"A widespread meticulous consistency causes a bigger suspicion than the most obvious inconsistency does." ― Pawan Mishra, Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy
The disappearances were piling up; Mr. Dobson was nowhere to be found, Mrs. Dobson left the hotel without uttering a word, dead-eyed and completely apathetic to her son and husband's fate. A kid named Brandon, the girl Emily, her mother and others. Most of them had loved ones who initially showed signs of distress, but just as quickly, evaporated into stark indifference.
As if said relatives never existed.
Others had no relatives. No friends on the planet to notice they've been snuffed out of existence.
The stress was now causing tempers to flare, both among the guests and the staff. Another fight in the dining hall, screaming matches between whole families, a male tourist had taken a swing at Tomah with his wife threatening Radaha, who countered by threatening the woman with her spatula. Human children running amok, which lead to broken items in the rooms and around the hotel that the parents refused to pay for.
The robot convention was only a day away, the various inventors were already starting to show up and book their rooms. Many of them had their creations in tow, leading to a spike in Teora's anxiety. She was now refusing to go anywhere near Ellowyn's room, the reason she refused a young human woman's request to deliver a breakfast tray.
A fight, however, had erupted between the young woman and her male companion. Behind the door their raised voices about a missing room key turned into a violent confrontation. When the other guests complained, Kikara visited the room, with the young man reluctant to speak with her, his girlfriend in tears sitting upon the bed. The door was only opened slightly ajar as Kikara tried to glean information from both before it was slammed shut with a single "fuck off" uttered.
As the hotel prepared for dinner, her energy depleted, Kikara sat near the lobby entrance, soaking up a rare moment of not needing to tend to any of the guest's needs. Or rather demands. Gabriel comes to stand by her, resting his hand on her left shoulder, softly massaging it.
"How is it?" he asks sympathetically.
She gives a lazy shrug. "Alright. The usual. Getting screamed at, insulted. Tired of it," she replies, touching his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze as she manages a feeble smile. "You?"
As far as their unseen tormentor, it had been quiet on that front. At least for now.
"Fine. Yeah, look, I, uh, need to tell you something. Later if you're not too exhausted. It's about-"
Just then, Robert and Mirasal step into the lobby, with her smile dropping as she is met with Kikara's glower, an angry front that gradually morphs into one of sadness.
Mirasal's own gaze quickly darts away and meets the floor as she keeps her arm linked with Robert's. As they walk towards the main stairwell, Robert looks back at the two lovers, with his silky golden pupils locking with Gabriel's.
Upstairs, after they've finished eating, Mirasal is seated on a chair in the middle of the room. Robert is standing before her, his finger gently under her chin to guide her face, moving it to exactly the position he needed it. He'd gotten the sudden urge to paint.
"There," he says. "Now let me get started." he says as he heads over to his easel set with a fresh canvas. That, along with his paints and palette, he'd retrieved from his room.
"How long have you been painting?" she asks. "You really do have many talents, don't you?"
"Eh, well. Not too long. Sort of on and off. But that face needs to be immortalized." he grins as Mirasal gives him a flash of a slightly-embarrassed smile, before her expression sinks into somberness.
YOU ARE READING
Reverie
Mystery / Thriller"The Losers Club had driven It from the personal gaming reserve It had made. Now, it was time for It to make a new one. Just as It had to create a new physical form after Its other was destroyed by those hated ones. And It wants no more to feel. No...
