07/04/2025 

To my beautiful Alice, 

Is all well back home, my dear? As you can tell, I am live and well. And I have a feeling you were expecting a letter from me, weren’t you. 

This place is truly different to Vrasnic. I can feel it. Your homeland is a strange, old place. I feel that there are other things that are at play here that one cannot see with the eye. I don’t how to describe it, but the people, places, and even the air, it’s all different here in Bzalnia. 

This hotel, for one… I remember you telling me of the place with the magical mailbox. I just didn’t think this place was real. And now I know why you guys chose for me to stay here. I was scared when I first arrived as to why I was at such an old place. I honestly thought the cab brought me to the wrong hotel. But as soon as I met the hotel manager, he made me sure I was in the right place. I wonder if he is the same one you talked about. 

I went out to explore the city on my first day here. I went to the Peetsurg Market. That place had that old and traditional feel, just like the hotel. I didn’t buy anything. I almost did, but now I feel it’s lucky that I didn’t. 

Near the center of the market there was this small, strange, jewellery shop. You know, those kinds with the crystals and things you don’t like. The shop owner was this strange old lady. The old dear was kind and friendly. She could somehow tell several things about me, like what month I was born, that I worked in law, that I had four older siblings, and that my parents passed away. She would touch my arm in this weird way. She rubbed and pinched at my elbow. She also offered me a necklace for free. But I refused. The poor thing. It looked like her shop wasn’t doing too well. 

When I got back to the hotel, that’s when I started to notice how different things were in Bzalnia. 

As I walked in through the lobby, the hotel manager was watching me. He stopped me and then asked if I had been to the market. When I told him I did, he asked me to have a shower. Not in my room, but in the shower in their staff area. He told me to leave my clothes behind as well, and they’d wash them and return them to my room. I was confused at first, but then he told me that a plague or a virus had broken out at the market. So I understood all the procedures. 

The manager then pulled out this bottle of some strange oil. He said to use it to clean any areas where anybody had touched me on the skin. The strangest part is when he started to demonstrate how to use the oil. He gestured getting the oil, and then rubbed it deep into his elbow. I thought it all a coincidence at first, but now I’m starting to believe otherwise. 

I finally met your father yesterday. I think he really likes me. We met at his villa just outside of town. The place was enormous. You never told me you guys lived like royalty here in Bzalnia. But then again, since he is the main realtor in this county, it makes sense. 

We enjoyed lunch at this lovely diner that you apparently love near Peetsurg Market. Everything seemed fine and well until I told your father that I went to the market. Something in his attitude changed at that. He then asked me if I had met anyone at the market. I told him about the old lady. 

Your father told me she owned the second oldest shop in the market. And that she would always hassle and demand that he give her the entire main area in the middle of the market. 

Your father’s attitude had really changed. He had us go straight to the hotel after the meal. I knew something was going on. 

The hotel manager and your father seemed very close. Something happened to the manager last night. I heard a lady screaming in the night, then something that sounded like a rough fight. The manager’s face was all cut and bruised. Your father embraced him with deep concern. 

The two had a pretty deep chat about something. I had to sit and wait in the lobby for a while. I also felt at one point they were talking about me. I saw them look at me and agree on something. Hopefully it was just about our upcoming wedding. 

When your father finished with the manager, he then told me that he would be staying at the hotel as well until we both made our trip down to Vrasnic. 

Things were strange. I asked why he was not asked to have that special shower in case of the virus, but he told me there was actually no such virus. 

The phone lines also apparently went down in the city. This was stressing your father out because he couldn’t organize anybody to get his things for his stay at the hotel and our eventual trip to Vrasnic. Luckily the hotel manager offered one of their drivers to help him get everything done tomorrow morning. 

I was confused about all of this. I thought once I met your father, I would be staying with him at the villa. But when I asked him about it, he seemed quite serious and told me that we would be most safe here at the hotel. He wouldn’t really explain what was going on. But he seemed worried about something, so I had to trust him. 

It all sort of started to make sense after he mentioned something to me. Apparently, that old lady I met at the market was the grandmother of your ex-fiancé. I know I never asked much about him, but I think I might understand now why you never talked much about him, or who he was. There was definitely something strange about that old lady. There’s something strange about other things too. 

I remember that you told me that the hotel manager used to look after you when you were young. I figured he must have been a different guy than the one here now, because the manager here doesn’t look a day older than me. He’s young and fit. And that confuses me, because your father then told me that this same man used to look after him and his father when they were young. Just how old is he? 

Your homeland is strange, Alice. But it seems like we are safe here at the hotel. I hope we make it back to Vrasnic. Your father misses you. I miss you. We’ll see you soon. 

Love from your dear, 

Louis 

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