Hotel Selten

Welcoming Misunderstandings

“Thilda, stop threatening people!”

The weird-looking girl guides Ophelia in the living room of the hotel. With her green (with pink in the low part) twin ponytails bouncing in the air, she let Ophelia sat on the sofa of the living room. “You didn’t know? She’s the new resident? Show some enthusiasm and respect!” Her a little bit high-pitched voice echoed in the hall.

The girl who threatened her earlier, who seems to be Thilda, as the green-haired girl called her, is looking at the two boringly as she reached the area. “I know, Eo, but I think she was planning to escape!” She rolled her eyes as she turns her back to them. 

“Eh? How did you say so?” She looked at Ophelia and squints her eyes, which made the confused teenager back up a bit, she felt uncomfortable. “She seems nice!” Thilda grunts and turns back to them again, crossing her arms on her chest. “She came from the underground hall! She probably planned that, which is so dumb. If I weren't training that time, we would be in danger, and you know that, Peony.”

After that, she stared at Ophelia who was settling at the corner of the couch, ‘If only you got away, now it gets even worse, great Ophelia, just great.’ She gulps as Thilda goes nearer to her, with her death stare. “Tell us, what are you planning?” 

She can’t handle the tension anymore, she feels that she can die anytime right there since the woman standing in front of her has a knife blade for her hand. “Alright, alright!” She positioned herself upright and took a breath, and she looked up to Thilda. “I am planning to leave here, okay!?” “Hah, told you—”

“But it’s not what you think!” Thilda raised her eyebrows as Peony sits beside her, willing to listen to her story. “I was being chased by cops, then… I found this hotel! Since it’s already dark, I decided to stay here for the night. And… The lady… She gave me the keys and she said I could stay here as long as I want. And… Yesterday night also, I’ve realized this is a place for monsters!”

Suddenly, she felt a sharp thing poking her throat, “Don’t you dare to say that!” In her eyes you can feel her rage, obviously, she didn’t like that. “Thilda!” Peony holds on to her arm, slightly pulling her backward. “She’s one of us! Please don’t hurt her!”

“What’s happening here?” All of them turned their heads to the source of the voice. 

“Miss Eve!” Peony stands and bows at her presence. The lady walked to them, unlike how Ophelia met her, her mouth is not curved into a smile. The childish girl raises her head, “Sorry, are we disturbing you? Are we too loud?”

Miss Eve shooks her head softly, as she looks to Thilda, who is backing her sharp weapon away from the poor teenage girl. “Why are you treating our newcomer poorly?”

“She was planning to leave—or escape from her statements, I am sorry for pointing my sharp blade to our new resident. She just said some foul words, I need to teach her lessons.” She hid her arm to her oversized sleeves, her clothes are specially tailored for her since she patrols around in the area near the hotel. 

“Specifically, what words?” “In verbatim, ‘this is a place for monsters’.” The lady just heaved a long sigh as she switched her stare to Ophelia, who seems sorry for what she said. “I think I haven’t done some right orientation to you.” She said as she was looking down at the teenager. “I mean, it’s only a day miss! It’s not too late!” Peony enthusiastically suggested. “It was almost too late, Peony if I didn’t catch her, she’ll—” Peony cuts her, “She would have been a threat, blah, blah, she would tell the authorities, blah, blah. I get it, alright? You know she can’t tell anyone, since she was being chased by the police—”

Thilda cuts her, “It’s better to be safe than sorry, it’s better to take earlier actions, I don’t want that to happen again…” She stops and sighed, she looks at Peony, but this time, her look was soft and seems concerned. “You know it, this hotel is our home, you don’t want to be homeless, right?”  Peony was a bit scared, “No, I don’t want to!” Thilda smiled and looks at the lady in front of them. “It’s already noon, I will patrol now, miss.” Miss Eve nodded as Thilda went to her way. Peony innocently looks around as she realizes something, “I’ll be going now too miss.” She smiles and trots away from the scene.

The lady in front of Ophelia turned to her. “Come, let me tour you and tell you the wonders of the hotel.” She lends her hand, which Ophelia seems to stare at for a bit, she accepted it anyway and they went downstairs.

“This is the Hotel Selten, the home of humans with oddities, some mythical creatures you thought was just a myth, and many more. This is a sanctuary for those who need protection, since humans are greedy, they are hunting the likes of us.” Ophelia looks at her as they approached a door that seems not so familiar. “Research, sometimes some of them wants something, like lucky charms. Some just want to slay and hunt us. A lot of reasons to hide from them.” She opens the door and it reveals the outside of the building, but this area doesn’t seem to be familiar in any way.

There are some kids and some teenagers like her, but there are a few adults. It’s like a little village, but with fewer houses. In front of her there stood two structures, both are two floored buildings. They are made of concrete, just like modern houses, they got glass panes, looking so normal. 

“These are the other two housing facilities we have, I am planning to have the fourth one going, but we can’t since we ran into problems.” They stepped out of the main building and step on the grassy lawn of the hotel. The children are giggling and playing in front of them, when they saw and recognized who is in front of them, they greeted them, especially Ophelia’s company. 

“This hotel has been standing firmly since then, even it has encountered numerous problems, and I am glad you can step in the floors and grassy lawn of it.” The lady smiled as they continue forward. Then, the others started to greet them. 

“Good morning, Miss Eve! And newcomer!”

“Good morning!”

“A pleasant morning to you two.”

“Morning.”

“Hi, Miss Eve!”

“Hey, are you the newcomer?”

Ophelia turned to the source of the question, it was a girl with a lot of animals just around her. She smiled awkwardly, “Uh, yeah.” The only response she had. “Great! What’s your name?” The girl smiled sweetly as other children start to pile up, excited to know her name. “My name is Ophelia Hutchinson, but you can call me Ophelia… Or whatever.” 

“Nice name!”

“I am Mircea!”

“Nice to meet you, Ophelia!”

“That seems familiar.”

“I will call you Lia! If you don’t mind.”

“I am Abitha and this is my dog, Fluffy, my parrot Scabbers and my badger, Figaro!”

Ophelia just smiled and nods, this situation was too awkward for her. She never experienced being in this situation, most people ignore her. Are they really happy to see a newcomer?

It was a warm welcome for her, it feels like home. Well, she had few friends before, some already forget her, some… Just suddenly ignore her. The only friend, the closest one, and the truest one was JP. Which she just realized, he may be looking for her now, worrying. He was like a brother to her, since she moved to Germany, he was the only friend that made her feel she was loved. Now, she is receiving a lot of love from others, people she didn’t know.

“She’s on 107 if you wanna visit her.” Miss Eve broke the massive welcome Ophelia has received, she felt that she is getting embarrassed and awkward. She just smiled at her reaction. Chatters continue, Miss Eve giggled. “Alright, alright. Calm your excitement, you can talk to her later, I will be touring her around first.” All of them nod, some spoke their agreement. 

The lady looked at Ophelia, “Shall we go?” The teenage girl nod as they went on, Ophelia still getting some greetings along with Miss Eve. Some of them are waving through their windows.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Ophelia. They are just so happy, it is been 5 years since we didn’t have a newcomer.” She explained, Ophelia looks at her. “5 years? I mean… Why are they so happy? I am… Just like any other human… I have eyes, I have a nose, I am normal.” 

Miss Eve raised her hands, a sign to stop, the lady just smiled at her. She holds her shoulders and looked at her. “Ophelia, dear. You are not just a human. Don’t belittle yourself, be honored that you came here and you stepped in here.” She releases and continued to walk with her. 

“No one goes in here easily, especially if you are just normal. This hotel is hidden in a cloaking barrier, magically made. No one can see this unless you have something.” She explained, “This barrier can’t be seen by the weakest minds, but can be seen by someone who is secretly or knowingly to have powers of some sort.” Ophelia raised her hands, just on the chest level. She looked at her palms and the back of her hand. The lady stopped which made her stop too. She looked around, ‘This seems so familiar.’ 

In front of her is a large grassy lawn, it has some battle dummies all around, some marks, and people training on it. One slashing a dummy with a grass-looking sword, which he successfully scratched the enemy just like a real blade. There are partners in training, one of them is attacking with fire and the other is defending by fading out of the scene. 

“This is the training ground, this is supposed to be converted into the fourth housing building.” They walked, avoiding the ones that are training, every time they pass one, they stop and greet them. “If you are confused, this has been a culture here in the hotel, it's a sign of courtesy.” Ophelia nods as the lady lets her look around. “This is where we train, to defend or offend. We have been through a lot, we really needed this. We need to harness whatever is ever inside us and use it to make the hotel safe. This is the only home of the residents here, they can’t go anywhere once this falls.” 

The lady sighed, as Ophelia looks at the scenery. ‘Well, I guess they really need to protect themselves.’ She thought to herself. “But how about the barrier? Isn’t it enough? I thought it can filter people going in here?” The lady shooks her head. “The barrier isn’t enough, it is just a cautionary and initial defense. There have been a lot of breaches. Secret spies, betrayal, and sometimes the barrier falls, which makes this hotel visible.” The lady looked at her, “Ophelia…” She turned her head to her, “Yes?” “Come, let us continue to the other side.” Ophelia nodded as they head left of the training ground. 

“Anyways, do you know your special ability?”  It made Ophelia think hard if she made it in this hidden hotel. She must have something inside her.  “I don’t know… But something my grandma told me that control my anger…” The lady’s curiosity raised, “Continue.” “Well, every time I am angry, something explodes, specifically, most of them are beverages or something with liquid.”

This made the lady hold her chin and think. She smiled as they stop. “This is the public bath, which is the relaxation part of this hotel.”  There are a few people there, they greeted them. “Now, try to harness your power.” Ophelia looked at her, confused. “How? I only have those stuff when I’m angry.”

The lady just smiled, “Just focus, and try to lift something or explode something here.” Ophelia sighed and closed her eyes, she clenched her fist.  ‘Come on…’ 

She opened her eyes and looked around. “Well, I guess I don—”

BOOM