He smiles, a genuine smile, the first one of the night. “That’s more like the feisty spitfire I know.”
I grin back at him. At that moment, the champagne is making my head buzz pleasantly, and everything in the world feels right.
“The Ladies is that way.” He nods towards a side entrance.
“Be back in a jiffy,” I call over my shoulder as I walk away.
I follow the signs and find that the bathrooms are accessed by going down a spiral staircase. After that there are two other doors before I see the sign for the Ladies. Even here, it smells overpoweringly of perfume. I use the toilet quickly, wash my hands, and go out. Once I’m outside I open the first door which then gives me a choice of doors. I no longer remember which way I came so I open the first door.
And gasp.
I have accidentally opened the door to a candlelit room. It is lavishly decorated as if it is a French brothel from the eighteen-century, with heavy red velvet curtains, vibrant art in gilded frames on the walls, a massive bed covered with a plush damask bedspread. It is so crazy. Would there be such a room underneath the hotel?
Even stranger are the two maskless people in it.
A young woman is lying naked on the big bed. Her skin looks fresh and rosy, like the skin of a freshly picked sun-warmed peach, her eyes are wide and circled with thick dark lashes, and her right hand is tangled in her long auburn hair. The only thing on her body is a thin strip of brown leather around her ankle. The anklet is fastened with a rectangular silver plate and there is something etched on the metal. Numbers and letters.
A fully clothed man is bent over her.
When they hear me open the door, both turn to look at me, but unhurriedly, lazily, as if they are in a slow motion movie. The girl’s body is so heavy with desire even now her eyelids are half-closed. She shows no sign of shame and doesn’t make any attempt to cover her nakedness. She looks at me without curiosity, passively, distantly.
My confused gaze moves from her to the man. He is extraordinarily handsome, has bright green eyes, and is looking at me with great interest. I want to apologize, to say I opened the wrong door, and back out, but I simply cannot tear my gaze away from the man’s eyes. A deep languor invades my flesh. The air feels as if it is flecked with golden dust. It is like being in a dream.
Slowly, he straightens and begins to walk towards me. Even though his lips do not move at all, they seem to smile. I feel drawn to him in a way I cannot understand. Hypnotized and transfixed by the sight of him, I can only stare blankly at him. My brain says it can’t be real. It feels like a dream or a powerful illusion, and if I pinch myself I will wake up. I am certain it is not real. He stops a few feet from me.
“This can all be yours too, sweet Autumn,” he says in a soothing voice. “All of it. Just say yes.”
I blink. A strange frisson runs along my skin. The pounding of my heart seems to echo all around the room and corridor. A voice hisses urgently in my head, say yes. The urge to say yes starts filling my head, like the hissing of thousands and thousands of snakes. Yes, yes, yes, yes…
But yes to what? What is happening in this room?
The girl moans softly, and he takes another step towards me, and suddenly I catch a whiff of that same nauseating odor I had detected as Daniel was leaving, but stronger with this man. Much stronger. It is akin to rotting flesh or excrement. So disgusting it turns my stomach and makes me want to vomit. The sensation breaks the hypnotic trance.
Unbidden, an image arises in my mind’s eye; a cloudless, hot sky. There are vultures circling in it. Their wings are massive. On the parched earth below, I see the girl with the radiant skin. Her eyes are open, but they do not see the vultures closing in. They stare out sightlessly into an empty bit of the heavens. My body feels horribly cold and my soul hurts at the unbearable sight.
Stunned, I stagger backwards. I glance at the girl. I want to warn her about the vultures in the sky and her dead eyes, but she has already lost interest in me and turned away.
“Just say yes, and you can have it all, all,” the man cajoles insistently in his melodious voice, but the veil has been lifted. The disgusting smell of his corruption intensifies, sickening me.
“Stay away from me,” I shout, and lurch towards the other door.