#HauntedHotel Entry 15 - That Fearful Night

The rumbling of the thunder woke me up.Impulsively, I picked up my phone to check the time and I almost let out a yell.The time read 9:17am.How on earth could that be? I slowly remembered that I had set the alarm for 6am the previous night to prepare for our journey scheduled for 7am.I quickly woke Lilian up and I don't know how we managed to do it but in 45 minutes, we were in my 1998 model Toyota Camry ready to embark on the 10 hours journey from Jos to Enugu.

The journey progressed smoothly. Lilian my fiancee kept drifting in and out of sleep.We stopped at makurdi for some refreshments and after 40 minutes, we resumed our journey. At exactly 9:45 pm, we entered obollo afor and I estimated that in an hours' time, we would be in my family house at new Haven.

We were just past St Mary's hospital when my car suddenly jerked to a halt.It was a dark night and on the sides of the road were thick forests. Lilian was terrified. I tried all I could to resuscitate the car to no avail.The time was 11:45 pm;we were tired and dejected when a young man approached us and showed concern for our plight.He told us there was a hotel 200 metres from where we were. He helped us push the car to the hotel and offered to help us find an auto mechanic in the morning.With that he left after politely refusing the money I offered him.We checked into d isolated hotel and we were told by the receptionist that we were the only customers in the entire building.

An ear-piercing scream woke me up,I grabbed my phone; it was 2:45 am.Lilian was still sleeping. Footsteps were approaching our door and then they stopped. Gbam!!!! Our door was yanked open with one kick.Lilian woke up with a scream.Someone pointed a torchlight at both of us and swore to kill us if we made a sound.We were tied up and carried past d reception where the lifeless body of the receptionist lay into the fearsome darkness . Our captors carried us for about 50 minutes into the thick forest till we got to a cleared portion of land.
There a frightening man whom the men referred to as chief priest appeared.Their discussion was short but loud enough.Myself and my fiancee were to be used as sacrifices to avert an impending calamity in the community. I was scared to my marrows.Lilian was terrified. The Chief Priest approached Lilian, knife in hand,made some incantations and in one swift movement, he slit her throat.Blood flew in all directions, she fell back and shook for some seconds till she became lifeless.The Chief priest stood before me,repeated the same incantations, raised up the knife and then I felt it.......

"Jesus" I screamed, "honey what is it"?Lilian asked " I just had a nightmare "....

• Written by Everready Ikeogu