Chapter 1

I won't deny that long-distance road trips on the highway can sometimes be really fun and entertaining. That’s not a general rule that applies to everyone, but I'm speaking for myself… About a month and a half ago, I was unemployed and looking for any job, but I couldn't find anything suitable for me.

I live with my family, consisting of my father, my mother, and my little sister "Martine," in an apartment in Pennsylvania… By nature, I don't easily find job opportunities, nor do I adapt quickly to any work I do.

I used to spend my day going out, sitting with my family, and browsing the internet, but I started feeling bored.

I also started feeling like a burden to my father, who works all day in a clothing factory for our sake… Last week, specifically around 4:00 PM while I was sitting browsing the internet, a friend of mine called me… My friend's name is "John," and he has four large box trucks used for moving household furniture and whatever else.

My friend "John" lives in the same state, and he asked me to haul a full house of furniture (a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen)… The trip was from a quiet residential neighborhood in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a residential neighborhood in northern Houston, Texas… The next morning, I ordered an Uber, went to my friend "John's" place, got into the truck, and headed to the Pittsburgh suburbs.

I found the owner of the furniture waiting for me; he was a man in his forties with three workers to load the furniture onto the truck… Within two hours, the workers loaded the furniture inside the truck, and I set off to my destination… I took I-70 West and passed Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois all the way to St. Louis… Then I switched to I-44 and crossed Oklahoma, and from there I took I-35 South to Dallas… The final leg was I-45 down to northern Houston.

I started driving the truck around eleven in the morning, and things were going smoothly until sunset… While I was still driving on I-70, the sun started to set, and darkness began creeping over the road… Suddenly, and out of nowhere, I heard a loud noise akin to an explosion… I hit the brakes and pulled the truck over to the side of the road to see what happened.

I found nothing: no smoke, no trace, no parked cars.

I got back inside the truck, unable to wrap my head around what happened, and said to myself that maybe it was a distant sound or a tire blew out somewhere nearby… But the sound was very, very close… I sat for five minutes inside the truck, trying to hear any other sound… There was nothing except the engine noise and the wind.

I turned on the radio to keep me company and set a vibe, then started driving the truck again… The whole way, every now and then, I kept looking in the mirrors, not knowing exactly what I was searching for… I felt like I wasn't alone on the road, even though I hardly saw any cars near me… I tried to ignore the feeling and focus on the road.

I drove for a few more hours, and exhaustion started weighing heavily on me… My eyes were tired, my focus dropped, and I began feeling extremely fatigued… Near midnight, while I was still on I-70… I caught sight of a sign saying there was a motel 20 miles ahead.. I hadn't intended to stop, but my body was refusing to keep going… I told myself just one night, and I’d carry on early in the morning.

​When I arrived at the motel, I turned off the truck and sat inside it for a few seconds before stepping out… The place was way too quiet… No sound of distant cars, no sound of wind; even the sound of insects that you find in any empty spot was gone… The light on the old sign bearing the motel's name was flickering slowly as if the electricity was weak.

The old wooden door at the entrance had dark glass, and behind it was a very dim yellow light… I got out of the truck, and the sound of its door when I shut it was extremely loud in that terrifying silence…I walked toward the door, my steps on the gravel sounding clearly… Every step felt intentional, and I didn't know why I felt like I had to walk quietly.

I opened the door, and a small bell above it moved… Its sound was muffled, not sharp like normal bells… The smell I caught was a strange mix of old dust, damp wood, and something else I couldn't quite place… a scent like a room that had been locked for years…The counter was directly in front of me, with no one standing behind it, and the bulb above it threw off a weak light.

I waited a few seconds and then said in a moderate voice: Excuse me?.. No answer. After a moment, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from deep inside, from the direction of the narrow hallway leading to the stairs… The footsteps were slow and uneven, as if someone was walking without any rush or wasn't sure where they were going.

The man finally emerged from the darkness. An old man in his late fifties or early sixties, with thin white hair and a pale face under the weak light… He looked directly into my eyes and said in a very calm voice: One room?.. I stayed quiet for a second or two… The man didn't change his facial expression, and his hand rested steadily on the surface of the old wood, his fingers somewhat long… I told him, trying to keep my voice normal: Yeah, one room. Just one night.

He reached out his hand slowly, opened a drawer under the counter, and pulled out an old key… A heavy metal key with a number engraved on it: number 7… He put the key on the counter and slid it toward me without bringing his hand too close… He told me the room was upstairs at the end of the hallway on the right… His voice was low, as if he didn't want to raise it any more than that.

I took the key, and my hand brushed his fingers for a moment; his hand was strangely cold… I turned toward the narrow hallway… The light there was weaker than the lobby light, and the walls were a dark, dirty beige in some spots… The stairs at the end of the hallway were wooden and narrow.

I looked back at the man before walking, and I found him still staring at me.. I started walking; every step on the wooden floor made a soft sound, as if the whole place could hear me… With every step, the hallway felt longer than it looked from afar.

​I reached the wooden stairs, and they were extremely narrow… The wooden handrail was worn out, and when I held it, I felt like my hand stuck to it for a moment, as if a thin layer of a sticky substance was on it… I climbed the steps one after the other, the sound of the wooden stairs under my feet creaking with a muffled sound… Halfway up the stairs, I felt like someone was standing beneath me in the hallway.

I looked down and didn't find anyone, and the lobby light was so far away, as if the distance had doubled.

I reached the upper floor; the rooms on both sides had old wooden doors, some bearing faded numbers… Room number 7 was at the end of the hallway on the right, just as the man had said.

I put the key into the door lock with difficulty… And when I turned it, I heard the sound of metal groaning from inside the door, as if the lock itself refused to open… The door finally moved and opened with a disturbing sound.

The room was dark except for a dim light coming from the window… The bed was in the middle of the room, covered with a faded gray blanket… The closet was in the corner, and the window was large, overlooking a vacant expanse with not a single tree or distant light.

I locked the door and sat on the edge of the bed..I tried to turn on the lamp; the light clicked on for a second and then went out… I tried again, and it went out every single time… I stayed sitting in the faint darkness coming from the window, not knowing for how long.

I don't know when I fell asleep, nor how much time passed while I was sleeping… Suddenly, I woke up terrified to the sound of screaming… At first, the sound was distant, then closer… It was a woman's scream, as if she were begging…The screaming was coming from the direction of the vacant expanse outside the window, but when I got up and opened the window, there was nothing.

The field was empty, and the darkness was total.

I closed the window and went back to the bed, my heart pounding hard… I placed my hand on my chest and tried to calm down, and then I heard the sound of footsteps inside the room… They were slow, distinct, and coming from the direction of the closet…I turned and found the closet door slightly open, even though I hadn't opened it.

The room's dim lighting, along with the sound of screaming and the silence—all of this made my limbs freeze… The sound of footsteps inside the room was getting closer… I looked into the small mirror above the closet; someone was standing behind me… A man whose face wasn't visible, the same height as me, wearing clothes similar to mine.

I turned back around; I found no one… I looked into the mirror again; the man was still there…The screaming returned suddenly, but this time not from outside—the screaming was coming from inside the room… Inside my head: a woman screaming my name, then the sound of my little sister Martine, then my mother's voice… All of them screaming at the same time.

I placed my hands over my ears and fell to my knees, and when I took my hands off, I heard the sound of the truck from outside… The engine started, followed by the sound of brakes and the distant crunch of colliding metal… I stood up, ran to the window, and looked outside.. I saw the truck moving on its own in the lot, slowly circling before coming to a stop.

The driver's door opened, and no one stepped out… While I was still looking outside at the truck, I heard a soft knock on the door… In a voice that barely made it out of my throat, I asked who was outside… The man working the motel front desk replied, saying the room was reserved for one night only… I ran toward the door and opened it; I found the man standing outside the room in the hallway, smiling.

Suddenly, the power cut off in the hallway, and the window slammed shut behind me on its own… I decided to leave this damned motel right now and not wait for morning… In five minutes, I packed my things and reached the ground floor… I found the counter empty with no sign of the man, and the main door wide open.

I got into the truck, closed the door, and cranked the engine… I reversed and pulled out of the lot onto the highway…The darkness was absolute, and there wasn't a single car on the road… I reached Houston two days later and delivered the furniture..The owner of the house said the truck arrived on time and that the driver was polite and quiet… But ever since that day, whenever I pass by any motel on a highway, I feel like someone is staring at me from the window