Short Stories

Murder Mystery Cliche (Part One)

Walking up the gray cobblestone steps of the brick building, I felt a wave of exhaustion rush over me. As soon as I saw the building, I knew I'd be near a bed soon.

As soon as I walked in, I was kindly greeted by the hostess at the desk. She was a rather young lady, with her brown hair in a neat bun and large brown eyes.

"Good evening, Sir! How may I assist you?" She smiled warmly at me.

Her beauty was somewhat off-putting. She was the kind of lady to make you stumble over your words because she was so striking. I guess that's how they draw you in.

"Uh- I would like a room please. A single." I smiled back to the young woman.

"No problem, A single is 130 a night with no reservation. Is that alright?"

I sighed, almost physically feeling the hole being burned in my pocket. This is what I get for refusing to stay in a local motel. The thought of a dirty motel room made me shudder with disgust.

"That shouldn't be a problem," I said, coming off slightly cold.

Handing the nice lady my money, I took the elevator to my room.

***

I sighed in relief and plopped down on the bed, thinking about the nice lady from the lobby. I've never been the kind of guy to hit on a lady, but something about her made me want to know more. I never got her name, but I had my eyes set on her. And when I wanted something, I do everything I damn near can to get it.

Drifting off to a long-awaited sleep, I had a weird dream.

I fell into a dark field. The grass was soft beneath my body as I landed straight on my back. Though the grass was a soft black, bright lights hit my eyes making my pupils quickly contract. I blinked to aid the burning feeling in my eyes.

There was a figure next to me. A tall woman. She looked almost like the woman from the lobby, but something was off. Her once lively brown eyes now a cold gray.

Slowly, she parted her lips. A dark liquid oozed from her mouth. Her cold eyes still piercing mine. A nervous drip of sweat traced its way down the back of my neck.

"Help.. Me..."

I woke up in a cold sweat. I felt dread fill my stomach as I caught my breath.

The sun was just over the horizon when I woke up, signaling that it was early in the morning. I pulled my feet over the edge of my bed and trudged to the hotel shower. Stripping out of my now sweaty clothes I stepped in the warm shower. The steam and heat of the water calming my stiff muscles and shaken nerves.

"I have a weird feeling about today," I thought to myself.

I put on my clean clothes and stepped out of my room. As if God had been listening to my thoughts for the past 12 hours, I ran into the young woman from the lobby. Quite literally ran into her, actually. Her Small frame stepping back in surprise.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, sir!" she chuckled at me.

"It's no problem, I wasn't looking where I was going." I smiled back to her.

"How are you enjoying your stay?" She asked, walking back over to her cleaning cart.

"It's lovely so far. These rooms are so clean." I said.

At that, she flashed me a large smile. "I'd hope so! I'm assigned to all the cleaning on this floor!" She said, pride spilling out of her words. I could tell she took her job very serious.

"Well, you do an amazing job."

If you couldn't tell, flirting wasn't my forte.

My eyes wandered to a silver little clip on the pocket of her uniform. The clip said "Quinn" in a black cursive font.

"pretty name," I thought to myself.

"I have to get back to work. Maybe I'll see you again soon?" She stated.

As she started to walk away, I called to her,

"Wait!"

She turned back in my direction

"I'm Garrett," I smiled to her.

She took a moment to register what I had said. Every second making me more and more anxious

"Quinn."

And just like that, she pushed her cart down the hall and into the next room.