"Whatever you do, don’t peep through the key hole"

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  My friends and I decided to join our friend John to the English country. John had just inherited a hotel that his dad owned. The best part about this trip was the free accommodation.          

  We landed in Heathrow airport and hired a mini bus taxi. We were seven of us, John and Angie, Jamal and Monique, Maria and Franky, and myself, Kevin.   The rest of the gang paired up. I was the lone ranger.     

  It was a very long drive to the countryside. We finally reached John’s newly inherited hotel. It was very dated, but clean and neat. It was called The Country Bell.      

  We were given room keys by the receptionist, she was very old but pleasant. Apparently, she worked there forever. The bell boy was also very old, I had to help him with the luggage. He too looked like he worked at The Country Bell for years. I have never seen such dedicated staff.     

 The couples all settled in their rooms and I went into mine. It had a certain charm.  

  Jamal called me to his and Monique’s room. We watched some television and ordered room service. John, Angie, Franky and Maria joined us. They began talking about a superstitious folk tale in the very hotel where we were staying.   

  John began to explain that he had a staff meeting with the entire staff of The Country Bell. They all were aged and enthusiastic workers. However, they kept on reminding him, at The Country Bell, never peep through the key holes.   

  John asked the staff what was this superstition all about. The oldest staff member stepped forward and said, “If you peep through the key hole, you will see your biggest fear, and will not leave this hotel alive.”  

  John started laughing and said to the staff, “Come on guys! Do you really believe all that nonsense.”  

  The old man became very angry and told him that if he treated it like a joke, he is going to die.   

  John, Angie, Franky and Maria decided to go downstairs to the bar. Myself, Jamal and Monique just wanted to chill in the room. We watched a movie and ate dinner. The gang then came back from the bar, going on about the key hole superstition. They were daring each other the peep through the key holes. We kicked them out of the room.   

  The next morning, we all met downstairs at the breakfast area. John told me that the superstition was not true. After we kicked them out of the room, they went and peeped though every key hole in the hotel and saw nothing.      

  We were all at the breakfast table, besides Angie. John said she was having a hangover from last night. Most of the day passed and we did not see Angie. John decided to check on her. I heard a scream I will never forget, I ran up the stairs, straight to John and Angie’s room. There was a huge snake, it looked like an anaconda and hanging out of its mouth was Angie’s legs.    

  The cops were there immediately. The herpetologist could not understand how a reptile of this size would be in the hotel or even in the country. This was not the climate for such a huge reptile. It was put down and there was nothing they could do for Angie.  Her body was sent back to America.      

  It was a shocking and devastating to John. That evening John whispered in my ear, “Angie’s biggest fear was to be swallowed by an anaconda.”    

  Maria and Franky knew about Angie’s biggest fear. She told them what it was just before she peeped into the key hole. The couple was terrified and wanted to leave immediately. They could not get a taxi until the next morning. It was just one more night and then we were all going back home the next day.      

  The staff kept on telling John, “We told you.. whoever peeps through the key hole will not make it through the night.”  

  Myself, Monique and Jamal were really shaken but grateful that we were too tired to goof around that night.   

  Maria and Franky were in their room waiting for the sun to rise. Franky needed the washroom at about two in the morning. Maria was fast asleep. He did not want to wake her. He went in very silently. After 30 minutes, Maria awakes to find Franky missing from her side. She enters the washroom to see Franky in a filled-up bathtub lifeless. She became hysterical and began to scream uncontrollably.   

  Jamal and I removed Franky and tried to resuscitate him, but he was no more. Monique and John managed to calm Maria down and she cries, “Franky’s biggest fear was drowning. He could not swim.”  

 John pulled me to the side of the room while we waited for the cops to arrive. He whispered to me, “My biggest fear is to be chased by a man with an axe. I’m not afraid to die, I’m afraid of one of my friend’s to die.” At that moment, I wished I was not one of them.  

  We looked at each other silently and Jamal came running with an axe chasing me, John and Monique. We ran into the elevator and Monique confesses that Jamal peeped through the key hole and saw nothing and mentioned that his biggest fear was to physically harm his close friends and his girlfriend.   

  The elevator stops and the old man that works in the hotel shows us a room to hide in. Once we locked ourselves in, we hear the police and some gunshots. Jamal was shot as he tried to attack one of the officers.      

  John, Monique and I exited the hotel and asked the police to remove the staff from the building. We did not want anyone on the premises. After the area was cleared, the cops left. Jamal’s body was taken to the morgue. We dowsed the entire hotel with fuel and burnt it to the ground.  

  Never looked back and left the country. John, Monique and I promised to never discuss this ever again.  

  “Whatever you do, never peep through the key hole..”