The Bed & Breakfast

By Craig L. Andrews

Synopsis

Sandy Nelson is troubled that her marriage is losing its spark and heading down a bumpy road possibly plunging toward divorce. Sandy begs her husband, Mark, to tear himself away from his consuming work for a romantic weekend trip to the Lake Michigan shore. Sandy spices the atmosphere with the promise that their trip is to be carefree with no specific destination. Fearful that she may not break Mark free again, Sandy decides to leave nothing to chance. She secretly confirms a room at a Victorian bed-and-breakfast inn located in a quaint village on the lake, a setting ideal for the rekindling of their marriage flames. Strangely, as they back their car down the driveway to leave for their weekend, a pall of dread envelops Sandy smothering her exuberance. It's too bad she didn't listen to those feelings right then and there, for their trip becomes the biggest mistake of their lives, bringing them face to face with a curious sweet old lady, the secret of the old inn, and a most astonishing horror.

Sandy and Mark travel to a Victorian bed-and-breakfast inn located in Tack Point, Michigan, located just north of Manistee. It's a blazing hot July. After taking a room in the enormous old inn, and becoming acquainted with the sweet old lady who owns it and her deviant looking hired man, Sandy and Mark's perceptions plunge down divergent paths.

Mark continues to feel fatigued and pushes Sandy, who is now deeply concerned about Mark's state, to stay another day. As their stay progresses they meet some friendly senior businessmen gathered playing their usual game of checkers at a downtown realty office. After two days at the inn, in anguish for answers strolling the downtown, Sandy drops into the realty office where an old retired doctor gives her confidence to confess her fear for Mark. Reluctantly the old doctor shares what he knows, his tale about the enigmatic inn and its even more curious owner, Ethel Chambers. He takes Sandy's suspicions to a chilling fear

The final night Sandy learns the secret of the third floor room and meets the most astonishing horror of the inn. Across town at the same time the restless town police chief assembles the seemingly random facts and comes to a crushing conclusion. He races to the bed-and-breakfast. Sandy snatches Mark out from under the clutches of horror. They unsuccessfully try to flee. Trapped in the kitchen, Sandy and Mark, the horror, and the police chief come together.

Excerpts from the Book

At a nursing home:
"Frankly, I don't understand how they could have come down with whatever they have. It doesn't appear to be the flu. The symptoms just don't correlate with those of the flu."

At the Beulah police station:
"Okay," Calvin said and paused. He pulled on his lip thoughtfully. "So, you think the car is something I should take look at?" Calvin smiled, almost as if it were a game he was playing with the boys.

At the Tack Point police station:
"Are you trying to say he's missing, Herb?" Tom asked, a little confused.

The final night:
Ethel awoke from her short sleep and immediately felt the urge pushing her, screaming out to be satisfied, torturing her body. She had been fighting it, holding off all day for what she knew was to come. She laid two of the newspaper clippings toward the center of the book and carefully, lovingly, she folded the scrapbook and slid it to the back of the desk. She rose easily and crossed to the door, her long, pure white dress, contradictory to her black monstrous intent. Out into the hall she moved smoothly, and silently. It was time. It was time to fulfill the need. It was time to satisfy death. This night she would also walk as herself, for she had held her other personality, that unpredictable visitor, prisoner inside her mind. She opened the door to the back guest bedroom, the room being refurbished off the back corridor, and melted into its hollow silence.