40 - Bìlísì ká hotel

Valery, Anita and I were on our way to Abuja for a weekend getaway we've been planning for over a month. Just as I fell asleep, the guy in the front seat of the Sienna we were traveling in alighted and the driver picked a shady man in his place.
It was around 8pm when the car stopped on a lonely road in Ekpoma.
"We spent 4 hours in hold-up in Benin and now the car has a problem and won't start" the driver explained. "I know a hotel around here where we can spend the night" the shady guy said. And with that we all followed the shady guy to an even shadier hotel.
"What does that mean" I asked pointing at a sign on the building which read 'Bìlísì ká hotel' "I don't know" Anita replied "looks like Yoruba sha" We all stood for a minute looking at the dark building with hardly any noticeable lights emitting from it. There was also no fence shielding the hotel from the thick forest that surrounded it.
We walked into an empty lobby and I rang the bell on the receptionist's desk.
"I'm the manager, how can I help you" said a dark, tall, middle-aged man as he walked out of the room behind the desk. "We were on our way to Abuja when the car broke down so we need to stay here till tomorrow when I get the car fixed" the driver said. "So how much does a room cost" one of the men asked "You can stay here for free" the manager replied "For free?" We all said concurrently "Yes as long as you follow all my rules" "Which are?" I asked immediately. "One, Under no circumstances must you leave the hotel before 6am. Two, you must all be in your rooms by 11pm.
And three, once you enter your rooms by 11pm, you must not leave the room till the generator comes on by 5am"
Everyone agreed because the rooms were free. We collected our separate room keys, got settled and ate dinner. Before long it was 11pm and we were all in our rooms and the generator was turned off shortly after that. I stayed up late watching movies on my tablet when I heard something, I couldn't make out what it was so I took my earphones out. A few seconds later, I heard Anita scream and without hesitating I raced over to her room with my phone's flash as my only source of light.I barged into her room and saw her on the floor. Her tongue and eyes were gone and there was something trying to claw its way out of her mouth. Seeing this, I ran out of the room and rested on the door crying.
"Mary-Jane are you alright? What are you doing here?" I turned around and saw Anita behind me "A-A-Anita, I just saw you on the f-floor in your room" "What room?" She asked "This one" I turned back to see nothing but a wall behind me, no door. "But your room door was right here" I said "It's Ok Mary-Jane, I'll escort you to your room" We walked back to my room but it wasn't there either.
"How is this even possible?" I asked "I don't know but I think we should look for Valéry" she replied. We went to Valery's room but she wasn't there. Then we went to the other passengers rooms but I saw them the same way I saw Anita in her room.
We ran downstairs to tell the manager what we saw but he was nowhere to be found. Then we went into the room behind the receptionist's desk. The room was empty and had nothing inside, which was really strange. So we decided to check the receptionist's desk for a list of people who have stayed here but there were no names but ours, then we heard something by the stairs. I shone my phone's flash in that direction and saw Valery's severed head rolling down the stairs and it stopped at my feet. We screamed and I grabbed Anita's hand and headed for the door.
But the door had no handle, neither did it have a keyhole. Then someone touched my shoulder and as I turned to see who or what it was, my phone went off, the battery had died.
Just then Anita started pulling me, and I asked her to stop but she didn't.
"What's wrong with you Anita?" I asked Then I heard a manly laugh and I knew that wasn't Anita. I tried to pull away but he was too strong. Then I felt excruciating pain, it was like he was using a needle to write something on my hand. I screamed louder than I ever had in my life and...
...A sudden jerk from the car woke me up. "Wake everybody up, we're close to the Abuja park, pack your things" the driver shouted. Then I looked at my hand and saw 'Bìlísì ká hotel' written on it.
I quickly got out my phone and checked the meaning using Google translate and the meaning gave me the shock of my life.
It meant 'Devil's hotel'.

• Written by Mary-Jane Masagbor