#HauntedHotel Entry 19 - The Eternal Rest Inn- Rest “Inn” Peace

I guess the seventh of March was just not my day -if only I stayed in my bed, maybe I’d be able to “unsee” all the horror that is now permanently etched in my brain.

The day started out gray and overcast, and I woke up dreading my journey to Ilorin because it was a last-minute deal, and I wasn’t feeling up to it. I had booked an afternoon flight, and I didn’t see the need to get to the airport early, so I waited till it was about an hour to the flight and then, off I was. On getting to the airport, I was told that a terrible storm was about to start and all flights were grounded, even the private charters. Because of family obligations and the commitment I’d made to the trip, I opted to take a taxi, even with the distance ahead. The taxi was clean and comfortable so I tried to put all the inconveniences out of my mind and enjoy the scenic view.

Halfway into the journey, the grandmother of all storms broke out- water poured from the sky in torrents till the highway was like an Olympic swimming pool. After maneuvering the car for a while, water eventually got into the engine and the car stalled and died. For two hours, I was cursing my bad luck and Mother Nature while the driver tried his best to clean the engine out. He eventually got tired of being beaten by the rain and came back into the car saying “Madam, e be like say we go find our level o” –which meant that he was planning to leave that place with or without me. In a few minutes, I saw him flag down a trailer that was carrying goats and jump into the back with ease. They were about leaving me behind when I thought “isn’t anything better than being stranded in the middle of nowhere in the night?” Looking to the heavens for strength to endure, I jumped into the trailer and held my breath till my lungs were about to burst. The rest of the journey, I was trying to be invisible to the goats, who were obviously very interested in chewing on my green and black leaf-patterned gown.

As we neared Ogbomosho, I caught sight of a tall and secluded building that had a signboard with “Eternal Rest Inn” scrawled on it and I immediately motioned for the driver to stop the trailer. Despite the protests from my co-passengers who were trying to communicate something with me in badly constructed English, I jumped down with my luggage, running into the compound of the hotel before the goats decided to chase me down. The compound was huge and empty but looked really clean and well-kept, so I was encouraged to go in. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a chill crept over my skin as I walked into the lobby of the hotel, but I attributed it to all the rain and cold I was exposed to. The receptionist was friendly enough but I remember thinking she was acting strange, trying her best not to move, as if she was afraid that any movement will make her fall apart. The absolute desertion of the hotel was unsettling, but I attributed it to the fact that it was not a big city, so people had probably all slept. So, after placing an order for food and a drink, I took my things up to the room I was given and I decided a long soak in the massive bath I’d found in my bathroom would be a great reward for all the stress I’d been through that day. Putting a foot into the tub, I immediately felt like I was sinking, and I looked down at the water and saw blood instead; as I was about to scream, I looked again, and it was all normal. I figured I was having stress-induced hallucinations, so I dismissed it and soaked in the tub till the food arrived. The food arrived promptly at 9:30pm, and I started on the food; halfway through, an immediate sleepiness came over me, and I slept off with the spoon in my hand.

At about four minutes to 3 a.m., I woke up with a start and I was immediately confused about where I was. I started looking around without getting off the bed, confused because the room I’d slept off in was beautiful and pristine, but this room I was in presently was shabby and dilapidated, like an abandoned house. While I was still gathering my wits about me, I suddenly noticed that the bed was shrinking and closing in on me, trying to envelop me, so I immediately started struggling to get out of the beddings. When I finally got out of the entanglement and onto the floor, I looked at the bed and saw that it had become a coffin that snapped shut! My panic increased when I saw my half-eaten plate of food had turned into a plate of dead snakes and scorpions, with blood in the bottle beside it. Immediately, all my senses went on high alert and I started looking for an escape route. The first door I saw was the bathroom door, and when I entered it, horror of horrors- I saw dismembered body parts crawling out of the tub which was looking rusted and filled with blood. My eyes opened wide with terror, and I let out a blood-curdling yell, immediately running towards the door of the room. My scream attracted the dismembered body parts, and they started inching towards me.

Running out of my room, I ran headlong into the receptionist who, instead of looking immaculate in her beautiful red and white uniform, was missing an eye, an arm and a big chunk of her jaw. Being fueled by all the adrenaline I had in my body, I ran like the devil himself was chasing me, passing all sorts of “beings”. They were grabbing me and their long nails were scratching me all over, but the speed at which I was running was making it impossible for their rotten limbs to hold on to me. I made my way towards the stairs, nearly tripping over a head that had a snake feasting on what was left of its’ brain. The head latched on to my lower leg, sinking its teeth into my calf, and I fell, landing into a pile of maggots that crawled all over my body; into my nose, mouth, ears, hair and other unmentionable places. When I eventually shook it off, I saw that it had left me with a bloody bite mark and a few teeth embedded in my skin. As I limped to the ground floor, I paused- it was a scene from my worst horror movie, with puddles of blood and gooey substances, rotting bodies dragging on the floor with maggots feasting on them and a lot of eerie sounds coming out of these bodies.

Moving as quietly as possible while praying for salvation, I was inching along the wall, trying to find a corner or a niche where I could hide and then my hand felt the handle of a door. I slowly entered the room, expecting the worst, but I encountered absolute silence. I found a long passageway that was deathly quiet and had cell-like rooms on either side. Summoning courage, I started to walk through the passage, and then I allowed myself to look into the cells. In each room, there were different grotesquely shaped creatures with all sorts of horrifying attributes. The one that would always haunt me was a gigantic black beast that was at least ten feet tall that had huge snake eyes all over the upper part of its body and large mouths with rows of sharp teeth on the lower part. It had four massive legs and hands each, and when I passed, it roared louder than any known beast on earth and got agitated, banging its body on the cell bars. Keeping my eyes forward, I maneuvered the long, winding passage until I got to a big door. As I was contemplating whether or not I should try it, I heard the cell doors start to rattle really loudly behind me, and then the worst happened- the huge beast broke the doors and started running towards me! I screamed and immediately started trying to open the door, which was stuck. Right before it was about to get to me, the door gave way, and I saw a big, seemingly endless hole- well that choice was easy, I jumped right into the hole and I started falling.

I braced myself for a hard landing, but instead, I found myself on the floor of a small, dark and damp road. As I looked myself over, I found that all the injuries were totally gone but I was very dirty. I stood up and immediately started trying to open the door to the room, but I wasn’t prepared for what awaited me when the morning sun streamed into the room. My mouth gaped in shock as I saw the exact same coffin from the night before, with the room decorated in the same style as the one I had checked into. My belongings were there, so I grabbed them and ran out into my next shock- I had run out of a mausoleum into a gigantic graveyard! Nobody had to tell me before I picked my things and fled out of the cemetery and onto the main road. Several travelers and passersby stopped to look at the dirty woman who was running and screaming from the graveyard. They gathered around me and looked on in amusement and shock as I babbled on and on about zombies and monsters with gigantic eyes and mouths. They started shaking their heads and murmuring about how the “people from my village” had finally gotten me. I didn’t know what was happening until two men had snuck up behind me and restrained me. From my bag, they got my phone and called my relatives to come and get me, which they did amidst wails and lamentations.

As I reminisce on this, I am locked in my childhood room in my parents’ house while they fast and pray against the demons of madness. I am trying to escape, because I feel those dismembered hands grabbing me at night, and when my eyes are closed, I feel them breathing down my neck- their screams and wails are always ringing in my ears. Can see those many eyes staring at me, and the mouths turned up in an evil smirk, can’t you? If only I could escape and find the Eternal Rest Inn again, then I’ll show them who the crazy ones are...

• Written by Tolulope Helen Olaifa