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Harry and Louis arrive at the hotel’s front desk, ready to check in.
“Alright, I’ve got rooms 105 and 228 available tonight. Which do you want?” The receptionist asks.
Harry turns to Louis and shrugs. Louis asks, “What’s the difference?”
She explains, “Well, 105 is near the lobby and the pool. It has a view of the parking lot. 228 is upstairs on the far end of the hall so it’s quieter.”
“We’ll take 228, then.” Louis decides. They don’t plan on spending much time in the room anyway.
With a full weekend of hiking to view the autumn leaves planned, they won’t have energy to do anything other than sleep. Harry has prepared a packed itinerary to hit as many parks in upstate New York as they can on their short vacation before they have to head back to the office. The drive up from New York City was long and they’d already stopped at two parks on Harry’s list. With the sun setting, all that’s left on today’s schedule is to clean up and find some food.
The receptionist prepares their key cards and with a signature on the receipt they’re off, hauling their overnight bags up the back staircase to find room #228.
The keycard unlocks their door with a click and Harry pushes it open. The room is pitch black except for the red glow of the digital alarm clock on the night table. He flicks on the light switch and they drop their overnight bags on one of the two beds.
It’s a standard room in the chain hotel, with two queen size beds, generic beige decor, a television, and a desk. Even with the three lamps on, the room seems so dark after spending a whole day in the sunshine.
Harry draws back the blackout curtains. The view out the second story window is less than stellar. He frowns. “I think I’d rather have a view of the parking lot.”
“What’s wrong?” Louis walks up behind him, wrapping his arm around Harry’s waist as he looks out. “Oh.”
The cheap room they’d gotten such a great deal on happens to look out not over the nearby lake or trees, or even another parking lot. It has a panoramic view of a cemetery.
“Wow, there’s even a fresh one.” Louis unhelpfully points out the rectangle of exposed dirt, centered in the view from their window. Beside it is a small pile of loose soil displaced from the fresh grave.
“I’m sure it’s fine.” Harry shrugs off the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Anyway, I’m hungry. Let's find a restaurant.”
Harry tries not to think about the cemetery. It’s easy with the good food and his favorite company as he and Louis find a quaint local restaurant within walking distance of their hotel. By the time they turn in for the night, he’s too exhausted to care about the view. Louis pulls the blackout curtain shut and they crawl into bed. They’re both bone tired, the kind of exhaustion that comes from being outside in nature all day. Harry is out as soon as his head hits the pillow.
Hours later, Harry startles awake. There’s something scratching at the window. Heart pounding, he jolts up in bed. The noise stops.
He strains his ears to catch the sound again.
There’s only silence.
Louis mumbles sleepily, “What’s happening?”
The room is silent. It must have been noise from the room next door.
“Thought I heard something. Go back to sleep.” Harry curls himself back into Louis arms and falls asleep.
Their morning alarm wakes them early so they can drive to the next park before it opens. Harry turns off the alarm and gives Louis a morning kiss. He climbs out of bed and opens the curtains so they will have more than just the dim lamp light to pack their bags.
When he draws back the curtains, there is a single muddy handprint smeared down the pane of glass.