The Revival

4. Living with the Past

She stuffed all her essentials in her bag and walked towards the door. "You can do this!", she told herself and turned the knob.
As she stood there, outside the gate of the Amethyst Hotel, thoughts started to fill her head-thoughts about her college days, how nobody used to talk to her, her being blamed for the unusual mishappenings, how it were her parents who were her only strength. Her parents. They were, now, dead. She was alone in this dark world and wide. She had nobody waiting at home, for her. There was nobody to congratulate her for this first job. She missed them but was still happy. Her thoughts took her back to that night, her 19th birthday.
Her being astonished at the unbelievable words of her parents and then their lying motionless in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.

After finally walking in, she told the receptionist, "Emily Maddison. I'm here to meet the manager". The receptionist made a call and asked her to wait.
She sat on the couch and picked up a magazine. She looked around the room. It was like any other hotel. The lobby had glass doors in the front and the receptionist sat behind a long desk. The ceiling was quite high and the room was well lit. There were numerous beautiful paintings that hung on the beige walls.
A man of mid thirties was seated beside her and was busy reading the Guardian.
"Emily Maddison, tenth floor".
It was her turn.
She took the elevator, walked till the end and found the words 'Manager' outside a room. She knocked and was asked to come in.
A man was seated on a chair with his back towards her. He was probably looking out through the glass wall.
"Sit", he said.
Emily, hesitatingly sat on one of the chairs, opposite his, across the table.
He turned.
Emily saw that he was a man in his forties.
"Hello, Ms. Maddison, I'm Charles Hugo. Let's begin", he said.
'The interview went well, atleast', Emily thought.
As she stood up to leave, he said,
"Ms. Emily, I know who you are.
I look forward to working with you".
Emily turned and quickly walked outside the door.