echo POV: You’re the hotel clerk.
“You stole my chips!”
“And what will you do about that?”
My eyes swiveled to the source of my next migraine– two brothers locked in argument by the hotel piano. Claire had warned me of our latest eccentric guests: A family of supposed ‘superheroes’ from California. Though at that moment, ‘superhero’ was a stretch.
They had arrived with a trolley full of instrument cases. Cello cases, violin cases, trumpet cases, all piled up and filling the entire hotel trolley. Poor Bob the bellboy, having accidentally dropped one of the guitar cases, had gotten a mean scolding from one of the brothers. Watching the way he scolded, I’d thought the manager was going to get involved. It had taken two other hotel clerks and a bottle of water to calm him down. The Karen-like brother had taken the bottle and doused all the water over his head. “I’m fine,” He’d said bitterly, cradling the fallen guitar case in his arms. “There baby, daddy needs to give you a check up when we get somewhere more private.” The lobby was then in stunned silence.
Meanwhile, the other brother had kept muttering and mumbling under his breath. His mouth was always moving rapidly without a sound. I could picture him as a fish talking underwater. Upon closer inspection, he had seemed to be holding an open book of nothing, as if this “book” was invisible to everyone else. Bob said he swore the brother was mumbling, “Humpty Dumpty” in distinguished rap god style.
“Forgive me. They’re just arguing as normal siblings do,” My attention shifted to their father, standing by the counter with a wry grin.
“Normal siblings? What the hell?” I thought, stretching my smile even bigger until my cheeks ached. “Just do your job, just do your job…” Another voice reverberated in me. “Identity cards, please,” I grinned.
Their father handed in all three identity cards, and my body was already hotwired with what to do next. I went over action after action smoothly, repeating the usual processing procedure as I always did with other customers. They were also the 1 in 10 of families that chose to book individual rooms instead of the normal family room. Guess all that ‘superhero’ stuff made them rich, huh? “Gonzalez Mercury,” I typed in the details for the older brother. He was the one obsessed with babying guitars. “Pauleep Mercury”, for the younger brother, who had the body of a man but the maturity of a 5 year old. Such weird names. The father was named Freddie Mercury. And the interesting thing was, he looked just like Freddie Mercury. All three were verified citizens according to the hotel system, and I secretly wished they were immigrants.
“If you can find the chips, I’ll let you pilot the Crux for a week,” said the older brother. I cringed when I noticed he was stroking the piano lobby. All this for some random chips? And what is this Crux, a ship? A batmobile? An invisible jet? The cleaners could not possibly follow their regular cleaning schedule, they had to clean now.
“Make that two weeks,” the younger, muscular brother growled.
“Fine,” said the older brother. He reached for the nearby guitar that Bob had accidentally dropped, and immediately started strumming softly. With that action, his hand started glowing a shade of neon pink. Huh. How disappointing. I guess I expected their powers to be less Hollywood-like. But they are from Los Angeles.
The younger brother, with a serious face in hand, placed a book on the piano. It had not been in his hands before. I took a quick glance at the book: A collection of 366 nursery rhymes. How charming. The nursery rhyme book didn’t stick in my mind for long. The younger brother had spat into his hand, sending partial spit flying on the floor. And as gross as it was, they shook hands, saliva and neon pink glow sealing the deal.
“Thank you,” I said with forced friendliness, watching the three unorthodox individuals make their way to the lift.
I didn’t know it at that time, but that handshake would soon mark a disaster for the hotel. But first things first, I had to call the cleaners. I wished they could clean these brothers up too. We were all in for a ride.
POV: You’re the safe of room 204.
“8231, 8232, 8233”
I continued mind-numbingly counting the numbers: Part of a series of possible arrangements of a 4 digit password. Deep in this dark, chilling abyss that gnaws all life away, an eternal sorrow awaited. I swallowed back cries, counting all possibilities, waiting and waiting for my beloved master to bring light to me once again.
Oh Carla, I missed you so much dear. You’re the only one who ever bothered to use me. I was so useful to you, your smoky sticks were always kept safe with me… Where are you now?
Just as I thought my predicament hopeless, the abyss creaked open, and light started pouring in from the side. Oh well, time to be discovered by a random kid, who will then shout, “Mummy, mummy what’s this?” As usual.
Only this time, it wasn’t a young kid. It was a young man. As I gazed into his golden eyes that shimmered with warmth, a long nostalgic spark reignited my heart. Oh my goodness! Another master! At the combination count of 8237, I finally found someone that will give me purpose! Goodbye Carla, hello new master!
Then came a moment of loud knocking on the door. “Open up!” A voice yelled. The man’s warm palm soothed my soul as he grabbed onto my handle, pulling me open for the first time in so many passcode-combination counts. Ah, what a wonderful feeling to finally move these rusted hinges! He placed his object of security inside me and shut me close.
You might be thinking: What did he place inside me?
How should I know what’s inside? I’m a safe, not a privacy breacher! I only knew Carla’s secret items because I always saw her puffing those fiery sticks in her mouth.
Once he opened the door, a muscular young man entered with a similar appearance to my new master, carrying many instrument cases at once. He turned to me, a frown upon his face. “Seriously? Of all places, you hide it in the hotel safe?”
Master shrugged. “I still like to pilot the Crux.”
The muscular boy placed all the black cases on the floor neatly. He arranged it in such a sequential manner: bigger black cases at the bottom and smaller black cases at the top. It was like one giant big Christmas tree. Without the Christmas vibes. This muscular boy had to then dance through the snow indeed, a snow of shrivelled clothes all over the place. How could my new master disrespect the floor like that? If only I could show all my emotions. But alas, I was just a safe with only numbers to accompany me.
“Enjoy your instruments, weirdo,” said the muscular boy with a disgruntled look. He stepped over all the dirty clothes and walked out the door. Not before tripping on a nearby shoe cabinet. Ouch the pain he had, so similar to my own loneliness, I could hear it all in his painful woes. “Oh, damn you!”
“Says the guy who reads nursery rhymes,” my owner called out. Oh, such frivolous yet endearing banter! So much more entertaining than counting. My master locked the hotel door once again and turned to me. I could see it in his eyes: He was proud of me for what I was doing.
From one of his black cases, he took out something very unique…. A drill perhaps? Then there were other weird equipment he took out, a hammer, a blowtorch, a scalpel, and lastly a bazooka.
And then he did something no one else had ever done. Not even Carla. For the first time in my life, I was finally being physically removed from the abyss. He was a strong man, holding me tightly in his arms as he carried me into new heights. He wasn’t just my master, he was my hero. I was placed on the hotel floor, and I couldn’t help but feel my keypad beeping for him. He was so strong, so handsome…
But then suddenly, he grabbed one of his drills, and I thought those drills were my microphone for me to finally shine on stage and sing my numbers out, but instead… all I felt was my metal surface grinding with pain. Oh the pain! It hurt more than loneliness ever did! How does one scream when one has no mouth?
POV: You are a rubber duck.
Quack quack quack.
I was once again placed into warm water. But these were dangerous waters……Everything about this basin was different from the usual one. Where were my siblings? As the yellow duckling of my siblings, I was part of an incomplete rainbow double triad.
My owner was relaxing in the basin as usual, being high on bathwater steam. But then, a large screech started echoing from beyond the room itself. The relaxation in my owner was gone as he pressed his ears against the wall, listening to the weird shrills coming from the room next door. I recognised those shrills… those cries of help coming from another creature… If this new environment would leave everyone in tragedy, what would become of me and my siblings? My poor plastic duckling eyes darted to all possible escape. I could only pray the still waters would move me to locate my siblings!
“That little-“ I heard my owner mutter under his breath. He walked out of the basin, sending a large tsunami thundering towards me. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! I was sent flying over the basin, squealing “Quack!!!!” as I landed on the bathroom tiles.
Thankfully, my owner redeemed himself by placing me back with my siblings. Thank the rainbow above that they were all safe! All six of us were arranged neatly from red to purple in an unfamiliar and odourful rack. After a loud slam, we were all shrouded in darkness. None of our colours mattered anymore. But eh, at least we were safe.
Quack quack, everyone. Quack quack.
POV: You are the hotel door to room 204.
I felt an immense amount of pain, like someone was knocking on my body. But I saw nothing of importance in the corridors. The knocks were so rough, it felt more like punches instead. At that time, the golden glow from beyond had disappeared from my presence, and everything else beyond the artificial ceiling lights was pitch black, signalling the time for all humans to rest. Their rest time was my rest time.
But no, not for my owner. For even if this invisible gremlin never came knocking, I could not rest from all that shrieking coming from inside. I have withstood many things: Arguments, partying, loud obnoxious music, the groans of hormonal gremlins and the screech-like whines of young gremlins… But never have I heard such machine-like sounds.
“OPEN UP OR I’LL BREAK THIS DOOR APART!” A shrill voice yelled. Hello? Do humans read anymore? Can’t they read the “DO NOT DISTURB” sign hanging on my doorknob? What sort of evolution did humans go through? I had heard of human’s talking about these undead “ghosts”, was I getting haunted? What would being haunted be like? The pain was getting more unbearable as time passed, and after a final few bangs, the punching stopped. Perhaps the gremlin had finally gained the needed brain cells of realising how pointless his punching pursuit was. Finally, some peace and quiet.
Wait a second… for a moment, I thought the door beside me just opened and closed out of nowhere…. Were the humans right about this haunting? As the shrills and screeches of modification engineering continued sounding, it was to accompany me in my guarded stance. No ghost would haunt me if I were awake! I remained as alert as possible, but as the screeches slowly died down I too found myself falling into sleep……
ZZZZZ…..ZZZZZ… ZZZZZ…
The golden glow basked me in its presence. The pitch black darkness was now a setting of a beautiful sandy beach, signalling awakening time. But I was still groggy from my lack of rest. The door opened behind me, and out came my owner, wearing beach shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. He also had on a large sunhat which covered his entire face. He locked me at my door knob, and I felt much, much more secure. Security was good, I could continue with my……
ZZZZZZZZZZ
“BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!”
I was jolted awake once again by the sudden pierces of my body. Ugh, another gremlin before me. This one was the same person who had come in yesterday with a bunch of black thingys. This time, he had changed completely into a pair of ridiculous trousers and a Hawaiian T-shirt. His left hand wasn’t the usual fist, but a weird metal glove that gleamed dangerously. The “Do not Disturb” sign was truly an illusion of choice. Because when it came to being a door, I had no choice but to tend to all who came.
But then suddenly, the gremlin before me disappeared in a flash! But no time to worry about that, there was a sudden parade of punches to my body, coming in all directions at once, even in places where no one normally knocked. I felt like I was going to get pierced directly inside-
“KACHA!”
POV: You are a lamp.
What the— who is this little guy? He suddenly appeared out of nowhere amongst the destroyed rubble of what used to be a door. A metal hand was glimmering underneath my trusty light. All the other electronics started panicking from his sudden entrance.
“Guys, what should we do?” I heard TV asking.
“We’re electronics, we can’t do anything,” said the minifridge.
“But you know, all of us could just turn on at once, and we could scare the crap out of him. Like those horror movies I blasted before.” TV suggested. As she said that, I could feel all the electronic appliances in this room, including myself, have their electricity cut off for just a nanosecond, a time too short for the intruder to notice. Everyone knew the consequences of TV’s plan. Oh, if only wise old kettle was supplied with electricity. He would tell us what to do!
However, we didn’t realise we would just be witnesses of another story, as minifridge suddenly said, “Wait guys! He’s not coming after me, he’s going after the safe!”
POV: You are a safe.
The light started pooling into the abyss and yesterday’s sufferings returned to haunt my metal surfaces. NOOOO!!! NOOOO!!! NOT AGAIN!!!! I screamed inside my head. After all that training and suffering I went through, I hate the light! I just want to stay in the best abyss ever!
But the light revealed the face of another person, the one that had entered this room yesterday and looked similar to my master. But… the master had just left… The realisation caved in once I noticed the destroyed door frame…
HE WAS AN INTRUDER!!! IT WAS FINALLY HAPPENING. My purpose, all those years waiting in the abyss of nothing, and being forcefully drilled with additional training from my master, all of it was for this moment. Bring it on!
The intruder started by tickling my key pad with a bunch of random numbers. As he pressed the digits on my keypad, a beep would accompany it following a respective music note, courtesy of my master’s implementation yesterday. The intruder continued to struggle with the password, sending more rhythms of beeps flying into the air. “Come on, come on…” he muttered.
Hah! Take that, fool! He wouldn’t know the secret behind my master’s actual passcode. There used to be 5040 possible combinations, but after all that training, there would now be infinite possibilities! This was it. I was finally fulfilling my purpose. Oh master, how genius you are!
A few moments later…
I was… fulfilling my purpose? I thought I was just supposed to fulfill my duties as security guard, comforting my master with ease. But after a long series of wrong passcodes, I felt like a criminal bully who could reduce any intruder into a poor, weeping boy. Frustrated from his futile attempts, the intruder cried and wept. His body left my metallic surface tainted with an unknown greasy human substance. But his pain resonated deeply. “My chips…Damn you!” He cried. In the distance, I could hear a violin playing a sad melody.
I’m sorry my dear child, but my duties come first. Though my heart will always sympathise with your grievances.
Then, out of nowhere, he took out a book. The book’s title was: Collection of 366 Nursery Rhymes. One by one, as he turned the pages, he started singing nursery rhymes to himself.
“One little two little three little Indians~~” He sang achingly. My sympathies to him were no more.
However, as he sang nursery rhyme after nursery rhyme, there was another nursery rhyme that he sang which sent my metals shaking: “Little Bo Peep, has lost her sheep, and doesn’t know where to find him~~”
NO WAY. THAT RHYTHM. THAT MELODY. THAT WAS THE PASSCODE!
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! OH MY DEAR PRECIOUS MASTER. I FAILED YOU. MY ENTIRE BODY WAS FORCED TO OPEN UPON HEARING THIS SONG. BECAUSE THAT IS INDEED THE PASSWORD.
Sadly, my body was forced to open. The young boy was bemused, gripping tightly onto my handle and slamming me open. How does one yearn for objects when one has no hands? I could only imagine: Grappling onto the entrusted-to-me object and clinging to it because my life did depend on it! But no! Reality had its ways to shackle me to a life of rectangularity!
However, I noticed that the intruder ‘s face had turned pale upon holding the item in question- a single piece of paper. He read it out loud:
“Little Pauleep
Has lost his chips
And doesn’t know where to find them?
Leave him alone
In his small room
Reading his raps behind him???”
Almost immediately the paper was torn into shreds. The intruder’s face was tomato red. His brain was popping off his head. Alas, the door of the abyss slammed onto me as I was shrouded in the cold once again.
“IT DOESN’T EVEN RHYMEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!” I heard him yelling.
Whatever. My life purpose turned out to be futile. Because really, all passwords are easy to unlock if the intruder is willing to spend all their luck and moments counting all possible combinations. Goodbye cruel world, hello goold-old abyss.
POV: You are the chips.
Nom nom nom… I could feel my lifeforce draining away chip after chip. My new owner was savouring every single ounce of potato that made up my lifeforce, a wide grin reflecting his satisfaction. I rested on his lap of a beach chair, as we watched a golden ball shining in the sky, with blue soda guzzling underneath it. Rays of warmth nuzzled on my entire surface, it was a type of warmth I never experienced before. My previous owner was always hiding me away in dark rooms.
From behind came another man. He had a really cool mustache that matched the mustache of the cartoon man on my plastic surface. The man sat down by a nearby beach chair, and said, “Why did you have to bully him like that?”
“I like messing with him. He has no brain cells. He really thought he had a chance to pilot the Crux?” said my new owner, crunching on my lifeforce. For every crunch he took, I could feel myself slipping away. All chips were destined to be gone anyway. My time was finally coming. I wondered what life was awaiting me beyond this…
The mustached man shook his head, “How disappointing. I thought after the whole kidnapping incident, the two of you would get along better.”
“If anything, he should have learnt something from that. He still has a lot to learn. Mastering that superstrength is going to take a while.”
The man clucked his tongue, facing my new owner with a disappointed look. “Your pettiness is highly admirable,” the man continued. “All that noise in the middle of the night just to mess with him.”
My new owner continued munching. “At least it’s for a good cause. Also, I know how to modify a safe now.”
The more he munched, the more I wondered… Why do I exist? Was I just an object of pleasure? Was I just nothing but potassium and sodium? Was I just a pointless motive for a character? Was I just an object of perspective? What does life truly mean in this regard?
My thoughts had to be put on hold as a young woman approached us, wearing a professional uniform. She had a kind smile on her face, but her words were anything but kind, “Hello Mr. Mercury. I’m sorry to inform you this early in the morning, but your family will no longer be allowed to stay.”
Both men turned to her, confused. “Well, your family has breached many terms and conditions. Breaking room doors, modifying our safes, and as of now, one of you is shredding hotel furniture apart.”
For a moment, the rays of warmth from the golden orange ball were suddenly burning to the touch. Such a surreal feeling indeed. The mustached man beside us stood up, immediately jogging away from us. The lady continued smiling, “Of course, we won’t be asking for compensation for the ruined musical instruments. But for all the hotel furniture’s destruction, I’m afraid not even your payment for the rooms can compensate for all damages. Please proceed to the counter for compensation. We hope you can transfer your heroic deeds elsewhere. Thank you.”
I now understood why I was feeling way hotter than usual. It wasn’t from the sun, but rather from the heat of my owner’s skin as his entire face turned a shade red. I felt my lifeforce completely drained as my owner furiously grabbed the final chip in my bag, hearing his final words: “My babies!”
I felt the wind swaying me from side to side…. and …..
HERE LIES HONOURABLE MENTIONS OF ALL WHO SUFFERED
ROOM 204
DOOR
LAMP
TV
BED
SAFE
TABLE
“ABYSS” CABINET
KETTLE
GUITAR
VIOLIN
TRUMPET
HORN
CELLO
TRIANGLE
PAPER WITH RENDITION OF “LITTLE BO PEEP”
AND LASTLY
CHIPS
2024-2024
Written By: Lee Ann
Edited by: Ryan
