Whispers in the Night: A Hotel of Unraveled Secrets

3 - Atlas Haven

     The Alarm went off, She didn't want to get up but the noise of the alarm won't let her sleep, so she had to reach for her phone to switch it off. She saw a label attached to the alarm, when she look closely she saw the heading "First day at Atlas Haven". She immediately got up and check the time; the time said 8:10 am and work starts by 9:00 a.m. she quickly went to take her bath and brush her teeth. She looked through all her clothes and found a black pair of trousers, a white dress shirt and a black tie. She wore it and dashed out of the house.
Just as she hurriedly walked along the street, she heard her tummy grumble and stopped at a nearby food stall. She noticed a high school girl on her phone and she had earphones on, she wasn't paying attention to the road. Just as she decided to cross, a car hit her at full speed. The girl's body fell down very hard and became disfigured, blood surrounded the corpse and the people were terrified by the scene. Veronica's eyes widened in shock as she saw the girl's lifeless body...
........

Just as she hurriedly walked along the street, she rushed to the food store to get some food; but that wasn't her main mission. She looked around and found the same high school girl on her phone, putting on earphones. She was just about to cross when Veronica ran towards her and grabbed her by the arm. The girl looked at her with a puzzled expression and was about to say something when a car sped pass them at high speed. The girl was startled and turned around, realizing what could have happened to her at that moment; she turned to face Veronica and removed her earphones.

"Be careful next time, always pay attention to the road before crossing" Veronica said with all seriousness in her voice. The girl thanked her before making sure the road was clear and then crossed. "At least I prevented an innocent girl death today, what says the time anyway" saying that she brought out her phone from her bag. "8:30 !!!, I'm gonna be late, Oh wait I know but I need to find a secluded place" She looked around and spotted and Alley by the corner and went inside. She made sure no one was around or watching her, when she saw the coast was clear; she said the word "teleport", snapped her fingers and with that she was gone.
She appeared right in front of the hotel building. She stood tall, Confidence was written all over her, She encouraged herself amd went in. She walked humbly towards the reception table when someone called out to her. "Hello, how may I help you" It was a girl, She looked around the same age as Veronica or possibly older than her by one or two years, She had short black hair, fair complexion and purple eyes. She wore a pink t-shirt with sailor shorts, along with a pair of leg warmers. She was of average height but not taller than Veronica.
"Ah, there you are" another voice called out, it was Diana; she stepped out of the elevator and walked towards them. "I see you have met Veronica, Zuri, let me introduce you to our additional member, Veronica Makaya. Veronica this is Zuri Elenga, she's our guest relation manager" Diana said as he stretch forth her arm towards Zuri. "Nice to meet you Veronica I look forward to working with you" Zuri said with a smile and she's stretched forth her hand for a handshake. "Right" Veronica says as she stretched forth her hand to shake her. "Come let's introduce you to everyone let's go to the second floor, tag along Zuri" with that, she turned around to leave while the girls tagged along.
The went inside the elevator which took them to the second floor. As they got out and walked, Veronica looked around to see if she will see that ghost she saw when she came for the interview but unfortunately she didn't. They all came to a stop at the same black door. "Huh ? The interrogation room ? " Veronica said allowed. Diana and Zuri looked at her with a puzzled expression, Veronica, realizing what she said try to clear their confusion by stating how she thought the room was for interrogation purposes rather than interview purposes , both of them giggled at what she said as Diana opened the door. Veronica saw some people inside, after they entered the room, she counted them and saw they were six in number, two females and four males. "Everyone this is Veronica Makaya, she's the new receptionist I would like you all to cooperate with her as she; will do the same" Diana said aloud. Veronica looked around and spotted the woman who gave her the card and told her about the receptionist post. The woman also saw her, smiled and waved at her. "Its that woman again, wait I thought she was the boss looks like she's not, what was her name again ? I have forgotten" She thought.
"Don't you mean assistant receptionist, because after all she will be assisting MJ" a young boy said, he had light green hair, wore zip off sleeves shirt, loose pants, timberland shoes and wore fluffy ear muffs. "Yes that is correct" Diana said in affirmation, Veronica wondered what he meant by that, as if Diana was reading her mind, she whispered to her that she will explain later. Veronica didn't mind but what made her ponder the most was when she heard the name MJ. "Could it be her ?" She thought.
"You all are dismissed, Veronica follow me" and with that Diana walked towards a brown door and Veronica tagged along while The others left the room. Diana open the door and went inside along with Veronica, there she saw a man spotted at a desk, he was slightly tan, his hair of medium length was of a fiery color and turquoise eyes. He wore a black wool winter cape, a cream dress shirt are the cool black trousers. His physical appearance made him have a similar resemblance to Diana but the male version. "Maybe they are siblings" Veronica thought. "Welcome" the man said with a vibrant smile. "Wow, for a man who looks like he's in his late 30s he sure is full of energy" Veronica thought.
"My name is Daisuke Kaen, the owner of Atlas Haven, the one that interviewed you the other day is my sister, Diana Kaen" he said. "Anyway let's cut right to the chase, you coming to work here is not a coincidence but a planned strategy" . Veronica gave him a confused look, Daisuke explained everything that happened and what it took them to get her here. "Wait wait wait, so you're telling me that from the newspaper... To the theft.... To that woman ? Was all just a planned strategy to get me here ???" Veronica said trying to take in everything he just said. "Yes you are correct Makaya" , "but why ? Like how did you know about me ?" Veronica asked still feeling confused, "good question" Daisuke bright expression soon became serious as he looked at her.

"You see someone told me about you Makaya, not everything, but something, you have an ability don't you ?" . As soon as Veronica heard his question, her eyes darkened, She gave him a deadly gaze. "How did you know about that ?" She asked sternly, "Calm down Makaya, I received a text message from one of my trusted friends, saying I should hire you as our assistant receptionist, she gave me some convincing reasons, She also mentioned that you have an ability but did not say what the ability is" Daisuke calmly said. "Ok but can you please tell me who told you all those things" Veronica asked sternly as she began to wonder what she's getting herself into. "Her name is Sharon, I'm pretty sure you are acquainted with her" , "Sharon ? She was my caretaker after I left that vile place" Veronica thought "Maybe he is connected to my first caretaker"

"There's another person who assured me to hire you, I'll call her out now.... You can come out now" . Veronica became astounded when she saw who came out. It was a girl around her age, she had blonde hair which was tied in a bun, emerald eyes, fair complexion and tall. She wore black trousers with a lemon dress shirt which was half tucked in. "This is MJ, anyway I'm pretty sure you guys know each other, she's the one that assured me to hire you though she didn't tell us your ability" Daisuke said just to reassure her, Veronica wasn't listening to what he was saying, she was so shocked by the fact that she was seeing MJ face to face, someone she thought she will never see again. "MJ...Is...That...you ?" She was so astonished that she didn't know what to say again. Daisuke could hear the break in her voice and decided to be quiet for a while to give them space. MJ walk towards Veronica and hugged her tight Veronica did the same
"It's been so long, I'm so happy to see you again" MJ said feeling emotional. "Yeah, it's so nice to see you again" Veronica said. After MJ let go on Veronica, Daisuke explained that the hotel is no ordinary one but serves as a haven for paranormal creatures, in other words, non-humans since the world harbors both humans and non-humans. He also mentioned that lot of the workers here are not human, and how they specialize in solving cases that most of the time, involves the paranormal.
"So apart from being a hotel for the paranormal, you guys also serve as a detective agency that solve cases that cannot be explained by human understanding, in other words, paranormal cases" Veronica said trying to make sense out of everything. "Yes you are right, listen Veronica, there are very few humans that have special abilities, is very important for me to know the abilities of my workers and also I would like to hear your thoughts on your new job, you are free to quit, after all, everything was more of a planned strategy than free will" Daisuke said with a calm expression. Veronica didn't mind the job but she didn't feel comfortable telling him her ability; but when MJ reassured her, she decided to say it.

"My ability in space time manipulation" Veronica said. Both Diana and Daisuke wear shocked by what she said. "Okay then, I welcome you Miss Veronica Makaya as one of us. You can go now" Daisuke said. Veronica thanked him and went out of his office along with MJ.
"That's one heck of a powerful ability" Daisuke said "even though, that Veronica is no ordinary girl". "Why do you say that ?" Diana asked. "Didn't you see the way she looks at me when I asked her about her ability. Despite the fact I kept my composure; I still felt chills running down my spine. Despite her normal appearance, she's obviously the dangerous type" He said.