Pam is a young notary trying to keep her Cartesian reputation pristine. Siska is a recovering addict whose new lease on life stems from her paranormal, investigative work. They sit on opposite sides of a spectrum it seems... until Pam shares a secr...
'What happened next?' Siska had plucked her phone out of her pocket, she put it on silent and buried it deep inside her bag.
'Before I get to the expert's conclusion,' I said, 'I need to tell you more about the hotel. You see, I was not actually working in that building myself. The girl administering it was part of the permanent staff—let's call her Jane—she was the same age as me and was pretty flippant on a good day. And... let's just say that my growing friendship with the bosses wasn't something that Jane particularly appreciated.
She wouldn't acknowledge me in any way when we happened to pass each other, and she gave me some blatant glares, whenever she saw me having lunch with the boss and his wife. Her disdain seemed to grow daily, and at some point, she let me know that she disapproved of guests coming to the hotel for my boss's events rather than for "peace and reflection". We fell out, and each time, it was over some guest reservation that she claimed to have "not been properly notified of".
For a while, she got her way. I even allowed her to blame my Serbian. But, by the time she lost the third reservation I requested, I wasn't putting up with her anymore. I told her I was onto her.
I could see that my boss was looking at me differently, each time I fell out with Jane. I didn't want this to sour the amazing friendship we'd built, so I told Jane that I would personally place every booking for my boss's guests—in writing and in her book—myself. She didn't look happy with this, at all, but that was the compromise we had negotiated with her on a personal visit to her desk.
Deep down, I think she just didn't like receiving orders from anyone, not even from those in charge.
Months passed, and the hotel had brought in good money during the summer, but business was moving into the slow season. I decided to stay on longer, while the other volunteers all left, along with some of the permanent staff, though...sadly not Jane. Most of the leavers had been there longer than I had, and they were keen to spend the colder months back home, with their families. My plan was to help with the administrative work, until springtime, when clean-up could start over.
November came, so did the rainstorms and the cold. Add this to the high mountain winds and you get something fierce. The river that ran parallel to the country road would often flood around this time too. One gloomy afternoon, I get a message from my boss—'
I fixed Siska. 'Now bear in mind that I'm going to be translating my conversations, so be nice.'
She winked back at me before I carried on.
'My boss had been away, with his family, visiting his brother in Sarajevo. His text read: "Violent storm on its way right now—all public transport cancelled and country roads at risk of flooding."
Below is a picture by Boris B from Pexels to give you an idea of how far the river was in relation to the road, since so many aspects of this story are factual. Hope that your spooky senses are tingling 👻
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