The Woman in Blood

Only few more months and then I didn't have to work inside this creepy dingy motel anymore. I sign off from my shift, closes the door behind me and walk across the parking lot towards my car. A cold wind swept past me and I shivered and tightened my coat around me. I walked a little faster, the hairs rising behind my back as I sensed that something--or someone was behind me. I nearly ran to my car and then sat down, taking few deep breaths before locking the doors of the car.

Only a few more months. I had to survive only for a few more months. Sighing heavily, I turn on the engine. The radio blasted fully on, some country music playing in the background.

Suddenly the voice of the musician started to slow down until the radio was abruptly silenced. My car stopped working. I froze.

A frail looking woman is standing right in front of my car. Her dress was torn, with holes in it, blood nearly covering her body. Her blonde hair is a mess and her eyes--are mixed with madness. Suddenly in one swift motion she runs towards my car. I try to get out of the car but I remained frozen on my seat. I closed my eyes, counted from one to ten and then opened my eyes.

The woman was nowhere to be seen. I sighed, shakily, realizing that it was a figment of my imagination when I froze again.

The woman is sitting on my passenger seat. Suddenly, she started shaking me. I screamed.

"Help me!" she screeched into my face, shaking, her eyes bloodshot with fury. "HELP ME!" she screeched and...

I woke up with a start. I wasn't in my car. I was in the comfort of my room in my apartment. I was sweating profusely, my throat parched as I grabbed the glass of water from my bedside table and gulped down. I took a deep breath.

It was just a nightmare. But, working at that dingy motel is real.

I slowly get up and padded off into the bathroom to begin my day.

***

I had a night shift at the hotel today.

Part of me didn't want to report to work. In a few months, I would be working at a decent place, not just as some receptionist but something related to my major as a data analyst in a reputable firm. But right now, I needed money, to pay off my rent and other bills and so going unemployed at this time is not really an option. So I had no choice but work at this dingy motel.

The motel was very old. Paint peeled off from the wall, the whole place smelled like must and moist. The floors were grimy with dirt and sleet--I bet the floors haven't washed for a while, so I can imagine what the rooms are like in the motel. Nighttime is the time when it usually gets crowded--truck drivers spending a night before heading off to a long-haul journey, a rendezvous with prostitutes that I jokingly thought I was working in a brothel not in a motel. There was no computer system that I still have to update the guests' information in a large log book with pages coming off from the book.

I glanced at the watch. I have another six more hours to kill before I finish off with my shift. I decided to take a small break by heading off outside to inhale air.

The night was cold and I shivered a little against the chilly weather. I don't smoke but being inside the motel gave me...well kind of creeped me out. Once, one of my colleagues, Jared told me that the motel was haunted.

"Haunted?" I asked unbelievably.

"Yeah, they are saying that there is a woman lurking around the motel in the night--she is covered in blood from head to toe. If you see her, you will die apparently." he whispered in a frightened tone.

Then I had a nightmare of that woman thanks to Jared.

I heard someone singing behind my back.

My hairs in the neck stood up. I froze on my spot. The singing etched closer and closer towards me. I was tempted to turn around or run as far as I could but I remained on my spot.

The woman I saw in my nightmare suddenly appeared right in front of me.

I shrieked backing away. I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I was still having a nightmare or if I was imagining things. I was wide awake. It was the same woman--blonde hair matted with blood, her dress torn with holes in it, her bony figure covered with bruises.

"Help me," she croaked.

I tried to back away from her. But she catches my arm and I screamed.

"Help me please," she pleaded.

I stared at her, remembering Jared words.

If anyone saw the woman in blood, you will die.

I don't want to die. I am soon going to start a new life in a few months.

"Please let me go," I croaked but the woman gripped my arm firmly.

"My name is Debra Mooney," she whispered.

Something in her tone stopped me from leaving. The woman may look like the one I saw in my nightmare but...

"I was murdered..." she whispered. "Forty years ago. By a man named Scott Ramsey. My body is buried over there," she pointed her finger behind me.

I turn around and then saw the motel. I blinked.

"But that's--" I started and then turned around and saw the woman had disappeared. I quickly ran back to the motel before I see that woman again.

Next day, I google searched Debra Mooney. There wasn't much articles about her--the fact that she lived in Star City, the city where I am living now and she disappeared somewhere in May 1975 when she was supposed to return home from school. The police thought she ran away and eventually closed her case, the case becoming cold. I then google searched Scott Ramsay and there were hundreds of results on him. A notorious serial killer who killed women between the ages of nineteen and thirty in four different states, from Washington, Idaho, Utah before being captured by the police in Texas. He had killed a total of fifty women in those states and was sentenced to death. His method of killing involved kidnapping, torturing them with sharp objects, raping and sexually assaulting and eventually strangling them to death. He was executed in 1994 through lethal injection.

Debra Mooney's picture looked exactly like the ghost woman I saw at the parking lot in the motel except, she looked beautiful with her blonde hair tied into a bun, her green colored eyes shining brightly. She was twenty-two years old when she disappeared. Scott Ramsay looked dashing and handsome with dark hair and icy cold blue eyes--he was a lawyer at the time he was committing crimes.

But Star City is located in the state of Michigan. Scott Ramsay was born and grew up in Washington. But the ghost woman mentioned Scott Ramsay's name and I was clueless and never heard of his name until she uttered his name. But there's a possibility that Ramsay would have been visiting Michigan and kidnapped Debra Mooney and burying her body on the same premises where the motel was built.

I was surprised that the builders did not find any skeletal remains when building the motel.

I closed my laptop and sighed. Debra Mooney need justice. And no one will believe me if I tell them that I saw Debra Mooney's ghost who told me that she was murdered by a notorious serial killer named Scott Ramsay.