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May 14, 2004
May 14, 2004
Collin – 2 years, 10 months.
Ireland – 5 months, 1 day.
Mark read somewhere that 76% of mothers polled, would like time to themselves for Mother’s Day. Forget the breakfast in bed, the earrings, lunch at an overcrowded restaurant or the sweet smelling bubble baths. Peace and quite ranked the highest so that is what my thoughtful husband gave me this year for Mother’s Day.
Mark surprised me by reserving the jungle themed Jacuzzi suite at the nearest Settle Inn. I had this room all to myself, once before. It was last August for my 31st birthday. I was, at that time, 5 months pregnant with Ireland, having a very hard summer and just not feeling well. He reserved me the room so that I could take it easy, enjoy my surroundings of hanging vines, bamboo tables and a waterfall Jacuzzi tub and just plain take it easy. It was so peaceful and I enjoyed it immensely. This is why he decided to get the same room for me again, only this time for Mother’s Day. I was thrilled to, once again, have this exotic room all to myself. I planned on taking many baths, watching lots of mindless TV and eating lots of chocolate. Everything went as planned and I had a wonderful time – until the next morning. I’ll get to that in just a bit.
We got to the hotel around 2:30pm. We were early and the room was already cleaned so they allowed me an early check-in time. Mark, Collin, Ireland and myself all went up to the room and we let Collin run around for about 20 minutes. He had fun jumping on the bed, running from door to wicker sofa and playing with the tub. Since it was Mother’s Day, a Sunday and this hotel isn’t anywhere near the airport, it was practically a ghost town. There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot and I never once saw anyone in the elevator or in any of the hallways. We then got dressed and went swimming. Not one person joined us or even walked past the pool door. It was great having the pool and hot tub to ourselves and Collin couldn’t decided which one he wanted to be in. Last August, Collin wasn’t too hip on the pool. We had to corers him into even getting in. Once he was in and warmed up, he loved it, but it was an ordeal just getting him near it. This time he was raring to go! He wanted to jump in and loved being able to walk up and down the steps and water ladders. Many times I about had an attack because it looked like Collin was just going to leap into the water by himself. He’s had three swim classes, but I’m just not ready to see my son jumping into the pool on his own. We swam for about an hour and then Ireland started getting fussy. Since Collin didn’t want to get out of the water yet, I told Mark that I’d take Ireland up to the room and they could stay in the pool as long as Collin wanted. I snuggled Ireland in the king bed and surrounded her with pillows. She looked like an angelic little jungle baby. About 30 minutes later, Mark and Collin, freezing and hungry, came back up to the room and we decided it was dinner time. Mark ran and got food (ravioli, garlic sticks, salad and cheesecake) and we ate and had a great time just relaxing and being together. Collin hadn’t had a nap so he was tired and it was time for my alone time to start. I was anxious to flop myself down on that bed and flip through the TV channels. I felt dangerous and wanted to find someone on that actually had curse words or nudity! I wanted to really let loose and even got myself several caffeinated beverages. Whoo, hooo! When your day mainly consists of watching Nick JR and Sesame Street, unwrapping juice boxes, and changing dirty diapers, this IS living dangerously!
I took a Jacuzzi bath, ate M&M’s, drank Mt. Dew and watched the Survivor finale. I cozied up into my bed and tried getting to sleep around 10:30, but I drank so much caffeine, I couldn’t doze off. Finally around 11:30, I feel asleep. Monday morning, I woke way too early, around 7:15am, to the smell of breakfast. Call me odd, but I love continental breakfasts. I think it’s great when you can grab a bagel, a waffle and a bowl of cereal without having to make it, clean it up or even count calories. Since it was obvious I was up for the day, I got up, threw on some clothes, ran a brush through my hair and went down stairs. I prefer to eat my breakfast in privacy of my room, but obviously the Settle Inn doesn’t so there were no trays to take any food upstairs. I toasted a bagel, grabbed some cream cheese, poured myself an OJ and some coffee and sat down at a table. The only other people I saw were two older ladies. They were happily gabbing and talking about ways to get a burnt waffle out of the waffle iron. Intriguing conversation let me tell you. There was no morning paper to read and I didn’t have any change on me to run outside to get one. I sat, listening to the burnt waffle conversation while scarfing down my breakfast so I could go back up to my room. I drank the rest of my juice, wiped my mouth with my napkin and threw my paper plate away. I grabbed a bowl of dry fruit loops and a powdered donut for Collin and headed back up to my room.
This is where the creepiness begins.
Let me preface by giving you a few quick details. The Settle Inn is a smallish hotel chain. Check in time is generally around 3:00pm, with checkout time around 11:00am. It has three levels and all vending, ice, laundry and services are only on the first floor right by the check in desk. Floor 2 and 3 only have the elevator, the rooms and a set of emergency stairs. As I said before, the entire time I was there, I didn’t once see a single person in the hallways or in the elevator. The only reason I was on the 3rd floor was because I was in a themed suite. I never once heard any other doors on my floor open or shut so I really don’t think anyone else was staying on floor 3. The elevator was at one end and my room was at the complete opposite end.
Hotel hallways have always creeped me out. Something about quietly shuffling down a dark desolate hall that has always filled me with anxiety. I have to mentally occupy myself with useless thoughts of how to perfect my already perfect enchiladas just to keep me from running down the hall at warp speed and slamming into my room as fast as I can. Maybe I’ve seen the Shining too many times, but my imagination runs wild during times like that. Thinking things such as any minute one of the doors would open and a decayed hand would reach out and grab me.
So, needless to say, I was already a bit on the fearful side. I can now say thank GOD because I honestly believe it saved me from becoming a statistic.
After I finished my breakfast, I got into the elevator and pushed 3 to get to my floor. I’m humming a song in my head, looking down at the floor, bored. The elevator stops and without even thinking, I take a step to get off. Then I realized there was someone standing smack in front of me. I look up and it’s only floor 2. I took a step back and made a comment about how I’m so used to getting off at 3 that I didn’t even think it would be stopping at floor 2. The man who quickly slipped into the elevator gave a nervous laugh and didn’t say anything. I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes and saw him staring at my feet and legs. He was about 35 years old and very heavy, about 340 pounds. He had chin length greasy hair and wore it over his eyes. He had unkept facial hair and wore a shirt that was at least two sized too small. His belly was hanging out for all to see and he was carrying two large beat up dirty duffle bags. While I thought he was a bit strange, no warning bells sounded. I figured he was checking out (it was about 8:15am at this point) and would be going down to the first floor after I got off. I just wanted to get to my floor so that I could get back to my room. He started mumbling something to himself while still staring at me and at that point I started getting uncomfortable and a little nervous. Something inside didn’t sit well with me. As soon as the door opened, I politely said, “Excuse me, this is my floor,” and got out. He didn’t say anything, just let out a disturbing low mumbled laugh. I quickly started walking down the hall while mentally pleading for the elevator door to shut so that I knew he would be on his way down. Please shut! Please shut! I kept chanting it over and over in my head. The elevator dinged and the doors started to shut. Before a sigh of relief could wash over me, I heard the doors being stopped and the man got out behind me.
My Third Eye was going crazy by this point and I swallowed a dry lump in my throat about the size of baseball. I slowed down, even though all I wanted to do was run, to see if he was getting into a room. The more I slowed down, the more he slowed down. Not only were we coming to the end of the hall, but also he wasn’t getting into any hotel room. All I could think was NOT to go to my room. I didn’t want to put myself into a situation where I was getting into my room and he was behind me. I was trying to think fast about what I should do, just to be safe. We reached the end of the hall (my room was on the left and the only other room as 302, to the right). I turned around and he was standing directly behind me about 2 or 3 feet away. It was the eeriest thing. He was not saying anything, not doing anything, not trying to get into a room, not trying to put his bags down. Just standing there staring at me. My mind was racing and I quickly realized that passing him to get back to the elevator would be a bad idea. I mentioned how I must have forgotten something and went towards the fire exit. I heard him shuffling around and my intuition told me to get out of there. Something bad was about to happen. I turned around again and he had a nervous look on his face, like he wasn’t sure what to do. He put his bags down, still looking at me and made a movement towards a door. What seemed like in slow motion, I said, ‘Do you have a room here?” to which he replied, “Umm, oh yeah, this room, this room right here.” He was standing at the only door there, room 302, which was directly across from mine. He wasn’t trying to get in; he didn’t have a key, nothing. He was fidgety and tense. I quickly leaned over the steps and yelled, “Mark? Are you guys coming up here?” It was the only thing I could think to do at that point. I wanted this creep to believe that I had someone within earshot waiting for me. I quickly hopped down the steps, almost tripping on my own feet and raced down to the first floor landing. I stood there trying to comprehend what just happened but couldn’t think straight. My heart was pounding so loud in my eyes it was deafening.
I stood there for a few moments and tried deciding what to do. I though I would give it a few moments and just go back up and slip into my room. It was as if a force was preventing me from moving. My heart just kept telling me not go back up alone. No matter how hard I wanted to start moving back up those stairs, I just couldn’t do it. To no surprise, no one was around. Finally I saw a woman delivering towels to an empty room and I quickly walked over to her. I told her that I felt stupid but could she please walk with me to my room because there was a strange man on the third floor that I just didn’t trust. She looked at me as if I had three heads and had my butt hanging out of my pants. She gave me an apprehensive look and said, “Let me go get the manager to go up with us.” A minute later, a woman, who also didn’t look very pleased, much less concerned, sauntered down the hall and we all three began to go up the stairs. I quickly explained my situation and neither of them said a word. No questions on what he looked like, if I was okay, if I wanted or needed anything or if they could do anything for me. We got up the 3rd floor, I started to slide me key into the lock and before I could even really thank them, they were walking down the hall to get into the elevator. I could tell they though I was smoking crack for breakfast. Whatever. I’d rather be safe than sorry. If they, or anyone else would have been in the situation, I believe they would have been just as freaked out. I got into my room and quickly slid the deadbolt and chain over the door. Even though I knew I was safe, I still felt on edge. I nearly started crying. I called Mark, told him the story and he applauded my quick thinking. He thought it was very smart of me to avoid going to my room.
I replayed the scenario over and over in my head. The more I thought about it and how it all happened, the more scared I got about the possibilities of what could have happened. I took a hot bath and tried to push it out of my head but I just couldn’t relax. I checked the clock and started counting the minutes until Mark and the kids came up to get me.
Fast forward a bit to 11:30am and we were down in the lobby checking out. After the charge slip had been signed and the receipt given to us, I asked one last question. “Excuse me,” I said to the front desk girl. “Has anyone checking into room 302?” The girl checked some paperwork and quickly looked on her computer. “Nope! No one has been in that room for a few days.” My heart sank and I picked up my bag. I looked over at Mark and repeated what the girl had just told me. We walked out talking about how I probably avoided being a victim of an attack.
No matter how I write this story, it will never come close to telling what really happened that morning. I could go back and add all sorts of dark and scary descriptive words but that isn’t what I want to do. In fact, I really don’t even want to think about it much more. It just gives the willies. Deep down chills that make my neck hairs stand on end. It was a day I’ll never forget. In my heart of hearts, I honestly believe that man had bad intentions on his mind. I think that he didn’t set out to hurt me, but came to the idea in the elevator. It was obvious he had no business on floor 3. He got out at the last minute and followed me. I believe that if I had gone to my room, that he would have shoved himself in after me. My Minds Eye has never spoken to me that loud before. I thank God I had the smarts to think and act fast and to get out of that situation.
The hotel employee never asked me why I was asking if anyone was in 302 and the manager never did seek me out to ask if everything was okay after what had happened to me. I was very disappointed in their lack of concern and I’ll never stay there again. I do not feel they provide a safe place to stay.
There is a difference between being paranoid and just being safe. I wasn’t paranoid that morning but I was alert and paying close attention to my surroundings. I’m grateful that I listened to my gut instinct. I honestly believe it saved me from something terrible.
Think about all the times we float through situations without paying much attention. If I could bring any point home, it would be to please be aware. Take a second look around you. Look someone in the eyes to get a good look at them. If you feel uncomfortable about something, do not brush it off as nothing. It’s cliché, but it holds true. I’d rather be safe, than sorry!
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