I am fantasizing about big comfortable canopied beds, mountains of soft pillows and warm blankets. I feel tired, every bone in my body begging me to lie down and fall into blissful oblivion. The stress of negotiating a good deal for my startup was getting on my nerves and I was impatient to get back to Arnav and the kids.
The meeting finally over, I take off towards the hotel I'm staying at for the day. Switching on the radio, I steel myself for the rush hour traffic and type in the hotel's adress in the GPS.
'The lake view business hotel' is 16 kilometres away and traffic meant that it would take about an hour or more for me to get there.
******
Ping.
The elevator indicates that I've reached my desired floor and I'm almost asleep on my feet as I walk down the hallway, my eyes scanning the door numbers for my room. I am disappointed when I find it at the end of the long corridor, the whole floor looks deserted and it makes me nervous. Just then a middle aged maid exits the door to my left, pulling a cart behind her, she smiles politely before moving on to the next room.
Shaking my head, I push back thoughts of serial killers and ghosts from my mind. Opening the door I step into the pitch dark room. Feeling uneasy again I use the card key to bring on the lights.
I shrug out the jacket and step out of my heels. Undressing as I walk, I move towards the bathroom. Even the mundane routine of getting ready for bed feels like a gargantuan task. And then, after an eternity I finally head for the bed. I am so tired that I don't even order dinner, falling asleep as soon as my head hits the big fluffy pillows, instantly switching off all thoughts of work.
The lights still on.
Slap!
Startled I wake up with my cheek stinging. My heart hammers against my rib cage as my eyes adjust to the utter darkness around me. I try to get my bearings and clear my groggy mind and realize that I'm not alone.
My mind fully awake is running a mile a minute. I hold my breath, straining my ears to listen carefully to the sounds around me. A minute passes, then two but I hear nothing. I am starting to think I might have imagined that slap but my cheek is still hot and stinging. With fumbling hands I grope around me for my phone. My hand brushes against the cool metal and I heave out a breath of relief and then freeze.
Cold fingers caress the nape of my neck and a hand trails down my throat and chest. And stops.
I snap. Twisting around, my hands flailing in the dark as I try to find a solid target. But I hit nothing- just empty space.
The temperature in the room drops further making it almost frigid. With clumsy fingers I put on the phone's flashlight. My breathing is laboured and my body shivers partly due to the cold and partly in terror. I use the flashlight to look for my assailant but the room looks empty. This only scares me more because I know that I am not.
I sense movement behind me and whirl around just in time to see a blurred black mass jump on top of me. Fingers grip my throat and squeeze, choking me. I feel rather than see, someone sitting on my chest, and I feel panic bubbling in my chest.
I struggle to free myself and spots appear in my vision.
My phone is gone and once again I am plunged into darkness.
No sound escapes my lips and my body is useless against the weight that's positioned on my chest, I struggle to breathe and realize with dread that my hands and legs are unresponsive.
I think that I'm going to die but I am not ready yet. I can not leave my kids alone. I remember thinking- 'I cannot leave Arnav. My kids! Not yet. Not like this god... please not like this. My babies...God...'
I pray. My mind is the only thing that seems to be working. The rest of me is frozen rigid or limp.
And then it stops. Tears run freely, trailing down my temples and making my hair wet. I want to get up but can't.
Seconds pass, when suddenly I feel something or rather a someone invading my mind. I can't quite describe it-that feeling. It was like, I felt myself- my consciousness, being pushed aside by something. Like something wanted to control me or- or posses me.
In the back of my mind I'm thinking, 'No. No!' It's a struggle to stay conscious, to stay in control. It goes on for I don't know how long- seconds, minutes and then everything stops.
There is nothing on my chest, nothing pushing inside my head and I can move again. I spring out of the bed with energy I didn't know I had and blindly rush for the door.
I don't get far. My hair is forcibly yanked back and I yelp in pain. But don't stop, I keep moving towards the door.
Crack!
I am slapped so hard that I stumble sideways. Losing my balance I fall down, a sharp pain resonates in my skull as my head connects with a table. Falling down, my face slams hard against the cold marble floor and my eyes roll back inside my head and I lose consciousness.
---------------------------
When I wake up, the lights are blinding. My eyes crack open slowly and dread fills my stomach as I remember last night. Wincing, I sit up on the floor I am lying on. My head hurts like it's been hammered by a truck and my throat feels dry and swollen.
When I look around me, the room looks completely normal. There are no signs of any struggle that had occurred last night. This leaves me stunned. For a long time I sit in a daze rooted in my place.
Afterwards I limp towards the bathroom and to take a look at myself in the mirror. I gasp at the state that I'm in. I am covered in bruises. There are finger marks on my cheeks and my throat and a big bump on my forehead. Other than the bruises covering my body there is no other evidence of whatever happened.
Logically, I lodge a complaint in the local police station. Investigations reveal that no one had entered my room that night. The cctv footage showed nothing. It's was dead end.
After all this time...I can say I was not surprised by the result of the investigation, back then I had to be sure. I had to be certain that my doubts were true. Even then, deep down I knew it wasn't something human that had attacked me in my hotel room.
I believe, something wanted to posses me that night.
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