A car was driving slowly on a highway in a Friday evening. A young woman named Swara was in the driving seat, her head was heavy with thoughts, and her shoulders were weary.

 The warm sunset kissed her face through the windshield, calming her tensed shoulders. She was on the way home from work. Her job was getting overwhelming for her, and her boss was always annoying by giving her a ridiculously big load of work. She had a thought to quit. However, she never did. 

Swara was always the type of person who works with passion. However, ever since her boss promised her a big amount of bonus salary from her working overtime, she became obsessed with the money instead and put her passion aside. She ended up having messy schedules of work. At the end, she had a burnout and losing her passion. She had a tendency to rush in doing her job, lowering the quality of her performance at work.

On one side of the street when it was finally getting darker, Swara saw a shimmering light coming from a big building that seemed like a hotel. Judging that the road home would take one more hour, which she wouldn’t stand, Swara pulled over.

It was actually a big vintage hotel, all lit up and seemed so alive. She had weird feelings about the place, but all the feelings were quickly brushed off since she was too stunned by the grandeur of the hotel. So she drove her car in, parked it between other cars inside the hotel area.

Swara stepped into the lobby where she was welcomed by a receptionist. “Good evening, ma’am. Welcome to Sunrise Hotel. Are you looking to book a room?” The friendly receptionist greeted Swara. Her smile was so warm and welcoming. Swara, being too tired to stand around too long, immediately booked a room for her to stay the night. 

Swara rushed to her room on the second floor, room 365, where she could finally rest. She noticed that the hotel was so vintage, it gave her a cozy and warm feeling being there. The lobby was also filled with guests, and none of them seemed strange-looking to her.  “Maybe the weird feeling I had was not real.” She whispered to herself before slowly drifting off to sleep.

Swara woke up in the morning feeling refreshed. She had her breakfast brought into her room by the hotel service, then she took a shower after. In the evening, she took a walk around the hotel, looking for any good spot she could relax in and enjoy the view of the sunset.

Swara walked across a room that seemed like a recreation hall of the hotel. She saw hotel guests inside having fun while playing games, enjoying foods and drinks, and talking to each other. The whole room was filled with laughter and chatter.

As if hypnotized, Swara stepped inside the hall. Swara, who was usually introverted and shy around strangers, found herself easily blend in with the crowd, making friends and engaging in conversations with other hotel guests. She had never felt so happy before. With snacks and drinks in her hands, she spent probably the whole night laughing and singing until she felt tired and decided to walk out the room, looking for fresh air.

After a few minutes walking around, Swara found the pool area of the hotel. It was still dark outside. There were other hotel guests as well, some swimming in the pool, some simply enjoying snacks and talking to each other. 

When Swara was enjoying her time laying down on a pool lounge chair, a woman in formal attire approached her with a smile.Pinned on her blazer is a small logo of the hotel in gold. Swara guessed she might be the manager. “Good evening. Enjoying your time here?” The woman greeted Swara, who slowly sat up straight to politely greet her back. 

Stay here forever, we have everything you need.

I know something's off with this place...

The woman introduced herself as “Madam Goldie,” the manager of the hotel. She had a conversation with Swara, asking whether she enjoyed her time there or not and so on until it reached the point where Madam Goldie offered her to stay at the hotel forever, making Swara suspicious of her.