17/01/2025

Dear Norton,

It’s me. Alfred. I’ve been looking for you, but I’ve not a clue as to where you are.

I’m here in Peetsurg. At the very hotel you told me about. And yes. It is a strangely wonderful place. But I’m not sure if it is truly as lucky as you say it is. I’ve had some good things happen, but I’m not sure if there is supposed to be a cost to the fortunes I find.

I’ve met someone during my stay here. Just like you, brother. I hope the woman you found has been looking after you. I cannot find you. And so I hope that you are safe.

Please be safe, dear brother. This place is not our home.

I went to the address you gave me, to try to find you. Apparently, you have not yet moved in.

When I contacted the real estate office of your place the other day, they told me you were due to move in two weeks from that day. And when I asked about you, they told me that they had not heard from you since the day you signed the lease. Where have you been?

The real estate office told me that if you do not contact them five days before your move in, they will have to cancel your lease. I hope I can catch you when you do contact them. I’ve already been here in Bzalnia for a week.

I tried to ask the hotel about you. But they have no record of your stay here. I tried to show them the letter you sent me, to clarify the date, but I couldn’t find the damn letter anywhere. I was sure I packed it with my luggage, but it seems I’ve lost the damn thing. So we went and checked their books for the whole of December, but your name or a record of a stay like yours was nowhere to be seen.

I got worried that I had gotten the wrong hotel, but this place fits your description. The dull colours, the writing desks in the rooms, the suspicious looking manager with his deep glare, and even the fancy mailbox outside. It’s all here!

When I asked the weird manager if I could have mistaken this hotel for another, he said, “Hotel Mysteria prides itself as the number one place to write letters in all of Bzalnia,” and pointed outside to the mailbox. That was reassuring. But the fact that I cannot find you, troubles me deeply.

That day was very hard on me. After visiting your new place, the real estate office, asking the hotel, and still no clue about your whereabouts, I got pretty downtroddened. Things haven’t been easy for me ever since Victoria left me. When you told me to come see you at your new place in Peetsurg, I thought some travel would do me good. But I can’t find you. And now I am lost and alone in a strange hotel.

I sat there in my room for a while. My mind wasn’t holding itself up very well. The loneliness wasn’t helping. I saw the writing desk and it pained me. Who was I supposed to write to? You were nowhere to be found, and I had no one to write to back home.

I think in an act of desperation, I decided to write something. A wish. A prayer. I don’t remember what exactly. But I remember how I felt as I wrote it. I was desperate. I wanted company. Anything to soothe my soul of the loneliness. I think I even wrote that I would give my life just to have anything.

Writing it was relieving, but it also made me feel sick inside. I felt pitiful. I felt like I had given up. And I knew sitting alone in the room was not helping.

I made myself leave the room. I knew the hotel had a bar downstairs. Even that was better than sitting in a room all alone.

When I went down to the bar, it was empty. Just the bartender cleaning his cups. He didn’t speak much. So, I just sat to the side with my drink.

I truly don’t remember seeing her enter, but there was a gorgeous young woman at the other end. I swear I would have noticed someone as stunning as her. Full blonde hair and a pretty little coat. Maybe I was too stuck in my head to notice.

She noticed me. I think I was too stunned to say anything, but she came over to talk.

She asked me why I looked so miserable. I guess I couldn’t hide it. I told her about how I couldn’t find you and that I felt lost here. She told me that she felt the same. She was from Beckham, as well. If her hair didn’t give that away, then the way she talked made it clear enough.

We ended up talking for a long while. We really got along. I mean, at first, I was doing most of the talking. But she seemed interested and asked me to continue. It was nice to have someone listen to me talk. I hadn’t felt that for a very long time.

I asked the bartender to get us more drinks, but the man seemed hesitant for some reason. He asked me if I was getting her drinks as well. When I asked if something was wrong, I remember what he said. “It’s dangerous to delight strangers in the night. Wine can make a man vulnerable.” It must have been a Bzalnian tradition. Maybe he didn’t see that she and I were Beckish. Or maybe he was just jealous. And why wouldn’t he be. She grew more gorgeous as the night went on.

Her name was Camira. And she grew up in South Buxton. I asked her if she was with anyone, but she told me that she had lost her love a long while ago. A man from Rizvom, Naldo. She used to live there with him, but since he had gone, she felt lost and alone. I think that’s why we understood each other.

I asked her about what happened to him. All she said was that she lost him to a “tragic accident.” That made her quite upset, so I didn’t ask any more. That’s when I pulled her closer to me. I couldn’t just let a young woman sit there and cry. She found comfort in me. And that’s when our lips met. I wanted her touch as much as she wanted mine. And so we soon found more comfort back in my room.

It has been so long since I had felt a woman’s touch. And the way she moved her body with mine, it must have been a while for her, too. I wanted her to stay the whole night with me, but she seemed in a hurry to go before the morning came. It made me wonder what it all meant to her. But I think now I know that you can’t always tell what you’re in for.

The next day, I went around trying to find how I could get a hold of you. But I didn’t have much to go on. I told the real estate office to contact me here at the hotel if they made contact with you. I also asked the hotel manager again, but he just smiled at me and reminded me that we had gone through everything the day before. None of this has left me in any sort of ease.

That day, once I returned to my room, I found myself in more sudden uneasiness. Camira was in my room. I was shocked to just find her sitting there, almost as if she was just waiting for me.

I got a little scared that she saw that little prayer or wish that I had written. But when I scanned the desk, it wasn’t there.

Then I asked her how she even got in. But she just put her arms around me, and I found myself deep in her lips once again.

Something about her was so irresistable. No matter how much I made love to her, it just seemed like it was never enough. We would, at times, rest, enjoy some drinks, talk, and then all of a sudden make love again. In her embrace, I forgot about everything that was troubling me. My only concern was to satisfy her again. I felt lost in a different world. I had to sit and remember what was even making me so upset before I was with her. That’s when I remembered that I still had to find you, brother.

The windows showed that the sun had already come up. So, I felt happy that she had truly stayed the night with me. But I knew that I had to still try and find you.

I told her that I was going to go and continue my search. But for some reason, I could tell that that had made her upset. It was a strange feeling. It worried me. It was as if she wouldn’t allow me to go.

As nice as I could, I tried to tell her how important it was for me to go and find you. I don’t know why she was so unhappy, but she quickly got up and left.

When I went down to the lobby to see if there was any news of you, the hotel manager gave me a curious look. He said, “Ah. You are okay.” I asked him why I wouldn’t be, and he said he was worried I hadn’t left my room. I gave him that smile and said because they had let a beautiful woman into my room. But the manager didn’t seem to find that funny.

When I asked him what was wrong, he gave me that deep glare. And I won’t forget what he said. “This hotel has a strict policy to respect the privacy of all its patrons. We do not give access to anybody to enter a guest’s room. Only the guest has the power to allow another into their room.”  When I told him that I found Camira waiting in my room, he told me that was impossible because no staff would ever permit such an incident. This began to worry me.

I asked the manager if other guests could find their way into another guest’s room. He again said, “impossible.” That’s when I asked about Camira and how she got in my room. He just said, “You must have allowed her in.”

Then I asked if he knew who I was talking about. The man had no clue. I told him she was the woman I was at the bar with the other night, but he had no clue who she was. He told me she was not a guest.

Something inside me grew frightened. How did she get into my room if they didn’t even know who she was? The manager even looked troubled himself. I told him to call the bartender since he would remember her.

When the bartender came, he recognized me. I asked him about Camira, but he did not know who she was. He had only seen her once, on that night she was with me.

This was all so confusing. I tried to jog the manager’s memory. I said to him that before I talked to him yesterday about rechecking the record books, someone must have let her into my room. That’s when the manager gave me a strange look. He said, “Mr. Alfred. That was three days ago. We haven’t seen you since.”

The manager showed me their records and everything. Three days had truly gone past. Had I been stuck in that room with Camira for three whole days? How? It didn’t make sense. The more I thought about it, the more I grew worried. Something was not right. I could tell that the manager and the bartender were also uneasy.

There was a strange, sinking feeling inside when I thought about Camira. Something frightening. I knew right then and there that I had to stay away.

I asked the manager if he could give me another room. I said I was scared I would find the woman in my room again. He gave me his grave stare and didn’t hesitate to change my accommodation.

I had to go back to the room to get all my things. I was sure I was safe because I remembered Camira had left before I went downstairs to talk to the manager. As I opened the door, I found her sitting there again. I wanted to question it, but I knew better. I had to leave!

She came to me and embraced me in her arms again. Her kiss was so sweet and soothing. I couldn’t help but hold her for a second. But I quickly let go and went to grab my satchel.

When she asked me where I was going, I had to remind her that I was looking for my brother. She grew upset at that. That’s when she put her arms around me again. She told me that she felt alone. And I could feel that what she was telling me was true. I could feel it in her body as she clung to mine, in her warm breath as she called me closer, in her soft lips as they gently touched mine. It was hard to move. I didn’t know what I could do.

My room door opened. In came the manager. “Are you ready to go?” he said. The sight of him infuriated Camira. She gave a spiteful hiss and stormed out past him. I noticed that the manager did not even look at her once. He only looked to me and waited. I don’t know if he realized that he might have just saved me.

I’m in a different room now, on a different floor at the other end of the hotel. I don’t truly know if I am still safe here. In this hotel. In this country. In this life, even. I do not want to think of her. I get a sick feeling when I get the slightest thought. Something was not right about my experience with her. And right now may not be the right time to think about it.

It will be the five-day period before your move in to your new place in a few days. I hope we make contact.

If not, I hope this letter reaches you.

I don’t know if I will stay at this hotel for long. If I move somewhere else, I’ll tell the manager to keep note. Just in case you look for me.

Please reach me soon, Norton. Don’t forget your dear brother.

Sincerely yours,

          Alfred.