The Ghosts Of The Far Away Past

The Crimson Snow

The phone in my hotel room went off, making me roll over, and slide off the edge of the bed. Dazed and disorientated, I crawled my way to the desk and dragged it down from the table where it had been standing.

"Hello, Miss" A masculine voice said in the end of the line. "There is a gentleman here to see you"

"Who is it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes with the free hand. I made a small groan as I did it and leaned onto the end of the bed behind me. Hearing the phone rattle, before distinct voices talking back and forth, before the man who had woken me from my slumber returned.

"A Mr. Eccles is here to see you"

"I'll be right there" I said, trying to place the phone back. Unfortunately, I was so out of sync with my own body that all I was able to do, was to slide it over the stand and accidentally half hurling it across the room. "fuck" I whispered as I stood up to my feet and had a look at the clock. 6 A.M... Who wakes people up 6-in-the-freaking-morning?! Besides Mr. Eccles. Maybe I should call him Mr. Ekky?

I stumbled up to my feet, gathered the little of my balance that I could, and stumbled into the bathroom. I turned the shower on and the temperature to cold. You must be thinking "what kind of a sick human are you", but for me, this is the ONLY way to wake up when I can not have coffee at once when I wake up.

As the cold water hit my body, I screamed from the cold, mixed with pleasure, rubbing the cold water in my face.  I could literally feel the drowsiness peel away from me. I closed my eyes and took one last dive under the shower with my face, before stepping out. Now, also, who could do this in the middle of the winter? If that is your question, I have no other option than to raise my hand slowly.

Wrapping myself up in a towel, before walking out to the room, having one extra look at the mess that unfolded itself in front of me. The suitcase was thrown to one side of the room, wide open and with my clothes scattered around the floor, as well as the cover and pillow from the bed. It looked like a bomb had dropped, hurling my belongings to any and all locations you can think of.

I groaned at my own mess and found a pair of jeans, a thick sweater and my wool coat, before slipping my shoes on and walked on with my purse in one hand. This better be good! I thought to myself as I hurried down the corridor of the hotel and pressed the button to make the lift come to my floor. No way was I going to stumble down a set of stairs.

The lift pinged once, before the doors opened, pouring an elderly couple out of it, before I stepped in. I pressed the bottom that said "L", and felt the lift started to move down.

The only thing that kept me upright, was the thought of a possible coffee before I headed out to the god's-forsaken-mansion. Sweet, seductive coffee. Steaming cup of heaven. Warm mug of comfort. Any name you want to give it. But coffee is my force, if I can say so.

The lift pinged, opening the doors, which drew me out of my stream of thoughts. A man in a grey woolen coat, green scarf and a black fedora hat in his hand was standing by the desk in the lobby, talking to the man behind the counter. "... She sounded like I just woke her up, I am sure she's here soon"

"I guess it is Mr. Eccles" I said, streching my hand out to greet the man as I approached him. Mr Eccles was a middle height man, brown curly hair, combed back into a slick hairstyle. His grey eyes gave an impression of tiredness and weary.

"Yes, you must be Mcnaught" Mr. Eccles said with a raspy voice. "My friend Ben said you are the best at what you do"

"Did he now?" I asked, lifting one eyebrow as I followed Mr .Eccles to the restaurant. We took a seat by a two-seated table, looking at each other with expectations. "So, tell me what I need to know"