The Last Maid

I parked my car in the employee section in the back of the hotel. Once the car stopped, I pulled a picture of my son Jack out from underneath the visor. I gave it a kiss and got out of the car. I walked away from it and locked the doors with my remote. I liked to look back and make sure the lights flash. That’s when I noticed that my car sat there all by itself. There wasn’t a single car in the entire employee section before mine.

“Maybe it’s their offseason?” I said to myself. I didn’t care how bad the job was. I needed the money desperately. Besides, I’ve worked in hotels with bed bug problems. How much worse could this place be? I’m just going to walk in there and clean the crap out of this place. Hopefully, not literally.

The building itself was a monstrosity. There were over ten floors of dark brick. Small, grey windows wrapped around the exterior.  This place was a few barred windows short of being a mental hospital. I walked around to the front of the building. There were no signs, no stickers even indicating this was a hotel. Maybe I had the wrong address, I thought.

             The stone-staircase was crumbling apart. I was afraid to step on it. I stepped over every crack I could as I ascended the stairs. I grabbed onto the door handle tight and swung the door open. After dealing with that staircase, I figured the lobby was going to look like a horror show. It was surprisingly well lit and pretty. Purple and white flowers decorated the room. I smelled hints of vanilla and jasmine.

             There were large statues in the corners. One was some sort of stone gargoyle. It was about six feet tall, with giant wings. Its black eyes stared back at me. Now this was the type of weird stuff I was expecting to see.

             “Hello, I’m Adelaide. How can I help you?” A voice asked.

             My eyes darted over in the direction of the voice. How long was I staring at that thing? I felt like I blacked out for a second. I walked over to an older woman in a dark blue suit. She had a half smile. The kind of smile you give to distant relatives you don’t remember.

             “Hi, I’m Angela Coleman, it’s so nice to finally meet you. I’m here to start for the maid position. We…spoke over the phone,” I replied. I shook her hand and smiled. She gripped my hand hard.

             “Lovely. We couldn’t wait for you to start,” she said.

             “We? I didn’t see any other cars in the employee parking lot,” I replied.

             She handed me a dark blue uniform. My hand was in pain from how hard she shook it, but I didn’t want her to notice.

             “We…Usually take the bus. It’s cheaper that way.”

             “Oh, that makes sense, but where is there a bu–”

             “I need you to start on the eighth floor as soon as possible. There are no guests on that floor, so feel free to start in any room. I will be up later to check your progress,” she said.

             I got dressed in the locker room and headed to the elevator. I pressed eight and the doors closed. The elevator stood there silently. I didn’t want to get stuck in an elevator on my first day. The doors opened, letting out a loud ding. Adelaide stood in front of the doors.

             “Oh, thank you. I thought I did so–”

             “I almost forgot to give you your key-ring, keep this on you at all times. Never let these keys out of your sight,” she said.

             The elevator doors closed as she handed me the key ring. I laughed a little. I thought it was cute that they still used keys instead of key cards. It adds a little charm to the place. It’s either that or this place is dead broke. I was hoping it was for charm. It wouldn’t have done me any good if I asked Chatty Kathy down there about it anyway.

             The elevator dinged once again, and the doors opened. I realized I somehow ended up on the ninth floor. I couldn’t see anything. The entire floor was a menacing black hole. A low growl echoes in the distance. Something was dragging its feet closer and closer to the elevator.

             I dared not to call out to it as if I was in some sort of horror movie. I pressed eight repeatedly. I’m sure this floor is just abandoned and full of rats and racoons. The dragging got louder. A large, white cat ran into the elevator and brushed up against my leg. He purred as he pressed his body into me.

             “Aren’t you a little sweetheart,” I said.

             The dragging in the hallway stopped. The low growl was back. Only this time, it sounded like it was right outside of the elevator doors. The cat turned towards the noise and ran back out of the elevator. The doors closed behind him.

             “Those must be some big rats he’s got to catch.”

             The elevator doors opened. The beautiful aroma of vanilla and jasmine was replaced with something sour. The wallpaper peeled off the walls in the corner. The lights flickered. I know this sounds crazy, but I got excited to clean this floor up. I’m going to make this feel like a new floor. Hopefully, I’ll impress them enough to keep me. I didn’t know which room to start on.

             I picked the key for room 801. I grabbed the cleaning cart and pushed it over to the door. I unlocked it and swung the door open. There were white sheets and pillows thrown all over the room. I stuffed the sheets in the laundry basket as fast as I could.

             As I put away the last sheet, I noticed a shadow in the corner of my eye. I turned my head to find an older man sitting down in the chair. He was wearing a white tank top and briefs. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

             “I am so sorry, Sir,” I said.

             He ignored me and continued to read his paper. That’s when I realized I could see through him. I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I opened my eyes, he was gone. I grabbed the laundry basket and ran out of the room. I shut the door behind me, clenching my chest. I felt my heart pounding. I didn’t want to be fired for doing something so stupid.

             I went back down the elevator. I can’t believe I just walked in on a guest in the very first room I cleaned. On top of that, I thought I saw through him. I got out of the elevator and over to Adelaide.

             “There was a man in room 801,” I said.

             Adelaide laughed a little under her breath. She continued writing something down and acted as if I didn’t say anything. She looked up at me, surprised that I was still standing there.

             “I assure you, there are no guests on the eighth floor. If you think you see something, do your best to ignore it. It’s either that, or I guess I will just have to find someone else for the job.”

             “Understood. I’ll get back to it.”

             “Very well then.”

             Behind her, there was a large, black bag on the floor. Her eyes met mine. She looked behind her and looked back at me with a smile.

             “For the rats, Ms. Coleman.”

             I’ve worked in hospice care when I was younger. I know a body bag when I see one. That’s why I decided to clean hotel rooms instead.  I’ve never heard of rats being put in a body bag before. I kept my mouth shut and turned towards the elevators.

             I went back up to the eighth floor. Was I going crazy? Was this some sort of haunted hotel? I used to watch fake ghost hunting shows that were filmed in places like this. My hand shook as I opened the door to 801 again. The sheets I just put in the basket were thrown all over the room.

             There was a news paper on the coffee table. I picked it up. The date read April 18, 1947. It was in perfect condition, as if it was just issued this morning. I felt a brush of cold air behind me. The man was back, staring at me. The light from the lamp behind him shined right through him.

Adelaide walked through the door. I wanted to scream and tell her I was right. Thank God she was here to see this. She looked at the man and smiled.

             “Henry, is there anything we can get you?”

             He looked at her and smiled back. “Why yes there is. Maybe a new newspaper? Mine is kind of old.”

             They both laughed as if they have done this bit a thousand times.

             “Ms. Coleman? I do apologize. Henry is one of our long-time residents. We take special care of their needs. Don’t worry, they are all harmless here on the eighth floor. Wait till you get to the ninth floor. Well, if you make it to the ninth, that is. Hopefully, I won’t have to hire yet another one.”