What the hell?

March 2, 2025

by Urban

Our school’s basketball team had just won the championship, and as a reward, we got to stay overnight at Oakwood Inn, an old hotel outside town. It wasn’t fancy, but it had a pool and free breakfast, so no one complained.

Me and my best friend, Lauren, tossed our bags on the beds and got online. She plugged her camera into her laptop, and right then, the screen went black. Not just the laptop—the whole room flickered like the power was about to go out.

“What the hell?” she muttered, clicking the keys.

Then we heard it. A noise coming from the speakers. Faint at first, like nails lightly scratching a surface. It grew louder, sharper. A screeching sound, like something clawing its way out.

Lauren slammed the laptop shut. The noise stopped instantly.

We laughed it off, but there was this weird tension in the air, like we weren’t alone. Then, out in the hallway, we heard it—footsteps. Slow, shuffling, back and forth.

Thinking it was one of our teammates messing around, we cracked open the door. The hallway was empty. But the moment we stepped out, the footsteps bolted—like someone was running away, but we couldn’t see them.

Lauren grabbed my arm, whispering, “Did you see that?”

Near the door at the end of the hall stood a shadowy figure. White, hazy, almost see-through. It wasn’t moving, but it was there. Watching.

We slammed the door and locked it. Panic set in. We called the girls in the next room, and when they peeked outside, they gasped.

“It’s at our door now.”

Terrified, we all met in the middle, where the two rooms were connected. We huddled together, too scared to sleep.

That night, one of our teammates got sick—shivering, pale, unable to keep anything down. The next morning, as soon as we left the hotel, she was perfectly fine. Like nothing had happened.

We never went back to Oakwood Inn. And we never found out what was in that hallway.

But something was there. And it knew we saw it.

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