Alligator Hotel

My 18th birthday, June 18th 1999, was when the dreams started. He was standing there with an axe in his hand, a girl by his side, and a rope. The dreams go in flashes of scenes, he'll be standing there, then he's with the girl, then he's hanging from the rope, which is tied to a beam on the ceiling. 

"who is he?" you ask? I can't answer that myself; I don't know who he is or why I dream about him. 

"It has to mean something." I say to myself as I drive down the long winding road which lead to my grandmother's house. She has to know what all this means right? She's got to know. "Whoa people out there in Elmendorf, Texas, you guys might want to keep an eye out; a huge storm is just a few minutes away." I heard the radio say. A huge storm? We haven't had one all year, why now? I decided to forget about it for now. I kept driving down the road as the rain started. I've never noticed all these trees before, or even that little cottage just up ahead. The rain started to pour even heavier and faster, by now I couldn't see it anything ahead of me. I looked out my front window to see it was hailing out. I turned back to my windshield only to see a man standing in the middle of the road. I slammed on the brakes causing my car to hydroplane. As the car stopped I looked up only to see the man was gone. 

"What?" I said, "I could've sworn he was real. Wasn't he?" I got my keys and went to start my car. 

"Great!" I exclaimed, "My car won't start." Maybe if I call Marie she can come get me. I got my phone and started to dial her number. I could feel my face start to fall as I realized, no signal. Her house shouldn't be too far from here I could just walk. I tried opening the door but it was immediately pushed shut by the wind. Pushing the door again I got it open and climbed out, only to be instantly hit with rain and hail. 

"So be it." I said to myself, talking loud so I could hear myself over the rain and thunder. I started walking down the road feeling the rain hit my skin, feeling little kisses dropping and running down my arms. The hail  hit every so often. The storm must be lightening up a bit. Of all my years driving to my grandmother's I've never experienced a storm out here, or this fork in the road. One road looked well taken care of, no pot holes, not a lot of trees, a little bit of sunshine with a lot of thunder clouds. The other road was windy and narrow, a couple patches here and there from trying to fix the road. It was dark, dreary, and certainly sorrowful. There's trees though; it could shield me from the rain that was on it's way. I chose that road. 

An eerie feeling began to take over me, only to realize the forest surrounding me was quiet, not a single sound was to be heard. where does this road go? I thought to myself, where could it lead to? The rain fell one drop at a time. It rolled down my arms sending shivers throughout my entire body, my eyes widened as my breath hitched in my throat as it all fell at once. Harder and harder it fell, harder and harder it made it to see what was ahead of me. 

"What's that?" I said, "Could it be?" I dragged on, "No, it couldn't be, could it? could that possibly be a light? Is there actually someone other myself out here?" The frown and tearfulness on my face slowly melted away as a smile began taking it's place. My pace started to speed up as I hurried, trying to get to the light as fast as I can. As I approached the light, the more it became visible. A hotel? I thought to myself, why would a hotel be all the way out here? In the middle of nowhere, at the ed of this road? I walked up the front of the hotel. ALLIGATOR HOTEL it read. The hotel looked old and run down, the plants and vegetation seemed to take over the sides of the hotel, slowly swallowing as it all became one. Slowly, I walked up to the front doors and slowly knocked. The sounds seemed to echo all the way back, screaming as it rushes past me into the trees. The trees surrounded the whole hotel, as if they where protecting it from something, or someone. They watch you staring at them as you stare back, they stare right into the soul. They keep staring. The door slowly creaked open as a man appears, he was emerald green eyes, tan skin, and short sandy blonde hair, with a little bit of facial hair, and nicely dressed. I looked at him and he looked at me. 

"Hi." He finally said. I went to say something back but couldn't find my voice. 

"Do you need any help? Anything I can help you with?" I could sense the annoyance in his voice. Annoyed of me not being able to say anything. 

"Hi." I finally said, "Can I use you phone?" I asked. He stared back me, he can see something I can't; I can feel it. 

"Phones don't work out here." He said, "But I can give you a room for the night." He opened the door a little bit more letting me through. 

"Thanks." I said as i walked in. Big windows surrounded the walls, all I could see was darkness. The guy takes my arm leading me toward the front desk. 

"I'm Blake by the way." He said while looking back at me. 

"I own this hotel, the original owner died a couple weeks ago so I took it in." I nodded in response. 

"I'm Courtney." Blake looked at me and smiled, 

"Well Courtney, welcome to Alligator Hotel. Shall I give you a tour?" He asked while raising an eyebrow and smirking. I looked over at him and nodded and smiled. 

"Oh, and we can get you some better clothes." I gave him a confused look. He looked at me and pointed at my outfit. 

"Oh that's right." I said, remembering what had happened only a few minutes ago,

"My clothes are all wet." Blake smiled and nodded agreeing with me. 

"This hotel was named Alligator Hotel from the original owner. He had an alligator pit out back where the pool was and put on shows for the guest." Blake explained to me, I nodded then said, 

"What happened to the guest?" He hesitated for a moment then said, 

"Some of them started complaining about a smell coming from the kitchen. No one figured out what it was and eventually everyone left." I nodded and we kept walking. We passed the guest bathrooms and where the showers were. He showed me the dining room, the lobby, and the entertainment area. He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward these two doors. 

"Behind here is the alligator pit." Blake said as he opened the door. The pit was dark, cold, and eerie. This feeling of hurt, regret, and denial hung over us. I looked around and there they were, the trees. Still staring at me, looking into my soul. 

"This is where Joe had the alligator shows. He performed with them himself." Blake told me as he looked around with me. We started walking out. 

"So yeah, that was the alligator pit." He said while laughing. 

"I like alligators." I said as we walked out. We passed this door that had a sign hung on it. I stopped walking and looked at the door. The door pulled me closer and closer to it. I put my hand out and placed it on the door, feeling it's heartbeat. My breathing got heavy and the heartbeat got stronger. 

"Courtney." The door whispered, "Come in Courtney." The voice was whispery and soft. 

"Come in Courtney, we need you Courtney." The heartbeat got stronger and stronger the closer I got to the door. 

"Courtney." The voice said. This voice was calm, soft. It felt like home. I felt a hand on my shoulder as it pulled me away from the door. I looked up only to find Blake looking down at me. 

"What was that?" I asked. He gave me a confused look. I looked back at him and said, 

"The voices, who are they? What was that?" I asked again, Blake looked down at me again, looked at the door, then back at me. 

"Courtney, no one is here except us. Now, come on, we're going to your room." He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the door. 

"Blake." I said and he looked over at me, 

"What was behind that door?" I asked. He sighed and looked back at me, 

"That's the basement." he finally said. 

"Why does it have a 'keep out' sign on it?" The look in his eyes, what was that? Fear? Was he scared to tell me? Why was it so bad? 

"The owner committed suicide down there. He hung himself." He finally said. 

"What happened to you?" I asked, Blake looked at me, he looked confused. 

"Just before you found me, what were you doing?" I asked again. Blake looked down, sighed, then looked at me again and said, 

"I kept walking, I thought you were right behind me. I turned around to make sure and you were gone, so I went back." He explained. I nodded my head and we kept walking to my room. We got to my room and he gave me the keys, smiled, then walked away. I opened the door, dropped the keys on the bed and laid down. Before I knew it I was asleep. The dream was exactly the same. The same man, same axe, and same rope. Except this time the man was smiling and laughing, then I woke up. What does it mean? So many questions, not a lot of answers. I got up and went to walk out. I walked down the stairs and into the dining room. I sat down at the table and put my head in my hands. 

"What happened last night?" the voice made me jump up only to find Blake.

"What do you mean?" He looked at me confused then said, 

"Wasn't that you walking through the halls last night? Could you not sleep?" He asked. I shook my head saying no. He gave me a look, what was it? Confusion? Fear? He just nodded then walked into the kitchen. 

"Courtney" The voice whispered, "Courtney" it kept whispering. I looked over to where it was coming from. The alligator pit, should I go? I walked over and there it was again, the voice. 

"Come in Courtney" I began pushing the door open. I walked out, 

"The trees" I said to myself, "They're alive" I closed my eyes taking in everything about the pit. 

"Courtney" The voice said again, and there he was. The man in my dream, holding the axe. He walked closer and closer to me, he brought his arm back and started laughing. Only then did I realize what he was going to do. He was going to hit me! I yelled and ducked. Out of the corner of my eye I was him swing the axe then he disappeared. I stood up looking around only to find nothing, nothing at all. I looked around one more time then ran out of the pit. 

"Courtney, why were you in there?" Blake began to press on. I looked at him then back to the doors. 

"Did you ever find clothes?" I asked him. He raised his eyebrows then nodded. He flicked his head back telling me to follow him. I started walking then soon enough we were entered a room. The room was fully furnished with clothes filling the closet and each of the five drawers. Anger, sorrow, and regret. Those feelings hung in the air as if it was right above us. 

"This is Marie's room, the owner's wife." I nodded, 

"Marie's my grandmother's name." I said while walking around the room and looking at him. 

"No one knows what happened about her. She disappeared after she found out about Joe's mistresses." He told me. I nodded and took the clothes he was handing to me. I mumbled a thanks has he left. I looked back to find the windows, door, and curtains all closed, I swear they open before? I turned around only to sense that someone was watching me, eyes staring right at me, just above my shoulder. I quickly changed then ran out. As I ran out the door I heard a voice say, 

"Those are mine!" I instantly stopped and turned around. Just as I looked at the door the shadow of a woman in a dress walked behind the door. No, it can't be real, I am just scaring myself. I walked down the hallway passing the basement door again. 

"Turn around" I heard a voice say. I shook my head and kept walking. 

"Turn around" The voice said again, it was closer, right behind me. I shook then started running. What was this hotel? What is the story behind it? I went back to my room and quickly went in. I sat on my bed and started breathing. I looked around the room and noticed something sticking out from behind the desk. I went over and picked it up, HISTORY OF ALLIGATOR HOTEL it read. I stared at the book and kept looking at it as I sat down. I opened the book to the first page. It explained about the owner, whose name was Joe, how he built the hotel, the alligator pit. The next few pages talked about the success they had. Then it got in to the legends, stories that supposedly happened at this hotel. 

Supposedly Joe had been accused of murdering a bunch of women. Their remains were never found but they had suspicions of him. Others thought he would cut them up and feed them to his guest, back when the hotel was actually something. Another person claimed that he would put the bodies through a wood chipper then feed them to his alligators he had out back in his pit. 

"Is this true?" I said to myself, could he have actually killed all those women? I flipped through a couple more pages, which was more about the alligators, and lightly skimmed through them. The next page I flipped ended up being only blank, except one word in the middle of the page. PICTURES it read. My hands started to shake violently as I reached to turn the page. It was a scary feeling, not knowing what was on the other side, not knowing what it was. The scary feeling was unknown, and it spread like a wild fire all over my body. The first picture was of the hotel when it first opened back in 1989. The hotel was spectacular,  a beautiful shade of green with blue outlines and white windows. It had a huge round-a-bout driveway with a space off to the side for parking. There was man standing with his back to the hotel with his arms up, as if he was praising the hotel. 

"That must be the owner" I said to myself. The next few pictures were of the inside, what the dining room used to looked ike. It was beautiful, light, and big. Now it has a dark wood colour with a sunken roof. Most certainly it is no longer what it used to be. Then again neither is the hotel itself. The next picture was of the alligators, one was larger then the other and had a dark colour all around its mouth. The next few pictures were more of the alligators and the art on the walls. None of those have changed. I flipped to the next picture and it was of a girl, She was very beautiful, long flowing brown hair, and dressed in a white dress. She was standing in the hallway with her head with a slight smile on her face. Who was she? I thought to myself. The owners wife? The next picture was one I was never expecting at all. It was of a man, standing there, holding an axe, a rope, and a women standing next to him. 

"It's him." I said, fear dripping out of my mouth as I spoke. The man in my dreams, why is he in this book? I quickly shut the book, tucked it under my arm and ran out of my room. I kept running until I found the front desk. Standing with his back to me was Blake with his head down. 

"Blake!" I yelled. His head immediately popped up and he spun around to look at me. He had a look of worry and scared all put together on his face. i handed him the book and said, 

"Why was this in my room?" From the look on his face he knew what I was thinking. 

"I don´t know how you got that. It´s been looked in the attic since Joe died." He explained. I opened the book to the page where the man was. 

"This man! Tell me, Who is he?" I asked, desperateness oozed from my words but I don't care, I needed to know. 

"That´s the owner Joe, remember? I told you about him. He said, 

"Blake, this exact picture is in my dreams, they started a couple weeks ago and I never knew why. I can't explain to myself because I don't know who he is. "Why am I dreaming about him?" I asked again, he shook his head saying he didn't know. Blake grabbed my arm and pulled me behind the desk. He got out this giant book that had a family crest on it. It read BALL FAMILY TREE. 

"Ball? That's my last name." He gave me a worried look then turned to the last page. I saw joe, his wife, his kids. Branched off from one of his daughters was my dad. At the very end was a picture I never expected to be there. It was me. 

"No!" I yelled, "This can't be happening!" I looked at Blake then started to walk off. 

"Courtney." I heard the voice whisper. I closed my eyes and tightly squeezed them together. 

"Turn around Courtney!" The voice yelled, "No!" I yelled back, "You're not real!" I heard a door creak, I turned around and it was the basement door. Sweat started to drip down my forehead, I started to shake. Something was pulling me toward the door as it opened. I got to the door and it fully opened. Standing at the end of the staircase was the man with the axe. I screamed as he pulled me down the stairs. He started laughing as he approached a wood chipper. No, I thought to myself, not this! Please, anything but this! I started to yell and kick my legs trying to break free but he only laughed louder and harder. I struggled and kicked as hard as I could. Slowly he made his way to the wood chipper and my breathing got heavier. 

"Courtney" I heard a female voice say, I ignored it and kept my eyes closed. 

"Turn around Courtney!" The voice yelled. I slowly began to open my eyes and turn around. There she was, Marie, the owners wife. I knew she was in her room with me, I knew it was her. My breath hitched and my heart started to race. She crept towards me keeping her eyes low staring right at me. I finally looked at her, seeing she had her hand held out, she was trying to help me? I reached my hand out and grabbed hers, she pulled and pulled, pulling me away from Joe and away from the wood chipper. Joe turned away and saw what was happening. He looked between Marie and I, then ran towards me and_____

Blake's POV 

Its been about 2 months since those events happened. Courtney, shes changed. I know I should've called the cops, or doctors, or at least something but, I was afraid. Afraid of what they would do to her. Her face has sunken in, her face so pale, almost as if the sun has never kissed her skin. Her body is so small, so frail. She keeps to herself, alone in the dark. I only see her when I bring her food and even then she runs back to the corner in the dark. I grab the plate full of raw meat ready with a cup of water sitting next to it on the tray. I take the tray and slowly approach the door as I hear it. Nothing, that's all I ever hear. Pure silence, as if she's no longer there. She's not there, she's not herself. I don't think she ever will be again. I gently begin to open the door, creaks screaming down the halls. Anyone a mile away could hear them. I go down the stairs to the middle of the room in the basement, a single light hanging in the middle of the ceiling slightly swinging and flickering. I scan the room looking for her corner, I see her figure standing there in the dark, Only enough to see her silhouette. Her legs were spread apart, arms at her side. Her head was down but I could see her eyes looking at me with a slight smile on her lips. 

"Courtney." I said while looking at her. 

"I brought your food. I'm going to place it here." I put the plate down and started  to turn away. While walking away i hear her rush toward the plate, ripping at the chunk of flesh that sits there. Her groans and wails fill the room as she growl and forces the food down her throat. After a couple of minutes the glass I placed beside the plate was thrown against the wall beside me and shattered to the floor. Then everything stops, her groans, her wails, growls, it all stops. I slowly turn around and there she was, staring right at me. Her eyes changed, a slight yellow color and her mouth was all bloody. Her lips grin as she creeps towards me slowly, but fast enough to where I can feel her breath hit my face. Before I knew it she was right in front of me, eyes tearing into my soul. She grabs my arm and starts pulling me towards the dark. 

"No!" I say looking at Courtney, "No! Courtney, please, Courtney listen to me! Don't do this!" I plead, "Courtney! Remember who you are!" She looks back at me, she only smiles and pulls me faster in the dark. I struggle to get out of her grip. Once I do I quickly run over to the stairs and run up then, I glance back only to see Courtney right behind me. I get to the door, open it and slam the door behind me. Courtney bangs and scratches at the door begging me to let her in. She starts running at the door hoping she can bust it down and do who knows what. The banging slowly begins to die down and eventually stops for once and for all. I turn around and slide against the wall until i'm on the floor. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Pull yourself together Blake, I thought to myself. I open my eyes and stare at the door. I slowly get up, turn to walk away, glance back and say, 

"She's gone crazy." I take one more glance at the door then walk away.