The "Friend"

I was moving from the mountains down to southern  California. My friend Lisa offered to be my road dog on the trip. We arrived in lomoc with the moving truck and car trailer around 1am. We disconnected the car and drove down to Carpinteria. We were exhausted and ready to crash for the night. We parked in front and walked in to the lobby to check in. There was a young maybe early 20s waiting at the desk already. As Lisa and I approached the desk he moved aside and politely said he was already being helped. I looked up at him and saw that he had suffered from burns at some point in the past. His skin was pitted with folds and s scars. He had no eyebrow, or lashes and the skin around his eye was taught. Only a round circle where his pupil peered out. As I was answering the questions from the front desk lady, I turned and saw him standing right behind Lisa. Peering over her shoulder. We looked at him and at the front desk lady. She gave us an uncomfortable look and told the man she would help him when she was done. He wandered off as we continued to check in. We went to the car drove to the back of the hotel and gathered our things. As we stepped out of our car we saw the man standing outside the entrance to the hotel smoking a cigarette. Lisa and I looked at each other. We both got an unsettled feeling. We walked towards him. He acted friendly said hello and opened the door for us with his card key. He followed us inside and continued to try to engage us in conversation. He walked right behind us; too close behind us. So close that we knew he could push his way into our room if he wanted to. We both started walking faster Lisa got to the room first, and had the door unlocked when I got to it. We both dashed into the room expecting him to attempt to come in. As the door slammed behind us we realized that he had just kept walking. After we calmed down we tried to laugh about it and convinced ourselves we were paranoid. As the peace of sleep was covering me like a warm blanket; the cold sound of the hotel phone ringing woke us both up. Lisa answered the phone. It was a short conversation Hello?, oh ..OK. Thank you. Bye. She hung up the phone and looked at me. "It was the man from outside...he said we left the dome light on". We both were so tired that it hadn't sunk in yet. We hopped up I grabbed my keys. Then I stopped. I turned to Lisa...." My dome light is never on" I said. I always kept it off because I didn't want to accidentally drain the battery. I knew for a fact it wasn't on. Lisa tip toed to the door and looked through the peephole. She came back into room; her face a white as the sheets. "He is outside" she whispered. She explained that she saw him scoot himself against the wall next to the door. He was prepared to ambush us when we stepped out of the room. I went to look. I could see his profile in the shadow cast on the opposite wall by the hall light. My stomach turned. We called the front desk in a panic and asked her to call the police. She said she would call the manager first. We looked again ..he was pacing the hall...then standing against the wall by our door. We called the front desk again. She was worried too. She stated that he had been harassing her all night. We heard the manager approaching. He told the man he had to go back to his room. The man said he was friends with us and that we had promised him we would hang out with him. And he wasn't going to leave until that happened. The manager was firm and said that was not an option. Either he goes back to his room or the cops are called. The man got angry and yelled at the manager for not understanding. The manager yelled back and said get to your room NOW! The man stomped off, and manager told us through the door that he was gone. Our hearts were racing, adrenaline flowing, we were so wide awake. We rehashed the story a few times until we had calmed down, and we finally fell asleep. The next day we called the manager before we left the room and confirmed that he had checked out and left already. He said he had left with his mother early in the morning. No one had seen him leave nor had anyone seen his mother. The front desk girl said that he had come in with info and the room was prepaid. Who knows where this man has gone, or if he has finally lived through his fantasy. Or if there are any dead women in his wake. I just hope I never see him again.