The Backroom and Other Short Horror Stories

Red and Blue

We all rented a room each at a cheap motel along the way to a theme park. Surprisingly, the rooms were cleaned and treated well. Each of the rooms was behind a balcony in front of a pool. The pool took over most of the room, with a mini golf course and chairs on the sides. When we rented the rooms, the cashier informed us that we were the only ones to have stayed the night in the past few months. I thought this was strange, but my friends saw it as heaven.

They woke me up in the middle of the night, whooping and hollering like there's no tomorrow. Groggily, I climbed out of the bed and exited the room. Few lights were on, giving the room a dark atmosphere. My three friends only had their swimming trunks on, running around the balcony surrounding the pool. 

"We're going to jump into the pool," Jack, who was the youngest of us, said to me. "Come on, you have to join too." Before I could say anything, I was suddenly rushed down the set of stairs and thrown into the pool, my pajamas still on.

My head bursted out of the lukewarm water, and I breathed rapidly. Looking around, I saw that I was the only one in the water. Everyone else was up on the balcony, shouting random things at each other.

I swam to one of the edges of the pool to get out, when suddenly Rick, the oldest of the group, shouted: "I'm going to jump!" I glanced up and behind me to see Rick standing on the railing the balcony held. The next moment, he fell directly into the middle of the pool, causing giant waves of water to splash all over the pool grounds. Again, I bursted out of the water, but shortly after, the other two jumped in. I decided to stay since the others were already here.

While the others chattered and pushed each other around, I laid back on the side of the pool and closed my eyes. The water was neither cold nor hot enough to keep me awake. I fought my hardest to stay up, but I couldn't help but close my eyes.

My chest started to feel light...

"Hey, what's happening to all of the water?" One of them asked confusedly.

I opened my eyes to see half of the pool water drained. Everyone looked around, but came up empty-handed. 

Eventually, Rick looked down at a drain plug at the bottom. Taking a deep breath, he bent over to get a closer look at the plug. His faced inched closer and closer...

The water stopped draining. The other two were happy, for they weren't paying attention, but I who witnessed the whole thing let out a scream.

The drain plug sucked out Rick's internal organs. Shortly after, the other two screamed as the blue water dyed into red. Rick's lifeless body floated to the surface of the water as his organs swiveled like snakes. 

Immediately, the three of us got out of the water. Jack ran out of the building to find a phone and call the police. The other friend, Mat, ran into the hallway that lead to where you checked in. Leaving me all alone, unknowing of what to do.

I stared at the pool, tears filling my eyes as Rick floated like an island. Nearly the entire pool was red with his blood. I never knew humans had so much blood stored inside. 

Tired, so tired...

No, I mustn't fall asleep!

But... maybe I can take a quick nap on one of the chairs. Until the others come back with help...

I fell back first into the pool. The bloody water rushed into my ears first, completely blocking off all the noise I could hear. My body grew numb; the only thing I could move were my eyes that were slowly closing.

I felt calm. No sound, no fear, no pain. A peaceful death, just like I always wished for. 

I closed my eyes, and let the water rush into my lungs.