The Travellers Rest - first few unedited pages of my horror book.

Prologue

The man picked up his case and pushed open the glass doors to the outside, the doorman tipped his cap and said a quiet goodbye before turning to look at the others inside with wide eyes. The rest of the staff stood in the lobby quietly as they watched him leave.

The older woman, her sleeves rolled up and hands on her hips, said “Well!”

The older man, pulling a dog-eared cigarette from the pocket of his coveralls said “well indeed…”

The rest looked at each and the younger woman blurted out “well what do we do now?”

At the same time the young man asked “who will be in charge now?!”

The older woman turned away and rolled her eyes. Oh to be young and dramatic, well she could be dramatic too. “We wait...” she said ominously.

“For the new manager?” The young woman said in response.

“Yup” said the older man lighting the cigarette, the blue smoke curling up to the ceiling.

“Well then!” said the older woman clapping her hands and startling the two younger people before she bustled away, leaving the lobby. Before long the others followed, their own jobs needed doing after all. Soon the lobby was quiet once more, the gentle tick of the clock in soft counter point to the soft hum of the air conditioning, the hotel and its inhabitants felt as though they were holding their breath in anticipation, waiting for the new hotel manager to arrive…

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Chapter one

“Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it” Haruki Murakami

It was a wet winters night when Maeve Caulfield shoved open the door to the wine bar and searched the faces of the crowd for her friend Sheyla, the wind howling as it pushed her through into the steamy, overcrowded bar. Maeve had met Sheyla at night class over three years ago and they had clicked immediately, ending up sat next to each other in that first class. With Maeve’s habit of blurting out whatever thought came to mind, she had had the other woman howling with laughter by the end, it hadn’t helped that she thought the teacher had been an uppity, officious prick and had blurted out that thought straight into Sheyla’s face instead of “hello my name is Mae”

Maeve didn’t have any family left or many friends for that matter. She had grown up with elderly Irish grandparents who were both ten years gone now, she hadn’t known either of her parents except through vague rumours and half heard gossip overheard from friends of her grandparents as she grew up. Though they had made particularly cutting comments when Maeve, as a gothy teenager, had been following in the way of her absent self-destructive parents and they had been used as an example of how not to live her life. It wasn’t until many years later, after ignoring those warnings, after a bad weekend full of arguments and heartbreak, she had finally ended a friendship that over the years had become abusive and painful, it was the that Maeve had had a long look at her life and realised this wasn’t actually the one she wanted. The person she was being wasn’t who she wanted to be and she felt ashamed of herself and that had given her the courage to make some hard decisions. After that she had set out to improve her life starting with not going out and getting sloppy drunk, party high every weekend, she had also cut out all the other people who had enabled her into being someone she just didn’t like. Along with a healthy dose of therapy, exercising a few nights a week to trim herself down and gain a little confidence, she had started to truly like who she was becoming for the first time in her life. Maeve had spent much of her life afraid of different things, things that had spurred her into making unwise decisions. She had fears of being alone, being forgotten and she knew it was up to her to be better, to get better and that day she had decided that enough was enough. She had stopped doing all the things that were harming her and instead did things that made her happy and feel good about herself at the same time, which had been a thing she didn’t think was possible. The next three years of her life had boiled down to studying, exercising, making new friends. It was a day at the end of a hot and uncomfortable summer alone that she had decided to take a chance and start a night class in management and hotel business studies, it was on this course that she had met Sheyla.

Spotting her friend at the back of the crowded room Sheyla gave her a small wave and pointed to the table which Maeve returned with a finger gun and a grin before she began weaving through tables and people towards her. Tall with dark hair, the ends dyed green, Sheyla lit up any room she was in with a confidence that Mae envied. A lot of it was show but not all of it and Mae knew that Sheyla didn’t feel as confident as she looked a lot of the time. That was one of the things they had bonded over one night in this very bar over three years ago after that first night class.

“Maeve! Well?!” Sheyla said with a smile as she half rose from the table, holding her arms out for hug.

Mae leaned over as she put an arm around Sheyla’s shoulders and murmured into her hair “Hey Sheyla.” Before letting go and pulling off her coat, “they said they’ll call me but I totally have it in the bag” she replied confidently as she plonked herself into the seat opposite her friend.

Sheyla squealed and clapped her hands, drawing several glances from nearby bar patrons “Mae that’s awesome! I knew you could do it! Didn’t I say?!”

Mae’s smile turned shy and she ducked her head, not used to drawing so much attention to herself but enjoying it all the same, replying “thanks Sheyla”

As soon as she had graduated, Mae had begun urgently sending out application after application to every hotel listing she could find, mostly looking for a live in position, a job she needed sooner rather than later as she knew her lease was up soon. She had worked hard and knew she was more than good enough to do the job, this week alone she had nine interviews in various hotels in and around the city. It was at the point were she had stopped researching the hotels and just turned up when she was told to, giving what felt like the same answers to almost every question in every place. Today’s afternoon interview had been a little odd, however, it had different questions than the usual but she had smiled and answered and had been sure it had gone well. The interviewer had shaken her hand as she was finished and told her to expect a call in a day or two but assured her she was the best candidate so far, although Mae hadn’t seen any other candidate waiting for an interview as she was leaving. Texting Sheyla as she got on her train, Maeve had mentioned about how weird the interview had been and would explain more when she got to the bar, as she got further away from the hotel she felt less creeped out. Her friend had been nothing but supportive since they had met though, it was like having her own cheerleader and Sheyla was beautiful enough to be a great cheerleader.

When Sheyla smiled and put a hand over Mae’s own, Mae couldn’t help but smile back as Sheyla said

“Girl hush, you deserve it. You’ve worked hard and it’s paying off” Sheyla squinted in thought a moment “well…eventually it will. Tell me about it, your text said it had been weird.”

Mae shook her head in confusion “I dunno.” She said frowning, “all of it I guess, the questions they asked were like lifestyle questions after a while, asking about dependants and family and stuff. I put you down as my next of kin again, that’s ok right?”

Sheyla nodded “Of course” her face serious as she put a hand to her heart “as long as I get your stuff” and they both snorted with laughter. “Actually”” Sheyla said rummaging in her bag and coming up with a small wrapped bundle “a gift for you” she said holding it out to her.

Mae didn’t have any next of kin and happened to mention it to Sheyla whilst they had been in a group study evening, Sheyla had promptly replied she’d do it as long as she got Mae’s stuff when she died and had said it with such sincerity that they had laughed for far longer than the joke warranted. It had only been the two of them guffawing laugher into the groups shocked silence but that was how the two had realised they would be friends outside of the night school. She smiled and took the gift from Sheyla, opening it and reading the title “100 tips for hoteliers…” she said and cracked the cover and read the inscription Sheyla had written

Mae,

I would absolutely swear by this book.

I would absolutely swear by you.

I’m so proud of you.

Sheyla xx

“Oh!” Mae hugged it to her chest. “Oh Sheyla…this is so thoughtful” and Sheyla smiled back at her, don’t cry Mae thought to herself but it was close. Thankfully the waitress arrived with their drinks interrupting the moment and Mae took a deep swallow of her own cocktail the moment she could and felt herself begin to relax, she hadn’t realised how tense she felt until she didn’t anymore. The evening moved on after that and they stayed until late together at the bar until long past midnight. She would pay for it in the morning but she had been celebrating a good interview, several in fact and potentially a new job. It had been a long time since she could go out drinking without feeling the inevitable hangover and vague sense of shame she had felt every weekend that she used to feel, now she could go out and drink and enjoy herself and it was ok, it was ok.

She smiled as she drunke her