Saturday, January 17, 2015

The Watcher, Part Two

     His bladder is pressing for relief. Sandman hesitates to get off the bed because of a mysterious red eye staring from across the room. With caution he swings his legs over the edge of the bed slides his feet into waiting slippers. He walks into the bathroom without turning on the light. The white commode is effervescent in the moonlight. He sits. After his bladder is satisfied, he flushes the toilet with an elbow, turns on the tap, rinses his hands, dries them on the hand towel provided and returns to bed.
     The eye maintains its surveillance. Sandman turns his back to the eye and covers his head with one of the pillows.He can still sense the continuous stare. In the pre-dawn light he strains to determine an outline of the man or beast with the eye. He cannot. On his back now, he tucks his hands underneath his head and stares back at the eye. He is so focused on the eye the night clerk using a special glass pressed against the peephole allowing him full view of his naked body stretched out on top of the bed goes undetected. A sudden noise raises an alert; a kind of hissing-sucking salacious sound. His attention goes to the door. 'Who's there?' he calls out. 'Is someone there?' He waits for a reply. None comes. Still the hissing-sucking continues. He decides to pull back the bedspread from one side and cover himself. Better to get a bedbug bite or two than some pervert getting his jollies.
     More hissing. More sucking. The rooms fills with the aroma of fresh brewed coffee. Of course, the machine sits on the small refrigerator next to the desk. He forgot since he didn't plan to make coffee. The maid or someone probably set a times before he checked in. Sleepy now, he relaxed into the bedcovers. He told himself 'fifteen more minutes' as he closed his eyes.
     The coffeemaker disguised the sound of hundreds if not thousands of tiny feet marching across the room. In a matter of seconds they will reach their prey. A skeletal arm and hand extend out from under the bed and tries to beat a warning against the floor. Hollow bones on carpet aren't loud enough, nor quick enough.
     When the maid arrives later in the morning, the mans' bags and clothes remain as he left them. She changes the towels and vacuums a path from the door to the bed. She leaves without discovering or disturbing the guests under the bed.

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