Around the Bend

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.