horror effect

The heavy snow that had been falling for three consecutive days and three nights finally stopped in the early morning, and the long-lost sunlight passed through the clouds spotted like fish scales.Although the sun was shining brightly, giving the illusion of warmth, the air was still very cold.The white snow on the roofs and branches is blown into the air by the wind from time to time, filling the air like the morning mist of autumn dawn, through which the sun shines through the mist, twisting and twisting like white ribbons.

Masha Chebysova tightened the collar of her coat and walked up the cedar hill step by step.The cobbled road is covered with thick snow and looks smooth, but once you step down, the road you walk has not slipped back much.In such weather, cars dare not take the risk of driving up the mountain, they are all parked on both sides of the road along the river, and the red, blue and blue roofs are covered with snow.

Cedar Mountain is not high, compared with the towering peaks around it, it is at best a small hill, but the slope is very steep, so the road winds around among the old-fashioned houses on the hillside, like stretched noodles. long.On the terrace in front of a house, Martha rested for a while, a cloud of white air around her chin.The water vapor produced by breathing condensed and glued the long hair around her cheeks together.Impatiently, she tucked her hair into a mess and stuffed it into her hat.

It was eight o'clock in the morning. People in the mountains would not get up so early in winter, and there was no one else on the road except herself.The fresh white snow covered the dilapidated roofs of the old houses on both sides, the smoky chimneys, and the messy slate tiles, making them look neat and beautiful, and the attic windows stared at the road below. The glass reflected a cold light.

After resting for a while, she felt that her strength had recovered, and she began to walk up the mountain again.The Four Calendar Tavern is halfway up the mountain, almost as close or as far from the top of the hill as the foot of the hill.When Martha passed by, she just caught up with the boss Collivan and his grandson Micah cleaning the snow in front of the door together.

Collivan had a dark wooden pipe in his mouth, which contrasted sharply with his snow-white beard.As soon as he saw Martha, he spoke to her in a loud, strong voice.If his loud voice was placed on a snow-capped mountain, it would be enough to trigger an avalanche.

"Martha! Why did you come to work so early? Aren't you already on vacation?"

This sentence hits Martha's sore spot: she is indeed on vacation, but yesterday Alina called to say that she was going to Italy with her fiancé for vacation and asked Martha to go to work for her.After telling Collivan about this, the old man looked at her sympathetically, and comforted her and said, "It's okay, it's fine, you can stay for two more months in winter, and you can rest for two more months in summer. Riviere in summer Rabbi is more charming in winter, and if you just like winter beaches, then a long vacation is enough for you to travel around the world and experience all kinds of weather.”

Martha laughed. "Thank you for your kindness. But I would prefer to stay here during the holidays."

"Yes, the mountains are a great place to escape the heat in summer, and that's when the fresh grapes are ripe and make the best wine. There's also young maple sap and walnut sap. Speaking of wine... Ma Sha, tell your boss not to buy those foreign wines all day long, those wines are not suitable for the taste of our people here, let him buy bars from me, I can give him cheaper."

She knew that every time she met someone at the Cedar Hill Inn, Papa Collivan would always bring up the topic of wine, no matter how far the original content was from alcohol, grape juice, fermentation, and tannins.Although he never succeeded in persuading him once, he still enjoys it, as if it is a kind of pleasure to talk about the goodness of self-brewed wine and the inaccuracy of foreign wine.And Martha also knew that at such a time, the only way was to agree readily. As for what would happen afterwards, Colivan didn't seem to care.

"Okay! I'll talk to him!"

Martha readily agreed.Then continue walking up the hill.

Opposite the Four Calendar Tavern, there is a dilapidated two-story house, and the brown dry branches of climbing vines cover the entire wall facing the road.

From the outside it's easy to assume that this is a property that has been left in disrepair and neglect, as if it were a pile of ruins that were somehow dumped here.But in fact, the Tofana sisters who live there have already woken up. Regardless of the season and the weather, they always maintain a fixed work and rest time. It has been like this for many years, as accurate as a clock.The sisters, who are in their 70s, are twins who have been together since birth until now.Neither of them ever married because neither of them wanted to be separated from the other.They will never marry until the law does not allow a man to marry two women at once.

The two sisters were sitting opposite each other by the window combing their hair while talking.

"Look," said the older sister—or perhaps the younger sister.They were so alike that no one could tell them apart, even they themselves couldn't figure out who was the older sister and who was the younger sister.

"Look at Martha," said another.

"She left so early today."

"She is very well dressed. I like her otter hat."

"I love her embroidered scarf."

"She was always very well dressed."

"very beautiful……"

Sister Tofana was silent at the same time, and the two raised their heads and looked at each other.They don't even have to speak, they can tell what the other is thinking with just a glance of the eyes.Then they grinned simultaneously, like images reflected in a mirror, with their dry, toothless mouths.

The gate of the Cedar Hill Inn is at the end of the mountain road.When Martha got there, she met some waiters clearing snow.The snow was thick and pressed against the road.They work very hard.The snow swept from the road was piled at the foot of the fir trees that lined the road, thick as white marble pedestals.These snows will be grayed by dust, will melt and become smaller, and maybe after a certain snowfall, they will grow again, become solid and white again, and no matter how many times this process is repeated, as long as the next spring comes, they must be will turn into meltwater.When the snow disappears, the fir tree shoots begin to grow.

The wind blew the snow off the dry branches, and it fell on Martha's head. She shook her head and walked quickly into the hotel.The snow in the garden has been swept away, and a few early risers are taking a walk.The walls of the hotel are milky yellow, and the red roofs, balconies, and window panels are covered with snowflakes, which look very simple and beautiful against the white hills and brown woods.The inn takes its name from the hill it is on, but although it is called 'Cedar', the hill is actually full of birches, lindens and maples, not a single cedar.

It was Martha's first day at work replacing Alina who was on leave, and Balfin, the housekeeping manager, was waiting for her in the office.He had to hand over the work left by Elina before leaving.

"You will be in charge of the third floor of the left wing building now," Balfin said. "There are eight guest rooms, and five of them are fully booked. Most of them are short-term skiers. However, there is one room, Room C304, which may be a bit troublesome."

Martha immediately tensed up.She has worked as a waiter for two years, and she has quite a lot of experience. Although the Cedar Hill Hotel is located in a remote mountain town in Eastern Europe, relying on the recently booming ski industry, there is never a shortage of guests from all over the world. Martha had learned a great deal from the different tempers of her guests.For example, once a British couple picked at least two dozen faults for the restaurant's desserts. Another time, a Portuguese guest thought that the bed sheets were not clean, so he went to the laundry room to stare at his own bed sheets.I don't know where the strange guest came from again this time.

"That guest wasn't weird, but he's getting sick right now."

Martha curled her lips. "Oh, Balfin, we're not a hospital here, and I'm not a nurse."

"Listen to me. The man came in on the advice of Dr. Renee Hostatova."

"Is there no bed in the medical center?" Martha was very upset.

"You know, it's just a small clinic, but there are only three beds, one of which is occupied by Mrs. Barning who is sick, one is occupied by a woodcutter who broke her thigh last month, and the third bed It was vacant at first, but that day Collivan's father suffered from liver disease again. The patient seemed to be brought back from the wild and was froze. It happened that the manager was in the medical center to see the wrist injury. Take the initiative to let the patient live in."

The more Martha listened, the more gloomy her face became.She didn't like caring for the sick, especially if it was her first day at work.Balfin obviously saw her attitude, and said: "Don't worry, this guest is taken care of by Nicholas in the medical center most of the time, and all you need to do, apart from the daily room cleaning, is when the nurse is away Pay attention to observe the patient's condition and inform the doctor of the situation in time. It is not difficult, and his illness is recovering."

"What does this man do?" she asked.

"We checked the documents he carried with him. This guest is Julian Raymond, a British photographer who is from a well-known travel magazine." Balfin suddenly leaned forward, stared at Martha and said: "We need you to take good care of him. Alina is a newcomer and not suitable for this job."

Hearing this, Martha understood everything, and she moved the corners of her mouth to show a slightly contemptuous smile.

"You're so eager to impress him. What? Hope he publishes a magazine article praising our hotel out of gratitude?"

Faced with Martha's sarcasm, Balfin said seriously: "It would be great if this is the case. You know, Martha, our hotel has been successful in a few years, and it may also join the International Small Hotel Alliance recently, as a member of the hotel industry. , what we need most now is a good reputation.”

Why doesn't she know?It was for this that the innkeeper, Herbert Wernstein, was in town.If you can join the alliance, you can get more stable customer sources, and it is easier to get the care of foreign travel agencies and compete with those large luxury hotels.The turnover of the hotel is closely linked to the occupancy rate, and Martha naturally understands this very well. Therefore, although she knows that the work of taking care of patients is troublesome and annoying, she does not refuse.She had a plan in mind: If her meticulous service contributed to the success of joining the league, she would be able to justify asking for a salary increase, which was a coveted opportunity.

The author has something to say:

The characters in the text are crooked nuts~~~

So there are inevitably a lot of names, it may be uncomfortable to look at, and you need to be patient~~~

ok~~~~~

The plot is guaranteed not to be bloody or procrastinated~~~mua~~~~