The Bellman

Your browser lacks required capabilities. Please upgrade it or switch to another to continue.

Loading…

<<audio lobbymusic play>> Late one afternoon as dusk was setting over the landscape and lights started to flicker on around the downtown area, the hotel was operating normally, waiting for all of its guests to return to their rooms and retire for the evening. The front desk attendant and the bellman were shooting the shit as traffic of [[hotel|lobby]] guests flowed throughout the lobby.

The hotel had been receiving more business than it was accustomed to, coincedentally around the same time the new [[bellman]] was hired. Management could not pinpoint the cause of the recent spike in hotel occupancy, but obviously they were not complaining. The hotel was attracting guests from various economic and cultural demographics and seemed to be sold out almost every night. The only thing that the managers of the hotel seemed skeptical about was the fact that most guests were only staying for one night, but as long as the rooms were filled and guests were happy, they did not seem to care.

The new bellman was much more attentive and compassionate towards guests than any bellman in the past. He helped nearly every guest with their luggage even if it were just one suitcase. Every time a guest would check out of the hotel, they would always rave about how helpful the bellman was. Management loved the new bellman just as much as guests did because [[business within the hotel was booming in recent months.]]

Business was booming so much that when people would try to make reservations and the hotel was sold out, they were starting to become increasingly aggressive and violent. Verbal threats were issued over the phone and in person to innocent front desk attendants, and some physical altercations were starting to unfold between potential guests and hotel management. People really wanted to stay at this hotel and were beginning to not accept no for an answer. Management was concerned with the increased irritability of guests that could not book a room at the hotel, so they held a [[meeting]] with the majority of the hotel staff.

Management expressed their concerns to their employees and encouraged anyone with information or ideas regarding the increased [[hotel|Front desk]] guest hostility to please come forward. No one seemed to have a clue.

Mr. Bennett just finished checking into the [[hotel|lobby 2]], and the bellman was assissting with his luggage up to his room. Their banter in the elevator was friendly, even though Mr. Bennett seemed rather on edge. They made it to his room, and the bellman entered in after Mr. Bennett. "Alright Mr. Bennett, here is your luggage, and here is your bag", said the bellman. "Thank you, I can't tell you how much I've been needing this."

"Excuse me, let me put you on hold for a moment, there is a policeman here", the front desk attendant told the customer on the phone. A police car had pulled in to the circle drive in front of the hotel with its sirens off. The front desk attendant was intrigued, but not worried, as he had seen cops come through the hotel for various reasons throughout the years. "Checking in?", the front desk attendant joked as the cop approached the desk. "No", replied the officer, lacking any sense of humor in his voice, "we have been tracking activity going on in your hotel regarding distribution of illegal substances, where is your bellman?" "He is helping a guest [[upstairs]] with their luggage at the moment, he should be down shortly, please feel free to take a seat in the lobby."

"Front desk to bellman", the bellman heard on his walkie talkie as he was leaving Mr. Bennett's room. "[[Bellman|contemplation]] here, go ahead front desk." "A cop is down here in the lobby looking for you, so get down here as soon as you finish up with the guest."

The bellman was stuck, he had never been caught before and he did not plan on letting this time be the first time. He did not know whether to take the [[elevator]] down and talk to the cop, which he knew would lead to his arrest, or take the emergency exit [[stairs]] and try to flee the scene.

The bellman took the elevator down to the lobby where the cop was awaiting his arrival. "Come with me son, you're under arrest for distribution of illegal narcotics, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law...", the policeman went on to read the bellman his miranda rights, then escorted him into the cop car. The bellman never helped another guest with their luggage.

"Tell the cop I'll be down in a minute", the bellman walkied down to the front desk. The bellman would not be down in a minute. He took the emergency stairs that led to the back of the hotel into an alley where he kept his motorcycle during his shifts. He did not know where to go. He figured his house would be flooded with cops and he did not want to contact any of his friends for fear that the cops had already gotten them. He knew he could not make it out of town on his own though, but he didn't know who he could trust. He thought of only two people that he believed would be able to help, his roommate [[Andy]] and his long time pal [[Kyle]]. Both were also involved in the bellmans distribution practices and equally liable for any punishmnet brought on to them.

"Kyle, where are you?!" "I'm getting some dinner what's up?" "There is a warrant out for my arrest and you probably have one too, where are you eating? We need to get out of here." "I'm at Steak and Shake but do I have to get it to-go? It gets all greasy when its sitting in the bag for too long." "Yes you fucking idiot, get it to-go and meet me at the [[high school]], we need to try and get back to my place, I have too much important shit there."

He called Andy three times but he never answered. Andy was a heavy sleeper but the bellman did not think he would already be asleep this early in the evening. He knew Andy must've already been arrested, he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and doesn't think on his toes all to often. All the bellman could do now was hope and pray that Andy didn't open his mouth too much to the police. He went on to call [[Kyle]].

The bellman met Kyle at their old high school and tried to stay inconspicuous. "What the fuck are we supposed to do, dude?", Kyle asked the bellman. "I don't know, I'm going to put my back in the trees over here then you got to drive us to my [[house]] so we can scope it out."

They drove to the bellman's house which was only a few minutes away from the high school, both of them were shaking and had elevated heart rates. They crept up to the house in the car, luckily there were no cops around at the moment. Kyle parked down the street, and him and the bellman approached the house through various backyards to avoid being seen going in the front door. They made it to the back door of the bellman's house and he [[keyed in]] to get some of his belongings.

The bellman noticed that someone other than Andy had been there. "Andy?!", yelled the bellman, but there was no answer. The bellman ran up to his room, but what he was looking for was gone. He had a large safe in his closet full of narcotics, and he had a smaller safe under his bed with an abundance of cash. Both were [[gone]]. "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!" "What's wrong??", Kyle followed into the bellman's room. <div class="aliens">"It's all gone! It's all fucking gone! They took it everything!"</div>

The bellman didn't know what to do, his business he had worked up for months was gone in a matter of hours. He was going to have to start everything over. Find a new city, find a new hotel to bellhop at, find new clientel, and all with no money and no product. He knew he couldn't just sit in his house any longer, the cops would be back sooner or later. "Let's get out of here", the bellman muttered to Kyle. "Where are we [[going]]?" "I don't have a clue, we just can't stay here."

They left the bellman's house and made it back to Kyle's [[car]]. As he was getting into the car, the bellman got a phone call. It was Andy. "Andy where the fuck have you been?" "Well, some cops came to the house, but I didn't answer the door. I figured they were looking for you but I thought they would ask me some questions that I would not want to answer. I know you don't use your cell at work so I tried calling the hotel to let you know what was up, but the front desk dude put me on hold because he said a cop was coming in and I assumed it was the same guys looking for you so I hung up. I took the safes and shit and put them in my car and I'm at my brothers place now." "Holy shit", those were the only words the bellman could muster up at the moment. "What's wrong?", asked Andy. "Nothing, send me your brothers address."

"So Andy has all the shit?", asked Kyle. "Yeah, we're all good." "Well, I mean, the cops are still looking for you, so you're not that good." "Thanks, totally forgot about the warrant out for my arrest, must have slipped my mind. Fuck off, let's find Andy." "Yeah, let's go get your luggage Mr. Bellman." "Shut the hell up, I don't think I'll be invited back to work that job [[anymore]]."

<<cacheaudio "lobby" "Music for twine/lobby.mp3">>

<<audio lobby play>> THE BELLMAN. Press [[here|Intro]] to begin.