Hotel Selten

Knowing More

Ophelia slowly wakes up from her slumber. She looks around the room she is in. ‘This is actually my room in the hotel’. She looks at the window of her room, it’s kinda dark. She tried to rise to her bed, “Arggh…”  It was a failure, she fell back. Her headaches so much, especially the back part. She looked at the ceiling and took minutes thinking about what happened to her. 

‘What happened to me? I just recently remember that I was outside the hotel. I am in the hotel still. The hotel isn’t a dream, just proved it earlier… Is it earlier? I don’t know.’ 

“What time is it?” She asked herself, she looks around for a clock. She failed to find one. She groans as she tries to push herself to rise from the bed. She forces herself to get out of the bed even though her head badly hurts. She walks through the room while rubbing her eyes, her brown hair is still messy. She holds the doorknob as she lifts her head, hoping it will solve her headache problem. It didn’t.

She sighs and opens the door of her room, her hands holding the door frame, she looked around the hallway. The lights are open and no one's here. She stepped out of her room. She was looking at the staircase just near her room, which, as she remembered, lead to the dining room and living room of the hotel.

‘Wait…’

She traced back what happened to her. She remembered being caught by Thilda, which Peony witnessed. She heads to the staircase as she thinks about it more. Then, they went to the living room of the hotel.

She stepped on the last step and looks around, she was welcomed with an empty dining room and living room. She wanders around. 

‘Where is everyone?’

The only thing she can hear is ticking, she followed the noise. She found a circle wall clock. It was already 4:35 in the morning. ‘That explains the silence.’ Her head turns to the living room and picture what happened there yesterday. She then goes downstairs, since Miss Eve took her on a tour. She went back to the hallway where her room was, she walked by her room and took a turn on the corner of the hallway. She turns her head to the right and found the door where they exited and must be the door to the back of the hotel. 

She silently approaches it, trying not to wake others up. Once the door is in front of her, she opened it slowly and peeked outside. It’s still a bit dark, the only light source was the lamppost which is thankfully lighting up the path. She went outside and looked around.

The cold breeze caresses her cheek and her hair blows with the wind. She shivers as she walks to the stone path. She looked around, it was the other two housing buildings of the hotel. She remembers that a lot, and by a lot, there were 10-15 people who greeted her here. Her lips curved as she remembers it.

She continues to walk, there was no one wandering around the lot except her. She kept walking until she reached the end of the path, which stops at the training grounds. She looks around, she remembered some people were fighting here. She stopped for a bit and her eyes got widen. She runs to a bush and checks it. She smiled as she saw the fake grass. Now she remembers everything. She was in the lab when everything happened. There was a blinding light. Minutes later, she felt a great forced that pushed her. It was painful, the last thing she saw is Miss Eve fell on the ground and darkness surrounds her. 

She lifted the fake grass (with a plank under it), and went down the underground hallway. She opened the lights by twisting a familiar sculpture on the wall. She went up to close the entrance. She turns around and looks around the hallway. 

‘I wonder how is Blaise?’

She starts to walk through the hallway and find Blaise’s tech laboratory. She was gonna turn right when she heard some chatters.

“Who turned on the lights?” A distinctly male voice said the footsteps echoed through the hallway. “I-I don’t know… Maybe it’s sir Hugo.” A female voice responded, their voice is getting louder. Ophelia looked back at the entrance and silently opens it and exits the hallway. The two people chatting together looked at the hall to the entrance. They both look at each other. “There’s probably someone who turned on the lights, I swear!” The male said, his face looks like he’s in his mid-20s. His black hair was messy. The female who seems the same age as the male rolls her eyes. “Nevermind it. We need to go now before sir Hugo gets here. We will get damned again.” The male sighed and they continued walking.

Ophelia however was heading back to the main building, since she already remembered what happened, she doesn’t need to be here anymore.  Her feeling gets colder, she looked around. The sun is slowly rising, she supposes to feel the warmth slowly too. Instead, she gets more chilly. She rubs her arms as she approaches the door, when she was gonna hold the doorknob, she got interrupted. “Ehem.”

She turned around, in front of her was a tall man. His hair was glossy black and was combed so well. He was wearing a black buttoned long sleeve with a turtle neck. His brown and dull eyes look at her. It intimidating. She walked backward a little bit. It got colder and the situation got more awkward than ever.  Ophelia forced a smile. “Uhm. Hi!” She greeted him. His expression didn’t change, he was still pinning his eye to her with his lips are flat. She felt she is gonna melt anytime in his look. It was just like the encounter she had with Thilda, ‘Are they siblings?’.

“What are you doing this early?” He finally spoke, he was serious. He is squinting his eyes as if he is scanning every part of her. Ophelia can’t answer with this tension. He spoke as soon as he realized that she ain’t speaking. “You are the newcomer right?”

She nods. “So, what are you doing here then?” He asked for the second time. “Well… Just having a morning walk, you know? For fresh air and cold breeze?” She laughs nervously, she turned her head to the doorknob and made an excuse. She looks back at the man who seems threatening her life (for the second time in her stay in this hotel). “I’m… Gonna head in now… You enjoy yourself, tha—”

“If you are just having a morning walk, why were you at the underground?” She froze for a bit. She doesn’t know what to answer. Saying that she is just reviving some memories she forgot because of the blast sounds stupid, also saying that she is just checking there sounds more stupid than the last one. She decided to tell the truth and turns back to the man she was talking to.

“Okay, excuse me if this sounds stupid. The real thing I was here because I woke up with nothing in my mind.” The man in front of her raised his eyebrows and Ophelia sighs. “I don’t remember anything, okay?” He chuckled as she puts her palm on her face, gently slapping it. She sighed with his reaction.

“That’s stupid.” “I know! But hear me out, okay?” She grunts and takes a breath before continuing. The man in front of her crosses his arms, waiting for her to continue—as in his opinion—stupid story. She looks up at him.

“It was painful, don’t laugh at me.” The man granted her request, his smile became flat again. “I was outside since I am tracing back what happened to me since I can’t really remember anything. Now I remember, can you let me in now?” 

“Not yet. Have you seen any person or people in that hallway?” She looks at him confused. “No…” She briefly answered. The man smiled. “Good.” He was gonna turn around as he realizes something, “Ah. I forgot, how rude of me. My name’s Hugo, Hugo Brown.” He extended his hand to her, offering a shake.

She awkwardly accepts it and they shake their hands softly. “I will be going now.” She turned and went inside the hotel.

“You are just in time, the breakfast is coming in just a minute.” Miss Eve greeted her with a smile. Ophelia looks at the table, the other residents start to occupy it, mostly they are from the main building since the other buildings have their own dining room. The main building’s dining room or even called the conference room used for general meetings and the dining room and living room of the main building residence. Ophelia received some greetings which she replied.

Ophelia took a seat just near the stairs in the right set of chairs. Minutes later, someone sat beside her. She looks at her seatmate. It was male with his neck covered in fur. He looked back at her and smiles. “Hello, Ophelia! Nice to meet the newcomer! I am Bernandino!” He introduced himself, he was happy to see her. “Oh, nice to meet you too.”

“Really? Wow! I never actually had a newcomer friend! My only friend is Abitha because she is so kind. She’s my only friend, you know. Well, all of the residents here are my friends, but she is my very very best friend!” He cheerfully told her, Ophelia just smiled.

‘Well, I had one very very best friend too.’ She sighed as she remembers JP again, her only friend since she stepped on the land of Germany. She wonders if he is okay and hopes that he is not worrying too much about her. She is probably wanted in the whole of Stuttgart and probably they are searching for her in the forest because this is the last place she is seen. 

It will be the best idea if she will stay here for a long time or even her whole life. Since she can’t go anywhere now and she is scared to face her consequences. She still believes that none of the things happened in the convenience store. She is not a monster, right?

She didn’t kill anyone and she hasn’t harmed anyone. It will be a long time she realizes that she needs to face her punishment for being poor at anger management. It is not a good thing. Not all the time she will just run from problems. One day, she will realize to fight and face what she left.

“Hey? Uhm. Hello? Did I say something bad? If yes, I am so sorry, I-I, I didn’t mean to.” The voice cuts the massive train of thoughts she has now. She looked at the source of the voice, it’s the boy she was talking to earlier. She smiled at him to assure him that she is fine. “I am fine, don’t worry, I am just bored, so I think of some ideas for the day.” Lies. 

“Oh! Well, it is nice to think. Blaise does that a lot.” He then continue to talk, Ophelia let him so that she could at least have more clues about the place she is about to live in. 

Their breakfast arrived, it was served by some people that she doesn’t really see anywhere in the hotel. They were wearing different items of clothing. Mostly shirts and pants. Their moves were a bit robotic.

“Here’s your breakfast, please enjoy.” A male served her plates and utensils. She looked at him, ‘He has a familiar voice.’ She might have heard his voice somewhere, but she can’t tell.

She had her breakfast with the others, some talked to her other than the male seatmate she has.

While they were having breakfast, a great bump echoed throughout the hotel. Some panicked for a bit and some questioned the noise. “Calm down, I will check it.” Miss Eve assured them as she goes downstairs and went outside. Minutes later, she came back and she ran on the way back here.

“Thilda, ready the defense.”