The Witching Hour

Have you ever awoke to find yourself confused and scared for no reason whatsoever, or if you cannot sleep you get that eerie feeling that someone or something is watching you? And have you noticed both these normally occur during the hour of 3am and 4am? Well this is because this hour is known as the witching hour, where black magic is said to be most effective and also where supernatural beings come out to "play", as it is a reverse of the time that Jesus Christ was killed at. In hospitals worldwide the most deaths have occurred during this hour, in the days of the witch hunts if a woman was caught outside at this time she was seen as a witch and sentenced to death, and finally it is also the hour in which no prayers were said or catholic church services held as marked by the canonical hours.

In the City of Bristol, South West England, there is a hotel located outside the City called Benvenuto which meant welcome in Italian. It is owned by two elder Italian gentlemen who seem to never take a day off, on arrival at reception one is always there to greet you with a smile that shows off his yellow teeth while the other can be seen in the back room rocking back and forward on his chair watching some cheesy Italian dating game show that had the volume up way too loud. The interior of the hotel was full of character, it had an old Victorian look to it with a huge chandelier taking your attention as soon as you enter. There is a stylish staircase that takes you up to where the rooms are, there are only 15 rooms in total, each had its own name and unique feel to them.

Tommy Jenkins, a harmless try-hard man had just drove down from Liverpool for a weekend break away, his relationship with his wife was on the rocks so they decided to have a break away from each other. He booked two nights in the Benvenuto as he wanted somewhere outside of the chaotic city to "clear his head" and it was cheaper, something he took into consideration a lot in his life. He checked in without any trouble, which he was surprised at and shown to his room by the yellow teethed smiling Italian man while noticing in the background the other guy rocking back and forward, eyes glued to the T.V. His room was called The Wicker Room, all the furniture in there was either plaited or woven to create the desired look, a king sized bed and a stacked mini bar as a token of good will - Tommy thought to himself that this was a weekend he wont forget in a hurry.

After taking advantage of the facilities of the room including the mini bar, Tommy decided to go down and check out the bar in the hotel - he wasn't a huge drinker but he had the "When in Rome" feeling tonight. The bar was named The Witching hour, described to Tommy by the drone like barman as "Appropriately named as it closes at three and the clientele might aswell be possessed at that hour". He sat drinking his pint of lager and nibbling on a bowl of chips gazing around attentively at everyone interacting and losing themselves in the night, Tommy got a kick out of judging peoples actions.

A few drinks later he got brave, his inhibitions started to lower as he walked up to a guy who was throwing darts and asked if he wanted a game to which the guy smirked and obliged. After the formal handshake was over with the man he looked at Tommy and asked "What room you in son"
"Um the wicky room or something like that" replied a carefree Tommy, the other guy laughed while looking equally confused "The wicky room? you mean the wicker room you numpty, nice room that, you should have a very fun night!!". As the game progresses Tommy noticed something on the dart board -  each number had a different supernatural being attached to it right between you hit a treble and a double, the other guy saw that Tommy noticed it and put his arm on his shoulder saying "Add's a bitta character to it heh!!"

The night was drawing to a close and Tommy was about to call it a night, it was coming up to 3 am and the bar was shutting but not before the guy asked one favour of him "As with the hotel tradition may I ask if you will throw one single dart at 3 am when the lights of the bar flicker, just as a sign that you had a good night" Tommy replied " Erm sure thing mate" and when the lights did indeed flicker he swerved his wrist and threw the dart which landed on eight that had some sort of ghost on it,  " 8 huh, nice choice son nice choice" said the estranged guy in his common British accent. Tommy walked up to get the dart he threw and as he turned to eventually ask what the guys name was the guy had disappeared, maybe he had just met batman Tommy joked to himself before staggering up to his room still laughing at his joke.

Resting his head on his pillow thinking what a great night he had he could hear the faint sound of a piano playing, it sounded like it was in his room but there was no piano so he ignored it and said out loudly to himself "Its probably someone trying to impress some girl he pulled with his crap piano skills hahahaha". His eyes about to close to enter the land of nod before the loud bang of a door slamming shut made him jump up from his bed and wonder what the hell that was, he walked around the room rubbing his tired eyes, he could hear giggling from the bathroom, slowly pushing open the bathroom door he was met by a lot of steam as if the shower was on its highest temperature for the past hour, wondering to himself if he was dreaming or going crazy he rubbed out the steamed up mirror before noticing that standing behind him was a figure that had its eyes burned out, with the smile and makeup of a clown, along with wearing a shirt covered in blood and a knife that seemed to stem from an opening in its knuckles, all the while being very transparent.

Tommy rushed out of the bathroom trying to close the door but the ghost figure just walked straight through it, he frantically asked "Who are you? What do you want?" but the response he got was just a giggle before it charged at Tommy slashing his face and knocking on to that lovely bed he earlier didn't want to leave. The bed was filled with more of that steam like smoke which caused Tommy to start suffocating slowly, as he gasped for air his head was filling up with this smoke causing one of his eyeballs to pop out and teeth to shatter, blood poured violently from his nostrils and ears before after a minute or so his head exploded making the same sort of sound as if you had popped a balloon.
The ghost then sucked the rest of his body up into the smoke which was then trapped inside a small container that read " Smoking Kills" before vanishing back into the bathroom waiting to be called upon again.

The next night at the hotel was like any other , the two Italian men at the reception area waiting to check in the next poor victim and the guy in the bar throwing darts waiting to see what fate awaited that person. Tommy Jenkins was put on the missing list by the authorities with most saying that he had either run away or killed himself due to his unhappy lifestyle but no one knows the truth about what happens at Benvenuto between that special hour of night.