A Breeze I Wish To Forget

The pictures upheld itself to Natajra’s standard as the driver cruises through the city.

The skies were pretty, it wasn’t too hot or too cold outside, and the garden and palms trees were absolutely beautiful. Natajra pinched herself wondering if she was in heaven. “Ouch!” She whispered to herself as she rubs the tiny pain away.

“So what brings you to the city of Xinnadia?” The driver asked.

“Me?” Natajra pointed to herself.

“Yes, you!” The driver smiled.

“I won a lottery!” Natajra answered gracefully smiling.

“Really? That’s the second time I heard of that.” The driver replied, almost speeding past a red light.

“Seriously?” Natajra eyes sparkled behind her shades.

“Yeah, a few years ago. But it was a man. He took his family here for a vacation. Nice man, by the way.” The driver smiled.

“Did he have a son, a daughter?” Natajra asked, killing time.

“Two sons, one daughter, and a wife.” The driver answered. “Lovely, well behaved people.” Then his eyes wandered for a split second. “Do you have family?”

“Yes.”

“Well, how come you didn’t bring them?” The driver asked a bit puzzled.

Natajra anxiously laughed. “You see, I kinda didn’t tell them that I won the lottery.”

“Why not?” The driver pressed her.

“Because they would’ve expected me to pay for everything.” Natajra told him.

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” The driver wondered, sounding slightly offended by her actions. “You could’ve booked everything for them with the winning money you had, then have them pay for themselves from there on out.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But they tend to get a bit greedy when someone in the family has or makes a lot of money.” Natajra explained.

“Really?” The man knitted an eyebrow. “Give me an example.”

“Wow, he really won’t let up.” Natajra snarled in her mind, then physically said, “I have a cousin who is a popular movie director, and they ask him to pay for… well… almost everything. He complains to me about it sometimes.”

“Well, he’s a man. That’s his job, no excuses!” The driver waved her off.

“They finally made it to the resort. The driver steps out the car to help Natajra with her pink luggage. As he wishes her goodbye, she overheard him saying under his breath, “What a selfish woman.”

Natajra pretended not to hear that, simply allowing him to carry her luggage into the hotel until a bellman came by. Natajra approached the front desk where a lady waited for her.

“Hello!” The woman said cheerfully.

“Hi!” Natajra cheerfully said back.

“What is your name?”

“Natajra Houlot.”

The woman begins checking into the computer. “Ah, here you are! You are the forty-eighth floor, room forty-five.” Then she hands Natajra a key.

“Okay, thanks!” Natajra said as the bellman escorted her to the elevator.

“Have a good day ma'am!” The woman said as Natajra left.

“You too!” Natajra said back as the elevator doors begin to close.

While the elevator starts going up, the bellman ask, “How is your experience in Xinnadia so far?”

“It’s beautiful.” Natajra answered, gracefully smiling.

“I’m glad you like it here so far.” The bellman said. “Are you going to the beach resort?”

“Yes. That’s mainly what I came for.”

“That’s what a lot of people come here for. And hotel services too.” The bellman said.

The elevator conversation was now silent until they made it to the forty-eighth floor. The bellman leads the way to her hotel room. He stands beside the door waiting for Natajra to draw out her key and unlock the door.

The first thing Natajra notices is how spacey it is.

“Oh, my gosh!” She says as she looks around in astonishment, tossing her purse on the bed. She viewed the room like a princess’s room in a kingdom. The floor was shiny and silver. The two pillars beside the queen size bed was ornamented with flower stems. The sheets on the bed was a soft pink color with white pillows. She saw the balcony across the bed, finding herself insanely in love with the view of the beach. “Wow, look at all those people!”

“Yeah, we tend to get a little crowded around here.” The bellman said setting her belongings down. “Enjoy the room ma’am.” He departed.

“Hold it!” Natajra shouted, digging into her purse. “Here you go!” She passed twenty dollars.

The bellman broke into a big smile. “Thank you, thank you so much!”

“No problem!” Natajra said, waving him goodbye. After he left, Natajra reached in her bag again to pull out her phone and make a call. “Hey, mom, just wanted to tell you that I made it to my hotel room.”

“That amazing!” Her mother replied. “Are you enjoying yourself so far? Did you make conversation with anyone?”

“Well, I mean I just got here. So…” Natajra responded.

“Ugh. Well, is the view of Xinnadia beautiful, like they show on their website?”

“Yep! Exactly what they show.”

“Okay good. I’ll let you settle in. If you need money, call your cousin, okay?” The mother said.

Natajra rolled her eyes. “Okay, mom. I’ll call you back tonight before I go to sleep.”

“Okay. Love you! Your father says hi.”

Natajra warmly smiled. “Tell him I said hi, too. Love you both. Goodbye.” Then she hung up the phone and hopped on the bed, spreading her body out like an snow angel. She let out a soft breeze of air through her mouth. She instantly sat up from the thought of having to take a shower from sitting on the airplane.

“What are you doing here?! GET OUT!” A woman screamed, making Natajra stop in her tracks.

She felt it coming from a different room next door. Natajra leaned her ear against the wall.

“Come on, Sabrello, don’t quit on us!” Another woman said. “I can be better. I need your help!”

“No!” Sabrello denied. “It’s too late for that. You had plenty of times to get your stuff together. I’m not going to be attached to your screw-ups when I’m just starting to elevate in my career, not now.”

“You just couldn’t wait to leave me behind! You were never loyal to me.”

“Look whose talking!” Sabrello scoffed. “You were playing with all my enemies behind my back, you snake!”

“Only because I knew you were silently trying to leave me.”

“That’s not my fault, Asujin. You’re just lazy and can’t pay off your debts, and you’re trying to bring me down with you.”

“Sabrello, please! I need your help. I love you.” Asujin cried out.

“I don’t care. You crossed me for the last time and I’m over it. Now leave!”

They both were silent for a minute until Asujin finally said, “Since third, Sabrello. We’re really gonna end it like this, since third grade?!”

Sabrello said nothing until suddenly she said, “Get off my bed, Asujin.”

“No.” Asujin told her. “I’m not going any- DON’T PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME!”

“Get out, Asujin!” Sabrello yelled.

Natajra began to hear thudding and furniture breaking, gasping at every hit she heard. Eventually, she heard a loud thud, which she would presume to be a slam.

“Screw you!” Asujin screamed, hitting Sabrello with something. “You think I was gonna let you get away with that little career of yours and I not get the share!” Hitting her on every word. “I’m the one that introduced you to those people, me!” The hitting stopped. Asujin began to break down in awful tears. “I loved you, Sabrello. I could’ve been your manager, sweetie.”

The room was silent again, then after a minute, Natajra heard Asujin leaving. Petrified and confused, the first thing on Natajra’s mind was to pull out her earphones, plug them into her ears, and play some music. She set her list to shuffle out of indecisiveness. She sat on her the bed valiantly driving her mind away with an uptempo song. She hummed to it, not realizing how much time she let fly by, which was at least two hours.

“Oh my gosh!” Natajra shouted looking at the clock on her phone. I should’ve been at the beach by now!” She checked from outside the window and saw the beach was still crowded, but had several spaces opened. She went and took a quick shower, put on a bathing suit, got her beach equipment, then ran to the beach.

Natajra walked through a maze of people hoping the free spot she saw from outside wasn’t taken. “Thank God.” She sat her stuff down.

As she spreads her towel out on the sand while thinking about sticking her umbrella down, she heard two women behind her talking about something that caught her ear.

“You’re not going to believe what I just witnessed before coming here.” The blonde girl said.

“What happened?” The brunette asked.

“I just saw a dead girl getting carried out of the hotel.” The blonde said.

“What! You serious?!” The brunette asked in surprise.

“Yes! Supposedly she came from the forty-eighth floor.”

“Forty-eighth floor?”

“Was it room forty-four?! What did the girl look like?”

“Geez, calm down.” The blonde whined, then started thinking. “Her face was unrecognizable, but she had dark skin, and a bob cut from what I saw.”

“But did she come from room forty-four though?” The brunette asked a little aggressively.

“I don’t know!” The blonde shrieked. “Possibly. Why does that matter?!”

“I keep hearing people say Sabrello Tominary is here.” The brunette said.

“Sabrello Tominary?! As in ‘Playtime’ the singer!”

“Yes!” The brunette said in excitement.

“Oh my gosh! That would be crazy.”

“Yeah.” The brunette said getting off the ground. “I’m getting in the water. Wanna join?”

“Sure.” The blonde answered, walking past Natajra to get there.”

Natajra’s heart begin beating. “Oh my gosh.” She murmured to herself. She couldn’t feel her feet. Everything felt reverberated in sound. She asked herself why didn’t she call the police? Why did she choose to ignore it? After a short time at the beach, Natajra decided to pack her things, and go back to the hotel.

By the time she got to her lobby, she saw the police investigating Sabrello’s room. Natajra tried to skulk to her room.

“Hold it!” A male officer shouted, right when she injected her keys into her door. “Ma’am, can I ask you a few questions.

Natajra wondered to herself why didn’t she stay at the beach for a few hours.