Mystery of Room 969

***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons or situations is purely coincidental.

***Some aspects of this story may seem a little ridiculous and border on campy Sci-Fi. But keep in mind this is just a story and nothing here is meant to be taken seriously.

.....

CHECKING-IN

Eve and Henry finally arrived at the hotel, and they couldn't be any happier. They had been on the road for almost nine hours, having to get up at 5am to get here. They originally had a flight here, paid for by the company they both worked for, but it got cancelled the day before, and they couldn't get a new flight that worked for their schedule. So, they quickly rented a car and drove nine hours, taking breaks only for gas and food.

When they got to town, they dropped off the rental car and took an Uber to the hotel. Their flight back home was still good, so they didn't need a rental car to get back. They thought about keeping the car one more day just in case, but everything they needed was at the hotel, including the sales conference where they were attending.

They entered the hotel and waited in line at the front desk behind some other guests who were here for the conference. When they finally got to the front and met with the young hotel clerk named Betty, they were surprised to find that they were sharing the same room.

"We were supposed to have separate rooms," said Henry.

"I even confirmed it yesterday," said Eve.

"I'm very sorry," said Betty. "But there was a problem with the second room, and we called your company about it. To make up for the last-minute changes, we comped your company for both rooms, and you'll now have to share a room."

"Does it at least have two beds?" Eve asked the clerk.

"Sorry, it's one queen-size bed."

"Can I rent a cot or something?" Henry asked.

"Sorry, we don't have those here."

"Un-fucking-believable," Henry muttered.

"Relax, we've shared hotel rooms before," said Eve.

"Never the same bed."

"But it's just for a few days," she said. "Trust me, our wives won't mind at all."

Eve emphasized the word 'wives' to remind Henry that she's a lesbian married to a woman. Suggesting, she doubts anything inappropriate would happen between them, and most likely their wives won't mind having to share a bed. Henry figured she might be right; if anything, their wives would think it's funny and start a series of jokes about it.

After they got themselves checked in as guests, the clerk handed them their room number and handed each of them a room card. She then let them know of some of the hotel policies, ordering food and pay-per-view services, contact information for the front desk, other hotel amenities, and finally the check-out time.

They dragged their luggage to the elevator and headed up to the 9th floor. Henry noticed the room number was 969 but focused on the number 69 part of it. The old frat boy in him smiled at seeing that number and resisted laughing at it so Eve wouldn't figure it out and think he was being dumb. What he didn't know was that Eve also found that number amusing and tried not to laugh about it in front of Henry.

When they got to their floor, they followed the signs that led them to their room. It was all the way at the other end of the floor where they had to take a couple of turns to get to. When they neared the end, they noticed the room numbers ended at 959, and that was it.

"Maybe it's some kind of mistake," said Henry.

"Our room cards say 969," said Eve.

They were contemplating going back down to the front desk to see if their room was accurate when Henry noticed another room farther down the hallway. They didn't notice it at first because after 959, the hallway looked very dark, and the few doors they noticed down there were for a couple of maintenance closets and the doorway to the stairwell. But farther down the hallway was one more door that they could barely see because of the low lighting, so they decided to check it out just in case.

When they got there, the door had the numbers 969 written in gold letters on the door, just like with all the other hotel rooms.

"This can't be it," said Henry. "Why is this room so out of the way like this?"

Eve tried his room card, and the door opened, proving it had to be their room. They entered the room and saw a standard hotel room with one queen-sized bed with two nightstands and a dresser up front with a big screen flat TV hanging on the wall. The biggest amenity of the room was a small kitchenette in the corner equipped with a small fridge and stove, as well as both a microwave and coffee maker on the counter next to it. There was also a small table with two chairs, with a holder that held the napkin dispenser and the salt and pepper shakers.

"This room seems alright," said Henry. "Don't know why it's down a dark hallway, though."

"All I care about right now is that bed, because I'm fucking tired."

She tossed her luggage aside and jumped on the bed face down, and Henry couldn't blame her. Despite being tired himself, Henry took a look around the room. Something else was off about the room; he just didn't know what it was.

"I didn't know this hotel had rooms with kitchenettes," he said.

"So, what? It's an additional accommodation we get to have," said Eve.

He took a look around the kitchenette. There was also a cabinet above the counter that had some plates and glasses and a couple of mugs with the hotel logo on it. The counter drawers even had every utensil they could ever need, not just forks and spoons. Henry had been to many hotels because of his job; some of them had a kitchenette, but none of them were this equipped.

He then went to the window and opened the curtains; the daylight brightened the room too much, which aggravated Eve, who wanted to rest. Henry looked out the window and thought it looked normal enough, which gave him some sense of relief. He stood there for a few minutes looking out at a local park with several families having a picnic, including a big party on the east side. He squinted his eyes and read a sign they had for it, and it was for the Morris family reunion. He chuckled at the guy running the barbeque pit because it reminded him of his uncle Dave, who wore a similar red chef's hat when he barbequed.

"Please close the fucking curtains," said Eve. "I just want a little nap before we have to get ready for this conference."

Henry thought she was right and closed the shades. He was also tired from their trip and plopped himself on the bed next to Eve, facing up. After a short half-hour rest, they decided they had to get up eventually and get themselves ready. But the first thing they had to do was to call their wives to see how they were doing.

Eve had a tablet, and after connecting it to the hotel's Wi-Fi, she called her wife, Kristie, on a video chat. Luckily, Henry's wife, Audrey, was also there so he could also talk to her. Audrey brought her two kids over to play with Kristie's kids as they often do when their spouses are away.

After talking about their exhausting road trip, they told them about the hotel room. Just as Henry expected, their wives made jokes about them having to share a single bed. Eve made some clever jokes about how hard it would be to resist making a move on him in bed that got them all laughing.

They didn't think anything of how the room's number was off and located in an unusual place, but instead of how Eve and Hery have to share a room with a single bed. Just as Henry suspected would happen, Audrey and Kristie had a good laugh at their spouse's expense.

Henry loved how well the four of them got along as friends. Henry and Eve were the first ones to meet each other years ago when they were just interns at the company they still currently work for. Before Henry and Eve got along from the very beginning, so much so that he figured he should ask her out, and that's how he found out she was gay. It was an embarrassing situation, but Eve made him feel better about it. Since then, they became not only each other's best work friend but also a great sales team together.

Henry met Audrey a few years later, and it quickly got serious between them. He asked her to marry him after only six months of dating, and she said yes. During their engagement, Audrey introduced Eve to her old college roommate, Kristie, and they too fell in love pretty quickly. A few months after Henry and Audrey got married, they learned that Eve and Kristie eloped to Las Vegas for a quickie marriage.

Over the next several years, each couple had two kids. Henry was originally asked to be a sperm donor for Eve and Kristie, but Audrey wasn't comfortable with the idea of her husband having kids with other women besides her, and they all respected that. Eventually, Eve and Kristie found a donor from another one of their mutual friends, and Kristie got pregnant both times to bring their children into the world.

After they were all done catching up, they said their goodbyes and ended the video chat.

"See, us sharing a bed is no big deal to anybody," said Eve.

"Yeah, you were right."

"That's what I always like to hear," she said. "Now let's get this conference out of the way, make some money to pad our commissions, and get back to our own beds."

INVESTIGATION

Over the next few days, the conference went perfectly for them. They met with several different potential clients and got confirmation from the majority of them that they would like to do business with their company. They were cleaning up at the conference, and their bosses back home couldn't be happier.

When they weren't pitching to clients, they were hanging out with the other sales reps at the conference. A few of them held some good parties at the conference to attend.

The last party they attended was the night before they had to check out of the hotel. The party was being held between three rooms on the fifth floor, rooms 544, 545, and 546. During the party, a thought came across Henry's mind, and he decided to check out something. He went down the hall and saw the rooms ended at 560. After that there was a maintenance closet and doorway to the stairwell, but nothing else; no other rooms after that.

He went to check out a few other floors below and above the fifth floor and noticed the same thing. There were sixty rooms on each floor, and they all began with the number of the floor, then the number of the room. For example, the fifth floor he was just on began with 501 and ended at 560. There were twelve floors in this hotel, and as far as he knew, they all had the same number scheme, except for the ninth floor.

He went to the ninth floor where he was staying and checked around the area outside of his hotel room. He felt the sizes of the rooms were the same as every other floor, but at the same time, there was something off about it that couldn't explain how the layout accommodated one extra room far off on the floor. He tried to come up with a logical explanation for room 969 being where it was, but he just couldn't figure it out.

Back at the party, Henry found Eve, who was being hit on by a drunk sales rep from one of their competitors. He grabbed her arm and made up a reasonable excuse for her as to why she had to go away with him, and the drunk guy accepted it. Henry was often the one who had to rescue Eve from guys hitting on her whenever they were out somewhere and her wife wasn't around. She was an attractive brunette with a great body, and even she couldn't blame men for hitting on her. She would let the guy know she was gay to end their attempt of getting into her pants, but that doesn't always work, especially with drunk guys like the one Henry rescued her from. So, Henry, or some other guy friend she had, would often have to come to her rescue.

They got a drink together, and Henry explained to her about where he went off to and what he was investigating.

"So?" Eve asked.

"What do you mean 'so'?" he asked. "Don't you think that's strange?"

"Yeah, I admit it's a little strange, but so what? I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for why our room is located in that area."

"Can you think of an explanation?" he asked.

"No, but besides the room's location and its' number, can you think of anything else about that room that's out of the ordinary?"

Hery admitted there's nothing else about their room that makes it any different than the other hotel rooms. Besides the booze all over the place, their room was the same as the one they were attending the party in.

"If you're really curious, just ask whoever is at the front desk," said Eve. "We're leaving in the morning before noon; you have now until then to ask about it. Until then, let's enjoy the party."

Henry figured she was right, and he should just forget about it for now and just have some fun. He wasted too much time investigating this room situation, which meant he wasted too much time on this subject rather than enjoying the party.

He spent the next few hours drinking and teamed up with Eve to play party games with the other guests. He was winning most of them since he was drinking less than they were. Eve was way more drunk than he was but was still somehow better at the games than anyone else there. Whenever he saw her like this, he couldn't help thinking she would've made a great frat boy back in his college if she were allowed to join a frat.

Eventually, Henry was getting wasted himself, so they both decided to call it a night. They got to the elevator and headed back to their floor, where they drunkenly held each other as they laughed and bumped into the walls on their way to their room. One person had to come out of their room to shush them, and they shushed the guy back. Then there was a funny contest between them where they just kept shushing each other. The guy ended up huffing back to his room, and they had a good laugh and high-fived each other about their ridiculous win.

When they got their room, they headed straight for the bed. Henry took his shirt off but left his undershirt and pants on as he plopped himself on the bed. Eve did the same thing but left her on her bra and skirt as she fell on the bed next to Henry. She was too drunk to care how she was dressed lying next to Henry, to even care; she just wanted to go to sleep.

CHECKING-OUT???

The next morning, they both woke up within moments of each other with a killer hangover. They said good morning to each other as they sat up on the bed. As they both stretched to wake up their bodies, that's when they noticed Eve and how she was dressed all night next to Henry.

"Oh my god, did we finally have sex?" She asked with a laugh.

"Yes, you were all over me," Henry joked.

"I remember now; I practically raped you, didn't I?"

"I have a lot to say to HR when we get back."

They both had a big laugh, which caused their hangover headache to get worse, so they stopped. It wasn't the first time they got drunk at a conference party together, and Henry somehow saw Eve in her underwear; they joked how at this point it was practically tradition for them. Henry always thought he was lucky to have a close work friend who was gay and they were both married. If they were single and she was straight, they probably would've slept together a few times by now. Currently, with how things were, this allowed them to stay good friends without crossing a line they couldn't walk back.

Eve put a shirt on as Henry prepared the coffee maker. They were lucky their room had a coffee maker in the kitchenette with some sugar packages and that cheap powdered cream packages that all hotels have. The coffee was terrible, but it helped with their hangovers.

It was almost 8am; they had until noon to check out. Henry went first with the shower because he knew how long Eve usually took getting herself ready. While she was in the shower, Henry got dressed and ready to leave. Afterwards, he decided now was the time to call the front desk to ask about the floor layout and the room they were in since it was still on his mind. He talked to Betty, the same person who checked them in, and she said she had no idea what he was talking about. She said as far as she knew, nothing was out of the ordinary about that room or the floor layout itself. He also asked if it was normal for the room to have a kitchenette, and the clerk said a quarter of all the rooms in the hotel had one. Those details satisfied some of his curiosity about room 969, but not all of it.

Eve was in the shower for a good 45 minutes before she came out. He figured she needed extra time to refresh herself from all the drinking she had done last night. Henry was sitting up on the bed watching TV when Eve came out of the bathroom with her hair still damp and a towel wrapped around her body. As she was getting her things from her luggage to get ready to leave, he told her about calling the front desk and the answers he got.

"Hope you're satisfied now, Sherlock," she said mockingly.

"Yeah, I am," he lied. He just couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong with this room.

After nearly an hour hearing Eve blow-drying her hair and making various noises in the bathroom until she finally came out fully dressed and ready to go. Henry already had his luggage ready, so it was her turn to get hers done. As she did this, Henry was looking out the window and had a peculiar look on his face, and Eve asked him what was wrong.

"It's that park across the street," he said. "It has that same family reunion."

"What do you mean?" Eve asked.

Henry explained how he saw that same exact family reunion at that park from this window three days ago when they first arrived. He remembered it was for the Morris family reunion, and more specifically, the guy in the red chef's hat at the barbeque pit that reminded him of his uncle Dave.

"It's probably nothing," said Eve.

"Family reunions don't last three days."

"I'm sure some do," said Eve. "And that guy probably just loves to barbeque, which is why he's there again. I really think you're overthinking all of this."

"Maybe I am," he replied. "Maybe if we get out of here, it'll be forgotten."

Eve got to the door first and suddenly found she was unable to open the door. The door was clearly unlocked, but she just couldn't turn that knob. Henry grabbed the knob next; he figured it must be stuck and just needed some more strength to open, but he also had trouble turning the knob. He was a very fit guy; not overly muscular but always worked enough to keep in shape, so he was pretty strong. But for some reason, he just couldn't turn that knob.

"We need to call the clerk for help," said Eve.

"You call her; I think I weirded her out when I asked about our room."

Eve went to the phone on one of the nightstands and set it to speaker before dialing the front desk so Henry could also listen. Betty, the clerk, answered, and Eve explained their situation to her.

"So, can you get someone to come open the door for us?" Eve asked.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," said Betty.

"Why not?"

"Because you two aren't going anywhere," she answered.

Henry and Eve both got goosebumps from hearing how the clerk said that.

"Excuse me?" Eve asked nervously.

"You're not going anywhere until we get what we want from you?"

Eve was never one to be scared easily, but she was now freaking out.

"What do you mean by that?" Henry asked.

"What we want is a show!" said a booming voice behind them.

They both quickly turned around to see the TV was on and a shadowy figure with TV static forming around him.

"YOU WILL GIVE US A SHOW, OR ELSE!!!" the figure commanded, pointing at them.

They both screamed at the top of their lungs as Eve jumped into Henry's arms.

"What the fuck is going on?" Eve screamed.

"I am Kroglu, vice president of Ulu'von media, and we demand you put on a show for us," he said.