' safe; you were just too stupid to realize."

I started to panic, "Ace, get off of me now."

"What are you talking about? Please just let me go!"

As Ace jumped off of me, he started a low, deep laugh.

"It doesn't matter anyway, Sam; the evidence will all lead back to you anyway. You're going to go down for the robbery and the Murder."

"Murder? Ace, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Yeah, see, we followed you for weeks, until Tony thought of the great idea to get soft on you so we could get into your rich boss's house, so we could rob him blind, the only problem is, we didn't expect him to be home. The old man put up a fight. I'll give him that. Fortunately for us, there were just too many of us."

"Ace, what did you do?

A knock at the door jolted me from my trance, and I hurried out of the shower.

"Just a second," I yelled; I quickly put on a jacket and pants.

I opened the door to see nothing staring back at me.

"That's strange; I guess I took too long to answer."

I was starving and ordered a pizza for delivery.

I needed a clear head and the right amount of carbs to think about what was next.

What about the 20,000 dollars sitting in my bag that I took from Ace. Would Tony and the guys come after me? Were the police after me? I have never been in trouble, but when I grabbed that gun from Ace, something inside me snapped, thinking of Mr. Richards and how he didn't deserve to die, and for what 20,000 dollars? I pulled that trigger because I knew it was either him or me. I knew I needed to turn myself in and give the money back to Mr. Richard's family, but I hadn't thought of how I would explain myself out of this mess.

I heard another knock at the door; excited at the thought of eating warm food, I jumped up and opened the door.

"Okay, this is beginning to get creepy," I said while the cold from the door poured into my room.

No one was there, "am I going crazy?"

I decided to throw the tv on while I waited for my pizza.

I must have dozed off; before I knew it, I heard a knock at the door when the hunger cramps began to cause some pain in my stomach.

"Okay, what the hell is going on around here? I know I heard a knock."

I looked at my watch; it has been two hours since I ordered this pizza, and it's almost eleven at night. I picked up the phone and to call this place and figure out what happened. But the phone just kept ringing, and no one answered.

"I swear this town is odd; it's like I stepped into the twilight zone."

I grabbed my wallet and decided to see if this motel had a vending machine, but the door was stuck when I went to open it.

"What is going on? Let me out of here."

I kept banging on the door and trying to open it, and I couldn't.

I ran to the nearest window and tried to open it.

"It's stuck. I can't open it!" Fear began to run inside my tired mind.

"Maybe I am just sleepy."

I must be out of strength; maybe I can take a nap and wake up with some more energy.

I get in the bed and decide to open the drawer on the bedside table to place my wallet and keys, and inside of the dusty drawer laid a little black book.

Soft leather surrounded it by an old-world smell swirled it like it was a book for the ages.

Each page had a different date; as I read them page by page, they appeared to be all from previous people who stayed in this room, each person documenting the events of their night at the strange motel.

"Wait, all of these people said the same thing; they could not open the windows or doors and trapped like me."

"How did these people leave?"

Not a single page in this little black book explained how any of them got free; in fact, they all stopped writing by 4 am.

I began to panic; I need to get out of here, tell everyone what Ace did, and let Mr. Richards family know what happened to him and give the money back!

I jumped up from the bed and began hitting the walls, "hello, can anyone hear me? I need help; I cannot get out of this room."

The tears began to roll down my face, and the fear turned to sadness.

"What is happening? Why can't I leave this stupid motel! "

I could not think of anything else to do but write, so I sat up in the bed and began to write in this little mysterious black book.

Except, I didn't write about what was happening in room 354; I wrote about today and explained how Mr. Richards was murdered. I wanted everyone to know what happened to him, so his family would have some peace knowing he fought back and tried to live if anything happened to me. I wrote about my boss and how he would help me all the time and paid for my momma's medical bills. Mr. Richards paid me well even though I came from no education and was just his assistant, but he was like a dad to me and the thought of Ace killing him made me quiver with a kind of sadness I never felt before.

I was getting sleepy and decided to put the black book back in the drawer and try to get some sleep and figure out what I would do in the morning.

I dozed off quickly, but it did not last long; the wind and rain from the growing storm began to howl in the night and bang against my windows. I jumped up from my sleep, gasping for air. I grabbed the water bottle on the end table and chugged it until the air returned to my lungs.

"I want to get out of here; I don't want to stay another minute."

There it was a knock at the door; something was different about this knock.

Finally finding the courage to answer the door, a man is standing in front of me, asking me if I was ready to wake up?

"Wake up? Who are you? Why can't I leave here? Please let me out. I have to go home and tell the police what happened.? I am so sorry I couldn't help him; I am so sorry." The tears began to stream down my cold, tired face.

"If I could give my life for his, I would, please help me."

The strange man placed his hand on my shoulder and said, "Sam, wake up."

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in my room at my momma's house.

"What the, where am I?"

"Sam, you better get up, or you will be late for work, and I need a ride to Shirley's house to work on the food drive."

"Momma, is that you?"

"Well, of course, it is, sweetie! Now, get up, or you will be late."

I looked at my phone; it said December 2nd, 2020. That was the day before the shooting and robbery.

I rushed out of my room, telling Momma, "I will be back soon."

I got in the car, still in my Jammies, hurrying to Mr. Richards's house to see if he was okay.

I ran up to the door and started banging on the door.

"Mr. Richards, are you there? Please open up."

"Shh, Dear", a tired Mr. Richards said, "it's 6 am; what are you doing here?"

I grabbed him and hugged him tightly.

"Your alive; you're here."

"Of course, I am, sweetie; it's going to take a lot more than a bad stomach bug to get me down."

Mr. Richards let me in, and I told him everything about Ace. It turns out the cops had been watching Ace and Tony for a while. With my help, they were able to catch Ace once and for all.

I never understood what happened to me in room 354, if I just dreamed the whole thing or if it was real. One thing was for sure; I was getting myself a little black book, leather-bound and all, and write down everything important in my life from this day forward.