Something About Alice Murphy: BOOK 3

P A R T - E L E V E N

Chapter Eleven: Pashmina
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Alice could feel her neck and shoulders aching as she gradually opened her eyes, feeling that the coach had come to a gradual stop. "We're here," Amara mumbled, patting Alice's arm softly moments before both of them started to stretch.

Alice could almost hear the snow before she had even looked out the window from the upper level of the coach. Everything sounded so quiet and soft, even though echoes of quiet chatter wafting up towards her ears as everyone sleepily got off the bus. They'd stopped twice on the whole journey, once Lille to get food and stretch their legs, then for the second time in Dijon a few hours ago.

The coach had stopped outside the main entrance for the Pashmina Hotel in Val Thorens, and it was ice cold and had just started to snow as it was well into the evening now. Oliver went ahead to check everyone in as the party found places to sit inside the reception with their bags around their feet. Most hangovers had subsided by now, but the twelve hour journey to get here had subdued everyone into an almost silence.

The hotel reception was warm and cosy, with an open fire place and colourful arm chairs and couches organised around it as it was in the centre of the room in a safer looking version of a fire pit. The building seemed to be made from a pale wood sliding with stretches of grey stone every now and then and it looked like an over sized chalet from the front, and on the inside; continued on the aesthetic.

Eventually the group was taken in separate buggies to their designated chalets, as they would not be staying in the main hotel. The boys had one, and the girls had one, and the obvious couples had another, slightly smaller chalet that they could cosy up and away in. They were placed up the end of a long snowy road lined with smaller chalets, a large bar, a cafe and a restaurant or two, although they were not placed all together. The chalet the girls were occupying was first, and the boy's chalet was up the road and a little off to the left up another small slope so that it had a clear view of the ski run. Unlike the girl's chalet, that had a view of the main resort that seemed so far away in the darkness with the lights looking like fire lanterns amongst the moon lit snow.

The chalets were similar in many ways, polished and treated wood throughout, with areas made from stone. It was very homey, with little nooks here and there for reading or lounging quietly. There was a large open plan kitchen on the main floor, which had the biggest windows to look out over the view where the dining table was, next to the main living area where there were three big plush white sofas, an open fire place and a tv. There was also one bedroom off to the left as you came in through the main doors, next to a set of stairs that took you either up or down to the first floor or the ground floor.

Their rep explained that the house had eight bedrooms, four upstairs and three on the ground floor where there were some recreational rooms and a small home cinema. Alice and Amara decided to head downstairs, since the flurry of running people heading upstairs made their minds up for them.

Downstairs it was bigger and more spacious than they expected, with rooms situated around a second living and recreational area with a ping pong table and another fire place, all of which looked out over a large balcony, that they could see had some stairs leading down to the open stretch of snow that would take them to the ski run directly if they walked. Alice made her way across the living room area with her bags, opening the door next to the fire place and peaking in...

"Oh wow," she murmured, opening the door fully to show the medium sized room with a large window looking out over the outside decking that was covered in a thick layer of snow. The bedroom itself has a small fire place, and although the fire blazing was fake, it gave the room a warm orangey glow that made Alice's heart melt inside her chest, especially since it made a crackling sound so crisp she would've assumed it was real if she hadn't looked close enough. The bed was placed directly opposite, with a wooden sleigh bed frame, and had nightstands either side with little lamps that looked like candle sticks with cream lamp shades and little Pom-Pom tassels hanging off it. The sheets were white too, but with a thick knitted throw that made it seem so cosy that Alice was already sliding her shoes off and taking off her various layers so she could go and lie on it to try it out.