What Smells in the Vent.

Courtney calls the front desk about an awful smell but she's not going to like the source.

Warm air shot out of the vent. Courtney stared at the slats, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“What the hell is that?” She fanned the air in front of her nose.

Gorge rose in the back of her throat but she forced it down with a few painful swallows. “That is so nasty.”

Burying her nose in the crook of her arm, she scurried to the bedside table. She pressed the zero, tapping her foot as the front desk line rang.

After several high-pitched jangles on the other end, a smooth male voice picked up. “Hello, this is Joe. Are you comfortable?”

“No, I’m-”

He asked, “Is there a problem here? Something I can help with?”

“Hi, yeah, Joe, there is something. There’s this awful smell coming out of the vent. It smells like something died. I’m not kidding, it’s bad. Also, I turned on the air conditioner and it’s blowing hot air. I think something’s broke.” She dry heaved and covered her mouth again.

“We’ll try to send someone right over and take a look,” he said.

“Um, yeah, do that. Or I want a new room. This is not acceptable. Thank you.” She hung up the phone, plopping on the hard bed in the meantime.

Down at the front desk, the clerk placed the phone in the cradle. The last open vacancy had already checked in. He unbuttoned his uniform, revealing a blood spattered tanktop underneath. The shirt dropped down on the young man slumped underneath the counter.

“Do you hear that? Dear Courts found the first occupants of her room. Wasn’t going to start with her but I don’t want to leave her unattended.” He patted the red-crusted hair of the corpse.

Courtney jumped up whens he heard the sharp knock at her door. “Thank gawd.”



This is an entry for

Daily Flash Fiction Challenge  (13+) Enter your story of 300 words or less. #896794 by Arakun the Twisted Raccoon