#HauntedHotel Entry 13 - Unfortunate Travelers

Sandra Monso was supposed to have arrived in Abuja 4 hours ago. She looked at her time, it was 6pm and she made up her mind to pass the night in Okene, a town in Lokoja the Capital of Kogi State. "Damn you Dino Oil ", she lamented. The blame was on Dino Oil because she had stopped to fill her tank then continue her journey but the pump attendant unknowingly gave her petrol containing water which made her x5 BMW stop a minute after leaving Dino Oil Filling Station. The error message on the dashboard made her know it was bad fuel and in a minute she had locked her car, stopped then jumped on the first okada (commercial motorcycle) she saw. Pointing at the direction she shouted at the okada man (commercial motorcycle rider) “Carry me go that useless filling station for front". The okada man seeing her demeanor didn't bother to ask which but throttled down. "Stop here" she said as the okada man approached the filling station. She paid the okada man and headed straight to the pump attendant. “Why you sell me water say na fuel?” She enquired; before the attendant could muster a reply, three other cars drove in all having the same complaint. Another attendant quickly rushed inside and made a call to the manager in order to calm the brewing storm outside. The manager ordered that their cash be refunded, cars fixed and anyone who couldn't continue their journey that day could spend the night at Dino Hotels free of charge.

That was 3 hours ago and the auto mechanics had successfully repaired 2 cars but was still working on hers and that of another unfortunate traveler. After they finished she drove to another petrol station, filled her tank for the journey tomorrow then drove down to Dino Hotels to pass the night.

Wow not a bad look she thought to herself when she saw the hotel and "I get to enjoy this for free "she said with a big grin. She parked, alighted, picked up her suitcase then made her way to the counter to check in. There she saw another unfortunate traveler who had also decided to pass the night in the hotel. He had earlier introduced himself as Mr. Wole Ajayi, a Yoruba man from Delta State and was trying to strike up conversation with her as the mechanics worked but she was too angry for a chat. He got the memo after a few unenthusiastic answers and let her be. He was waiting for the receptionist to give him the keys to his room when he heard her footsteps behind him. He turned around, saw her and smiled as they exchanged greetings. For the first time that day Sandra noticed Wole is not bad looking and being the free spirited lady she is, she decided to follow his lead that night and see where it ends. The receptionist returned with his keycard in a card holder with the numbers 102 on it. He was surprised to find out the room was on the same floor that is the ground floor and not the first floor but quickly brushed it off as uncommonly odd. Wole waited for Sandra to get her keys and was glad when he saw 104 on her card holder. They walked down to their respective rooms and saw that their rooms were next to each other as the hotel had even number rooms on one side and odd numbers on the other. As they parted to go into their respective rooms they heard a door open and out came Ubunit Demah, another unfortunate traveler who had also decided to spend the night at Dino Hotels. He told them he was going to the dining as he just received a call asking him to come for a specially prepared buffet if he feels like it.

"I'm sort of happy I bought fuel in that station" he remarked; "Nigeria don dey beta oh!” he exclaimed as he left them to go enjoy his free meal. They looked at each other smiled, swiped their cards and made up their minds to join Ubunit at the buffet whether they get the call or not.

Sandra got into her room, dropped her suitcase, took a hot shower then brought out one of her many designer dresses. She chose a black D&G dress and wore flat soles as she didn't want to over slay as there was no occasion. She looked at the time after dressing up and it was 7:30pm, her intercom rang and she was invited for the dinner. As she hung up she heard a knock on the door, walked to the door and peeped through the peephole to see Wole looking casual in a black loosely fitted shirt and black trousers to match. She opened the door, smiled when he asked if she was ready and walked with him to the dining. At the dining hall, they saw only Ubunit eating and drinking .He stopped for a while to say the chef said they could go ahead and dig in but that only fish and eggs were ready at the moment and the meat would soon be ready. Ubunit took a sip and resumed eating as they strolled past him to fill their plates. "I would wait for the meat as I don't eat fish" Sandra said as they filled their plates with the assorted food on the buffet table.
They sat next to each other not before Wole had picked a up a bottle of 2009 Chateau Latour from the bar.

The three unfortunate travelers ate, drank and were very merry. Ubunit told them that the fourth traveler Mr. Ebi George had decided to drive home after refilling his tank but stopped to see the hotel on the way home. "Too bad, he’s missing all these free hospitality" Wole said as he topped up his glass then Sandra's. "Too bad”, Ubunit replied as he got up to refill his plate.

They laughed as Wole's hand brushed Sandra's thighs and she responded by opening her legs to let him roam not minding the effect of any hot spice that may be on his finger as he ate with cutlery. He roamed down and his heart beat increased when he found out she was not wearing panties. Their play was interrupted by a voice shouting “meat ready" as he rolled in a covered bowl on a trolley. They quickly readjusted as the chef introduced himself as Mr. Dino. They looked at him with suspicion and surprise as he confirmed he was the owner of the hotel and the filling station. "I forgot to tell you the chef owns the place” chuckled Mr. Ubunit as he returned to his seat with some more food and some steaming hot steaks. Wole and Sandra greeted "The Chef” as that is what he said they can call him and thanked him generously for his A1 hospitality and customer service. The Chef brushed off their thanksgiving and said it was the least he could do so they would not give his filling station a bad name and reputation. They assured him that no one would hear of it as he dished his food. The Chef sat down opposite Sandra and Wole who had by then also refilled their plates with the meat.

"How can I be sure of that" the Chef inquired as he picked up his knife and fork to cut his steak. "You'll just have to take our word for it” Ubunit said and quickly took a sip from his glass. "Hmm, not good enough" said The Chef and in 2 seconds he had pressed a button that made the floor beneath Ubunit’s chair give way making Ubunit disappear and then threw his steak knife with deft precision that it lodged in Wole's left eye as Wole screamed "My eye o, my eye" . Sandra screamed at the top of her lungs as the chef picked another knife and pointed it at her telling her to shut it. He walked next to Wole who was still screaming, held up his head and pressed a button to open a shutter curtain. Behind the curtain was the head of Ebi George, the first unfortunate traveler thought to have left for home. The Chef now laughing out loudly said bits of Ebi George was in their stomachs as the meat they were eating was from Ebi’s torso. They screamed in horror and attempted to retch it out but the chef pulled Wole's head back up and with 1 hard stab he punctured Wole's neck and began to move the knife from one end to another. He laughed as blood spurted out into the half filled plates. Sandra screamed and crawled under the table as she attempted to run away from The Chef as he continued beheading Wole while laughing hysterically. She ran to her room, grabbed her keys and was just about stepping out of the hotel door when she heard the blast, "Noooo my BM!!" she cried as she saw her car go up in flames. She quickly regained composure and ran back to her room as she saw The Chef walking towards her.

She locked the door, ran to the window to open it then ran to hide under the bed so in case The Chef gains access to the room it would seem she had ran out the window. The Chef unlocked the door and saw the open window, "I'm prepared for situations like this just in case you are under the bed and did not actually go out that window" , before she could react, the chef pulled a switch and down she dropped 4 feet into a tank of worms, maggot and decaying flesh. She screamed as she tried to get out of the tank but kept falling back in to the tune of live maggots and dying ones making squishy sounds as she stepped on them . She regretted her decision to go sailing that is to not wear any panties. After a few more falls she finally got out and bolted for the door. As she opened the door, the opposite room had the number 03 above it and she realized she was in the basement of the hotel. It also had different rooms arranged in odd and even numbers as they were on the floor she just dropped from. She ran towards any opening she saw and arrived at a hall of thorns where the badly pierced dead body of Ubunit was seen. The chair had flipped him over that he landed head first with the thorns piercing through his head and shoulders sticking out through his back and buttocks. She screamed and turned back to run as there was no way through the hall of thorns but the second door shut and she was trapped. She began crying and pleading loudly "Please sir, I beg you in the name of God, let me go”.

"Hmm I cannot do that you see, you've seen too much" came the reply from the other side of the door. "You have two options, become my sex slave or die" said The Chef. Sandra looked around for something she could use as a weapon but here was nothing she could detach to use as a weapon so she replied "Yes", "Yes what?" asked The Chef, "Yes I will be your sex slave" replied Sandra then the door unlocked . She saw The Chef standing with Wole, Ubunit, Ebi, the receptionist and the attendants. She was dumbfounded when they all shouted "Welcome to Scare Tactics"; She was still in shock and said "but my BM!, I saw it burn, plus I saw you die Wole; you Ubunit I just saw you back there upside-down in thorns, am I going crazy?!" Pointing at Ebi she said “You! I saw your head, I ate your flesh!”. The Chef reassured her it was all props that her BMW was safely parked in another location and what she saw blowing up was not really her car.

Sandra fainted.

• Written by "Ben Okri"