Robi reached into his back pocket, and for a second Luca thought he would accidentally conjure up the engagement ring and propose to her spontaneously. The sudden adrenaline rush made Luca feel like she was going to throw up, right there in front of everyone, at least in front of Viktor or Balázs or whatever his name was, then maybe faint. The security cameras would record all this, even Robi standing over her, ring in hand, not knowing what to do with her unconscious body. The cameras wouldn’t record the unbearable heat though. Shouldn’t there be air conditioning at a place like this?

Robi fished out the crumpled sheet and put it on the counter. He smoothed it out a little with his sweaty fingers. Viktor or Balázs took the paper with a solemn look on his face, typed a set of numbers from it, then broke into a smile again.

‘Robi and Luca, five nights, standard double bed.’

They nodded, and Viktor/Balázs nodded with them, and Luca thought everything was all right. At last.

All the walls and carpets were as red as red can be, the carpet thick, the walls too close for comfort. Luca longed for an ice-cold shower.

They received the keycard in a small paper holder. Viktor or Balázs had written the room number on it in black ink.

‘303.’

Robi slid the card into the door. Nothing happened. He swore, turned the card upside down, tried again. The door gave a quiet chirp, like a mechanical bird. They entered the room, but even before opening the door Luca knew from the smell that something was wrong.

She wanted to get as far as possible from the stench, so they agreed she would go back to reception. She was terrified of getting lost in the red corridors, since one was just like another – one wrong turn and you’d end up somewhere other than your destination, while those who wanted to get to the place where you ended up are now left waiting at reception for eternity instead.

Eventually she reached the reception desk, made the complaint, and returned to the room in the company of Balázs or Viktor. The man took a look around the room: the disheveled bed, the filthy mirror, the food scraps lying on the floor, the used needles scattered between the tatters of the bed sheet, the filth on the wall, which Luca believed to be excrement, most probably of human origin.

‘I’ll put you in another room immediately, of course,’ said Balázs/Viktor. ‘And I could give you a discount to our weekend sauna event.’

They didn’t know what a sauna event was but accepted the offer. They all trudged back to reception, and Viktor or Balázs made a new card for them. He preserved the same paper holder, just crossing out ‘303’ and writing ‘304’.