by Steve Hester
CHAPTER 4
Manchester. Today.
Cars drifted along the wet roads, throwing up puddles formed by the cold October rain. Manchester was just starting to wake up and the streets were buzzing as people from all over the region made their early morning commutes under grey skies.
Michael Hoffman stood in his boxer shorts and pulled the curtains back from the window of his tenth floor hotel room overlooking Piccadilly Gardens. His eyes scanned the horizon for a moment and then they dropped to the bus station below. He'd not had a very good night’s sleep and the almost constant sound of busses and their idling engines had been the biggest cause of it.
The double glazed windows in his room kept out most of the noise but the rumble of the engines and the random shouts of drunks had been enough to keep nudging him awake and making sure he didn't manage to get a decent rest. His train had been delayed on the way up and there'd been a double booking on his room so by the time everything had been sorted out it had been after one A.M. before his head had hit the pillow.
He let out a sigh and turned back to his coffee. After draining the last few dregs from his cup and turning off the morning news, he slouched off to the bathroom and started the shower.
He had no idea why he'd been called up. All he knew is that a project he'd been working on with one of his colleagues in marketing from the north had come to the attention of their CEO and they would need to make a presentation tomorrow for him and the entire board. At the moment it was still early days and a mess of numbers and half-baked ideas but they still wanted to see it.
That gave the two of them just today to get everything into a place where it made sense and into a format that could be presented to the board. He pinched the bridge of his nose as a slight stress headache manifested itself behind his eyeballs. That was probably caused by lack of sleep too he thought as he wished for a moment he was back in his bed in Essex.
The shower felt warm and soothing as he stepped into the hotels bathtub and, for a few moments, he became lost as the spray gently massaged his skin. He leant forward with his hands on the wall and stuck his head under the jet, savouring this brief feeling of warmth and comfort.
Thirty minutes later he was ready to leave. His luggage hadn't contained much beyond a clean shirt and fresh underwear so packing hadn't taken too long. What had taken a while was crafting his appearance in the mirror. He'd only be in the offices for an hour before leaving to get started on the presentation but he would damned if he wasn't going to leave an impression!
He'd emptied out his tote bag and gone through various aftershaves, moisturisers and hair products to make sure he was looking at his best. A slight grin crossed his face as he realised that he didn't go to as much effort going out on a date as he did looking good for work this morning.
After selecting the right tie and cuff links, he pulled his suit jacket on and took one last look at himself in the mirror. Satisfied with what he saw he gave his cuffs a quick tug and packed up his cosmetics once more.
Slinging his satchel over his shoulder, he gave the room one last look over to check if he'd forgotten anything before grabbing his small suitcase and left, locking the door behind him. The lifts were down the other end of the corridor and as he made his way towards them, dragging his suitcase with the wonky wheel, he became aware of how much quieter it was in the hallway than his room. Tonight at least he'd be in the silent suburbs as the guest of his colleague; he had to be as their work wasn't going to be finished until the very small hours. Michael wondered if he'd even be sleeping at all with everything they had to get through.
He pressed the call button on the lift and then stood back and waited. He needed more coffee, he thought as a large yawn suddenly forced his mouth open so wide he thought his cheeks would split. As if on cue the doors of the lift opened at the same time and he stepped in before hitting the button for the lobby.
The lift lurched very slightly and started its descent as Michael wiped a small tear from his eye that the yawn had created. He watched the numbers on the panel slowly countdown.
As the light for the sixth floor lit up the lift car jerked suddenly to a stop and he stumbled back slightly. He looked about the lift for a moment expecting the doors to open but they stayed resolutely shut. He leant in to the doors and pressed his ear against them, trying to hear voices on the other side but all that came back was the low murmuring hum of a hotel working. He banged his palm against it a few times and shouted through the crack in the doors but there was still no response from the other side.
He tried the door open button on the control panel and the emergency button but both seemed dead. There was a brief moment as the lights flickered and the lift car wobbled sideways slightly. Any anxiety he was having about the day was getting worse and now there was a hint of frustrated anger starting to build up in him too.
An idea hit him and he pulled out his mobile. All he'd need to do was make a search for the hotels phone number then he could speak to the front desk and they could make a start on getting him out. He hit the button on the top of the phone to take it out of standby but nothing happened and neither did anything else on the subsequent tries.
He'd definitely charged it overnight as he'd spent ten minutes after waking up checking his emails and there had been a full bar in his battery meter then. His reflection stared back at him from the blank black screen with a furrowed brow. It took him a moment to realise that there was more than one pair of eyes.
A warm and sour smelling waft of air blew across the back of his neck. Michael's body was suddenly paralysed with fear as whatever it was behind him was wheezing and panting like someone who was suffocating. His hand tilted the phones screen slightly and he looked properly at the creature behind him.
He never got the chance to scream.
A short while later the doors to the lift opened and something that looked an awful lot like Michael walked out, abandoning his luggage. He walked over to the front desk. The desk clerk was wearing her hair in an incredibly tight bun and a name badge that identified herself as Helen.
“Good morning sir!” Said Helen. “How can I help you?”
A hotel key card was slid across the counter towards her. There was something about his eyes that was making her feel strange
“I'd like to check out.” Said Michael.
She picked up the key card and put it into a tray labelled 'check out' before turning back to the man in front of her.
“Will there be anything else, sir?”
“Do you have paper and a pen I can borrow for a moment?”
She reached under the desk again and pulled out a notepad and a ballpoint pen that was missing the cap and gave them to the man across from her. She had only been on since six so she'd missed his checking in but there was something about him that made her feel like she wanted to look after him. His eyes were striking and yet sad.
Helen busied herself on her computer while the man scribbled on the notepad. She glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw he was drawing some kind of odd symbol, which seemed to shimmer and leap out of focus whenever she tried to focus on it. She heard a tear and the man handed the pad and pen back with a smile and walked away.
The noise of the street burst into the lobby as the automatic doors to the hotel opened allowing the man to leave. He walked over to the metal barrier at the roadside and watched the traffic crawl by for a moment or two before he felt a tingle in his hand.
He opened the notepaper and looked at the complicated pictogram he'd drawn in the lobby swirl and change. His eyes flicked over it when they finally settled again and then he smiled.
Now he had his orders.