Hotel Ambrose

Chapter 16.1

After that Sophie slept in one of the other bedrooms. I didn't know what to do so I stuck to our old routine. I made breakfast every morning like usual. She'd come in and see the breakfast and start to cry, then she'd leave again. I don't know why I kept making it - I wasn't hungry anyway. It would sit in the fridge for a couple of days then I'd end up throwing it out.

One day she went somewhere up into the hotel. I got worried as the day went on. I spent most of the afternoon searching for her. It was something to do I guess. I took my shoes off and padded silently through the hotel. I didn't call out to her because she probably would've just hid.

When I finally found her she was all the way up on the white floor where we'd found Elinor that time. She was sitting on a chair on the balcony, looking out over the clouds.

This is something I haven't explained yet. You'd expect to see the whole city laid out beneath you from up there, right? No, all you see is a blanket of clouds that laps up against the hotel. They move slowly about, but they never break apart. When you're out in the grounds though and you look up there're no clouds. It was just one more weird thing about the hotel. I never thought too much about it. What's the point in worrying about things like that?

She must have heard me open the door to the balcony, but she didn't say anything or look around. I closed the door carefully and stood next to her for a while.

"Come back down," I said.

"Go away."

"You shouldn't be alone."

"I'm fine."

I went to the edge of the balcony and looked across the plain of clouds. We didn't say anything for a while.

"What were we doing?" she cried suddenly.

"It was an accident Soph."

"It was this hotel."

"It wasn't the hotel. It's just a hotel."

"It's not just a hotel."

"It didn't do that."

"Well it didn't stop him either, did it?"

I couldn't think of anything to say.

She got up and left.