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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Lego-Athos on 2025-10-24 19:33:16+00:00.

I’m the off-season manager at a largish hotel in a smallish town.  It’s the kind of place that’s booming during tourist season, but would normally close through the off-season to save on money.  This one doesn’t close because the town gave the original owner an enormous discount on taxes to build the place on the requirement that it stay open year round, and assigned a penalty if they close.  The current owner has chosen not to poke the bear, and so a single caretaker gets hired from the town while he heads off to warmer climes.  Yes, this sounds familiar.  Local legend has it that Stephen King was inspired by it, but I’ve seen the evidence and I find it dubious.

I should have realized on the first day that my winter was going to be interesting, but it ended up taking me almost a week, but I’m getting ahead of myself.  On the first day, I was sitting behind the desk of the mostly empty hotel reading when I heard a woman say, “You’re new, aren’t you?”

She was an old bird.  I figured she was probably visiting relatives before Thanksgiving or maybe she just did her math wrong and was late to leaf-watching season.  She was wearing the kind of smile you get from a friend who can’t keep a secret to save their life and knows you’re about to be the target of a practical joke.  She apologized and told me that she’d lost her key.  The smile made me suspicious so I checked her id and made sure that it matched who was supposed to be in 114.  It did, so I gave her a copy of the key and went back to my book.

the middle of the next day, she was there again.  This time she explained that she didn’t want to run the risk of losing yet another one of the hotel’s keys and incur a fine.  I assured her that there was no such fine, but she wouldn’t hear it.  She gave me back the key, I put it away and she went off out the door.  That night she came back, took her key back, and went back to her room.  This went on for most of the week until Thursday.

On Thursday, she asked for extra towels when she dropped off her key.  Normally, I’d have gotten off my ass, but Thursday is Lisa’s day.  Lisa is the only other off-season employee of the hotel.  The hotel has to stay open all winter, but the town doesn’t say it has to have daily housekeeping.  Lisa does her rounds once a week, and I take care of any emergency requests in the meantime.  Usually, I help.  Lisa and I dated for a little while in high school.  I wouldn’t say we’re friends, but we’re friendly. We didn’t break up because we hated each other, but because we didn’t really like the same things when we had our clothes on and sooner or later, you realize that you can do naked things with people you have things in common with. She figured it out first.  I was bitter.  I got over it.

Anyway,  when Lisa came in, I told her that 114 wanted extra towels.  She looked at me a little strangely and asked me what number.  I told her, and she shook her head, laughed and went on her rounds.

You see, there is no 114. There haven’t been guest rooms on the first floor since a remodel in the 80’s.  I have no idea where I looked up the old woman’s booking.  It sure wasn’t in our computer system.  I also remember giving her a physical key, not one of the key cards we actually use.  Those re-codable key cards are why there isn’t a fine for losing your key, by the way.

I figured I was going to get to the bottom of this, so I stacked up some extra towels on the counter and waited for Mrs 114 to come back.  No book for me that night.  I was going to be vigilant.  I hadn’t decided if I was going to confront her at the desk or follow her down the hall and see where she went, but I’d do one of them.  When she came in, I gave her her key and towels and went back to my book.

I’m 4 months into my employment, and I’m about to transition from off-season manager to on-season handyman.  I’m not surprised by weird things happening at the hotel anymore.  I’ve even given up on trying to corner 114 or even ask for her name.  She goes out every day and comes back in every night.  Whatever master plan I have just never seems important.  I’m used to it.  She’s nice enough, unlike some of the other things I’ve run into.

(Sorry, everyone.  I wrote this up back in March and then tourist season happened and I sort of forgot about posting it until now)