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Chapter Two some restrictions but not as many or as strict. Cars were still the most popular mode of transport. The taxi stopped outside a grubby looking tall building. The name flashed down one side of it in red neon letters. We've booked ourselves into a strip club, I thought dramatically. Our luggage was taken out of the car, the driver was paid and then Lucy and I walked into the hotel. My heart sank again. The pictures Lucy and I had been shown on the hotel's website did not match up to the dirty, bland reception area we found ourselves in. I told myself not to panic. The room would be better. The reservation was under Lucy's name - a twin room because even when we'd been safe and brave back in Britain we had known that we wouldn't want separate rooms. The desk clerk smiled and handed us our keys - third floor, she told us. She pointed at a rickety lift behind and I tried to hide my look of fear behind a fixed smile. As Lucy and I climbed into the lift I heard a group of Scottish travellers checking in. I felt a moment of relief. A part of home had come with us. Then the doors swung shut and the lift lurched dangerously. Despite how hot and sick we felt both Lucy and I laughed and clung to the side of the lift. It came to a stop with a thunderous bang and when the doors opened Lucy ran out. "Wait for me," I nearly screamed, so sure the doors would shut and I'd be stuck in the lift going to God knows where. Lucy put a hand against the door and I struggled out with the heavy green suitcase. Together we dragged the luggage along the carpeted floor and I pointed down to the end of the hall where a door stood open on the night sky. "At least we know where the fire escape is." It was the only time I felt excited. A tiny flicker of excitement that one night I'd be standing at that open doorway, smoking and watching the city move beneath me. Then we turned the corner and found our room. Unlocking the door was my job and then I pushed the heavy object open with my back. Lucy walked in first and I heard her sigh. I didn't |
think there was any further down for my heart to sink but when I walked into the room I found there was yet another floor beneath the basement. The room was, as the reception had been, nothing like the pictures had promised. Dirt and grime coated the walls, two old beds were pressed against either corner of the room and a crumbling chest of drawers ran the length of one wall.
I walked into the bathroom and found a dirty sink and an even dirtier bath with a suspicious looking showerhead hanging over the top of it. I looked down at the toilet - it was tiny. Backing into the main area of the room again, I found Lucy already sitting on the rusty stool by the piece of furniture that was meant to be a chest of drawers. She looked moody again. "Where's the air conditioning?" I asked. I felt so hot and sick. Lucy pointed to a brown box mounted on the windowledge next to her bed. I went over to it and turned a few knobs and pressed some buttons. The only thing it did was groan loudly and let in a tiny flutter of warm air. "Open the windows," I said. "I'll die in here if I don't get some air." We both tried every window in the room and they were all locked shut. I wondered if the hotel had a history of suicidal tenants. I could understand why the hotel would make them want to jump. Teary and tired, I collapsed onto my bed and stripped off every piece of clothing except my boxer shorts. If Lucy had not been in the room then they would have been cast aside, too. "Let's try to sleep," Lucy suggested. It was only seven o'clock in the evening but to our bodies and minds it felt more like midnight. To sleep as soon as we arrived had been our original plan and, despite the heat, I knew I was tired. I lay star-shaped on my bed and closed my eyes. I fell asleep straight away. |