The Blood Trail

The car screeched to a halt in the middle of nowhere. It was half past seven in the evening and the forest outside seemed to be getting swallowed by darkness. A band of red light was still visible in the west. The car doors opened and we walked out excitedly. Akshay, Mohit, Swastik and I were here for an outing for a couple of days. There was nothing to be seen around except for trees and bushes. “Uhm… is this the right place, Swastik?” I asked. Swastik checked his GPS and answered “Apparently it is.” Akshay and Mohit looked around as if doubting Swastik’s choice for a holiday destination. “We still have to walk for a short distance……. this way guys” Swastik said pointing towards the darkness “But there is nothing there” Mohit grumbled “Trust me” Swastik replied.

We had no choice, we followed Swastik as he kept moving forward, checking his GPS from time to time. After some time we entered a clearing in the forest and the outline of a small palace became visible in the darkness. “Woah…” Mohit said astounded. Thunder boomed in the distance, making the features of the castle visible. It was a worn out old building. The wood with which it was built was rotting and the paint was fading. There was an ancient, rusted clock on the top but surprisingly it was still functioning. Some of the windows of the castle were shattered and most of the castle was broken. “That’s our hotel guys.” Swastik said staring at the old building. “Wha…” Akshay’s jaw dropped. “Lets go guys” Swastik said. We walked forward slowly.

The entrance gate was grand. I knocked the huge doorknobs and the doors creaked opened. The look on my friends’ faces was that of pure fear. We entered with hesitant steps. The inside of the castle was even scarier. The ceiling was high and a huge chandelier hung from the roof. Most of the lights were out and the working ones were flickering repeatedly. Huge paintings hung beside the stairwell. The wallpaper was old and torn at various places. The floor was cracked and broken. There was some 60s music being played very slowly in the background. At the reception an old man sat unenthusiastically. We approached him as he started to say in expressionless and lazy voice, “Welcome to Hotel Forest-View, what can I do for you sir?” “Uh we had a booking for four rooms…” I said “Follow me, sir” he answered.

He walked lazily towards the staircase and we followed him, keeping some distance. He started going upstairs, stairs creaking under every step he took, and pointed towards one of the paintings and said, “This is Prince Bernard; he died in this castle, 300 years ago…..People suspected he was killed by his brother.” “Gosh…” Mohit mumbled under his breath. “His mother committed suicide just after his death. Some people say that their ghosts haunt this place ever since.” Instantly the expressions on everyone changed. Mohit almost screamed and Swastik turned white as cream. ‘A stereotyped haunted hotel’ I thought. ‘Ghosts aren’t real’ I tried to reassure myself. ” But,” The receptionist continued “There is nothing to worry about.” That didn’t make me any less scared and judging by the expressions on my friend’ faces nor did it change anything for them.

The old man stopped before some rooms situated in a dark lobby. “Our rooms?” Swastik squeaked. The receptionist nodded and left. I didn’t hesitate in admitting that I was scared "I am scared out of my wits!” Mohit said in a small voice “We shouldn’t have come here” Swastik said. “I am extremely….hungry!” Akshay exclaimed, rubbing his tummy. Akshay never failed to mention food, never. When we are threatened by the supernatural, Akshay considered it best to first fill himself up. But we were too scared to say anything and quietly moved in our rooms.

My room was dark and cold, illuminated only by a large candle; it gave an impression of a medieval cabin. There was a small picture frame on the east wall depicting a fat landlord. The bed was wooden and the mattress was pretty old as well. I put my luggage in the corner and sat on the bed.

I was shivering, not because it was extremely cold outside, but because I felt that the ghost of Prince Bernard was hiding under my bed. I forced my eyes shut and tried to get some sleep but it was next to impossible. I imagined what my friends were going through at the moment; they were probably also having trouble sleeping. Long hours of travelling and extreme exhaustion were finally able to get my eyes shut.

I woke up huffing and puffing, my face beaded with sweat. “It was a nightmare” I panted. I only managed to get an hour’s worth of sleep. I stood up uneasily and put on my crocs. Bats were squeaking and Owls were hooting in the distance. I gulped down a glass of water and wiped my sweat. I sat on the bed, thinking about the ways Prince Bernard could kill me. I sat there silently for a while. And then there was a loud clank! I felt a shrill run down my spine and every hair on my body rose up in fear. I stood up, my knees feeling rather wobbly. I could hear my heart pounding. My mouth felt dry. I tried to walk but my body felt too heavy. I don’t know if I was being tremendously foolish or very brave but I decided to investigate. I gathered all my courage and approached the old door.

I peeked outside and made sure there was no one in the corridors. I stealthily moved across making no noise at all. I reached the stairs and descended. I flinched as one of the stairs creaked. For some reason the receptionist wasn’t there. I was on the ground floor, glad to be still in one piece. I looked around for any signs of abnormality. It didn’t take me much time to spot the first. The kitchen was in chaos. It seemed as if it was hit by a cyclone. Jars of food and loaves of stale bread lay scattered on the ground. Shelves were wide open and fruits lay on the table. In the living room one of the torches was put out and the chair was toppled over. Upon observing closely I noticed a shabby piece of paper lying on the table. I picked it up and saw that someone had scribbled “I’ll be back” on it. My heart skipped a beat. My mind raced with a lot of questions. Who was here? What did it want? And where did it go? I looked towards the main door and to my surprise, it was wide open.

My curiosity drove me to find out who was here. I advanced towards the door and scanned the surroundings. The forest was dark and quiet except for the hooting of the owls. But there was something horrific on the ground, something extremely dreadful, there were large footsteps and a trail of blood leading to the dark forest. “Blood!” I screamed. It’s the one thing I hate and the reason I do not want to become a doctor. The surroundings suddenly became a lot colder. The wind seemed to freeze my muscles I still couldn’t believe what I saw. Was a cannibal here? I instantly thought of the poor receptionist. I shook my head. I had to follow the blood trail and uncover the truth.

I set foot into the forest following the ‘blood trail’ “I shouldn’t have come here” I stammered to myself. It was a full moon night. It was painfully chilly outside. I often ran into cobwebs and bumped my head into some branches. It wasn’t long before I detected some movement to my left. I quickly turned my head to see what it was. I was surprised to see easily I could sweat in the freezing cold. It was just a rodent or so I hoped. I continued my march following the trail of footsteps. Suddenly I heard a loud growl coming from the denser part of the forest. My whole body quivered. My palms were sweaty. All of a sudden I was startled as a swift bat that swooped over my head; I almost fell but managed to keep my balance. I never wanted to go back home so desperately. But I headed where the trail carried me.

I was alerted when I heard loud munching noises coming from my right. The munching sounded savage and wild. I headed in the direction of the noise. There also seemed to be a fire burning in the distance. I came closer to the fire and the noise. I could see a shadow of a human like figure munching down on something hungrily. It grumbled as it did so. I went pale. I couldn’t feel my feet and my arms were locked. I felt dizzy and thought I was going to pass out any moment. My breathing rate increased and I could hear my heart as if it was next to my ears. My whole body seemed to reverberate with every beat of my heart. The creature looked at me and I thought those were my last moments.

I closed my eyes and waited for my death but what I heard next was least expected. “Oh you’re here Sanskar? I am so sorry I couldn’t save you any sandwiches…” was that a familiar voice I asked myself. Indeed it was, standing before me was Akshay with a sandwich in his hands and ketchup all over his face. “AKSHAY is that you?” I shouted “Of course its me” he replied. My jaw dropped I was out of words. “Wha…Whe…Why…How” I stuttered. I was either hallucinating or I was already dead. “Yeah I know that was rude of me. But if I knew you were coming I would have saved some for you.” I was still in a state of confusion “Explain” I managed to blurt out."How did you get here?" I added “Oh so you wanna know how I got here, huh, okay” he said “It was midnight and my stomach was literally roaring. I was so hungry that i could eat anything. I walked out of my room and headed towards the kitchen. I searched the kitchen for something to eat, might have created a mess but I found some sandwiches so I came here to eat them; thats it.” That explains the messed up kitchen “Why not eat them in the hotel?” I tried to keep my voice low but I was too furious. “I thought about it but I didn’t like the environment. I wanted to eat my hard earned sandwich in peace and serenity. Nothing better than a quite forest. So I came here. Oh, and I might have broken a chair, so sorry about that.” “What?” I yelled. “Why are you so angry? I left a note, you didn’t get it?” he said “What note?” I said, still angry. “I left a note saying that ‘I’ll be back’ didn’t I?” The pieces were coming together but one thing still needed explanations. “What about the blood trail?” I breathed out pointing towards the bloody trail “Oh, that…” Akshay chuckled “My sandwiches were leaking ketchup on the way, HaHaHa; you are so gullible, man.” I stood there feeling foolish. For the next 2 or 3 minutes I was spellbound.

We returned to the hotel after sometime. We found the receptionist sitting there. I asked him, “Where were you?” He answered in the same lazy voice, “Had to watch the Germany vs. Spain football match.” I was surprised; the old receptionist was a football fan! “You LIKE football?” I asked. “Yep, I LOVE football.” He answered sounding upbeat for the first time.

The next day I narrated the incident to my friends and they had a hearty laugh. The rest of the trip was amazing. We also watched football with the receptionist. Overall, it was the best trip I ever had.