Right after I graduated high school last spring, I started working at the motel in my small town. Being the only motel in about a forty mile radius, we got a fair amount of traffic from truckers and tourists passing through to see the points of interest in rural Montana. Things like the Lewis and Clark trail.

The job didn't pay much but no job in town did. Unless I wanted to work on a ranch or farm for incredibly long and hard shifts, the motel, the gas station, or the pub were really my only options. Plus, my parents knew my boss pretty well and got me started at a dollar an hour more than most maids.

My days were simple: every morning I would wipe down the front desk and chairs, vacuum the entryway rugs and carpet, and stock the vending machines before going to my assigned rooms. In each room I would change the bedding and start the laundry for the new sheets, pick up the room and throw away the garbage, vacuum, wipe down the tables and lamps, and clean the bathroom. It was mind-numbingly easy work and usually I was done by 2:30 in the afternoon, some days 4. Truckers are a messy breed.

Being from a town so small, nothing ever happened. Nothing important, anyway. I was determined to save up enough money that by the end of the year, I could go to Montana State University and leave my sleepy hometown miles behind me. I was so bored that it made my teeth ache.

Other than truckers and tourists, our motel is notorious for being a "weekend getaway" for couples who had husbands and wives back home. If you were having an affair and didn't want your small town to know, you could come to ours for the weekend and get away with it. Most of us only left for grocery shopping, and that was maybe a couple of times a month.

Two days ago, half of one of these couples checked in to room 6. When the man showed up, she had apparently already left. They had been regulars here, coming about once every two months and staying Friday and Saturday night. When he'd showed up, I was stocking the vending machine. As my manager handed him his key, he said

"Oh! Uh, the other one already checked out. Said she had something to take care of."

I hadn't seen the woman leave, but it's possible she finally got cold feet or her husband found out where she was.

The man furrowed his brow, "She texted me like an hour ago and told me she was here."

My manager, Gary, shrugged, "Sorry. Maybe she'll be back, but she returned her key before she left."

The man grunted and rolled his eyes before heading to his room. I glanced outside and noticed her car was gone and shrugged it off.

Yesterday, I went to room 6 to change the sheets around noon. I knocked, but got no answer. There was no 'Do Not Disturb' placard on the door, so I opened it and went in. The room was empty, bed still made, though there was an indent like someone had sat on it. I straightened the sheets and checked the bathroom. None of the soaps had been disturbed, but there were some gnarly track marks in the toilet from a shit long since flushed.

I cleaned the toilet and the sink and I was about to move on when I noticed something under the bed. I kneeled down and picked it up. It was a woman's earring, one of those cubic zirconia ones from Walmart that's supposed to look expensive but instead looks cheap. I figured the lady who left must have dropped it.

I brought it to the front desk, "Hey Gary, found this under the bed in room 6."

When he saw it, his eyes widened a bit, "Oh! It must be from the last tenants in there. I'll call Felicity and see if it's hers."

Instead of assuming it was the lady's who left suddenly, he assumed it was the local hookers. I found it a bit odd, but dismissed it. Gary and Felicity were old friends despite her chosen career, and he probably knew her jewelry better than I would.

I handed him the earring and started cleaning the reception room. As I was cleaning the windows, I noticed the man from yesterday's truck still parked outside.

"Hey, Gary, that guys truck from room 6 is still outside but he didn't sleep in the room," I said.

"Oh!" He hesitated for a moment, "Yes I saw him leave with Felicity last night."

Figures. The man came for pussy and he was going to get it no matter what, I guess. I finished my rounds and by 2 pm, I was free. I went home, showered, and changed out of my work clothes when I realized I had forgotten to grab my paycheck.

I drove back to the motel and got out of my car,  noticing the man's truck was gone. I went in and noticed Gary wasn't at the front,  so I started my search for him. After fifteen minutes of not being able to find him, I called. His phone went straight to voice-mail. I waited in the reception room for another five minutes and was about to leave when Felicity pulled up, Gary in the passenger seat.

There was a worried expression on his face, like he'd been caught doing something naughty.

"Hey kiddo, forget something?"

"Yeah, my check."

"Oh! Right. Let me grab that for you."

I followed him into the reception room as Felicity drove away. There was a small office in the far back that Gary kept locked. We weren't allowed in - ever. He said there was a lot of important paperwork in there that he couldn't afford to get messed up. I waited outside, but the moment he opened the door, an atrocious smell wafted into the air. I nearly vomited.

As he brought my check out, I said "Why don't I clean in there Monday? It smells like something died."

His face paled, "Oh, no, I can get to cleaning it over the weekend. Don't you worry."

One thing Gary did not do was clean. Like ever. "Are you sure? I can add it to my morning rounds," I told him.

"No Melissa. Thank you," he said, sharply.

I threw up my hands, "Alright, have it your way."

I grabbed my check and left. Today, I drove to the town over to cash my check. While in the bank, I noticed the bulletin board had a missing persons poster on it. As I approached, I realized it was a lady who came in to our motel a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, she had never returned home after her stay with us. She had met up with a much younger man, and apparently her husband and kids were now worried. Her last known whereabouts were at the bar in this town.

I drove back home and for the hour-long ride, I had a nagging feeling in my stomach. Finally, I called the non-emergency police line and let them know that her actual last known whereabouts were at the motel. They thanked me for the info and said they fight follow up.

I decided to go back to the motel and tell Gary about the situation. When I arrived, I again couldn't find him. So, I tried the door to his private office. To my surprise, it was unlocked. In the center of the room was a ladder, leading up to the ceiling. I glanced around the desk, papers and receipts littered everywhere. The smell was even worse in the room, and I had to swallow hard and hold my breath to keep from vomiting.

I noticed a picture of Gary and a lady (his ex wife) sitting on the desk. My parents had told me the story and said to never bring it up. Gary's ex-wife had cheated on him and left him for his nephew about fifteen years ago. As I studied the picture, I saw that the wife's eyes had been scratched out.

I looked around but couldn't find the source of the smell. Baffled, I returned my attention to the ladder. As I climbed the rungs, the smell got worse and worse. I moved the ceiling tile over and popped my head through. Wooden planks had been added for support along the ceiling. Support of, I suppose body weight? I thought Gary must be a perv, a vouyer that liked to spy on Felicity getting down with various truckers.

As I crawled in, I followed the smell. It's not unheard of for an animal to crawl into warm buildings when it's cold out, get stuck, and die. My thought was that a racoon or something had found its way into the ceiling and didn't find its way out.

I was so fucking wrong. My nose lead me to a spot over the laundry room, where the clean scent of laundry detergent mingled with the smell of a rotting carcass. As I searched with my phone flashlight, shuffling on my hands and knees, my finger touched something cold and squishy. I shined my flashlight to my hand and saw an ear.

I screamed, louder than I even knew I could.  I shook my hand off and began to cry, and then I vomited all over myself and the mutilated body part. I was close to passing out, but I willed myself to stay conscious as I began scooting back towards the ceiling entrance. My flashlight caught a glimmer as I moved back - a glimmer from the ear. A cubic zirconia earring dangled from it.

I'm on my way to the police station now, but it's an hour long drive. I'm frantically writing this in voice to type. Gary was calling me nonstop, so I blocked his number. But, there are headlights behind me and they're getting closer by the second. The headlights look just like the ones from the truck the man in room 6 drove. I'm still twenty minutes from town. I'm pushing 100 MPH but the truck is still getting closer. I sent my parents my location. I'll update soon.