Room No: 102

            The rose flower, in the language of flowers, is a sign of love. But is it so? Have you ever thought its thorns evil? Something whose existence is not to protect the flower but to show its evil side.

Tyra woke up as the morning sun hit her face. Today was her big day. She was going to go to Paris for a job that she applied for. Her dream was to become a fashion designer. She knew that the perfect city for this job was Paris. She had learned a bit of French that she thought would come in handy. She had to board the plane at 5:00. She got ready and changed into her winter clothes. It was snowing outside. While there were kids outside playing outside with the snow, she had to worry about her job interview. Of course, she was too grown-up for those things. Still, she liked to play with the snow. She had also bought her design along with her if they asked for it. She felt this feeling in her tummy that butterflies were swarming around it. She took a deep breath and called a taxi. She got into it and set for the airport. She hated to sit in the taxi and wait for it to reach the airport. She had to wait anyway as she lived in the middle of the city.

 When she finally reached the airport, she came out of the taxi with joy and paid the driver. She completed the usual formalities and finally got into the lounge. She bought a Pepsi. She started to read the new book she got as a gift. She had been so engrossed that when the person next to her coughed. She looked up from the book abruptly. It appeared that the person did not want to say anything. She looked up from the book to stare at the planes. She liked to watch the planes take off slowly. 

 Just then, the call for boarding the plane sounded from the speaker. She stood in the line and waited for her turn. The person next to her was pushing her consistently. She looked at him with a stare that was enough to freeze someone. How insensible some people are, she thought. She showed her boarding pass to the air hostess and got ready for the plane. She went on the bus to the plane she was supposed to go on. The bus rumbled on until it reached the plane. After a few minutes, she was seated in the window seat (which was her favourite seat from when she first went on a plane). Next to her was a man who was sleeping and drooling. Yuck, she thought. She had to get to her seat very carefully and also had to avoid stepping in the man's foot that he had extended to a very large length. She sat and instantly thought of ordering something. 

Tyra was the biggest foodie in her family. Magically, she stayed slim even though she only did a small amount of exercise a day. She did not brag about the fact because if she did, then this quality of hers may disappear. Like it did for her older brothers. She thought that it would be better if she ate a little later. She started to read her book. When she just entered the thrilling part, the air hostess asked her if she wanted to take something from the trolley. She hastily ordered a fruit juice. She liked to sip the fruit juice and read a thrilling book. If it felt too thrilling for her, she kept the fruit juice down and read the book instead. 

After a long while, she felt tired. It was very uncomfortable to sleep. Before, she used to sleep in her mother's lap. But now those memories seemed to feel very precious. The only person who did not tell anything when she did not sleep was her father. She fell asleep anyway. 

When she woke up, they had reached the airport. She gathered her things and climbed the plane down. She collected her suitcase. She came out of the airport. This airport was so very different from the one in her city. This was, of course, the airport Orly which is located in the south. She called a taxi. "Hotel Marigold," said Tyra. "Oui," replied the driver. She got into a taxi. The driver drove her to the hotel. She verified it with the address. "Merci beaucoup," said Tyra. She paid the money and headed towards the hotel. Google map made it so much easier, she thought.

It had a rather grand lobby. The lobby had two desks, check-in on the left, and a check-out on the right. Tyra went to the check-in and asked for the hotel room she had booked for herself. It appeared that only room number one hundred two was empty when was booking her room. This was of course good in one way as the hotel had many guests, which meant this was a good hotel. Tyra was satisfied that this room was at the side of the hotel that meant it had very big windows that were directly under the garden. Tyra was shown to her room. It was a room that was elegant, modern, and well balanced. As a fashion designer, Tyra always had to think about the color and the combinations of color. This room, in her opinion, was indeed excellent. It had a vase at the left side of the door and a couch and the right. There was a bed in the middle of the room. There was also a small table at the side of it. There was a large wardrobe on the right side of the bed. The last thing was a bathroom that had a beautiful door on which the tree of life was carved. There was a model of the Eiffel Tower at the side of the bathroom on a small table. There was also a painting of a pheasant girl plucking flowers from a rose bush at the top of her bed. The painting was conveniently high up the bed so that it would not bump into the heads of sleepy guests. The eyes of the girl were sad and quite emotional. 

The first thing she did was to take a bath. She came out of the bathroom and changed her clothes. She then checked out the garden the woman talked about. She found out that the garden was a patch of ground filled with weeds and a decent rosebush at the corner. Tyra's hope garden view from the window was gone. She suddenly felt her tummy rumble. She realized that she was very hungry. She decided to have her lunch. 

Tyra first asked if there were any salads or sandwiches. He said that it was available on the menu. They had, of course, forgotten to give her the menu. After a while, she got the food. She relished it and ate it. While she was walking towards her room, she heard a booming laugh. Intrigued, she went towards the noise. 

She saw a pair of players playing a game of cards. She sat at a distance and watched them play. It was almost evening when they got up. She decided to go to see the Eiffel Tower as it looked the best at night. She never thought that she would be able to see the Eiffel Tower in her life. It was a feeling of curiosity about how it looked in real life. She only saw pictures of it in scrapbooks and magazines. 

She got out of the hotel and called a taxi. "Eiffel Tower," she said. He nodded his head and motioned her inside. She sat inside the car and set off towards the Eiffel Tower. When she reached, she gave the driver the money and turned around. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It was overflowing the street with light. It stood towering and independent over the heads of many. She took some photos and posed in front of it. She also walked around it many times. 

Before reaching the hotel, she sat in a cafe and ordered a coffee. She was not even sure that people would drink coffee at this time. She ordered it anyway. She returned to the hotel.

 She decided on her outfit for tomorrow and also did a few dress designs. After that, she read the book and was going to go to sleep when she heard a ripping noise. It sounded as if the plaster was slicing open. Her heart skipped a beat. She looked over her shoulder. She saw a finger coming out of that plaster of the wall. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. It was not there. I must be sleepy, she thought. She pulled over her blanket and fell asleep immediately. 

The next day, There was a commotion outside the room. She hurried out wearing her t-shirt and sneakers. There was a small crowd just next to her room. She decided that she will get a better knowledge of this incident after she was done with her stuff. She finished doing a bath and was dressed properly when she thought of asking the waiter about the happenings inside the hotel. She hurried down the stairs into the dining room. She ordered her breakfast and asked the waiter what had happened. 

“There was death mademoiselle. In the room just next to you. We are taking the dead body for a postmortem. I think you just came now to eat?” asked the waiter.

“Yes”  replied Tyra. “Then I think you should line up for the questioning”. After saying this the waiter returned to the kitchens. 

“Oh and also one more thing mademoiselle. There are not as many people in this hotel as it seems. Everyone will be a suspect, even me”  after saying this the waiter returned to the kitchens. 

Tyra thought this was very unfortunate as she had her interview today and also very early. She thought that she could give this excuse and there would also be proof of it. She asked another waiter where she would have to line up for the questioning. He pointed at a room just below the staircase.  She nodded and went towards it.  she paused and searched for a line but there were none. She sighed happily and went towards the door. A woman was sitting in a police uniform. what's your name she asked  “Tyra” she replied. The woman nodded and noted it down. 

 Did you see anything last night she asked?  No replied Tyra hesitantly as she thought of the ripping noise she had heard last night. Of course, if he’d say about that incident then the woman would think her mad. She kept quiet about this matter. “Were you there in the hotel during the evening ?” asked the woman in a bored voice. “Yes I went to visit the Eiffel Tower” replied Tyra. “Do you suspect anyone?” asked the woman as if this was the answer she had been waiting for. “I just came now so I don’t know anyone. I don’t even know who had been killed” said Tyra. The woman nodded and let her go. She thought of how late she would be when she reached the office. 

She went to her room. She sat there and opened her laptop. Tyra had a habit of checking her mailbox every morning. She just couldn't do without it. It was a good choice for her to sit and check her email because there was one indeed. One which was very important. It read that, ‘the interview is postponed to the next day because of the issue’. 

Tyra felt relieved. This meant that she had more time to prepare for the interview. She had been very nervous about it. She thought about how to spend the day. She decided to just walk around the hotel and then think about it. She was just going to go to the lobby when she heard a sound. “So ladies and gentlemen this was the rose bush I was talking about.”

Intrigued. She looked out of the window. She saw a man who was very old. She had seen this man in the posters stuck outside the walls of some unwanted buildings. His name was Pierre. 

He had an agency with people who tell a story. She had decided to go to this agency to book a day but forgot about it. She went downstairs to the lobby and caught some words. “Thank you for coming gentlemen so today’s end is here.” 

How disappointing Tyra thought. She entered back and found an old woman sitting and drinking coffee. Then an unusual thing happened. The woman looked at her and called Tyra to her table. Tyra didn’t think that she knew this old lady yet she had such an aura that it was simply impossible to refuse. 

The old lady had wispy white hair and unlike other ladies sitting in the salon, she left her hair free to touch the floor. She wore a stylish trench coat and a pair of boots. Tyra walked towards the table and sat on the side of it on a chair. 

“You were trying to listen to the tale, weren’t you? Well, I am going to tell you the tale for free if you want. I know it very well.”

            “Yes please,” said Tyra. She didn’t know anything else to say. “There lived a couple on the outskirts of France. They were almost leaving the hope of having a child when it happened just so.”

The woman paused to take a sip from the coffee. “They named him Argus. The family grew closer until the father had to go away for some work. One day, as innocent little Argus was stepping over the stairs for the first time in his life. Or may we say crawled? He came across a hedge. There was a strong wind blowing in the sky. and the mother was sewing. When she reached out to she realised that there was no Argus in the cradle. She hurried out in search of him. Argus appeared to be very near to the rose hedge. The mother hurried to pick up the baby as she was worried about him getting pricked by the thorns. As she got nearer to the baby, a stone made her trip over and fall on the baby. She appeared to have not fallen over the baby but over the rose bush, a drop of blood had fallen over Argus. Just then a thunder roared and there was heavy rainfall. The mother hurried and got the baby inside. She laid the baby in the cradle. The mother had gone to a shady part of the well which was a deep one. She started to take the water out of it so that there would be enough clean water in the house after the rain. Little Argus walked astonishingly fast towards his mother and there was a sort of evil aura that came inside of Argus. He suddenly pushed his mother into the well and went back to the cradle. There was a shout and then it happened. 

His father returned and Argus was forced to marry a pheasant woman. Which was done forcefully, so he murdered her also. Before that of course, she gave birth to a little girl called Rebecca. Argus killed her too and after that he killed himself. The evil aura of the thorns doesn’t last long so it is an assumption that he did suicide out of grief.” 

The woman stopped talking and sipped her coffee. “Who told you all of this?” asked Tyra. “It has been passed down for generations by word of mouth” replied the woman. “Oh!” replied Tyra. she always had the assumption that whenever a story had been passed from the word of mouth, there would be a lot of mistakes. This seemed genuine. 

They both sat quite awkwardly fiddling with something or the other and then finally Tyra gave an excuse to go to her room. She got up and went to the garden instead of her room. She did not plan to go there but it just got into her mind. She thought of the rose bush she had seen there and then remembered the story the woman had told her. Now she suddenly realised that it had been quite childish of her to go and listen to a story from an old woman. She felt a little ashamed inside. She then consoled herself by thinking that it was the woman who had offered her to tell the story. 

She had almost gone close to the garden when a waiter came from over there. It was the waiter whom she had met in the morning. He seemed quite irritated and there was not a happy look on his face as she had seen earlier. It was quite full of hatred. He paused and looked at her. Then she just asked him, “Is it not allowed to come here.”

Tyra was shocked by the reply she got “Hors de ma vue” said the waiter. She had been quite sure that it meant to get out of my sight. 

She was wondering about the behaviour of the waiter when she noticed that she was quite close to the rose bush she had hoped to see. She noticed that the area was quite smaller than she had seen from the balcony. There was a hypnotic sound that followed a slow beat. It was coming from the rosebush. A soft but present sound was playing in her ears. She slowly swayed in the rhythm. She walked slowly but steadily. She reached out to touch the thorns. It seemed it erased all fears out of her mind. She was inches away from the thorns. She wanted to touch it so dearly. A sudden madness evoked inside of her. She reached out further. There were withered roses on the side of the thorns. The thorns were so very tempting. 

An automobile gave a loud jerk and stopped in the middle of the road. There were screams heard from the road. Tyra came back to her senses. She hurried out of the hotel and hurried out to see what had happened. 

The black car had the front lights smashed by another car which was navy blue. The man above forty stood in front of his car and was waving his hand with anger up the man standing right opposite to him who had a guilty feeling. There was a crowd of people gathered around these two men. Some of them supporting one of the persons. There were also many residents of the hotel. Tyra stood next to a waiter. The discussion was happening in rapid French. Tyra needed to brush up on her friend a little bit more since she took the time to understand each word. She couldn't understand any word so she went back to her room to illustrate some more dresses.

 She was almost finished with the dresses. She had to go to her interview tomorrow morning. She now understood the meaning of ‘So much to do So little time’. She sighed and turned off the lights. 

She was about to put on her eye mask when she heard the same ripping noise. She turned her head to see that a faint outline of a body was seen. She couldn’t bear it anymore. There was an uncomfortable feeling inside of her like she felt every time she was scared. She took out her penknife. She was about to go towards it when it came out. It was like a mummy unwrapping itself from hundred years old bandages. A slight tear was appearing on the outlines of the body. Slowly but steadily. It came out. Tyra’s mouth was dry. She could feel her heartbeat. Her breaths were shivery. Her penknife dropped from her hand as she saw the horror within. 

It was a woman. Her eyeballs popping out of her sockets. Veins were surrounding the eyes. There was no nose on her face, instead, there was a bone that should have been surrounded with flesh. On her lips, were pinpricks of a fang. There were veins on her head, along with strands of hair. She had long bony fingers that held a long rope. She wore a flimsy nightdress that had tears in them. She had long bent legs that, to her horror, had no feet. The woman slowly advanced towards Tyra. The rope seemed strong as a chain. She was limping as she walked towards Tyra. Tyra ran towards the door. She tried to push it open. It was locked. She turned slowly to face the woman. She suddenly felt her life flash in front of her. Was she going to live? Her breaths were turning shivery. She kept her hand on the handle of the door. The woman was now very close to Tyra. Suddenly the woman stopped. She pulled the rope upwards and slowly placed it in Tyra’s neck. Tyra had no more, the strength to move. She gave up. She felt the rope tighten around her neck. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to catch her breath. She could breathe a little. The woman stood in front of the door as it opened. Tyra felt herself being dragged. Her head thudding with each step. Every time her head was touching the floor, there was an intense pain that shot through her skull. The woman started to walk slowly towards the garden. She seemed to walk through walls with ease. They reached the rose bush. Tyra thought of Argus, how he pushed his mother into the well. How cruel he could have been to his mother. She felt it was better to die than to live with hatred inside of her. She thought of tomorrow's interview. She was surprised that she could think of her interview at this moment. Then she realised, it didn’t matter to her anymore whether she died or lived as she knew what was her fate. She felt a thorn prick into her shoulders. The rope tightened around her neck a little bit more. But she didn’t know what was going to happen next. The woman pulled her up to the level of her knees and then threw her far away from the rose bush. It was astonishing that the thin woman had so much strength. The woman stood in front of her. Her hands raised. She took the thorn out of Tyra’s shoulders and then pricked into her’s. She then opened her mouth and pulled in the air of evil from Tyra’s soul.

            The morning light painfully struck in her eyes. There was a sudden flash of memory and everything came back to her. She got up and looked around confused. She was in the garden. She looked around if she could find the rose bush. It right there giving auras of evil. She wasn’t going to be tempted now. She laughed to herself and looked at her watch. It was almost time for the meeting. She suddenly remembered the waiter’s words. “Everyone will be a suspect, even me.” 

By Wrishika Ghosh,October 2020, Bengaluru