The Lady in My Hotel Room

I was sitting in the pitch black darkness in my kitchen, I had been winding down after I got home from work, I was sitting at the kitchen table in my small two-room apartment. I was just looking up recipes for a snack before going to bed. I saw many types of spaghettis and chicken meals, but I hadn't gone to the store in a few days so I couldn't cook what I was craving for. The only brightness in the room is from my phone. I could hardly keep my eyes open, but I was starving, I felt my stomach bite my insides, demanding I make something. I had been sitting in the dark because I didn't want to make my power bill go up while I'm not doing anything, and I was already behind on rent.

My boss had been giving me a new night schedule about a week ago, so I had been hardly sleeping. As I sat there, scrolling on my phone, I felt a soft greeting of fur brush beside my legs. I looked down from my phone, to see my cat there, he purred with joy.

"Aww buddy, I haven't seen you all day. Where have you been?" I asked, petting behind his soft, warm ears. I'd yawn, then go back to searching for more food ideas to make. I was questioning if I should just skip dinner at this point, I was so tired and it had already become 2:00.

I heard my cat stop purring, I looked down at him and he just froze, not moving, as if he had been startled by something.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking around my apartment, but it was just darkness. I turned my phone around to see if its light would show me anything, to see if there was a bug he was scared of or something.

"There's nothing there." I said to him, but when I looked down his ears had turned around and he had been staring at me, eyes widened with adrenaline, tail fluffy, and fur scuttled. Why would he be staring at me?  Is he trying to tell me something? Why is he scared.. I turned around to see a skinny pale silhouette with long white hair, and bloodshot eyes, with a raggedy long brown dress. It stared at me, dead in the eyes. It just stood there, not saying anything, and not doing anything, just standing. Staring right at me.

My blood went cold, and my mouth dropped, frozen in fear. I couldn't believe what I  was seeing. I ran to turn on the light, screaming with horror, heart thumping in my throat, hands shaking, eyes wide. And I turned around, there was nothing there at all. The silhouette was gone. Had I been hallucinating? No, that felt so real!
I grabbed my cat, keys and my phone then ran out the door. I could tell it was real, my cat's tail was still fluffed.

I ran down the hall, spamming the elevator button until it opened. I headed inside, the doors shut and I pressed "1". The elevator music was creepy and slow, an old ballerina song. This hotel has been here since the 1930's and hasn't had a ton of updates. After the doors opened I ran to the staff member at the desk and told her what I had seen.

"There's no such thing." She told me, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, yes there is!" I told her, but even though, how much I tried to tell her, she wouldn't believe me, so I left the apartment, without any other of my things. But I didn't care, I am not going back to that room. I ran to my car and started it, pulling out my phone to get a room at a different hotel. I read that the closest hotel that allows pets is only a few miles away. I registered a room and put my cat in the backseat of my car, and drove off. But in my corner of my rearview mirror, I swear I could see the same silhouette, standing right outside the doors.

I'm definitely not going back! I got a quick meal at Burger King and ate in the car in front of the hotel. I just got a burger with medium water. After I finished, I grabbed my keys, cat, and phone then went inside. I was put in room 203, on the second floor. I headed up the stairs because their elevator had stopped working.

I got in my room, let my cat go in, set my keys and phone on the table, and immediately went straight to bed.

But it was strange, I could swear I felt the other side of the bed being weighed down all night, and cold breathing down the back of my neck..