Scary Horror Stories by Dr. NoSleep - The Hotel People

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

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Welcome to aboard via Raii. Embarked and profite. Embarked and celebrate. Rigolet. Publiere. Savoray. Admire. And profite. Viaray, the voice that we love. Dr. Noseley. Hey, guys. I want to give a shout out to Rebecca, Kayla, and Jason for signing up to become Dr. No Sleep patrons.

You three now have full access to my ad-free podcast episodes and bonus episodes. If you'd like to receive access as well, check out my Patreon page at patreon.com slash DR No Sleep to sign up. The link is also available in the description below. Now back to the story. You need to be careful around hotel people. My father warned my little brother, Caden and I. Some of them are strangers, and others are just strange. They don't all want what's best for you.

And just because they smile doesn't mean that they're your friend. Hey, are you kids even listening to me? We weren't. Caden and I pressed our faces against the glass wall of the elevator, watching the lobby disappear below. It was our first time staying in a big hotel like this, but it wouldn't be the last. And only years later would I understand the horrific reason why.

My mother had always shown signs of borderline personality disorder, but recently she'd become a danger to herself. and to us. My father, a traveling consultant, was terrified that one day he'd come home to find that she'd gone on a four-day drinking binge and forgotten to feed us, or that she'd drown my younger brother, Caden, in the bathtub during a fit of rage. He faced the agonizing choice of potentially losing us in a custody battle, or taking us with him on his travels. At first, it felt like a vacation. We swim in the hyperchlorinated pool until we were excited. We completed the coursework our school sent us in big puffy armchairs beside tinkling fountains and fake plants.

At night we sipped vending machine ginger ale while we surfed through hundreds of channels. When Caden and I slipped off to sleep beneath our starched white sheets, the last sight we saw was usually our father, still hard at work in the soft glow of the hotel desk lamp, staring at his laptop with a hand on his chin. Unsurprisingly, the routine got old fast. Once we'd played with all the equipment in the exercise room, once we'd snuck through the kitchens and laundries and the concrete guts of the hotel, there was very little to keep us entertained. That was how we met the hotel people. We mostly played on the second level of the building, which only held conference rooms,

the breakfast area, a seating area, and a storage area. no conferences were in session, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, but it was more than a little creepy. The dim light that came through the blinds, the silent rows of chairs lined up to face a plastic stage, the vast, empty rooms, the stuffy air that smelled of dust and cleaning supplies. I was running down a hallway of closed doors looking for Caden when the first one appeared. Pardon me, but what are you doing? A voice behind him. me asked. I gasped and spun around. The person just stood a few feet away, although I couldn't figure out how they'd managed to just appear in an empty hallway. Although they were about my height,

they didn't feel like another kid on vacation. They were too still, whoever they were. And when I looked at them out of the corner of my eye, they didn't look like a child at all. Um, just playing a game with my brother, I stammered. Oh, a game. I love games. Their eyes lit up. Tell me about it. Well, it's basically like a mix of hide-and-seek and tag. It would be ever so thrilling to play with you.

There was something hungry about the way they smiled. I hadn't heard any footsteps of opening doors, but two more short figures stood behind the first, backlit by the shaded windows. I wondered if these were the hotel people my father had warned me about. I backed away. My dad's waiting for me. I replied quickly.

Maybe another time. They knew that I was lying. And their laughter was like the rustle of insect's wings. I yelled for Caden, fearing the worst. What if they found him first? Caden was only eight, and he trusted everybody. Never fear. The voice from behind me suddenly became so loud it seemed to shake the hallway.

We'll be waiting. I ran as hard as I could. but the carpeted corridor beneath my feet only seemed to get longer. I threw open doors left and right, an empty ballroom filled with ghost-like cloth-covered tables, a janitor's closet, another conference room. Something small and dark moved beneath the plastic chairs. Caden!

I screeched. For a second, the shadowy shape hesitated. It's Dad! We gotta go! My little brother moved cautiously into the light of the open doorway, shielding his eyes against its brightness. There's these kids... I spun around. The hallway was empty.

What's your problem? Caden whined. There's nobody here. You're just mad because you couldn't find me, huh? You ruined the game! Caden pretended to be mad, but I could tell by the rug burn on his cheek that he'd fallen asleep in his hiding spot.

I checked my plastic watch. It was almost 6 o'clock. Come on, Caden. Aside. We gotta go get ready for dinner. The money that companies gave my father for dinner was enough to feed the three of us lunch and dinner if we kept it cheap.

In the Christmas light glow of a gas station taco truck with chorizo and onion dribbling down my chin, what I'd seen in the hotel felt like a dream. Some instinct warned me against telling my father about the strange encounter. What if he got worried and kept us locked up in the room all day? At 11 years old, I couldn't imagine a worse fate. Nevertheless, I breathed a sigh of relief when he told us that tomorrow we'd be on our way to a new city and a new hotel.

But the nightmare was just beginning. Another city, another hotel, or motel, to be precise. A one-story, sea-shaped 1950s construction, with nothing around but pine forest and a lonely stretch of highway. The best thing about it was a life-sized wooden statue of smoky, the bear in the dingy reception office. Trucks and RVs filled the parking lot, and I noticed my father kept a much closer eye on us than he had before. It's only for a little while, beside. Just try to stay where I can see you. Kaden and I splashed around all day in the outdoor pool, where we had playmates a plenty. I was so used to seeing other kids come and go that I didn't

notice the familiar voice until it was too late. Pardon me, but what are you doing? It asked. Marco Polo. I shouted without turning around. Want to play? Oh, a game. I love games. My blood seemed to freeze in my veins. It couldn't be.

I spun in the choppy water and found myself looking at a familiar face. A face that could have belonged to a child my own age. If I didn't look too hard. Gotcha! I nearly choked as Caden dunked me from behind. Now you're Marco! I sputtered. Light streamed up from the bottom of the pool.

and into the night sky, illuminating the grin of the figure calmly treading water in front of me. Waiting. I didn't want to close my eyes while they were so close. Hurry up! Caden whined. I took a deep breath. Marco. I did my best to avoid the unnatural figure in front of me as I flailed blindly from one side of the pool to the other. I was usually a great swimmer, but fear had thrown me off. I was starting to get scared of ever catching anyone when my fingertips brushed against something cold and rubbery.

Only when I opened my eyes, did I realize that it was skin, skin that belonged to the last thing in the world I wanted to touch. That smiling figure from the other hotel. It's my turn now, they whispered quietly. Their grin was like the edge of a knife. Before the game could begin in earnest, I grabbed Caden's wrist and dragged him, whining out of the moment. the pool. He sulked in front of the TV the whole rest of the night, but I told myself that at least he was alive. At least nothing had grabbed him from beneath the water and dragged him away to someplace else. Those twisted imaginings shaped my dreams that night, which were all of black

doorways that opened in the bottom of late-night pools and the pale, long-fingered hands reaching out of them. I refused to go back to the pool, which made Caden furious. He didn't understand why I had taken his favorite activity away from him. To make matters worse, we'd run out of chalk and library books, and those long summer days were starting to feel eternal. We were sweating and listening to the cicadas when someone called out to us from the darkness of the vending machine room. Ah, what's wrong? All out of games to play? Yeah, Kaden replied casually. Panicking. I reached out to grab his wrist, but he was already walking toward the voice in the darkness. I know a game that we can play, but we can't play it here.

Eyes sparkled like silver-green orbs in the gloom of the snack room. For a horrible moment, I expected a pale hand to reach out and grab Caden. Instead, the door to the supply closet at the back of the snack room swung open. And I couldn't believe what was waiting on the other side. Flashing multicolored lights, clinking coins, raised voices, a deluge of light and sound. At the time, I thought I was looking at some kind of fairy kingdom. Only later would I learn that I was looking at the interior of a famous casino hotel in Las Vegas. Won't you come play with us?

Two more of them. Those not quite children from the hotel hallway beckoned from the other side. Kaden was through the door before I could stop him. I rushed after my little brother, and the door snapped shut behind me with a horrible finality. For a moment, I stared in wonder at the steed. and crystal air-conditioned paradise around me. Then I remembered how I'd gotten there. They were already walking away with Caden.

What would you like to do first? It was the one from the pool who spoke. Their rough-cut hair was blondish-brown, and their eyes were silver-green. But that was all I could say about them for sure. Their features all seemed to blend together. Neither male nor female, black nor white. They were innocently young and terribly old all at work.

once. Ah, the roller coaster! They clapped Caden on the back. An excellent choice. I felt sick when I saw that rubbery hand on my little brother's shoulder. Weren't those fingers just a little too long? Hey! I shouted. If we're going to play together, I need to know what to call you. What's your name? My question was met with an angry, sour expression. Call me Mary. You can call this one Holly. Mary indicated to another short figure with shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair that covered their face. And that one is Wendy. Now, enough chit-chat. Thrill and chills await. And walked right past the dazed, looking ticket agent. As the heavy foam bars came down and locked us in place, I felt a terrible sense of foreboding. There was something so wrong about the stillness of the three figures around us.

Everyone shrieked and put their hands in the air as the roller coaster began to move. but Mary, Holly, and Wendy just stared straight ahead, smiling. If they could open a door to this place, what else could they do? I wondered. Cause the safety bars to unlock and send us all plunging to our deaths? Trapped us someplace where we'd never see our father again? Frightened as I was, it was hard not to get caught up in the glow of the neon and the feel of the desert wind in my hair.

After the ride, Holly snagged two bags of caramel popcorn right out from under the unfocused eye. of a kiosk attendant and handed them to kaden and I. You must be hungry, they whispered, and I shivered when their cold rubbery skin touched my own. The popcorn was sweet, salty, and delicious. If these were the hotel people my father had warned us about, well, maybe they weren't so bad. A little, stiff, a little strange maybe, but they hadn't done anything to hurt us. Not yet, whispered a small voice in the back of my mind, but it was drowned out by the roar of the casino around me.

A few hours later, however, I realized that our father must be looking for us. Hey, I whispered to Mary. We probably need to be getting back. Oh? A look of barely concealed rage passed over Mary's face. So soon? Holly and Wendy shot them an odd glance,

and they all twisted their lips into the same sweet smile. Well then. I suppose it can't be helped. This way... The three child-sized figures pushed open a perfectly ordinary emergency exit door. And we saw the snack room of our motel on the other side. It's dark out! Caden gasped.

Our dad's going to be so pissed. I added, grabbing my little brother's wrist and bolting for our room. Come back and play again anytime! Mary, Holly, and Wendy waved until we were out of sight. When the storage room door swung closed, I knew that they were gone. Moments later, I knocked timidly on the door of the motel room we shared with my father. It swung open almost immediately.

Where the hell were you two? My father roared. A surge of guilt ran through both of us. Caden bit his lip, trying not to cry. Neither of us had ever seen our father so upset before. We were playing. In the woods. I lied.

You need to let me know next time. My father released his worry in a long, shuddering sigh. Well, you're here now, at least. I ordered takeout, so eat up and get packed. We're leaving tomorrow. I thought you said we'd be here for two more days. I whined. Just a few hours ago, I would have been thrilled to leave that boring old motel behind for good.

But things were different now. What if I never got to go on another adventure with Mary, Holly, and Wendy? I could tell by Caden's expression that he was thinking the same thing. That was the plan, but things changed. My father squatted down to eye level with us. Boys, I need you to be very serious with me for a minute. Did you see any unusual adults around the pool last night? Any grown-ups who made you feel unsafe?

It's all right. You can tell me. Caden and I looked at each other. The only grown-ups at the pool had been the usual chain-smoking RV wives and sunburned truckers. The hotel people had been there, of course. But they weren't adults. Not exactly. Besides, telling on them didn't seem like a good idea.

Caden and I both shook our heads, ate our cold, low-main noodles, and began to put what few belongings we had into our child-sized suitcases. We had no way of knowing that the next place we'd be staying was even worse than the motel. For adults, it must have been great. Four stories of quiet hallways and immaculate rooms with a spa, made to order breakfast, cocktail hour, and valet service.

But from a kid's perspective, there was absolutely nothing to do. No pool, no game room, nowhere to play outside. The manager marched us up to our father's room just for laughing in the lobby. Embarrassed and fearful that his company would find out that we were traveling with him,

our father kept us on a shorter leash than ever. I suspect he'd also probably had a nasty shock at the motel where that kid had disappeared. Caden and I found ourselves longing for another visit from Mary, Holly, and Wendy, but we didn't even have to wait a full day before we got our wish. When I awoke in the night to use the restroom, there was a faint tapping on the door. At first I wasn't sure that I was hearing it at all, but when I got closer, the sound was unmistakable.

Since I couldn't see through the peephole, I opened the door just a crack. I was greeted by a silver-green eye and half of a grinning face. Pardon me, but wouldn't you and the young one like to come out and play? Behind me, Caden had already clambered out of bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes. His face lit up when he saw Mary, and I knew that if I denied him this, he'd throw a tantrum that would wake our father. And what might happen then? I didn't like to think about it.

Okay, okay, I whispered to Mary. I wasn't surprised to find Holly and Wendy waiting silently on either side of the door as we slipped outside. Where are we going tonight? Kaden asked. The three of them looked at each other and grinned. Tonight? Why? Tonight we're going to take you on the grand tour. Mary clapped his hands and pulled open our door. To my surprise, however, it didn't lead back to our bedroom. Instead, we were looking out over the skyscape of a city that I later learned to be. be Rome. People speaking a language we'd never heard swam in a dizzying rooftop pool and sipped colorful drinks and white lounge chairs. And it was daytime. Caden and I looked at each other,

mouths agape, and then jumped into the aquamarine water. Ordinarily, we would have worried about what the adults might say or where to get towels to dry off later. But we both knew that as long as we were with Mary, Holly, and Wendy, we could. could get away with anything. Once we'd splashed around, sipped a few of the adults' nasty drinks, and wrapped up in the fluffiest towels I'd ever seen. We were excited enough to ignore the patient, quiet stares of our guides, the hotel people. We barely had time to dry off in the Mediterranean sun before they'd shepherded us off to the next

leg of our journey. For the hotel people, it was as easy as opening a door. We experienced the best the world's hospitality industry had to offer that night. But it wasn't enough for Mary, Holly, and Wendy. Even after Caden and I were sick from eating cakes at a Dubai wedding, before playing dance-dance revolution at an arcade-themed hotel in Tokyo, they kept insisting that we continue on to just one more. The truth was, I was afraid to say no.

What if they just ditched us someplace where we couldn't even communicate with anyone? thousands of miles from home. Soon, however, I realized that there were worse possibilities. Everything Mary, Holly, and Wendy showed us was inside a hotel. In fact, it seemed they couldn't leave hotel grounds even if they wanted to. As the night wore on, however, they began to take us places that didn't feel like real hotels at all. The first time, we pulled ourselves up through a door instead of walking through it. We were standing sideways on the shade lamp-lit wall of an ordinary Midwestern hotel.

The carpeted floor was to our right, and the hotel people ran their fingers along it excitedly as they led us to the corner ahead. There, the wall plunged downward into nothingness. We were looking at endless rows of sideways doors that opened into empty space. Watch this! Mary announced. They pushed wendy off of the wall and down the bottomless corridor. door. The shriek felt like it echoed upward forever. Caden and I had to hold ourselves back, as though that carpeted pit had its own gravity. Had they just killed Wendy?

Mary and Holly stood as still as always, staring at us with those awful silent smiles. When I heard the pounding noise, I nearly jumped, and nearly fell backwards into that hungry hallway pit. A long fingered hand pushed open a door on the floor, and Wendy climbed out. Their face was a blend of rage and exhilaration. Now, wouldn't you two like to try? I noticed that Mary, Holly, and Wendy were moving closer to us, ever so slowly. And that wasn't all. Here, in this bizarre, wrongly angled hotel, I could see the three of them more clearly.

It wasn't just that their fingers were oddly long. Their heads were oversized, too. And their faces, Caden led out a low whimper. My eyes locked on the horizontal door that Wendy had left open. Before the hotel people could react, I scooped my brother up and leapt into the darkness, thinking only of my father's face, thinking that home would be wherever he was.

We collapsed onto the floor of our own hotel room. Kids, it's not even 6 a.m., our father groaned from the double bed beside our own. Can't you try to get some more asleep? His exhausted words were the sweetest sound I'd ever heard. heard. We were back. Once I heard our father snores resume, I hugged my little brother tight. He was numb from fear and exhaustion, and I was too. Let's make a promise, I whispered. Let's never, ever go anywhere with hotel people again. Although Caden didn't say anything, I could feel him nodding against my chest before we both drifted off into a dreamless sleep. I thought that

would be the end of it. I should have known better. Kaden and I spent almost the entire next day in the hotel room. Neither of us liked the thought of what we might find if we went exploring alone, or what might find us. Our father could tell something was wrong, but of course he couldn't imagine what. He took us to a library and out to dinner in an attempt to raise our spirits, but we were too tired and frightened to stray far from his side. Every time I opened a door, door. I was terrified that I'd find a nightmarish hallway to nowhere on the other side. I slept fitfully that night and woke up cold. The blankets had slipped off of me somehow, and Kaden wasn't beside me. I padded the mattress frantically, but only when I looked up did I see his small,

shadowy form, standing in front of the closet. Something was knocking on the closet door, from the inside. Won't you let us in, dear Kaden? We miss you and your brother ever so much. Caden paused, doubtful. Then he reached forward like a sleepwalker, as though that gentle, cooing voice had hypnotized him. We have such wonderful things to show you. The carpet stretched beneath me as I sprinted toward my younger brother. Although I was running with all my might, he was only getting further and further away. The walls and ceiling. feeling bent, making it hard to know just where I was sprinting to, but I kept my eyes fixed on Kaden. I rammed my shoulder into him. We fell to the floor with a cry, but it was too late.

He'd slid the closet open just a crack, and I saw a softly lit line of rooms that stretched on forever on the other side. Long, pale fingers reached blindly through the gap. I flung the closet door shut. A piercing shriek retreated into an infinite distance. Kaden and I lay shaking and panting in the blackness. My father's bedside lamp flickered on. What's gotten into you two? He groaned, staggering sleepily over to help us up. Did you have a bad dream or something? He asked Caden, as kindly as he could. Caden shook his head. This was no dream, and we both knew it. Well, let's not have another night like last night, he sighed. Come on, back to bed. No sooner had her father snort.

began when we heard it again. This time, the tapping came from outside our fourth-story window. I realized with horror that the sound was just loud enough for us to hear it, but too quiet to wake our father. A whisper seemed to come through the air vents. At least open the curtains. When we see each other face to face, I'm sure we'll all be friends once more. Mary, Holly, and Wendy whispered in unison. Or perhaps we should take your daddy away. How would you like that? The hotel people had touched on the thing we feared most. There was something wrong with our mother. We both knew it. Even if we couldn't put it into words, living on the road wasn't ideal. But neither of us could imagine a life without our father. Who would take care of us? Where would we go?

We only want to play. But if you anger us, a black mouth will open in the floor. and swallow your daddy hole. The hotel will digest him and will use his guts for a trampoline while he's still alive. We'll run his nerves through the floor so you won't be able to walk without causing him unbearable pain.

Oh, how he'll scream then. And only you will hear it. The awful whisperings went on and on. As if in a dream, I felt myself feeling for the floor with my bare feet. I couldn't endure the horrible descriptions any longer. All I had to do was open the curtains. If I just give them what they wanted, maybe they'd leave us alone. I was vaguely aware of a weight dragging on my leg. Caden,

I tried irritably to shake him off. I was so close. The curtains were almost within my grasp. And then I'd get to play with Mary, Holly, and Wendy one last time. Ah! Tiny teeth bit into my ankle. My little brother wasn't letting me go without a fight. My scream woke my father. And as light switched on, the whispering stopped. That's it! Our father yelled. No more messing around. Bed.

Now! I got to work in the morning. We can't sleep, Caden whispered. Not while the hotel people are around. The what? My father asked. Heasperated. As Caden told our story,

I watched his face change from irritation to disbelief and finally to fear. He rang the front death. and marched us downstairs in our pajamas. I thought for sure that we'd open the door to find ourselves in an upside-down hallway, or that the elevator would plunge us to the lightless depths of some bottomless hotel pool. Instead, we found ourselves face to face with a tired man with a comb over and a green manager's vest. Our father was telling him our tale, with some important details omitted.

It was clear he didn't believe in cold-skinned, childlike beings that could walk between the world's hotels at will. What was important to him was that three hotel people had been following us from place to place and trying to abduct us. When he mentioned the boy who had disappeared in the pool at the last motel we stayed at, the manager started sweating. By the end of their conversation, he had called the police. We spent the next several days in the suburban home of the CFO of the company our father was consulting with. She was a kind woman with three children our own age. They played basketball with us, shared their game systems, and generally made us feel welcome. Shortly after, my mother called to say she'd checked herself in for treatment after a brutal

drunk driving accident. We returned home, and life returned to normal. I didn't set foot in another hotel for over 20 years. As time went on, however, my nightmarish childhood memories faded and blurred. I only revisited them in late-night drinking sessions with my younger brother, during those rare moments when we would slip away from the demands of family life and reminisce about the past. Kaden doubted that any of it had happened at all. His theory was that we'd been targeted by predators who abducted kids from hotels. He pointed to articles about kidnappers who disguised themselves as children and even enrolled in schools as proof. Our childish minds, he argued, had invented the hotel people to protect us from the truth.

Eventually, he brought me around to his point of view. My wife was dying to take our daughter to Disneyland, and my irrational fear of the whole hospitality industry was the only obstacle. Finally, I relented on the condition that my daughter, Kira, never got out of my sight. By the second afternoon, I was leaning on the pool side, Tiki Bar, with a warm breeze on my skin, and Kiera right behind me. I had a happy, boozy smile on my face and was just thinking that maybe Caden had been right all along when I heard it.

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