Chapter Text
The sun was high in the blue sky, cicadas singing without pause as waves crashed against the rocks below the coastal road.
But Luca barely noticed this dreamlike view. He stopped counting how long he had been on that bus, his head bouncing on the window, eyes unfocused by boredom and tiredness. He took a deep breath as the same song played for the tenth time on the autoradio, sounding like it was remixed an algorithm's ass, between two advertisements about how Praxis made their life better. Well, no other choice, songs with a BPM over 60 are banned…
A silent scoff left his mouth at the thought of it. Praxis… Since those guys ruled the world, everything became dull, like this shitty music, far from the real artists who have all disappeared since. And now Praxis was everywhere, even in his school books. Thinking about school, he finally moved and opened his backpack to pick a paper, reading again this letter from the principal. “Field training placement for underperforming students…” More like “we're getting rid of you because you're too stupid for us” he thought.
He sighed heavily and leaned back on his seat, looking out again. His native Austria seemed so far and so close at the same time. His eyes catched a building that started to appear on the coastline, alone, giant, almost mocking everyone passing up on this road. His destination.
The bus finally stopped on the road and Luca stepped down, the smell of salt and heat hitting him. He grabbed his suitcase and looked again at the building down the small road, the letter gripped in his hand. He glanced around, watching the bus left before sighing one more time and walking towards the building along the entrance road. A big stone with a stylized sign on it welcomed him, right in front of this giant luxurious building.
“The Complex resort” he read on the sign before scoffing, “stupid name”.
He entered the building and stopped, blinded by the polished fake marble, fake gold, and very real sunlight
“Hey! Kid!”
The shouting brought back Luca from his thoughts before he looked at the reception desk. A man wearing black with glasses and his hair in a ponytail was leaning on the reception desk as if staying still was the hardest challenge of all, looking at Luca with a far too big smile.
“You look lost, you need help?”
“Yeah… Actually…”
The young man walked to the desk and gave the letter to the man.
“I… I applied for the internship program a while ago…”
The man grabbed the letter and read it with a disgusted expression.
“God… they really want to get rid of you…” he sighed and started searching on his desk computer “ What's your name?”
“Luca… Luca Michlmayr”
The man spent a small time on his computer before smiling and picking up a phone. He stuck it to his ear with a smirk.
“Hey boss? A new face just arrived”
He hung up right after, leaving no time to answer, making Luca sweat. The boss? Why did he need to call the boss? Can he stop smiling like he's enjoying this situation way too much?!
After minutes that felt like hours, an elevator door opened and a man stepped down, looking like he just sold weapons to a rival family. He saw Luca and walked towards the reception, each step making him realize just how tall he was. He stopped near with a warm smile, Luca's shoulders dropped without him realizing how tensed he was.
“Hi kid, my name is Tijs. Can I see your folder?”
Luca emerged from his thoughts after a few seconds and handed him the folder.
Tijs opened it and started reading the first page. After a few seconds, his eyes narrowed. The paper moved slightly farther from his face… then closer again.
Luca shifted awkwardly, wondering if he had brought the wrong documents.
Behind the reception desk, the receptionist watched the scene for a moment before letting out a quiet laugh. He slid the glasses off his nose and handed them over. The tall man accepted them with a small nod and put them on.
“Thanks. Wow… it feels like the fonts are getting smaller and smaller.”
“They are,” the receptionist replied “Six-point. They say it saves paper.”
Tijs shook his head. “One day they'll bring me Post-its.”
For a moment he scanned the papers in silence. Then he looked up again—immediately squinting and rubbing his eyes.
“Sonny, how do you even see anything without these things?” he muttered, pulling the glasses off again. “You seriously need to change them.”
“I see perfectly fine.” He paused, then added while putting his glasses on “Mostly.”
Tijs sighed and looked at the young man with a smile.
“Impressive journey. Student in “music production and sound analysis”, top of your class… then your grades dropped. You gave up?”
Luca sighed at the question, already anticipating the man's reaction.
“There are too many stupid rules… we can't even think without being judged”
But, against Luca's thoughts, the man just smiled.
“Yeah, we get that a lot. There's a tiny detail I want to understand: You're from Austria, what are you doing in a resort on the Mediterranean shore?”
“I needed some independence… and, honestly, you're the only one including housing and food.”
The man laughed, taking Luca aback.
“Excellent reason. Get your key and follow me, I'll give you a little tour”
The man started walking while the receptionist threw Luca a key while mumbling “lucky” before quickly following him through staff corridors. Even what's hidden from guests was quite luxurious.
After a small walk, they met a woman with papers in hands, looking in a hurry.
“Tijs, I need you to sign this…” she announced before noticing Luca “new student?”
“Intern” Tijs casually answered while ready the papers “another shipping needed yet? I didn't realized our stock of… special stuff was that bad”
“We still have enough, but Kyrre empty it a little too much”
“That could help if you stop throwing bottles at guests”
The woman hit him on the arm while he laughed softly. He quickly signed and gave back the papers before walking again, followed by Luca with chills.
“She… she throws bottles…?”
“Yeah” he laughed softly again “she hates when people flirt with me..”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“She's my wife, Annika.”
“Makes more sense…”
In their walk, they walked by a heavy door, padded. For an instant, Luca swears he heard it vibrate, like something heavy was moving behind, but the boss was still walking, so the young man shook his head to forget about it. They finally got out, leading into the garden. Palmtrees, many forms of cacti, big flower trees… local, beautiful and luxuriant.
They finally reached a four story building and the man stopped inside.
“Welcome into the staff building. Common kitchen and dining room on the left, studying rooms on the right, there's stairs and lifts to reach the different levels. The last one is for the main staff, you're not allowed to go there. A third of the second floor is the common room. What's your room number?”
Luca quickly looked at the keys in his hand, like it just spawned here.
“Erm… 2… 217, sir”
“It's on the second floor. Well, the restaurant shift starts at 6, be there at 5:45 to get everything you'll need. Good luck!”
With those words, he left the building and Luca alone and confused in the middle of the entrance. After a second, the young man shook his head and reached the elevator, too tired to climb the stairs with his suitcase. Once at the second floor, he quickly glanced around. An hallway of doors with numbers, with two common bathrooms. He walked almost all the way to the other side before stopping in front of his room. Two empty beds were waiting, only one got a uniform neatly placed on and a smart watch. The other was almost dusty, left alone for a long time. Luca opened the window, watching the Mediterranean Sea until the horizon, making him sigh.
“Welcome to this perfect life” he mumbled in a sarcastic tone.