Speaking to the unknown

Some people say that not everything that happens needs to make sense. Well, maybe they are right.

                   ~ 1 MONTH AGO ~

I'm a middle-aged woman... who lives alone in a small house. I'm quite happy with my life though. As a child, I always liked to travel, and now I do get to travel plenty of times on business trips. So, when my boss told me I was supposed to go to Rajasthan for a few days to attend a meeting, I agreed. 

I packed my bags the following day and woke up early the next day to catch my flight. After landing, I took a cab to reach my hotel. The hotel was good, but very few people chose to stay there. It was also quite far from the destination where I had to attend the meeting, but I was fine with it. 

After reaching, I rested for a while and was going to start working when there was a knock on the door. 

"Room service!" The waiter called. I opened the door and found the guy holding the lunch tray. " Thank you " I took the tray and closed the door. After finishing my lunch, I got back to work. 

                                       ~ ~ ~

I just returned from my meeting when the same guy brought dinner for me. I thanked him and started eating. After eating, I watched a little T.V and I was just getting ready to sleep when there was a knock on the door. I went to open it and found a servant. Despite the hotel having really less staff, I hadn't seen him before. "Yes?" I asked. The servant, without saying anything, came in and started tidying the room. "Excuse me, but I didn't call for room service" I said. But the servant still kept working. He dusted the table, made the bed etc. and I just stood there and watched him. His name tag read "Jonathan Heifers". After he was done, He bowed and left the room. I found this very weird, but I was too tired to care.

The next day, I had to go for another meeting. So, I woke up early and started getting dressed, when breakfast arrived. It was the same servant who arrives normally. I thought of asking him about Jonathan heifers but the servant was in a hurry and left. I'll ask him later, maybe I thought and quickly left for the meeting. 

I was so tired, that as soon as I returned from my meeting, I slept. I don't know how long I slept for but I woke to someone knocking on the door. Probably dinner I thought, But to my surprise, it was the Jonathan Heifers. And he did the same thing, Tidy the room and leave without uttering a single word. 

My stay here was for 5 days, and every day the unknown servant came and did the same thing. I even tried talking to him, but he would just keep quiet. Today was my fourth day here. And, I don't know why, but I couldn't sleep at all. So I decided to go for a walk. As it was cold outside, I just kept walking in the corridors.

That's when I saw a shadow in front for me. I was totally terrified for a moment. Then I realized that it was just a human, But not just any human. It was Jonathan Heifers. I decided to follow him and see where he was going. I followed him through some more corridors. When, suddenly, he stopped and turned around as if he knew he was being followed. This was so sudden, that I didn't get to hide. But still, he didn't say anything. He just kept looking at me. So I decided to start the conversation.

"Who are you?" I asked. He slowly pointed at a huge picture hanging on the wall, which I hadn't noticed before. It was a picture of a man sitting on a big chair. After looking more closely, I realized he looked a lot like Jonathan Heifers, But the guy in the picture looked more older that the person in front of me. But this still didn't explain anything. 

Then, for the first time, he spoke. 

" I was the manager of this hotel, years ago. No one had any problem with me, because I used to always treat every servant and customer with my best behavior. But my brother, was jealous of me. Because our dad gave me more salary and responsibility. While my brother got less work and salary by our father, because of his carelessness. So, my brother framed me! He made everyone hate me by some cruel tricks. And soon, I lost my father's trust and my job. That day, I went to my brother's house to talk to him about all this. But he..."

He stopped talking. Maybe because the next part was dreadful? 

But the story didn't make any sense. If his brother had killed him, how was he standing in front of me? And that still didn't explain why he came in my room every evening. I was going to ask him this, but when I looked up. He was gone.

I woke up to the knocking on my door. The time was 8:30 am. I don't normally wake up so late. That's when I remembered about last night and about the story of Jonathan Heifers, which I still didn't believe. I got up and answered the door. But when I did, I found the servant but he didn't have any tray in his hand.

"Where's the breakfast?"

"Ma'am, today is a special day so all customers are requested to eat in the dining hall... Together"

"What's so special about today?"

"It is the birth anniversary of our previous manager, Jonathan Heifers. He's dead... But still his birthday is celebrated because he was so much loved by everyone. It is also said, that his ghost narrates his story to one of the customers one night before the celebration. But maybe it is not true. Because no one has claimed to see him"

Maybe the story was true, Afterall