I enjoy the adrenaline a good ghost story gives. The thrill of a mystery always catches my attention. Whenever I hear a story I often wonder was what was exaggerated to spice up the content. I know there is some truth, even if minimal but definitely some of it has to be linked to some form of fact. I write many short stories often of spooky suspense for entertainment. I do embellish some parts for interest and to tie the story together. Many stories are rooted from an actual personal experience or of an experience others have told me. Recently I went on vacation and had an experience that still has me scratching my head (pun intended). Read on my faithful reader and see if you can determine the truth I embedded in it.
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A group of my friends decided to go on a trip together to experience New York for the first time. It was in the middle of winter and snow for sure would be present. It was six of us, including my boyfriend Jake. I was excited and I was looking forward to spending time with Jake in this romantic city.
The trip was smooth. We arrived late at night. Called our hotel on the car ride to give them heads up of our late arrival. We pulled up and it was a grand view. The hotel looked old but sophisticated. A concrete giant standing in the crowded city. The contrast of the modern glass doors gave the building some edge. The interior of the hotel made us feel like we were in the tropics. The use of many warm tones gave us the perfect welcome to the icy city. The Concierge gave us the keys to our room and we were filled with excitement.
The room was on the 6th floor. It was kinda spacious for a New York hotel room. It was a perfect fit, 2 queen beds and a sleeper sofa. The view was amazing. The concrete jungle Alicia Keys sings about in the Empire State of Mind amazing. I must of stared out the window so long my friends interrupted my trance of admiration for this city. The guys wanted pizza that night but the girls in the group were all tired for a late walk. The guys left to get the pizzas which was not too far as the girls settled.
After we ate the pizza, we were exhausted. Everyone was in bed around 1am. Lights out with only the sounds of New York in the background. Jake was one of the first to fall asleep. I had a hard time falling asleep so I placed my earphones on and found entertainment watching random stuff on social media. A couple of minutes later I was interrupted by a weird weeping sound. I tried to brush it off but it got louder. I got closer to Jake and quietly asked him if he heard the weeping. He responded that he did and both of us sat up immediately. We looked over to the other bed to call out for our friends. Cassie and Cam were asleep. We noticed then it was Cam that was whimpering. I calmly woke her up and asked if she was okay, which she responded yes. Jake and I went back to bed. I finally fell asleep.
It felt like I was asleep for a long time when I got violently awaken by Cam screaming. I saw her run to the bathroom and Cassie running behind her. This woke everyone. Concerned I went to the bathroom to see what was the issue. Cam was crying while Cassie was rubbing Cam’s left leg. Before a word even came out of my mouth, Cam out of breath states someone was pulling her leg. Cassie looked at Cam and assured her it was a bad leg cramp. I heard Jake and the others giggle about this. The look on Cam’s face was quite alarming. We went back to bed and noticed it was 4am.
In the morning the leg cramp scenario was all everyone was talking about. Cam was adamant her leg was pulled out the bed. Even I didn’t believe her and just laughed about it. We proceeded to spend the rest of the day in museums and iconic landmarks of the city. It was a wonderful day filled with pictures and many laughs. We arrived back in the hotel around 11pm. Everyone decided to pick a funny movie to watch to end the day. Of course I was the last one to fall asleep. I turned off the tv and placed my earphones on to be entertained by my phone. Once again I was interrupted by weeping. I called out to Cassie to check on Cam. Once again Cam was weeping in her sleep. Cassie shook her arm to wake up, Cam sits up crying and yelling “Stop hurting her!” Everyone got up and looked at Cam concerned. Cam explained she was having a dream a group of men were assaulting her aunt in front of her and she couldn’t do anything. Mike who has been sleeping on the sleeper sofa chimes in, he was having a nightmare as well. He was being chased into an alley and he woke up when he heard Cam scream. This left our group concerned. I asked them if they think there was something wrong with the room. We looked at each other and smiled. We tried not to think much of it and went back to bed. I said a little prayer before I did, just to be safe.
The next morning as we were grabbing breakfast at a local bakery, we kept talking about the eventful nights we’ve had so far. Mike was still shaken by his dream and informed us of vivid details as Laura interrupted him. She starts by saying, this sounds crazy but she saw a silhouette of man in the hallway near the door after the commotion of the night. She thought it was her imagination playing tricks because she heard details of Cam and Mike’s nightmares. She was scared and begged us to change rooms. Jake and I assured the group, that there was nothing to be scared of. We only had one more night left in the trip. Convinced them to enjoy it! After all this could just be our imaginations running wild. I even volunteered to sleep next to Laura to make her feel safer but she said it was okay. I told them since I sleep last, I would make sure the room was secure and would even say a little prayer. This seemed to lighten the mood. The rest of the day was pure perfection. A carriage ride in snowy Central Park was the highlight of this trip.
Back in the hotel room, we all decided to play some card games and the girls did face masks. Jake even brought some hot chocolate and donuts to munch on. It was such a fun night for it was snowing outside. By 1am I decided to take a warm shower and listen to music to relax myself. By the time I finished my shower, everyone was asleep. I quietly went to bed and turned off the lights. Then realized I left the bathroom door open. Got up to close it in the dark. I suddenly looked at the hallway leading to the door and got goosebumps all the way to my neck. Rushed back to bed. I placed the covers over my head and got close to Jake. I felt watched.
I didn’t even know when I fell asleep but it must have been late. I was the last one to wake up. Jake was in the shower. The rest of the group was gathering their things to pack. Cassie, Cam, Laura and Mike all sharing their nightmares of the previous nights. Being assaulted, choked and beaten was a few of the things I heard. I was about to tell them to stop playing when Cassie stated she felt someone was watching her last night. I swallowed hard. That’s the same feeling I felt. Suddenly Jake comes out the bathroom slowly walking in pain. I asked him what was wrong. He responded his back was hurt. Without asking he brings his boxers slightly down and I rushed to see closer. “Oh my God!” is all that came out my mouth. The rest of the group comes to see what it was that shocked me and silence just followed. Jake questioned us if we scratched him and goes to the mirror to try to see his back. He had scratches from the mid of his back to his butt. Deep scratches. Scratches like if someone was trying to drag him out of bed. Scratches that scraped the skin and left it raw. All of us denied doing that to him, how could we...we were all asleep. This frightened us terribly. Without hesitation we all hurried to finish packing. We were definitely beyond scared and stumbled getting out of the room. We left the keys to the concierge at the edge of the reception desk and didn’t look back for we all knew we had stayed at a haunted hotel.
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