The Night Clerk

A short horror story in South Dakota's Black Hills

Oct 31, 2025

Photo Credit: David M Porter

Many people claim they believe in the supernatural. But in their hearts, very few are willing to truly reckon with the things that prowl at the edges of our world, lurking in the long, sunless hours of the night. It is difficult to notice them, those beings and creatures that are not entirely there, half-seen out of the corner of your eyes in the flickering firelight. Some people might stay awake for a night, and then think that since they saw nothing, there is nothing out there. They couldn’t be further from the truth.

It takes time, years sometimes, to truly begin to understand the creatures of the night. Ask someone who has spent long years under the stars, maybe over a bottle of something strong, and they will eventually tell you. Things are out there, things that stir when all of humanity should be asleep.

When I started working as a night clerk at the hotel, I was already used to working late shifts. But those had been jobs in factories and packaging plants, where I was just one of many humans in the middle of a busy city that never truly slept. I thought I knew everything about working through the night, but until I got my new job, I didn’t realize how ignorant I was. The hotel was different, isolated and old in a way no factory had ever been, and I could feel the difference as soon as I arrived.

Nowadays, South Dakota’s Black Hills are most famous for Mount Rushmore, and they’re a popular destination for tourists and hikers. The hotel is nestled in a confluence of two canyons there; a picturesque scene of rustic mountain tranquility. The building itself is old, but the Hills…the Hills are ancient, and they’ve seen a lot of history come and go. Rough cliffs and forested hills loom on every side, remnants of a distant past that will remain long after this building is forgotten. Before it was a tourist destination, this place was an old logging town and railroad stop during the gold rush. And before that, countless travelers made their way through this area, journeying through the mists of the ancient past on their way to distant destinations. Most of these shadowy figures of history were humans, Native Americans from various tribes who lived in the area. But some who trod those ancient pathways were something else entirely…

***

One night, I was at my usual spot, reading a book behind the front desk. It was sometime after 2 in the morning, and I hadn’t seen a single soul for hours. I’d already closed the bar and wiped everything down, and all the guests had long since retired to their rooms. A thunderstorm was rolling in, and rain fell lightly outside, with occasional grumbles of thunder rattling through the old building.

I was just drifting off for a nap, when a sound made me sit upright in my chair. Had that been a faint scream?

I stood up slowly, feeling my heart beating faster as I strained my ears. Silence except for the rain, and then a loud rumble of thunder again. But amidst the low growl of the storm, there was also something higher - a faint voice, pitched just within the grasping edges of my hearing. Yes, it was another scream, muffled and weak.

My palms began sweating, and my mouth felt dry. I eyed the telephone, half considering dialing the police, but then I shook my head. Town was 45 minutes away. I wasn’t going to make the cops drive all the way up here, through a storm, just to find out it was someone’s TV blaring. No, I needed to check this out myself first.

As soon as I made the decision, an unreasonable fear coursed through my body, like a slow moving wave of cold and dread. What would I do if it wasn’t something innocuous? I nervously glanced up at our security monitors. All the cameras showed empty hallways and quiet entrances. Nothing was stirring.

Slowly, more reluctantly than I’d ever moved in my life, I crossed the lobby to the long hallway leading down to the rooms. It was brightly lit at all hours of the night, a perpetual daylight to fight the surrounding gloom, but that still didn’t put my mind at ease.

I passed the bathrooms and the manager’s office, my feet moving slower and slower as I neared the first corner. Was there something around there, waiting just out of sight? My heart beat faster and faster, and I found myself panting slightly, sweat trickling down my sides beneath my shirt. I closed my eyes for a moment, then carefully poked my head around the corner.

The hallway was empty. I felt myself relax, then stiffen as a flash of lightning burst outside, the light flaring through the hotel windows. The hallway lights flickered and dimmed briefly, and I glanced at them worriedly. If we lost power in this storm, it would probably take hours to get them back up and running. I knew with sudden certainty that I didn’t want to go without lights, no matter what else happened.

Another scream rang out, and I leaped back instinctively, panting and almost turning to run before I realized it was coming from one of the nearby rooms. Another shout, muffled by the door, followed by some half murmurings.

Someone was just yelling and talking in their sleep.

I walked over to the room just to listen outside their door. There was silence for a moment, and then some more murmured cries.

No, no, please leave me alone! Please don’t touch me! Please!

I shivered a little at the pleading cries. Sounded like a pretty rough dream. But it was only someone dreaming, no trouble I needed to worry about.

I was just about to return to the front desk, when something caught my eye. It was a shape of sorts, low down on the front of the room’s door.

When I bent down to inspect it, my head swam, and my eyes had trouble processing it. Everything else on the door was clear and sharp, but the shape was blurry and vague, making it hard to see the details. As if it was in a dream. I squinted and blinked and rubbed my eyes, trying to make out what it was.

Finally though, I realized that it was three small claw marks, slashed deep into the wood. I blinked again, rubbing my face, but they didn’t go away.

How did that get there?

I looked down the rest of the hallway. The hairs on my neck stood on end as I noticed more jagged scratch marks, etched into every door I could see. All of the marks blurred and fuzzed before my eyes, and I felt dizzy looking at them, like I was suddenly torn between sleep and wakefulness. The hallway turned another corner a few rooms down, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to know. What lay beyond that corner?

Stumbling, almost as if in a dream, I lurched down the hall. I had to know. Did the marks continue? Each door I passed had that same, strange etching. From each room arose faint cries and babbling speech, the moans of tortured dreamers wishing they could wake. Their wails began to rise up on all sides of me, louder and louder, echoing through the hotel and building atop each other in a nightmarish cacophony. Lightning crackled like a gunshot, and the thunder roared like an avalanche descending down a mountainside, shaking the building beneath my feet.

I fell to my knees, and when I looked up, I found myself only inches away from one of those horrid claw marks etched into a door. My vision swam, and my entire body felt like it was being tossed through a stormy sea, both floating and sinking all at once. I felt my mind slowing and my vision darkening as nightmarish dreams slowly crept over me, dragging me into something dark and sinister, something -

A terrible cry exploded from the other side of the door, shocking me slightly out of my stupor. Shaking my head, barely able to tell waking from sleeping, I pushed myself upright again and stumbled on. Something drew me. I had to know what was beyond the corner.

I came around the bend in the hallway, and stopped. For a moment, the hallway seemed clear, but then…then it emerged from one of the rooms. The door was closed, but the creature passed right through the wall, as vague and ill-defined as a smoky dream. It turned and raked its claws across the door, and inside the room, I heard moans of terror rising up to join the throng of nighthmarish voices behind me. The thing turned to stare at me, and for a moment, I could do nothing but stare back, numb and frozen with shock.

Its head reminded me of a coyote, but it swayed on two legs like a man, and it was spindly, like a decaying, horrid deer. Other bits and pieces were jumbled together along its limbs, defying my eyes’ attempts to describe them. Every part of it was almost familiar, but the grand total was wholly alien, an abomination of things that should not have been. Most horribly of all, that coyote face held human eyes, and they were staring right into mine.

My vision wavered, and I felt myself falling asleep even as I stood. I tried to fight it, to snap my head up and stay awake, but the creature began to take slow, ponderous steps towards me, and each step was like a tolling bell ushering me into slumber. Suddenly, in a blur, the creature rushed forward. I screamed and tried to back away, but before I could take more than a step, it was upon me.

Flashes of light. Screams and cries. Nameless shapes that whirled and disappeared. Nightmares and dreams roiled and collided in my mind, a maelstrom of light and darkness, a confusion that had no end. And all the while, I saw that grinning coyote face, staring down at me with slavering jaws and glowing human eyes. Gnashing, biting, clawing, ripping, tearing -

—-

A rumble of thunder shook me from my sleep, and I sat up with a gasp and a jolt. Panting, I flailed wildly for a moment, trying to fight off the creature of my nightmares. But it wasn’t there; I was seated in my chair behind the front desk, a half-finished book in my lap, staring out at an empty lobby.

I rubbed my hand over my face, then glanced at the clock on the wall. 3:30 in the morning. I must’ve fallen asleep. What horrible nightmares. I shuddered at the memory of them, and stood to stretch, hoping to sweep away the cobwebs cluttered in my mind.

I felt something stick to my shirt as I stretched. Curious, I touched my shoulder, wincing as I felt a sharp pain. What in the world?

Carefully, I rolled up my sleeve. As I pulled the shirt away from my arm, dried blood came with it, and I suddenly felt fear and adrenaline rush through my body. Ignoring the pain of the ripping scabs, I yanked the sleeve the rest of the way up and stared at my arm.

There, freshly sliced into the skin of my shoulder, was a claw mark, three grooves gouged deep into my flesh. And as everything around me slowly seemed to fade into mist, those marks became the clearest thing my eyes had ever seen.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little story I wrote while trapped in the throes of sleep deprivation. If you’d like to read more short horror/Halloween stories, I’ve included links to several more below. Let me know which one’s your favorite!

I’m slowly getting back into the writing groove, so I hope to have a few more stories for y’all to read in the coming months. It’s amazing how much bandwidth having a kid consumes! But the brain fog is slowly wearing away, and I’ve been able to devote a little more time to writing lately. There’s an Ebenezer Scrooge flash fiction coming in December with Havok, and perhaps a couple more short stories of my own as well in the coming months!

And for those of you interested in my nonfiction musings, I’ve also created a second section of this newsletter, Ryan’s Ramblings. My first article there, Ancient Lies, Ancient Truths, was published earlier this year, where I discussed the Bible, Joe Rogan, and Christian responses to Bible conspiracy theories. I hope you’ll check it out, and keep an eye out for more ramblings in the future!

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Ryan

Read, Write, Ryan

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