Jack
Formal occasions – the part of the job we all hate. Well, Nikki and I certainly.
Clarissa also hates them – but she seems to be an absolute expert in getting out of such events. Her claim this time was that she's 'just my technician' and none of the other lab technicians are required to go. Thomas had no choice but to agree as the word 'technician' is indeed in her job title.
Thomas, Nikki or I would never even consider Clarissa as 'just a technician', because she's so much more than that. She one of us – and just as important as we are. Normally, we'd be really upset with anyone who tried to suggest her influence on the rest of the team is minimal – Clarissa included. She prides herself on being 'a quarter' of the Lyell's brain, as she puts it.
Strangely, when this 'event' came up and Thomas insisted on our attendance, Clarissa was suddenly 'just Jack's technician' and nothing more for the first time in her life – and therefore dictated that she was not required to attend such things – much to my dismay! Nikki and I would have much more fun if she was there. Clarissa did agree to help Nikki however.
The event in question involves a rather long, monotonous lecture followed by a 'posh' type of dinner party – with what Clarissa calls 'mingling', in between. Nikki finds these events very boring and I have to be on my best behaviour – which makes me feel even more out of place than she does.
Sometime after the talk – and before dinner, Nikki and I find ourselves at a lose end – having escaped the endless, tedious duty of shaking hands and being polite. Unfortunately for us, the one person who noticed us slip out was none other than Thomas, who makes his excuses and follows us – apparently suspecting that we are up to no good.
"Hey – you two!" He calls walking towards us. "Hold on."
"Oops!" Nikki giggles. "Busted!"
"Yeah." I groan. "By the big cheese!"
"We thought we'd just do a bit of exploring." Nikki explains lightly. "Interesting place – this hotel!"
He opens his mouth to speak, but I get in there first – before he gets the chance to tell us off.
"Come on Thomas, we stayed for the talk like we were meant to!" I protest – in case he's about to make us go back in. "Neither of us wanted to go in the first place. We're only here because you said we had to be."
"Relax Jack!" Thomas sighs. "I was just going to ask if you minded me joining you."
"Really?" I ask in surprise.
"Yes – well someone has to keep the two of you out of trouble!" He comments.
"We keep each other out of trouble." I beam confidently – hoping it might discourage him from joining us.
"Yes." He agrees. "Badly! - So, where are we going? - As long as it's not down a sewer." He adds. "Unlike some people...I draw the line at that!"
"We should go this way." Nikki suggests at the end of the corridor. "It's an older, abandoned part of the building."
Thomas stops. "How do you know that?!"
She looks slightly guilty. "I might have persuaded Clarissa to do a bit of research for me before we came."
If you ask me, Clarissa didn't need much persuasion!
Thomas shakes his head at Nikki. "You've planned this whole thing, haven't you – sneaking out and 'exploring'?"
She sniggers – knowing that we've been well and truly caught out. Well, more her than me. Nikki, of course, is the mastermind behind our little mystery tour. My area of expertise is sewers and the like.
Nikki likes old buildings. Like I said, she's the mastermind – her and Clarissa. The two of them are secretly lethal when they put there heads together.
Thomas shakes his head at me this time. "I should have known Clarissa had a hand in this! Er...Nikki...wait!"
She stops and looks back at him innocently. "What?"
"Well, this could be seen as trespassing – this bit's not open to the public!" He points out.
"Do you see any 'No entry' signs?" She shrugs. "We got lost!"
We wander down the corridor she suggested – peeping into every room on the way. Disappointingly, there's not much to see.
"Why not use this bit?" Nikki asks. "They could earn even more money with all these rooms."
"I'm sure they have a reason, Nikki." Thomas sighs as we come to some stairs.
The stairs go down rather than up as we would have expected – what intrigues us all, and even Thomas can't try to deny us the chance to explore this time.
"Come on!" Nikki grins excitedly as we both follow her down.
To our surprise, there are more corridors to follow down the stairs – with more empty rooms coming off them.
This is a whole part of the hotel that no one knows about – well, someone knows. The owners must be aware of it.
Eventually one of the corridors opens out into a long hallway – lined with tall, thin lockers.
"What the fuck?!" I remark."What is a posh hotel doing with school lockers?"
Nikki giggles.
Just past the lockers on the right hand side of the hall is an open door – which leads to some little changing rooms – which in turn leads to what must have once been a swimming pool.
It's a lifetime away from the posh establishment being run upstairs. The roof over the pool is partially caved-in and the pool itself is full of rubble and other clutter – a dumping ground for rubbish and unwanted furniture that's had it's good days. Weeds and moss are coming in from the broken roof and have taken on a life of their own - creating an eerie feeling of neglect.
Well, I guess that answers Nikki's question. Although, I'm pretty sure a posh hotel such as this could afford the necessary repairs. We all decide had better not stay in this bit – in case the roof is still unstable, so we head back to the hall with the lockers.
It's then that we notice one of the lockers on the other side of the hall is standing just open – while all the others are closed. We go over to investigate.
"There's a door behind here – I can see the light under it." Nikki announces peering through the open locker and crouching down to further examine her discovery.
"She's found a door to another world!" I mutter incredulously to Thomas.
"She's what?!" He responds in surprise.
"Perhaps it's Narnia!" I suggest, with a snigger.
Nikki stands up next to me. "You're such an idiot sometimes, Jack!" She tells me fondly, giving me a playful smack on the chest. "Now shush - I can hear Für Elise."
"You hear a furry what?!" I splutter as she returns to examining the locker, eventually wedging herself sideways into it.
"It's Beethoven, mate." Thomas explains sympathetically.
That does nothing to ease my confusion. "Beethoven? Wha-? He's been dead since-"
"1827." Thomas agrees helpfully.
I know we meet a lot of dead people in our line of work, but the idea that Nikki can actually converse with them now is extremely un-nerving.
"She can hear dead people now." I mumble in utter horror.
"The music, Jack." Comes Nikki's exasperated – and slightly bored response "I can hear the music – not the dead bloke!"
"Oh." I turn and see our boss smirking at me in amusement. "I knew that – obviously."
Of course I knew that.
"And in case you're wondering – it's not Beethoven playing it from up there!" She adds pointing up. "It's most likely someone else playing his music!"
"Obviously." I agree indignantly.
"Good." She responds. "Now come on!"
"Nikki -" Thomas protests but she cuts him off by exclaiming.
"It's a hidden door!"
Nikki can never resist a hidden door - and Thomas clearly knows there's no point in trying to persuade her otherwise. All the two of us can do is follow and try to keep her out of trouble.
Nikki and Thomas fit quite easily into the locker when they turn sideways. Being much taller, I don't – so I have to bend my knees in awkward position – whilst being sideways.
"If I get stuck in here, I'll make you sleep down the bloody sewer!" I grumble to her.
"Oh shush Jack." She chuckles. "We won't let you get stuck! Besides," She adds – determined to get the last word. "I wouldn't mind sleeping in the sewer as long as it didn't flood! - and if you don't get stuck, you have to sleep down the 'bloody sewer' too!"
"Sometimes I worry that there's something very wrong with you too!" Thomas snorts. "The flirting I can cope with – it's the other stuff that's weird! Sleeping down a sewer?! Seriously?"
Nikki and I both snigger at him. "Back's missing out of the back of the locker." She comments reaching the end. "This is a door. The lockers must have been placed over the wall to hide the it."
"Why-" Thomas starts.
"Well, how would I know that?" Nikki retorts with a snigger, so he refrains from asking the question. She gives the door a push and it swings open quite easily. Beethoven's music floods through the door as we walk in.
The room is quite bare and neglected, like the rest of this place - and it's empty – but for small piano.
Sat at the piano is a young girl – with her back to us, playing away quite happily.
She finishes the bit of music she's playing and turns around – having obviously noticed our presence in the room.
She's a friendly-looking girl of about 15 or 16, I decide when I see her face.
"Hello." She says with a smile. "I'm Alex – who are you?"
"I'm Nikki. This is Jack and Thomas." Nikki explains. "You play very well."
"Thank you." The girl answers. "My aunt and uncle own this place. I was bored one day and went exploring. I was so happy when I found the piano – just dusty and forgotten about in a hidden room." She tells us. "I love music!" She adds. "Were you exploring too?"
"Yes." Nikki agrees. "We had to attend this conference thing and the 'hand-shaking' that comes after gets a bit tedious after a while."
"Do your aunt and uncle know about this part of the building?" I ask.
"I think so." The girls replies. "I'm not sure they know about this room – or the piano, but they know there's a run-down part of the hotel. Why do you ask?"
"Well, surely it would be in their interests to sort the roof out and use this part of the building?" I point out.
"There was some kind of accident when the last family owned it– got a lot of bad press. The place had been shut for years before my family bought it." Alex explains. "I don't know that much about it. Just that the roof caved in and a little boy died. I think my aunt and uncle are biding their time – making sure they get some really good reviews – and then they will decide what to do with it. Until then, I'm going to play the piano I found. It's safe enough here." She adds. "As long as you don't go in the room with the pool."
"Guys, we best go." Thomas exclaims suddenly – checking his watch. "They'll be serving dinner soon. Nice to meet you Alex."
"As long as we can find our way out." I chuckle. Nikki's 'we got lost' excuse' might come in handy.
"Just follow me." Alex instructs. "I'll show you the way back."
Thanks to Alex, we get back to the right place in plenty of time and no one seems to have missed us.
Boy, are we going to have some stories to tell Clarissa.
"So..." Nikki retorts as the three of us clamour into the taxi at the end of the evening. "When are we going to sleep in the sewer?" She giggles with delight at my shocked face – and the disgusted look on Thomas.
Like I said – Nikki always has to have the last word.
