LURKING IN THE DARK

Who would do that?

It was night, and their plane had just landed in Cape Town, their destination. The adventurers who had come to check out the beauty of Cape Town and explore places holding chunks of mystery were led to their hotel, where they got to rest for the night before the adventure began the next day.

After they were all led to their respective rooms, Collins and Sarah couldn't rest as they kept talking about the amazing things they saw all the way down to the hotel right after their plane landed.

"Are you seeing the views, Collins?!! They are breathtakingly insane! I can't wait to go out tomorrow and take a proper view of them."

Sarah said, all giggly and excited, while still staring down at the amazing night view of the city from their hotel room window.

"The city is really beautiful. This place is heavenly."

Collins said it with a nod of satisfaction.

"Yeahhhh. I just can't wait for tomorrow to come."

Sarah said, shaking her body up with a bit of dancing, feeling all excited.

"Where is the camera? Let me take pictures of it. It will be nice reminiscing on these beautiful views even after the adventure, don't you think?."

Sarah said rhetorically, smiling hard.

"Yeah, you are right."

Collins said, sharply looking at his wife and then his gaze fell back on the cat. He was rubbing his hands all over Gravy who kept on purring.

"Come over here, let's take a picture using the view as the background."

"Oh ... Sarah, I am tired!" Collins replied, his voice sounding stressed.

Pouting her mouth and throwing herself towards Collins, she dragged him to the window side for a picture.

"Ohhhh God!"

It was all Collins could mutter as he dragged his feet after his wife.

"You always get your way, don't you?"

Collins said while managing to smile and pose for the camera.

He later went on to check the pictures they had just taken while Sarah kept staring at the view outside when he zoomed in on one of them and saw the inscription "I love you" written on the window faintly with a gloss. He didn't quickly see that, but it was visible in the picture they just took, right above their heads in the picture.

"Sarah, this is... romantic."

Collins chuckled slightly.

"What is that?"

Sarah asked, smiling.

"The three magic words on the window, of course!"

"It's lovely and very thoughtful of you. I love it and I love you babe."

He said, winking at her.

"You love what? What's that? Let me see."

Sarah said, peeking at the picture Collins was staring at.

"Why do you love it, Collins?" Sarah questioned, still staring at the inscription on the window and the picture they had just taken simultaneously.

"What sort of question is that babe?"

"You weren't expecting me to love it?"

Collins looked at his wife, trying to understand the whole five-second scenario that she had just made.

" You should know that any little thing you do turns me on. Plus, the font scream seduction babe. You totally got me on that."

"That is really something I love. I was appreciating your efforts towards showing that you love me. Only that I am now surprised that you are acting strange about it."

"Shouldn't you be glad?"

Collins asked a rhetorical question which only added fuel to the fire.

" I didn't write that, Collins. "

Sarah said harshly, almost raising her voice.

************************************************

" You didn't write it? "

"How did it get on the window then?"

Collins muttered, utterly confused.

"And you said it turned you on?"

Sarah asked, utterly disappointed.

" I thought you wrote it yourself."

" The font got me, I said that."

"I only mentioned that it turned me on because I thought you wrote it. You know how I love things like that, Sarah."

Collins replied, trying to make Sarah understand what he meant.

"Wow! You can as well love and get turned on by things written by other women? Oh my God!"

Sarah exclaimed, her hands on her head while pacing up and down.

"I don't mean it like that, Sarah. You don't need to get so worked up on it."

"It might as well be that a particular couple who stayed here before us wrote it for each other. "

Collins said, looking at his now calm but worried wife.

"That makes sense."

Sarah said, drying the drop of tears that had already managed to stain her face.

Collins hated that sight!

"I am sorry, babe."

Collins whispered to his wife while consoling her. After what seemed like forever, Sarah whispered back to Collins.

"Did it really turn you on?"

"N..No, Sarah. It didn't, especially when I knew you didn't write it."

Collins replied, forcing a smile on his face.

"Are you sure it didn't?"

She softly asked again.

"I am sure, darling."

He said, patting his wife on the back as she placed her head on his lap.

He wouldn't say he was sure, though. He couldn't even understand why that turned him on to start with. The font? That's lame!

Besides, he was also not sure if the lipstick stain on the window was made by some couple who had lodged there before them because it was still looking fresh, like it was just recently written. Of course, he wouldn't tell his wife that, or else she would start to worry and overthink again.

"Who would have written that, though?"

Collins kept thinking while patting his wife, who now seemed to be fast asleep on his lap. He adjusted Sarah and then carried her towards the beautiful masterpiece in front of him and tucked her in bed.

He then moved out of the room to the passageway to get one of the hotel staffs. He was going to explain what was found in their room when he got drawn to a rather sonorous voice singing from the far end of the passageway where he was standing.

After standing for minutes, analyzing and ordinarily admiring the texture and sonority of the voice, he walked in the direction where it was coming from. Thinking it was one of the hotel staff singing while working, he pressed on in a bid to kill two birds with a stone.

On getting to the end of the passage, he saw the same lipstick stain that was on the window in their room, right in front of the door with the inscription, "You want me? Come in, darling.".

************************************************

"What?! "

Was the only word that left his mouth as he stared blankly at the closed door in front of him.

"Is this some silly game some people were playing among themselves in the hotel? And none of the hotel staff saw it? This is so unprofessional!"

Collins said aloud to himself.

Now, it is looking like the words on the door are directed to him. His train of thought was suddenly pulled to a stop as the voice he was hearing earlier resumed, this time more beautiful than ever. He didn't even notice the singing had stopped before.

With every fiber of his being and a burning curiosity to know who was behind the door, he turned the door knob and it immediately opened to a calm and beautiful but seemingly dangerous atmosphere.

Everywhere was pitch black, and he wondered where he was. As such, he started to walk in. It didn't take long before he was able to touch another wall, which signifies he must be in some sort of small room.

While thinking of what to use to brighten the room, he saw a faint light coming from a corner, and when he got closer, there in a rather larger room was a lady staring at the mirror, singing so beautifully and sonorously with clothes that showed how beautifully endowed she is.

He shouldn't be having thoughts though, but there was no way he would deny that the woman in front of him wasn't beautiful.

He peeped closer and was shocked to see the same stain he found on their window and in the front door where he was standing some seconds ago, right there on the mirror the lady was using, with an inscription " My love. "

He also saw that the lady was applying the same color of lipstick to her lips, and he without doubt knew the lady was behind all the inscriptions he had seen. He instantly thought he was supposed to feel rage within him, but instead, he felt himself getting attracted to the lady in front of him.

While words fail to come from his mouth as he kept staring at the lady backing him and covering her face with a scarf, he noticed something.