Cold sweats

The water splattered over his face as soon as it touched it.

It had been a long trip and check-in was done well past midnight. Something about that country hotel felt strange. The staff acted in a hasty manner when they showed him to his room.

He threw another handful of water on his face and raised his head, ready to look at himself in the mirror.

He wiped his face and opened his eyes.

The water from the sink came out brown and filled the basin quickly. He tried to turn it off but the water was now rising up the drain, against gravity.

He looked around for a bigger towel to cover the hole. In the bathtub, the same water came out, brown and dirty.

From the mirror, the image of a man with a squint, laying in a bed, looked back at him. His hair fell in patches but his eyes radiated calm. He tried to talk to him but something drew his attention to the street.

Through the window beside him, he saw a woman in a white nightgown, trying to get into the downstairs of the building next door.

He barely had time to process what he saw when the woman looked down at him.

He blinked and she disappeared.

A second later, she appeared in front of him, just inside his room, staring at him and screeching with a mouth full of rotting teeth.

He woke up, screaming and sweating, and he didn't sleep the rest of the night.