Johnny Richmond's Story

As the guests started to get acquainted with each other, a large bang could be heard outside. Everyone turned to look at the door. In came the remaining guests, coughing and waving their hands in their faces. The shuttle driver poked his head in.

"Sorry about that!" he smiled, "Bit of a backfire. Smell should clear up in a while. This is the final load." He waved at the guests.
"You all have a nice time!" he said, closing the door behind him. The four new arrivals watched him go, their noses still crumpled against their faces.

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The shuttle driver was about halfway down the mountain when another bang rang out from the back of the vehicle. It slowed to a stop. He sighed and got out. "Damn thing..." He muttered, going around to the side to check the engine. He lifted the side panel and looked inside.

"What the-"

That was all he had time to say before a wall of flame erupted from the side.

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Meanwhile, in the lodge, the smell had started to dissipate. Their lungs clear, the four new arrivals started to get their bearings.

A loud bang caused Carla to jump, and snapped her attention from the departing guests to the front door where more guests were filing in, followed by a strong smell of exhaust.Her face contorted into a mixed expression of surprise and disgust. That man should be arrested, going around stinking up the world with that horrible, disgusting bus of his!

She quickly pulled herself together, displaying a big smile, and waving at the new arrivals. "Welcome! Welcome to the Shelter Lodge!", she called out cheerfully to them. "Just make your way over here, to the desk, and I will get you situated."



John heard the loud noise as he was closing the door to the generator room. Sounds like that bus is on its last leg, he thought to himself. He couldn't dwell on that though. The phones refused to work. There was no discernible problem, therefore there was nothing he could do to fix them. Yet, he knew Carla wouldn't let that fly. He sighed, and made his way to the staff room. He had done all he could do for now.

He sat down, sipping at his freshly made coffee. Taking a deep breathe, he looked out the window at the falling snow contemplating how he was going to explain the phone situation to his wife. The snow started to pick up, it took him a bit, but eventually it dawned on him. The blizzard! I'll blame it on the blizzard!

Xander:

Xander left for his room while the other guest were arriving. He hated crowds that grew too quickly. This was one of those instants. When he got there he put his key in the door and walked in. He was met by a nice looking room with a queen sized bed. He tossed his stuff on the floor and laid down on the bed, "Ah, It feels good to be on a real matteress instead of my air one." His eyes started to shut on him. A voice in his head told him to wake up, there was people to see and meet. There's a whole room filled decent looking chicks. Have a weekend fling, and never call her again. Xander mulled it over and decided the voice was right. The voice had been there since he was young. It was like his own little pair of an angel and a devil but, had more power over him. He sat up and grabbed his bag. He needed to unpack. He opened it and saw he didn't pack much.

Xander went through the motions of putting stuff away and when he got to the last few items in his bag. He left his carton of smokes on his dresser. It was already opened and missing a few packs. He grabbed a pen from the bedside table and wrote how many packs were left. That way if they get stolen he would know about it. His pocket knife went into his pocket and he tossed his bag with the rest of his stuff under his bed. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and checked the contents. He had 13 full cigarettes and a half of another one. He put a full one behind ear and proceeded back to the lobby. Now the party had begun the gang was all hear. Xander didn't notice a chair in the lobby. As he walked by his right foot got caught on one of the legs and down he went. The next thing he knew he was on his stomach groaning. He hoped that nobody saw, it was a strech. He looked to the right and saw two human legs attached to the chair. Great, somebody did notice. and it happened right infront of them. Let's hope it's not a cute girl.

Johnny:

Johnny walked in the lobby, he saw all the people that were here. A few cute girls but, nothing else. A punk just tripped and fell next to a tom boy, nothing special. He wanted to pick on the punk but, he moved past that stage of his life. He was now a pencil pusher, not a NFL starter. He walked by ignoring the groaning man. He waited in line for his turn at the front desk. When he got there he knew the routine, "Johnathan Richmond." He grabbed his wallet and flashed his ID. He had gone on business trips before. His company was one of the more successful ones in New York, and he sometimes went across the nation to meet with his clients. He saw in the mirror that his tie wasn't straight. He fixed it with ease. He had been wearing ties ever since he graduated college.

Julia

Julia walked in with her head up high, she smiled at some of the girls, but inside her head all she was thinking was 'what a bunch of losers when I'm famous they all will look up to me!' She walked up to the counter next to a tall boy, she looked over him and decided that this boy seemed like a man. Then she looked at the girl behind the counter. "My name is Julia Otto, soon to be famous." She looked back at the boy to see if he even noticed she was there.

Athylia

After a bunch of people walked in, Athylia decided it would be best if she left for a bit. She went up to her room, after she unlocked the door she threw her bag down and started to unpack. She herd some noises coming from down stairs. "Wow sound travels far in this place." She was amazed at the hotel it was nothing like she expected, everything has been so amazing the people seemed really nice too just hopefully she could make a good impression. All of the sudden her stomach dropped. She flipped her bag, she then she just stood there starring at her bag. She forgot her pills...

Athylia has had anger issues since she was young, she has managed to control them fairly well but when she would get angry she would turn violent and hurt others. But the pills would make sure she could stay in control, Athylia sighed. "Well as long as I don't get angry then I shouldn't cause any harm."

She walked out of her room and locked the door behind her, it was time to go back to the lobby. And that is when she saw her... Julia used to be friends with Athylia until graduation. That is when Julia became the stubbern success she is, Athylia hated her, she extremely jealous of her and that was all she needed to hate that girl. Just hopefully she won't recognize Athylia.

Carla heard a loud thump, she snapped her gaze towards the source of the sound. Oh how delicious, that Xander boy has tripped and fallen right in front of of Ms. Collins. That'll teach him to watch where he's going. She chuckled to herself, and returned her attention to the guest that had just approached her desk. He was tall, and a bit muscular. "Welcome to Shelter Lodge, Mr. Richmond.", Carla replied, going through the introduction process with him. "Thank you, Mr. Richmond. Your room number is 101, please make yourself at home. Also, I will be hosting a tour in thirty minutes time of the facility. If you care to join us, it will begin here in the lobby." As Johnny walked away, Carla thought to herself, "Man is he cute. He must work hard to keep up that body."

She tore her gaze away from Johnny, to focus on the stuck up girl that had just approached the desk. "Famous? you wish, honey.", Carla thought, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "Welcome, Ms. Otto!", Carla went through the introduction process with her. "Thank you, Ms. Otto. Your room number is 106. Feel free to visit your room, and get settled. I hope you will join us for the tour in thirty minutes time that will begin here in the lobby."

Xander:

"It wasn't your fault. I tripped over the chairs' leg. I really got to start watching where I'm going." Xander said taking her hand. When he got up he started to dust himself off. A fine layer dirt and dust fell off of him. It was kind of entertaining. "Anyway, I'm Xander sorry to... uh, well drop in would be the appropriate thing to say right now." His hand went to his right ear and he didn't feel the paper tube behind it. He looked down and saw that it broke in two. He squated down and said, "Man, Cigarette abuse. I should be arrested." He picked up the two half and pulled out his pack and opened it. It could be salvaged, a bit of toilet paper and some saliva and it will be right as rain. He pulled out another one and stuck it behind his ear. He always did that for the cigarettes he was going to smoke. It was a weird habit, but it was his.

Johnny:

Johnny signed the paper and was about to leave when Julia walked up to the counter. He noted she was good looking, but overall not his type. She was to stuck up for him. He used to be like that; arrougant, had that drive to be famous, and thought you are better than everyone else. After he graduated, Johnny realized that's a terrible person to be and nobody wanted to be his friend. It was just honest a terrible way to live his life. So he started being nice to people and just be himself. "Thank you," Johnny said as he took his key and made his way to his room.

Xander:

Xander just shrugged, people who didn't smoked always asked him the same question, 'Why do you smoke, it kills you.' He never understood why he smoked either. At first he smoked because it was illegal, then the reason changed. He smoked because of the stress of his life. "Yeah, that's what it says on the box. I guess the phrase, "Old enough to know better, too young to care." He said. His fingers started drumming against his side. It was just something he did when he really needed a cigarette. "So, this is quite the place. I couldn't afford this place if they didn't send that invitation. I don't make nearly enough to stay here. It was kind of weird getting that letter. I don't remember entering any type contest. Half of them are scams anyway. I'm expecting them to sit us through a time share presentation." Xander joked. He was a comedian when he wasn't nervous, when he is nervous the jokes get worse.

Johnny:

Johnny made it to his room. It wasn't new agey or anything like that. It was pretty old fashioned. He sat down on the bed and opened his bag and started to put his clothes away. To him there was nothing of interest. He entered the bathroom and started splashing water on his face. He pulled out his phone and checked to see if he had signal. "You have got to be kidding me. Nothing, great now I'm going to have to bust my ass when I get back to civilization." He put his phone in his suitcase. Johnny headed out of his room. He could see that the 'actor' was now sitting in a chair. The boy who fell was finally on his feet and talking to a girl with short hair, and a group of three girl talking among each other. He couldn't believe he was going to do this. He hated people like her. If he could start respecting people, then anyone could. He walked up to Julia and said, "My first impression of you was bitch. The clothes, the 'screw-people-I'm-going-to-be-Famous,' attitude, and the way you carried yourself. It just screamed bitch. Sorry if your offended but, I thought I should let you know."

The others in the lobby watched Laurie and Miles disappear upstairs.

"I guess they'll be missing the tour..." someone muttered.

Carla did a quick once-over of all the rooms. "Richmond, 101. Coltman, 02. Gap, 03. Collins, 04, Greni, 05, Otto, 06, Shillia, 07, Maxxwel, 08 and 10, Lefeber, 111." There was one missing. Barbara Phillips, room 109. Carla scanned the room. She could have sworn she'd seen a blonde-haired woman around earlier. But this was all the guests, minus the two that were already going on upstairs.

"All right, everyone, since we're all here we might as well get the tour started a little early. If you'd all gather around."

Snoring with his arms spread over the table in the staff room, John had fallen asleep after just a couple sips of his coffee. Suddenly he jumped awake, knocking his chair back slightly, and almost toppled onto the floor. His heart was pounding, and he was covered in sweat. Man that was some dream., he thought as he stretched and sat back in his chair, allowing the details of the dream to slowly dissipate until he could only vaguely recall that it involved a murder of some sort. Reaching for his coffee, he cursed noticing that he had managed to spill it during his nap. He cursed again when he noticed that his shirt had soaked up a good amount of the coffee, leaving a rather large brown stain on the left sleeve of his shirt. He go up to grab some paper towel, when his eyes fell on the clock that hung on the wall. His heart almost stopped, Oh shoot the tour!. Carla had made quite certain that he knew to attend the tour of the facilities. Her desire was to introduce all the guests to the employees to make them feel more at home, and willing to provide feedback on their stay. Forgetting the spill, and the stain, he took off down the hall towards the lobby. I hope she hasn't started yet, she'll never let me hear the end of it if I am late!

He arrived through the door located behind the front desk just as Carla was saying," All right, everyone, since we're all here we might as well get the tour started a little early. If you'd all gather around."

"Phew!", he panted as wiped the sweat from his forehead, and tried to calm his breathing down to normal.

Carla turned her husband, her smile quickly turning to a look of annoyance, and whispered severely," You dolt! Causing all this commotion, you're lucky the guests are here or I'd have your arse!" She then turned back to the guests displaying her phony smile, "I would first like to introduce you to the staff of this Shelter Lodge. Firstly, there is me. I am Carla, and I run the front end of the Shelter Lodge. Next, there is John, my husband, who is the mechanic responsible for fixing anything that breaks.", at the mention of his name, John, attempted to smile at the crowd of guests, but gave up and just lifted his hand and gave a small wave, "Feel free to take up any questions or concerns with either of us. Now let us begin the tour!"

Carla walked out from behind the front desk, and stood in front of the large fireplace. John trailed behind her, and stood a few feet to the left of her. Carla spread her arms out wide, proudly announcing, "Now this, as you all may know, is the lobby. From here you can easily make it to every other part of this resort. This is a place where you can rest, hang out, and call upon me to resolve any issues you may have. Any questions?"

Julia

The boy from before walked up to her, she put down her script and looked up at him as he began to talk."My first impression of you was bitch. The clothes, the 'screw-people-I'm-going-to-be-Famous,' attitude, and the way you carried yourself. It just screamed bitch. Sorry if your offended but, I thought I should let you know."

After all of that Julia looked down at her lap and then back up at the boy. "I don't believe insulting someone and than saying no offence makes anything better. And trust me I do know how I am acting, but that is how I was raised and trained so I am sorry for being who I am." Julia rolled her eyes but then smiled at the boy. "I like you, you got some spunk." She stood up and looked up into his eyes. "I'll try to be nicer and less of, hmm what was that you called me. Oh yes right a bitch, nice to meet you now if you excuses me the tour is starting."

Carla froze for a moment when Xander asked where the rest of the staff was. "Well..um..", she stammered as she tried to think of a good excuse. "You see, this is the trial weekend, if all goes according to plan, then we will be hiring more employees to care for our future guests." She started to sweat a little, hoping that this would serve as a good enough excuse. To prevent any other awkward questions Carla decided to continue on with the tour, "Now if you will follow me down this hallway,", she indicated the hallway with her left hand," we will be moving on to the dining area of the facility."

She led the guests down the hall, and into the Dining room. It consisted of one long, wooden table down the middle of the room that was lined with a large number of chairs. She led them around the perimeter of the room, stopping in front of the kitchen doors. "This!", she announced spreading her arms wide again,"is the dining facility. Three meals will be served here everyday at a set time. I will be providing a pamphlet with the meal times, and course descriptions at the end of the tour." As she spoke, Carla cursed the employees that had failed to arrive, I hope they rot in Hell, she thought spitefully. She did not allow her anger to show through to the guests, maintaining an overly cheerful facade she herder the guests into the kitchen. "This is our state of the art kitchen. All of our appliances are brand new, and very high end. Nothing but the best for our guests!" Carla was quite proud of the kitchen so she gave the guests a moment to gaze in awe at all the beautiful stainless steel appliances. "So what do you think so far?", she asked eager to hear their compliments.

John followed Carla silently. I don't know why she's making everyone go on this silly tour. Just give them a map of the place, I mean it is not like they have never been to a hotel before! Not only was he annoyed at Carla, the reminder of the lack of employees caused him to feel a deep anger towards them. They better not show their faces now, or I'll pound them to a pulp! The nerve of those people, leaving Carla and I to look after all of these people. He shook his head to snap out of his anger as his wife was leading everyone into the kitchen. The last think he needed right now was for Carla to catch him daydreaming in the middle of the tour she had be so looking forward to hosting.

Carla waited in vain for a few moments before clearing her throat, and leading the guests over to the walk in Fridge. She opened the large silver door, and pushed the rubber flaps aside to give them a glimpse at the food. "Our fridge is fully stocked with only the best of foods. All of it is organic, and hormone free." She boasted, closing the door, and leading the guests of the kitchen through a side door. She took them down the hall, and into the first room on the right. "This is the game room. Just like the kitchen, everything in here is brand new and very high end. For you to enjoy at your leisure are foosball table, air hockey, some arcade game, pool tables, and a self-serve bar." She pointed to each of the items as she mentioned them. Carla them moved over to the door that led to the staff room. She opened it, leading the way inside. "Now this is the Staff room. If you can't seem to find either me or John, you can always check in here, or if it is late at night you can always find us in our room, 301."

Carla gave the group a second to take everything in before leading them back to the lobby."Before I end the tour, I would like to point out how to get to our skiing slopes. Unfortunately, I am unable to show you at this time due to the bad weather." She explained apologetically as she pointed to the heavy snowfall that was taking place just outside the window. "To get there you simply need to follow the path labeled 'Ski Slopes' that starts just as you walk outside. There is also a small rental shop up on the hill where you can rent out skiis, boots, and jackets. Due to the shortage of staff, you simply need to come to me if you desire to rent something, and I will log into the database via the front desk computer." Carla paused to take a deep breathe before continuing, "Thank you for attending the tour of the Shelter Lodge, remember that if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to approach either myself, or John and we will be happy to assist you."

Just as Carla made it back behind her desk, she realized that she had forgotten something. "Oh Wait!", she shouted, "I forgot to hand out the dining pamphlets!" She grabbed the pile of light pink pamphlets, and began handing them out to the guests. "The meal times are clearly marked, but I would just like to mention that dinner will be taking place in three hours. We will be serving oven roasted chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes."

Once everything was over, Carla made her way back to the front desk, and motioned for John to follow her. "I need you here so I can get that meal started. We can't have the guests starving all because those pests didn't bother showing up!, Carla hissed this at John, and didn't give him a chance to respond before stalking off to the kitchen. It's going to be a long weekend, John sighed, while leaning on the counter hoping that the guests would entertain themselves so he could relax.

Xander:

"A game room with a self serve bar... I must be in heaven." Xander said to himself. He didn't care if people heard him. He talked to himself often. It kept him company when nobody wanted to hang out. He plucked the cigarette out of his ear and put it back in the pack. He didn't need his cigarettes if there was alcohol. His favorite drink is the Screwdriver. It was pretty basic on the cocktail list but he liked the taste of it. He headed for the game room with one thought on his mind, getting a buzz on. When he walked in the game room he took the long way to the bar, it wasn't like the drinks were going anywhere. He wanted to see what games they had in here. As Xander passed the pool table a thought crossed his mind, and he smiled at it.

Johnny:

"I was kind of hoping to go skiing. Hopefully this storm passes." Johnny said quietly. He wasn't surprised on how Julia first reacted. The thing that he was surprised about was when she said she liked him. That caught him off guard, he couldn't begin to fathom why she said that. He shrugged it off and decided that a drink was a decent thing. He hadn't had one since he left.