Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 61

Chapter Nine

            It doesn’t take me long to find the Hotel Fontana. The Trevi Fountain is well signposted throughout the city. All in all it takes me about 10 minutes at a very fast walk.

            When I turn the corner and the piazza spreads out before me, like a big reveal by a magician, I have to pause for a second. The fountain has that sort of effect on you. Like it demands to be looked at. Sort of like a person who knows they’re attractive, and you do, you just know you could never achieve quite such a perfect piece of art.

            Penny used to wonder why I called her beautiful. Every day, without fail, when she turned towards me like and I was reminded. She was beautiful without telling the world she was. She’d say her nose was too long and her chin was chubby, and a thousand other imperfections a person can find in their own appearance. I’d say her features were hers, and her features stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t want someone who demanded to be looked at. I want the most beautiful girl in my world.

            I tear my eyes away from the awe inspiring fountain, with horses and Gods springing out of the high, pillared building behind it. Water cascading down from tens of water jets, tumbling over waterfalls and trickling into the swimming pool sized pond below.

            The Hotel Fontana sits facing it directly. I imagine waking up to that every morning, a wealth of gelato parlours lining its left hand side with flavours from cool looking lemon, to chocolate and hazelnut, and tutti frutti to beyond.

            My mouth salivates as I watch some tourists happily licking away in the sunshine, before I cross the square to the hotel.

            It’s small, sandwiched between two larger hotels like it’s fighting to burst out and grow in the piazza.

            The door is glass and I dart inside as two fairly wealthy looking people emerge, dressed in expensive suits.

            It snaps shut behind me and I wonder how I’m going to find the man. I was compelled to follow the slightly unsettling instruction, my logic being – how can he hurt me anymore.

            I had seen him disappear in front of the bus as though he possessed the same ability as me. If he can become like me, can I go the other way? Can I appear to the living and breathing.
            The memory of a heart beating quickly in my chest, I cross the small lobby, past the bored looking security guard and mount the stairs, meaning to search every room for my spontaneously corporeal friend.