Chapter 1

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Breathe in, breathe out. Be calm. I have to be calm.

I jump as the elderly man opens the door from inside the building. He smiled at me as I entered. It's not a genuine smile, it's thin and tight - the kind you give to people when you are paid to be polite. These smiles aren't uncommon in the compound, but to the random stranger who just wandered in believing this place is actually a hotel, it would seem normal. Most of the staff here don't like to see beyond what they hear about us. They think we are freaks of nature, and I guess we are, in some ways.

I feel the panic that has been settled in my stomach rise again as I ask the disguised security guard behind the reception desk what room I'm in. Unlike all the other disguised security guards, this guy has a shaven head and muscles the size of my head, he looks at me, one eyebrow raised and asks a question I hadn't heard in a long time.

"Did you book a suite?"

The question takes a few minutes for me to process, this all seems so distant. Hadn't it only been three years since I was last here? How did he not know me? More importantly, what did it mean to book the suite again.

"I, uh, what?" I asked, struggling to form an answer. I can't admit to not knowing the meaning of the security questions in the lobby. This place is buzzing with people and risking such a question could lead to my execution.

"Shall I ring housekeeping?" He asked when he saw my confusion. Housekeeping is high end security. He's going to call through and check my ID with them, I guess. They must have changed the security questions without giving me prior notice.

"Yes please, my name is Winnie Graetell" The guard arches an eyebrow at my name, just like every other person does. Winnie is exactly a common name anymore.

"And do you have some ID to back that up, ma'am?"

I quickly hand over my top-secret-government-purposes-only ID over. The ID has a string of numbers on it, the organisation logo, a black white photo of myself and my real name, Уинни Елкин, and Uinnie Yelkin written underneath. For a moment I worry that I have done something wrong. The security guard seemed almost hesitant to call through to high end security.

"Hello, this is Jeremy, I have a young lady in the lobby here who goes by the name Winnie Graetell here. She thinks you may have accidentally bundled up a diamond bracelet that fell off whilst she was sleeping" It's hard to curb the smile forming on my lips. I may only visit this place infrequently, but some things are still the same. From my first visit, the lobby clerk has always been named Jeremy, and if an outsider was listening in on this conversation, it would make absolutely no sense.

"I'll send Alan up with her ma'am" Alan -whose real name is Xavier- is a highly trained security guard disguised as a bell hop. At the sound of his fake name, he strolls over from where he had been waiting patiently. At least I recognise a friendly face here. I think that Xavier has been working as one of the six lobby security guards for about ten years, joining when he was only a muscly nineteen-year-old.

"Good to see you again Winnie" he said, placing a hand on my shoulder to guide me to the suitcase trolley. Him pushing me had always been a tradition of ours - and every time he was scolded because it isn't the behaviour expected in a five star hotel, no matter how fake it is.

"Now remind me, how old are you again?" To any stranger in the lobby it would seem like he was a worker who had known me for a long time due to regular visits and they wouldn't be entirely wrong. But what he is really asking is, what age are you now?

"Just turned seventeen" I say like it's something I should be proud of.

"Seems like you were only twelve three years ago" he says like he's reminiscing. But it's true.

You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Apr 29, 2014 ⏰

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