Next Time Just Lock the Door
Flash Fiction Month 2023, Day 5
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” screamed Holly.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” screamed Jack.
“DAAAUUAAAAAAAAGH!!!” yelled the time-travelling cyborg that had just blundered into their hotel room, swiftly covering his eyes.
“Oh my God!” yelled Jack. “Are you going to kill us?”
“No!” The cyborg waved a hand. “I don’t do that anymore! I just spray for bedbugs!”
“Oh my God!” yelled Holly, looking with horror at the sheets she was clutching.
“No, you misunderstand!” The cyborg frantically tried to explain. “That’s not what I’m here for in this hotel! There’s a pesticide trade fair in Conference Centre B.”
“Oh yeah,” said Jack. “I think I saw a banner for that.”
There was an awkward pause.
“Could you maybe…leave?” asked Holly, at last.
“Right, yes, of course. Sorry about…uh… Sorry.”
The cyborg began to leave, then popped back in momentarily to retrieve a small paper hook from the inside doorhandle.
“I am putting the little “Do not disturb’ sign on the door,” he explained.
There was another awkward pause as his heavy footsteps receded down the hall.
“Should we…pick up where we left off?” asked Jack.
“I don’t think I’m really in the mood after that,” said Holly.
“Yeah.” Jack sighed. “I get it. Of all the things to happen!” He looked to the door. “An ex-terminator exterminator sex-terminator!”
If you’ve enjoyed this story, you can find my work from previous Flash Fiction Months collected in these books:
Damon L. Wakes 
I definitely felt Holly’s horror at that line about the bedbugs.