The Strange Occurrences At The Grand Hotel

Ellie sat alone in the staircase where her bike sat. She was eating a sandwich made from the day old bread from the kitchen with some meat that she packed in her bag that morning. The hotel promoted freshly made bread and other baked goods every day, so even still good bread a day later would either be thrown away or given to the local shelters. It mainly depended on who was running the kitchen that day, but it was a shame to see so much food go to waist some times.

The cement walls made the entire staircase feel cold. Ellie would have sat with her partner at lunch, but since she was gone, there was no one. Everyone was either scared of her, or just had their own friends to sit with. She would have called up Ashley, but her boss gave her a final warning about making personal calls during her lunch time at the store. Ashley worked at some very nice shop in the fashion district. She was able to be around the up and coming fashions, do displays, and also get some good discounts. Ellie always wanted a job like that but she was currently stuck in this stupid place.

The burn mark on Ellie’s hand was starting to sting again and she rubbed it with her other hand. The mark wasn’t going away and the bandage didn’t do anything except hide the mark. She wanted to know what all that was about, but they were supposed to be maids. They could see a stolen box of jewelry sitting on the bed, but were not aloud to touch it. They could even see some famous married man bringing into the hotel whatever chick he finds, but can’t do anything about it.

Ellie very was tempted a few times to call the paparazzi on some things she found in the hotel rooms but then she always remembered that she couldn’t. They had to sign privacy forms before taking on the job. Ellie sighed thinking about that guy. It was Monday. He would be coming back from his half day at school and calling Steven any moment, who then would approach her after lunch about cleaning his stupid two story penthouse suite after a late night party.

Ellie gave a huge sigh and finished her lunch. She cut through the kitchen and walked out to the huge lobby where she ignored that Colter guy. He was there trying too hard hit on one of the receptionists and waved at Ellie. He should know that the receptionists only cared for the life guards. The thought of a maintenance guy as a boy friend didn’t sit too nicely with the beauties that their boss only hired.

The receptionist’s boss came out from the back with her iPad and non-wrinkled everything and shooed off Colter. That was the only time Ellie ever saw that woman with a frown on her red lips. Ellie almost felt bad for her boss Steven. He got all the misfits, weirdos, and questionable illegal’s. That woman, Candice Sunshire, was over the “First Impressions Committee”. She was a forty something woman who would never admit her age and hired people as flawless as her.

Ellie should know, since she tried to apply for a receptionist job with her. Candice really didn’t give her a chance and quickly passed her off to Steven.

“So how long are you going to glare at Candice?” Oliver’s voice asked as he walked up to Ellie.

She turned and joked coldly about till she could see Candice come to work without makeup. Oliver gave a little smile but Ellie just continued on past him to go get her cart. She walked off of the marble floors onto the red carpets that lead off to the elevators and storage rooms. Oliver caught up asking what floor they would be cleaning now.

“Well, normally we would start washing sheets and towels. But since it’s Monday…”

Ellie stopped counted down aloud to when Steven would pass by.

“Ah, Ellie, David called and asked for you to clean his room.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The man walked on with his list of things to do. Ellie sighed and Oliver looked over to Ellie as she went to get the cart.

“David? You mean the owner’s son?”

“Yeah, at sixteen and a real pain in the butt. How long have you been working here?”

“two years.”

“Three,” Ellie said letting Oliver get the cart.

Oliver asked on the way up the elevator why David always asked her to clean his room. Ellie told him that she first did it a year ago because he said that he would give a good tip for her work. However, Ellie told Oliver, the first year she came to work for the hotel; he tried to ask her out.

“He’s five years younger than me. And just because I helped him that one time, he somehow assumed that we would be together forever,” Ellie grumbled half way up the elevator.

She looked over to Oliver and wondered what he was thinking. She felt that she was doing a lot of talking and he wasn’t. Probably because they both felt awkward in their situation. They were forced to work together and both really didn’t know anything about each other either. She didn’t even know his age. She looked down to her hand again and felt a sting.

The elevator doors binged and a new floor above the presidential suits floor. Whenever the owner of the hotels came to town, he would stay up on this floor. Though, currently, it was his son that stayed here. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, she could smell the booze seeping through the door. Oliver even mentioned about the sticky carpet floors. Ellie gave a huge sigh and walked up to the door on the right.

She banged on the door and said her usual “house keeping” phrase. It was silent for a moment. She heard a crash somewhere in the room and swearing. Soon she heard steps coming to the door and it opened to a teenager with an expensive haircut and private school uniform. His eyes looked happy for one second but then turned to a stare the second when he saw Oliver.

“Who’s that.”

“Oliver,” Ellie said waiting for the teen to move so that she could do her job.

He was about to ask about Viviana but moved anyways. His suite was two stories tall, and was like a mini house with bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and huge game room. She didn’t answer any questions he asked her, and went to work on his party wrecked living room. Oliver followed along and they did their routine. David was on the second floor watching carefully the two and Ellie knew that Oliver felt uncomfortable.

“Sorry...” she said quietly with the vacuum he was using.

“About what?”

“Being stuck with the worst partner ever. I wouldn’t mind if you ask Steven for a new one.”
He didn’t respond. She couldn’t tell if he was thinking about doing it, or what. Ellie was used to it anyways. She met Viviana right when she started working at the hotel so they grew to know each other. Ellie felt that it was too hard to start that over again…

After a long afternoon of cleaning that boy’s room, Ellie clocked out and biked home. The apartment buildings Ellie lived in were nice for their budget. The land lord just spent a lot of money just repainting the walls, so every time she walked inside the building, the smell engulfed her lungs. It was better than the rusty smell from before. The small apartment had one huge living and kitchen space with a bedroom and bath off to the when they first walked in. Ashley was home and got Chinese take out for the two of them.

They exchanged stories of the day briefly before they retreated onto the couch for their favorite show. After a long Monday, Ellie was just ready to go to bed. She left Ashley who was watching something else and went to the bathroom. Her hand was now throbbing. The pain would go away sometimes, but then come back again. She took off the bandage to only see that the burn mark only had gotten worse.

She poured water on the hand, but nothing was working. She started to feel light headed and took some aspirin. The pills weren’t working as she stumbled to their bed room. She didn’t even have enough time to climb into her covers as she fell on her twin bed on the left side of the room. She couldn’t feel her hand and suddenly everything around her was gone…