Energy Thief

Voltage House had neon signs, a rooftop bar, and a slogan that said, "Recharge here." Camden thought it was funny. He had been hiking the coast for a week and needed a bed, a shower, and a decent night of sleep. His dorm was clean, his bunk was low, and his roommate was Elise.

Elise smiled too softly and asked too many questions. She wanted to know his dreams, his fears, the places that exhausted him. He assumed she was just friendly. He was too tired to be suspicious. That night, he slept hard and woke with a headache that made the sunlight feel sharp.

He shrugged it off as jet lag. He went hiking anyway. By lunch, his legs felt like concrete. He returned early and found Elise in the common room, stretching, looking wide awake. "You look pale," she said, and offered him tea. The tea tasted like chamomile and something metallic.

On the second night, he dreamed of a door opening in his chest. The room was dark, but he could feel a weight press down, a presence that wasn't human. He woke at 3:12 a.m. and saw Elise sitting upright on her bunk, eyes open, staring at him. She smiled. He went back to sleep because he didn't want to start a fight.

Finn noticed the bags under Camden's eyes and joked that the hostel ghost was hungry. Camden laughed, but his laugh felt thin. He caught himself in the bathroom mirror and saw his skin lose its color. He drank coffee, he took cold showers, he tried to force energy into his body. It slipped out like water through a cracked cup.

Elise never seemed tired. She ran morning yoga, stayed out late, and woke before dawn. Zola, the manager, said Elise had been with the hostel for months and was a "great vibe." Camden wanted to ask her to move bunks, but he didn't want to be dramatic. He remembered the story about the girl who slept through a cursed mirror in Buenos Aires and told himself he'd just tough it out.

By the third night, he couldn't climb the stairs without resting. Elise offered to carry his water bottle. Her hand brushed his wrist and he felt a chill bloom from the contact. The next morning, he woke with bruises under his eyes and a heart that felt slow. @HostelReaper had commented on a post he made about "mystery fatigue": "Some roommates feed on rest." He dismissed it as a creepy joke.

On the fourth night, Camden didn't dream. He didn't wake. Zola found him in the morning, still, as if he had been turned off. Elise was already checked out, her bed stripped, her name erased from the whiteboard. Finn found a note on the desk: "Thanks for the energy." It was unsigned.

The hostel blamed heat, stress, exhaustion. Zola told the staff to keep an eye on long-term guests. But Elise had been at another hostel by then, asking new roommates about their dreams. In the comments, @HostelReaper left a final warning: "Never share a bunk with someone who never sleeps."