Each side of those huge magnificent doors are held open by doormen dressed in red tunics… and even though it’s been awhile since I came to visit they bear me no grudge… they knew I’d be loyal… that’d I’d be back.
It feels familiar, the interior rich and updated to suit these modern times… minimalism at its best… this place… always haunting my dreams…. Yet I am the ghost that walks these walls… home at last.
I walked purposefully… first turning on my right across the marble floors… pass two reflections and I am there right at the granite Reception desk. I’d ring the bell but she’s already there waiting patiently and with that same smile I remember so vividly. She doesn’t bother with the small talk… she knows I came to escape the banality of the world and she fails me not. All this while the music plays softly in the background… only those songs that tugs on the heartstrings but never too obvious… they are known for their subtlety.
She tells me my room is ready… and that it was set up the way I liked it. She ask me for my passport and doesn’t comment that I do not look like myself… and as I sign my name on the dotted line… I hand her my key. In return she hands me a pass card and an envelope with one of my names on it… she doesn’t ask me if I needed an extra card...she knows me too well… As I turn to leave she beckons me and informs me that there will be a fantastic Christmas show this year. I looked out through the tinted glass window and straight into the June sun…I nodded and told her I’m looking forward to it.
The ride in the lift to the 25th floor was slow and deliberate… it stopped a couple of times on the lower floors but each time there was no one there. I made my way to the penthouse and the door to the room lies open… I shut it quietly behind me and saw that the walls were no longer green and there are now a brilliant shade of red…. But it doesn’t suit my taste and I made a mental note to ask them to paint it a classy brown…
An open, chilled bottle of Rose’ lounges next to a half-filled glass.. I sip it absentmindedly.. and walked past the living room to the bedroom. My suitcases are neatly stored and my clothes are put out and arranged according to colour… light to dark and back again. I catch a glimpse of the white bathrobe… it bears my initials…. The pillows are fluffed to perfection and on the left side of the bed a solitary chocolate mint invites me to slumber.
The smell of lilies fills my senses and I remember the envelope… I pull it out… flip it to the back and its monogram ‘HH’ is set out in royal gold. Tear it open and a note falls out… it simply says…
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