Every horror writer should write at least one story about both a living funeral and the Haunted Room in the Hotel. This is my version of the last story. What makes it unusual is that I did not intend to bring it to its logical conclusion. Wrote three or four pages as part of an appendix to my How to Write Books "textbook" to show readers how a story changes from the first draft to the second. Mainly, I wanted to give a concrete example of the principles that guide me when creating my works. But something very pleasant happened: the story seduced me and I wrote it to the end. I think that different people have different fears, and there are countless variations of the latter (I don’t understand why some people get goosebumps at the mention of Peruvian boomslangs, but they do). So, this story scared me while I was writing it. It originally appeared as part of an audiobook called Blood and Smoke, and the audio scared me more than the manuscript. Scared me to death. But hotel rooms themselves are scary, aren't they? Entering the room, you can’t help but wonder how many people have slept on this bed before you? How many of them were sick? How many crazy people? How many have thought about reading a few lines from the Bible on the bedside table and hanging themselves in the closet next to the TV? Brrr. Anyway, let's check it out, shall we? Here's your key... and you can take your time and figure out what those four innocent numbers add up to.