Since exploring was simply in their nature, Susie and Carly enquired Smilton city in late April one day. Smilton was a newly founded and already fairly populated city which both Susie and Carly had never been to before. The two girls were about 20 years old and since they were 10, the two friends had always had the desire to travel and explore. Susie and Carly freely roamed the surprisingly uncrowded streets of the eastern part of Smilton, browsing their phones for the best quality hotels and restaurants. Looking at the terrible  reviews for several inns, motels and hotels Susie pursed her lips together in disgust and shock. Carly smiled at Susie joking ‘ Are you really that picky Susie?’ ‘Picky to such an extent that you can’t even choose a hotel for us to temporarily stay?’ Susie shook her head and shoved her phone into Carly’s open left palm. Carly suddenly burst out in laughter which confused Susie, then Carly exclaimed, ‘these reviews are so horrible, but the comments on these hotels are hilarious!’ ‘Look at this dufus, he nearly drowned in his own bathtub! And this posh lady filed a complaint against an inn owner because her food was infested with ---.’ The rest of Carly’s sentence was muffled by her roaring laughter. Susie examined the commentary and reviews, letting a cheeky grin escape from her. Pulling herself together, Sussie snatched the phone from Carly and said to her sternly ‘ this is no time for jokes Carly, we need a place to stay for the night.’Carly slowly nodded her head and dragged herself heavily across the sidewalk behind Susie. Carly heaved and sighed alongside Susie as if she had run a marathon until she noticed a small white water fountain. Crystal blue water spewed from the top of the fountain sending splashes of water onto the grey pebbles in the basin below it. Carly ran to the fountain and dipped her hands in the cool water, splashing it on her steaming hot face. The sun had heated the girls and dehydrated them, so Susie and Carly both thirstlily drank from the fountain even though the water tasted much like dirt. After a short break from walking, Carly noticed a small tan brown sign behind her, it was a fair distance from the water fountain. She pointed at the sign but when she realized that Susie wasn’t paying attention Carly loudly read, almost in a proud manner ‘Hospitality is our Motto.’ Susie diverted her attention to the sign and she let the words repeat several times in her head, she thought for a moment to where they were and realized that they had ended up outside a brand new hotel. Susie curiously looked around, hoping to see some small inn, but to her utter surprise, standing boldly 20 feet away from them was a beautiful building almost completely made of sparkling glass. Susie squinted her eyes and she also noticed the same phrase quoted above the building, ‘Hospitality is our motto’. 

She immediately jolted upright and squeezed Carly saying ‘we should stay here for the night’. Carly examined her friend's expression and seeing Susie so excited made Carly agree without much thought. The two friends stayed in the hotel for the night. Being treated with everything they could afford made the girls feel comfortable and luxurious. ‘Hospitality is our motto’, the phrase rang in Susie’s ears until daybreak. Breakfast was much more than a feast,the next morning, with fresh, steaming waffles, quiche, and quesadillas, the girls loaded themselves till they could eat no more. All of this tasty and low priced food made Carly drool more than a dog. Susie and Carly swam in the hotel pool and had cool lemonade which was hand made by the servers. However, there was one slightly peculiar thing about the hotel, except for the skinny severs and plump hotel manager, there was no one else in the hotel. No matter how hard Carly and Susie scavenged for company, they couldn't seem to find any other guests staying in the hotel. 

After a couple of days roaming the streets of Smilton and living peacefully in the hotel, Susie started becoming anxious. One, night, ‘hey, Carly?’ Carly was trying hard to brush her frizzy and curly dark brown hair, and was only partially paying attention to what Susie was saying. ‘I've been thinking, and--, well I think we’ve done enough exploring in Smilton, it seems just like any old town, so I think we’d better get moving.’ Carly dropped her hair brush and it landed with a gentle thump on the carpeted ground. ‘ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!!!’ Susie looked taken aback by Carly’s response, ‘sorry, what?’ ‘You have got to be joking, because I know how bad you are at jokes. ‘We’re moving out,’ Carly did a spiteful impresion of Susie in a mocking voice, ‘ yeah, real funny,’ Carly’s voice was brimmed with sarcasm. ‘Listen, Susie, we are definitely not leaving until--- well, until I say so. There are so many corners and crooks of Smilton we haven’t yet discovered, and besides, the longer we stay in Smilton, the longer we can fully take advantage of this classy and cheap hotel!’ ‘About that, Carly-.’  ‘About what? The hotel?’  ‘ Yeah, um, well this hotel is kinda freaky, you know, no other guests are here but us, cheap food, beds, laundry--well really cheap EVERYTHING? I’d say that if this hotel really was amazing with its luxuries and its low prices, we wouldn’t be here right now.’ ‘WHAT?!’ ‘If this place really was that amazing, it would be full of guests, full of people, but it's not, is it? People wouldn’t waste all their time and money on other hotels and inns which are real ripoffs, would they? They’d just come here and have the time of their lives!’ Susie’s temper was slowly rising, she had been trying to make Carly understand for days that this hotel wasn’t normal, but Carly would change her mind about it. ‘Look, Susie, you seem paranoid or something, are you sure you're alright? I mean seriously, it's not like the manager of the store is planning on eating us or anything. It's all in your head, but since you insist upon leaving, we’ll leave on Friday morning, alright? But will you please keep your schotic fears about this hotel in your own head until then, I’ve had enough of you for one day.’ Susie was prepared to retort, her fears were not sychoptic, and she had never thought that the manager of the store would eat them, but out of tiredness, she kept quiet. That was ludicrous she thought to herself, the manager eating them? But she still hadn’t fully given up on the fact that this hotel was not ordinary. She lay quietly in her comfy bed beside Carly’s; Susie could tell that Carly wasn’t asleep, even though Carly’s obnoxious snores echoed noisily through the room. ‘Carly?’ she whispered gently, ‘Susie?’ Carly answered back even quieter. ‘I’m sorry.’ they both said it together, not exactly in unison, but close enough to make the two whispers sound stronger as one. The words reverberated through the room as the two girls silently drifted off to sleep. 

Meanwhile, outside their bedroom door, someone had been listening in on Susie and Carly’s conversation. The eavesdropper went running downstairs and into the secret basement of the hotel. ‘Mistress! Oh, dear, Mistress?’ ‘This better be worth my time Forge, what is it?’ ‘Mistress, oh--, the two girls!’ ‘Who? Those two Carly and Susie brats?’ ‘Oh, yes mistress, those two brats plan on leaving Friday! I happened to overhear them talking in their room, they are planning to only stay until this Friday!’ ‘Why must they leave so soon? They surely aren’t plump enough to be eaten yet!’ ‘Mistress, I can understand your desire to feast on only the finest and fattiest meat, but why not eat them sooner? Before the girls catch on to our plans?’ ‘Forge, how could those two brats possibly realize my plans? Why, they are almost as stupid as you!’ ‘No, my mistress, I am serious. You know the taller of the two girls, the one with blond hair and pale skin?’ ‘Yes, simpleton, her name is Susie.’ The mistress mumbled under her breath, ‘the dufos can’t even remember a name.’ ‘My mistress, Susie was the one who arranged their early departure, she thinks this hotel is freaky! She is onto us!’ ‘ Surely not Forge, you must be mistaken!’ ‘Maam, wouldn’t you think of it as bizarre? No guests, cheap food, luxurious everything?’ ‘You are correct Forge, but even if the girls sense something unordinary, they won’t be guessing that they are being fattened only to become my brunch! That would sound crazy and ridiculous! Haven’t you ever wondered how we have never been caught by the police?!’ ‘Well, maybe because you eat all your witnesses?’ ‘That’s one part of it, but also because it's crazy! Eating people is ludicrous, something only a fairy tale would hold, no one would ever believe that sweet old me would eat my very own customers!’ ‘HA,HA,HA!!’ ‘However, you are right Forge, it would be safer to eat the girls a little earlier than I had planned, there is no use trying to postpone their departure, as Susie is already onto us.’ ‘Your information was not completely useless today Forge, so you may leave.’ ‘Thank you mistress, oh, thank you.’ With a simple bow, Forge left the basement, leaving his mistress alone in the darkness once more. 

‘Hey Carly?!’ ‘Wake up!’ Susie was vigorously shaking Carly awake. ‘Jeez, Susie, it's so early! Let me sleep!’ ‘No, Carly, WAKE UP!! The hotel has a new visitor!’ ‘Seriously? You woke me up just because the hotel has a new-----, WHAT!! See, I tried telling you this hotel wasn’t freaky, it just took some time for the residents of the city to notice it! Now look, a new visitor! Next moment there'll be hundreds of them!’ ‘Now hurry up and get out of bed, the guest just parked his car.’ ‘But, Susie there was still no need to wake me up! It's so early!’ ‘Excuse me, it is already eight in the morning and----,’ ‘Whatever Susie, let’s just see who the guest is.’ Susie and Carly quickly raced to their window sill. The window curtains had already been drawn back, so the two girls got a clear view of the almost empty parking lot in front of the hotel. ‘Hey, look, the person is getting out of their car!’ Susie exclaimed. The two girls had gotten so used to being alone in the resort, that the company at the hotel seemed incredible and unbelievable. A few seconds later, a very chubby and stout man got out of his secluded bright blue car in the parking lot. The man casually walked in through the hotel’s front double doors, carrying a small suitcase and wearing formal attire. ‘He’s probably here in Smilton for some conference or interview, ‘ Carly guessed. ‘Yeah,’ Susie agreed, ‘He probably just happened to notice this hotel, and decided to stop by.’ ‘Anyway, I am pretty hungry, how does breakfast sound?’ Carly sounded more eager to greet the new hotel visitor than have breakfast, and Susie felt the same, so she responded,’great!’ 

The past few days at the hotel, Susie hadn’t had much appetite to eat anything, so she only ate morsels of food uncomfortably. Carly, however was the exact opposite, at meal times and even at tea and snack time, Carly wouldn’t hold herself back from eating more food than she could handle. While Susie thinned due to lack of food, Carly gained more and more weight. At this point, Carly was nearly twice the size and weight of Susie. Today, however, a new hotel guest had added some brightness to Susie’s mood, and she ate nearly half of what Carly would eat, which was more than Susie’s regular appetite would have prohibited. After a calm and quiet breakfast, Susie and Carly strolled up to the front reception desk, where a thin and short man only a third of their height greeted them. ‘ Why, hello young lady’s! How could I be of any assistance to you?’ Susie responded to the man, ‘um sir, we would like to meet the new hotel guest, do you know where he is?’ The man looked alarmed by Susie’s question, so Carly enquired, ‘is there any problem sir?’ The man was now sweating profusely and muttering under his breath, ‘they can’t find out, oh no.’ ‘Sir?’ ‘Th-there is no problem ladies, I-- well my mistress, I mean--- um-- the manager-- yes the manager of this hotel has taken care of the new guest.’ The man was fumbling with his flimsy green tie and his wispy hair stood on end, waiting for a response. ‘ Uh, what do you mean by ‘taken care of him?’ Susie and Carly exchanged suspicious glances, while the man behind the counter started mumbling again ‘oh on, they must already know, they are onto us!’ The man’s voice was too croaky and quiet for either Carly or Susie to understand, so they stood still waiting for the man to answer. Looking up wearily, the man spoke, ‘the manager is having breakfast,----um, yes, she is having breakfast with the new guest. It is a courtesy to him as he is our first new customer in se---several days.’ The man shook as he spoke, and even Carly didn’t need any more hints to know that something was up. Something was going on. Not wanting to stay near the freaky man any longer, Susie pulled Carly aside, and they both sat down at a small wooden table far away from the reception counter. ‘ Carly, I don’t think that man’s alright.’ Susie didn’t exactly sound frightened or scared, honestly, she sounded more concerned and pitiful than anything. ‘Uh, of course that dude’s not alright, he must be mad! I mean seriously, if we were to have asked him any more questions, he would have started to -who knows what? He may have had a seizure!’ ‘ It's a good thing we left him alone.’ Susie sighed, Carly’s sense of humor always seemed to burst out in the wrong situations. ‘Listen, Carly, do you actually believe the man about the new guest? I mean he sounded pretty sceptical and----,’ ‘No way, I definitely don’t believe a word that crazy man said, I mean did you see his face? He was sweating and fidgeting and mumbling, he probably just invented something up because he didn’t want us to know what was really going on!’ ‘Your right Carly, I mean, that man had said that the visitor was having breakfast with the manager because it was a courtesy and kind gesture for a new guest, but--,’ ‘But how come we never got anything like that?’ Carly finished Susie’s sentence with a worried glance around the breakfast hall. ‘I mean, I definitely wouldn’t want to have breakfast with the manager of this hotel in the first place, but isn’t it odd how that man was acting, like he was hiding something?’ ‘Yeah Susie, I feel like he knows what’s behind this peculiar stuff.’ ‘You know what Carly? We’d better investigate what’s happening. We are leaving tomorrow anyway, so, we might as well get to the bottom of this case first.’ ‘Good idea Susie, how about we first find out where the manager and the visitor are, that might give us a few clues. We can try asking the man at the counter where those two are.’ ‘Cmon!’ Carly led the way, out of the breakfast hall and into the entrance room of the hotel. 

However, when the two girls looked behind the receptionist counter, the short and thin man was nowhere to be seen. ‘Hey! Where has he gotten to?’ The two friends searched the room, until Susie whispered to Carly ‘Hey, Carly, look, the man ran into this hallway, I just saw him turn left at the end of it!’ ‘Let’s follow him, he may lead us to some kind of useful clue.’ Susie gave a weak nod and the two girls crept along the hallway, till they reached the very end of it. The hallway was just made of bare walls, there were no hotel rooms to be seen, where could this place lead to? At the end of the hallway, Susie and Carly took a left and were face to face with a large metal door. ‘Uh, Carly, are you sure this is safe?’ ‘Honestly Susie, I am never really sure of anything.’ Carly smirked and cautiously opened the metal door, surprisingly, it opened smoothly, making no screeches. Carly and Susie walked slowly and unsuspectingly down a long spiral staircase. Carly walked in front. Upon seeing the most horrible sight she could ever dream of, Carly stopped halfway down the stairs very abruptly, causing Susie to walk into her. Realizing that Susie had not yet noticed the grimacing sight, Carly pointed a shaky finger directly at what she saw. Susie let out a strangled gasp, and Carly leaned on the railings of the stairs to get a closer look at what was happening. A very tall and large woman was boiling a very large pot of water on a crackling fire. On the ground beside the old woman were the visitors black loafers and small tophat. The colour of the water in the pot looked of skin colour, and the water rippled as a muffled voice came from the pot. Someone was trapped inside the pot. The visitor. ‘

Forge, will you please bring me some------, hmmmm, what would taste good with plump human meat? My, I haven’t had it in so many long weeks, I wonder.’ The overlarge woman spun around on her heel to face the wispy haired receptionist named Forge. ‘ Well my mistress, I suppose some carrots, peas, beans, radish and maybe even beetroot would go real well with his meat in particular.’ ‘No, no Forge, keep in mind, this is just one slightly plump human, he surely doesn’t deserve more than a few carrots and beans, that ought to make him taste okay.’ ‘But mistress, you deserve much more than just some beans and carrots!’ ‘Be quiet fool! I know what I deserve, and I am saving the freshest, sweetest and tastiest vegetables for Carly and Susie.’ ‘Them? Why my mistress? They--.’ ‘Because they are both very fattened, they will taste much juicier than five old man’s like this one here. And plus, there are two girls, one will be turned into soup, the thinner one I suppose, and the other will be deep fried and served with sauteed vegetables and tartar sauce.’ ‘MWAH HA HAAAA!!!’ ‘Now, Forge, go and collect only a few herbs and vegetables from the indoor garden house, I plan on only eating this man as an appetizer.’ ‘But mistress----.’ ‘Now, Don’t you worry Forge, those two bratty girls will be my main course.’ With another evil laugh, the woman turned away from Forge as he scuttled away from her and into another room. The woman was old but her face was creased with not lines of age, but with lines of madness and evil. 

Susie and Carly didn’t want to see the man being cooked into soup and they surely didn’t want to be cooked either, so the two girls carefully made their way back up the stairs and they slipped through the metal door into the hallway. Carly and Susie ran hard until they had made their way up a dozen flights of stairs and into their guest room on the top floor. So this hotel really was freaky and absurd, but not only that, the manager ate its guests, that was exactly what Carly had joked about the previous night, and now it was true; the manager of the hotel was planning to eat them, and now they had to escape. The two girls didn’t dare talk as they packed their bags with all of their belongings, it didn’t take long to pack, as the girls hadn’t brought much other than a few pairs of clothes and some other necessities. After hurdley packing, Carly and Susie raced down several flights of stairs until they reached the entrance of the hotel, they were almost at the double doors when suddenly, Forge and several other hotel servers came rushing at them. Forge started yelping, ‘MISTRESS, THEY ARE GETTING AWAY!!!’ ‘ EVERYONE, BLOCK THE DOORS!’ But Susie and Carly were far ahead of the servers; by the time Forge and his assistants had blocked up the doors with wooden tables and chairs, Susie and Carly were already outside the hotel. The two girls could hear Forge screaming with rage at his assistants, ‘SERIOUSLY? YOU LET THEM ESCAPE, THEN BLOCKED OFF THE DOOR??!!!’ ‘OH, YOU JUST WAIT TILL THE MISTRESS COMES, SHE’LL SHOW YOU!!!!’ As Carly and Susie ran away from the hotel double doors, Carly couldn’t help but laugh, and Susie let out silent giggles. The two girls automatically ran to the bright blue car parked in the middle of the hotel parking lot, fortunately, it’s door was ajar. Susie took the driver’s wheel and Carly jumped into the seat beside her friend. As luck would have it, the driver had left the car key in the key slot, so when Susie gently turned the key, the engine of the car roared up. ‘Where are we going?’ Carly asked Susie. ‘Firstly, very far away from here.’ The two girls grinned at each other, recalling their narrow escape from the monster manager of the hotel as Susie hastily drove the blue car away from the glassy large building. ‘Carly? I think we’d better call the police.’ ‘Yeah, but even if we do, we have no evidence that monster manager isn’t just a part of our crazy imagination. I mean, who’s gonna believe a couple of 20 year olds who say that there's a coo-coo manager who eats people? We don’t have evidence.’ ‘Oh, yes we do!’ ‘ Sorry did I hear you wrong Susie? You said oh, yes we don’t, correct?’ ‘No silly, check my phone, you’ll understand.’ Carly hesitantly reached into Susie’s backpack and pulled out Susie’s phone. It had a glittery pink case with a kitten on it, and as Carly went through Susie’s phone, Susie answered Carly's questioning look. ‘Check my videos.’ Carly went through Susies’s videos and wonder of wonders! ‘What!! You recorded what we saw in that basement room!?’ ‘Yep. I had my phone in my pocket and as soon as I realized what a horrible person that woman was, I thought that if I recorded what she did, we could turn her in!’ Carly patted Susie hard on the back, nearly knocking her into the steering wheel, ’You are AMAZING Susie!!’ 

After showing the Smilton police what Susie had recorded, the outraged police immediately locked up the nasty manager woman and all of her assistants. As Susie and Carly watched the Smilton police lock up the old woman, the woman caught both the girls’ eyes and cried ‘THERE ARE MORE!!!’ ‘YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS!!’ After leaving the police station that evening, Susie and Carly wondered what the old woman had meant to say on their drive home. ‘You won't get away with this, is just a common movie type saying that villain’s usually say, don’t worry about it,’ Carly was saying. ‘But what about ‘there are more’, what does that mean?’ ‘Oh come on Susie, surely there aren’t any more human eating alien people?’ 

Or are there?