Hotel de Strange, Pt 3

[WP] This hotel is strange, to say the least. Few ever check in or out, and those guests you see stay for long periods of time. There is no pool, but when asked you are supposed to direct people to the third floor. You are not to make eye contact with the cleaning staff. The pay is nice.

*****

My life flashes before my eyes. It's hot pink. No. That's Jessica. And that's Jessica's—

I dream about aliens in Paris. They like baguettes. They don't like the Eiffel Tower. It offends them. They drink coffee from soup bowls in bed and they think that's normal because they think Parisians are normal.

"Jürgen? Are you alright? Jürgen?"

I open my eyes and there's a beautiful nest in front of me. All this time, I was a bird? I only dreamed that I was a man? The thought comforts me. Soon I will have to learn to fly.

Oh. It's Cornelius' beard. He helps me to my feet. "I'm sorry about that," he says. "Sappho can get a bit intense."

"Sappho?"

"J-Jessica! I mean Jessica! Ahaha! Why did I say that? That's so weird." Cornelius laughs nervously.

Jessica scoffs. Four guests are keeping her restrained but for some reason, she looks like she's the one in charge. "He's seen the Grand Nova. Does it matter? Really?"

My nose is bleeding. I check it. Oh. It's not bleeding this time either. Why does it always feel like you're bleeding when your nose hurts? Is it because of snot?

"Fine," says Cornelius and he frowns at her. "It's my retirement. Let's tell him everything." He rubs his majestic red beard.

"T-Tell me what?"

"For starters," says Jessica, "I'm Sappho. Well, that's an old name. Positively archaic, in fact. But that was my name when I first met the owner."

"Huh? Like the lesbian poet?"

"I'll kill him!" she cries as she tries to break free.

Cornelius laughs. "Sappho never liked it when you put her in a box."

The floating orb hums. I squint my eyes and I can see something reflected on its surface. It looks almost like static.

"Don't get too close," says Gene. "It's not your day of retirement."

There's a brief silence. I hope nobody is about to laugh. Then a guest says, with a dreamy voice, "Remember Mr. Gaust-Fromm?"

They all smile and it looks like they're lost in reveries. I'm still trying to work out the deal with Jessica. Her name is actually Sappho? But doesn't that mean ...

"I was there for his retirement," says another guest. "He threw himself inside. No hesitation."

"It's taken me forty years," says a timid voice. "And this is the first time I've visited the third floor. I was scared."

There's a twinkle in Cornelius' eyes. "Do not feel bad. That is precisely the reason I started all this. To have a place to rest, before passing through the Grand Nova."

He stares at me and for some reason, I feel as if I can recognize something in his face, fragments of someone I once knew. "Jürgen," he says in a soft voice. "I will tell you what you need to know."

That's when I hear sobbing. I turn around and I see Jessica struggling to contain her emotions. She's a hot pink mess. "Herr," she sobs.

"Sappho," says Cornelius with a tender whisper.

"Don't go," she says. The guests release her from their grip and she falls onto the floor. "... Don't go," she repeats.

Cornelius smiles. "It is time for me to step into the river," he says.

Her face is red and wet with tears. "Heraclitus ..." she says.

***

The initial shock has settled and the atmosphere has turned somber. Jessica is Sappho? Cornelius is ... Heraclitus? No. It is a dream. Maybe I was right. Maybe I'm a bird.

"Immortality can at times feel like a curse," says the red-bearded owner of The Grand Nova. "All of us, except you, Jürgen—we have all lived for a long, long time. It can get tiresome. And that is when you start dreaming of a fresh start. A new beginning."

He stares at the orb. There's a touch of sadness in his eyes. "Once you pass through the Grand Nova you rejoin the ocean. We believe ourselves to be drops, Jürgen, and we all have some hidden knowledge of the world beyond. An intuition of the sea, of the river."

"They're all gone," Jessica says. Or Sappho. "You're the only one I have left."

Cornelius smiles. "It is time."

With that, he walks inside the orb. Its glow intensifies and there's a sudden flash. Then he is gone.

Jessica's tears have formed a pool on the floor. Was that ... Was that why she was asking for a towel?

"I'm alone," she says.

Gene steps forward. "I wanted to see the aliens, but I guess it's time for me as well. Here. Have these."

He hands me a handful of change, then he passes through the orb. Even now he leaves me a tip.

The cleaning lady is the next to go, and one by one the rest of the guests follow her.

"H-Hold on!" cries Jessica. "Where are you all going?"

"It's a wonderful day," says a guest before diving headfirst into the Grand Nova.

Finally, there are only the two of us left. I don't know what to tell her. I don't know if she still wants me to bring her a towel.

"You don't know what it's like." She stares at the glowing orb. "To live for thousands of years, to know the death of all you love, over and over. To feel lost."

Jessica gets up and she doesn't look at me. Slowly, she walks up to the orb and glides through.

The orb hums. I think about Leonardo Di Caprio.

To rejoin the ocean ... What does it mean? Does it mean you get a second chance?

I think about it. If I were to step through it like the guests, perhaps I would have a new life. Perhaps I could be an architect. Or an engineer. Or even a florist.

I don't know how I have been standing here like this when I hear a voice behind me.

"H-Hello? Do you work here?"

It's a short woman with glasses.

"Oh. Yes. I do."

She looks over my shoulder. "... That's the Grand Nova?" she asks.

From the look in her eyes, I realize that she is one of them. Immortal beings, looking for a place to rest. Before rejoining the ocean.

"Yes," I tell her. "That would be it."

She lets out a quick breath of air. "I just need a couple of years," she says. "To unwind."

Days and weeks pass by. I keep receiving my checks. I don't know how. I guess they have a system in place. The woman's name is Lisa. She's my only guest. At least for now.

I have decided to stay here for a while longer. The Grand Nova still needs me. Somehow life doesn't seem as dull, as miserable, as it used to.

*****

THE END.