The Receptionist- Chapter Four

8/8/2019 The Receptionist- Chapter Four

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The ReceptionistThe Belro Case

Chapter Four

"You ready?" Peter asks, as we sit in a room with two seats; one in

front of the other our hands twined.

"As I ever will be!"

"Close your eyes! Concentrate! Focus on the year 2039- try to

remember events in that year."Suddenly the room starts to shake, then go in and out of focus as I

open my eyes.

"Keep your eyes closed Anna! You have never travelled this far

back beforeyou need to concentrate!"

"Sorry!"

I close my eyes. 2039- 2039-2039- the room shakes, my hands

shake, my body shakes. I hear the churning noise, like metal, then I

let go of reality, of the present time, a bright blue light emergesand I get pulled back. I am laying on a hot ground, with dusty

rocks against my face, a beaming sun burning my face. Also the

touch of metal on my face. When I open my eyes, I see I am lying

on a railway track. But not in New York, it has to be some hot

country like Africa or Italy, but why would I be in one of those

countries? I stand up, the railway track seems endless, beyond the

point where I can see is heat waves. I turn around to see Peter all

ready standing up.

"You took your time!" he says.

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"No- you were out for about twenty minutes."

"Oh."

"Come on-"

"Where are we?"


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"Spain-"

"How? Why?"

"Well in the headquarters we were holding hands, you were in

control of the time we were travelling to; I was in charge of the

location! Come on, we really don't have much time! And beforeyou ask- I am not trying to be funny!"

Peter and I walk the long railway until we finally come to a station,

which is empty bar a ticket booth and two benches, with a

homeless elderly man asleep on it. Peter looks to his watch and

then to his hand where he has the time 13:34 written down. His

watch read 13:29.

Peter walks over to the man in the ticket booth."Cuando sale el prximo tren?" he asks, with a Spanish accent.

The plump, tanned man behind the glass looks from the TV to

Peter.

"Debe haber una en un minuto." The man replies, then switches

back to the TV. Peter checks his watch.

"Whats up Peter?" I ask, as I can't speak Spanish.

"Nothing- the next train- is holding a passenger that will bring us

to Belro! We need to be on that train!""What is the time on your hand for?"

"Thats when the train crashes, killing the person who will bring us

to Belro!"

"What do we do?"

"We need to save her!" Peter replies, walking back over to the man

in the booth.

"Puedo tener dos entradas por favor, seor? Peter asks, Iwonder how many foreign languages he can speak.

The man hans Peter two tickets. Peter hands me one of the yellow

tickets.

"Wait! We are getting on the train- which is going to crash?"

"Precisely!"


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"Quieres compartir con nosotros seora?"Peter says to Sofia,

who looks at us and smiles.

"We are sharing!" Peter says to me. Peter, I and Sofia jump into the

taxi. Sofia announces her address first, giving us the vital

information.

"So is there any other secret languages that I should know you

speak?", I ask Peter in the taxi.

"I speak English, Spanish, French, German, Swedish and Latin.

And you?"

"Just the one!" I reply, Peter smiles.

"Gracias por dejarme compartir su taxi."Sofia says to Peter.

Peter smiles in reply."She said thank you for letting me share your taxi!" Peter jokes to

me.

"Yeah I got that!"

The taxi pulls up beside a small, typical looking Spanish house.

Sofia pays the taxi driver and jumps out. She looks through the

cracked window.

"seor adis, gracias de nuevo!"Sofia says to Peter,

Peter waves toher. Sofia takes out her keys and opens the front door of her house

and enters. Peter tells the taxi driver to park around the corner.

We wait for about an hour until we walk back to Belro's house. A

sprinkler scatters water over the bed of grass and flowers. Through

a window we see a happy man with his wife and son, eating

dinner. I have this weird feeling in my stomach.

"Remind me again why we are doing this? Why we are destroying

a happy family!""You see Belro! Well that's not happy Belro! That's future Belro

living in the body of past Belro! He killed Klein- that's why we are

here!"

Peter flicks back his black coat revealing a gun.

"Whats that for?"


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"You think he is going to come quietly?"

Peter and I creep up to the front door. He looks at me, a reassuring

look. He knocks twice. Sofia answers the door, wearing an apron.

She screams when Peter aims the gun at her face."Roberto!"She screams, holding her hands up in the air. Belro

runs to the front door, he stops when he sees his wife crying and

the familiar face of Peter.

"Why can't you just leave me in peace? he asks. This is my first

time meeting Belro.

"You killed a PTO! And you are coming back with us!"

"Roberto!"

"que Ising a la miel de bien!"Belro says to his wife, later Peterwould tell me he said to her that everything would be okay. If only

he were right.

Peter holds the gun to Sofia's head, while Belro stands about a

metre away from his wife.

"Look if you just come with us-" Peter goes to say before he is

interrupted-

"NO! I am not going back! I didn't do it!""Come on Belro! You were the only one who would have a motive

against Klein!"

"I know! But youre not looking at the facts here!"

"Well then tell us the facts! Tell us the truth! Who killed Klein?"

"I don't know!"

"Well we do- it was you! Peter shouts. The door to the kitchen

opens revealing Belro's son.

"Pedro, ve a tu habitacin."Belro says to his son, Pedro. The boy

runs upstairs, to his room."I am sorry!" Belro says while closing his eyes, focusing on

another time.

"NO BELRO! Peter shouts. The room shakes and Belro

disappears. A stunned look spreads across Sofia's face.

"Damn!" Peter shouts. The wife looks around the room for her


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husband.

"We have to go Anna!"

"What about her?" I ask.

"I told you Anna, this is not going to end well!" Peter holds the

guns up to Sofia's head. Sofia notices and her screams."Peter what are you doing?"

"She has to die! The butterfly effect- if she never dies then the

future is different- if she dies it stays the same!Lo siento mucho!

Esto no es como yo quera que fuera!" Peter says to Sofia, the final

words she hears before Peter pulls the trigger ending her life.

Upstairs an eight year old Pedro hides under his bed, petrified.

The blue light appears, the metal churns and I get pulled forward to2045.

Back in the room with the two chairs. I look to the ground. Trying

to look anywhere but at Peter.

"Anna! I am sorry! It had to be that way!"

"No- what you did was kill a woman- a mother- someones

daughter! Do you know what pain you have caused the child?

Even if his father has killed someone!"

"It had to be done! It was part of the plan!""I wouldn't have come if that was the plan!"

"You can be mad Anna- but you are a PTO now- this is what we

do- this is what you do."

"No- I don't kill- because I know how much pain is cause by losing

someone! I'll see you tomorrow!" And with that I storm out of the

room, leaving Peter starring at the door.

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The Receptionist- Chapter Four