It had been a long drive. He'd been on the road all week. He'd spent every night sleeping in his car at rest stops along the highway. Tonight was going to be different. Tonight, he was going to use a crow bar, pry open his wallet, and spend the money it took to get a hotel room.
It was getting late. His eyelids were getting heavy. 'OK,' he thought, 'it's time to find a place to bed down for the night.'
He found a hotel a little further down the road. He got all checked in at the reception desk, got his key, and boarded the lobby elevator on the way to his room.
As the elevator doors closed, he looked at the key chain attached to his room key. 4D. He pushed the button for the fourth floor, and he was on his way. The elevator stopped as it reached the fourth floor, he stepped off, and made his way down the hall to his room.
Reading off the room numbers to himself as he made his way down the hall, he knew the bed he'd paid for the night was only four doors away. He passed the first two doors with no thought, but when he reached the third, his attention was slapped, shaken and stirred.
He heard a voice. A woman's voice. Was she crying? Maybe someone was hurting her. Maybe he should bust in and make sure she was safe and alright. No, wait...What if she was just sad and crying? Him busting in like Superman, with a chip on his shoulder sure wouldn't help her situation.
Then he heard some actual words being spoken. "Oh yesssssss, right there!" He knew that tone in which she spoke, and, boy was he glad he didn't kick the door down like Elliot Ness and his Untouchables raiding one of Al Capone's speakeasies.
Someone in there was enjoying herself. He leaned closer to the door to hear better. As long as he'd been on the road, it's been even longer since he'd heard someone he was with say those words, and in that tone of voice.
He was hoping no one would step off the elevator, or out of their rooms. He knew he could always pretend he was looking for his room, but come on, let's get serious. Anyone who had reached puberty, and had half a brain would know what he was doing with his ear pressed up against the door of room 4C.
As he pressed his ear harder against the door to better hear what was going on inside the room, the door silently came ajar, and opened oh so slightly. He froze, his heart stopped, he quit breathing, his blood ran cold, butterflies burst from their hidden cocoons in his stomach and started fluttering, and about three gallons of sweat droplets formed on his forehead.
He knew one of two things was about to happen. One: Everyone on the floor was going to come running out of their rooms, while the elevator doors simultaneously opened and everyone, from his mother to his old Sunday school teacher, were all going to step off and begin to laugh at him. Or, Two: (And the more plausible choice) Whoever was in there, giving her reason to speak in that tone, was going to come out, and beat him worse than a high school chess club geek, who just told the captain of the football team, that he just fucked his sister.
But, what he wasn't expecting was hidden choice Three. And that was that absolutely nothing was going to happen.
No one heard the door open. Not even him, and he was right on top of it. So now he was faced with a new choice. Does he go straight to his room, go to sleep, and leave in the morning, pretending none of this had happened, or, does he explore that voyeuristic side of himself he discovered back when he was 15, and found his dad's hidden stash of porno videos?
Hmmm, porno videos? Now there's an intriguing thought. What would he do if this were a porno video? And as he posed that question to himself... the answer became pretty damn clear of what to do with this situation.
