Scurrying shuffles, adrenaline racing, hearts pounding. They were vulnerable, lost, scared. They were trapped. Caroline and Kim had nowhere to go but forward as they ran from nothing down the narrow hallway of their hotel. An immediate right. A slight left up the stairs towards their room. Room two o nine. The door was wide open, but no one was in there. Death. The reek of death invaded their senses. A crisp breeze trickled their skin with goosebumps from the breeze rushing in through the opened window.
"Why is this hotel so eerie. I'm getting such a bad vibe right now. And that smell! It is burning my nose," Kim gulped, grabbing her nose. The sour scents drenching the air were unbearable. It smelled as if there had been a mass murder in their room a month ago and no one came back to clean the mess up. The source needed to be found. Shuffling through piles of clothes they had thrown on the floor, using a flashlight to check the closets and the bathroom, they found nothing.
      “Let’s check under the bed,” Kim suggested.
“Ummm, I don’t, well… okay,” Caroline hesitantly approached the bed. She lifted the rough, dark green bed skirt and screamed as she threw her body up and away from what was under the bed. “Holy s***! There is a pile of rats feasting on rotting flesh,” she screamed, shriveling her body up, disgusted.
“That is so gross we need to pack up and get the hell out of here,” Kim exclaimed, upset and angry.
“We can’t leave. Where would we go? Our flight doesn’t leave until two tomorrow,” Caroline complained.
“We will sleep outside. No, we can just sleep in the car. I’m definitely not staying here,” Kim persisted. They were scared, grossed out, and ready to leave, but had nowhere to go. They decided to pack their things and get ready to go. With no destination in mind they were determined to leave alive. They did not even bother trying to call the front desk to attempt to solve this issue. They marched down the hall to the stairs and ran down them until they reached the first floor. As they reached the  front desk the man standing behind the counter slowly looked up at them. With one blue eye and the other scarred shut, he politely asked, " Can I help you with something young ladies?"
"We are leaving. Now," without another word Caroline and Kim began to walk out. As Caroline shuffled through her luggage trying to find her keys she felt an absence.
"Kim? Kim?! Where are you," she screamed frantically, throwing her stuff on the eroding road. Kim was gone, nowhere to be seen. Caroline ran down the street to find herself in front of the hotel again. She stared at the deteriorating stone building with a blank stare, in deep thought. "I'm sorry Kim, but I can't do it. I can't save the both of us... It's you or me," she mumbled to herself.
She ran back to her car, chucked everything in the back seat and stomped on the gas pedal, never to return. Never to see her friend, never to see Kim again.