I
I wake in fear,
To stare at my reflection,
Confused at what I see.
I need to leave.
I gather my needs,
And venture into an unknown.
As I exit the house,
My hair stands on end,
As if something is watching around the bend,
Of the street turn.
I pause to look,
Seeing and feeling,
Nothing.
With a shudder and a shrug,
I enter the car,
With no plan,
Only to travel far.
II
I drive and drive.
Stuck in a numbing thought.
Or was it nothing?
Just a daze?
Like when on a road,
Driven thousands of times?
The thought drove a flicker of craze…
Snapped out of my own mind,
I come to find,
Myself lost.
Maybe that’s how it should be?
I continue on.
Maybe I’ll just go west?
As if a response,
“Hotel California”
On the radio.
I need to be free,
So that is where I’ll be me.
I know my destination.
Without caution,
I speed down the highway.
It’s an eternity.
Or is it an instant?
I can’t tell.
I just know I made it.
West.
III
I’m tired.
But wired.
I drive and find a hotel.
Magnificent.
I enter and ring the bell.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
I hear a whisper.
I turn and kiss her.
I open my eyes.
Nobody.
Did I imagine…
“Sir?”
I turn to see a man with a peculiar look.
He opens a book.
He writes my name and room number.
Did I talk to him?
He gives me a key,
Tells me to flee.
Strange.
Did I mishear?
I take the key,
And walk to my own den.
Exhausted.
Confused.
But I fall asleep.
IV
I wake to a constant beep.
And a crash!
I jump in a rush.
I find the source.
A woman.
Familiar.
I spring into action.
Lift her up and carry to a bed.
She wakes and sees me.
We both turn red.
“Thank you.”
I smile.
Did my heart skip?
She smiled back.
I have a strong feeling.
Of familiarity.
Confidence.
Love?
We talk and understand.
Still her attention I craved.
Suddenly a scream.
A yell.
Silence.
Fear grips me like a vice.
Yet my feet carry me to the sound,
And she follows.
Together, we explore.
V
Around the corner,
I see the clerk,
Looking at me.
Imploring.
Without warning,
He was gone.
The sounds.
Oh god. The sounds.
Terror.
I look to the woman,
And I see my reflection,
But with a resolve.
We creep forward,
Toward a keyhole.
I look in,
Like into a soul.
I see a creature.
Monster.
It stops and turns.
Fear.
It burns.
Run.
I grab the woman’s hand.
As we round the bend,
I hear the fiend.
We run as one,
Survival as our goal.
But it was not a solitary ghoul.
Another.
And another.
Our hands together in a vice-grip.
We run.
I see the entrance.
Salvation.
We go through the doors and jump.
My hand is empty.
I turn in air.
NO!
All I see is her hair.
Fear,
Anger,
Hate,
Grief,
All grip me.
I break.
VI
I wake.
Screaming.
Movement beside me.
The woman.
My love.
She kisses me,
And I fall back into slumber.
I wake.
Wait…She’s gone.
Is something wrong?
I sleep.
I see the clerk.
Alive and well.
He’s talking to a bell.
Strange.
I hear a whisper and try to turn,
But my body is stiff.
My arms around me.
I am mildly concerned.
I fall asleep.
I wake,
To see white.
And a whisper.
I turn.
Nothing.
Another.
Turn.
Nothing.
Another.
What is happening?
I fall asleep,
Only to wake and see,
The monster above me.