legends · 4 min read ·
Key Deposit Ledger
A hostel's key ledger lists a thirteenth bed in a twelve-bed dormitory, and a deposit that is never returned.
**Brightwater Hostel · Key Deposit Ledger · Dormitory B (12 beds)**
*Deposit of £20 per key. Keys must be returned at check-out. Deposits refunded in cash at reception.*
- **Date · Bed · Guest · Key · Deposit · Returned**
- 1 Oct · 1 · Anna Keel · B-01 · £20 · 4 Oct
- 1 Oct · 2 · Mohammed Asif · B-02 · £20 · 3 Oct
- 2 Oct · 3 · Lucy Hemp · B-03 · £20 · 5 Oct
- 2 Oct · 4 · Carl Dunn · B-04 · £20 · 6 Oct
- 3 Oct · 5 · Sara Vine · B-05 · £20 · 6 Oct
- 4 Oct · 6 · Joe Pell · B-06 · £20 · 8 Oct
- 5 Oct · 7 · Ines Moreau · B-07 · £20 · 8 Oct
- 6 Oct · 8 · Tom Reilly · B-08 · £20 · 9 Oct
- 7 Oct · 9 · Ada Kim · B-09 · £20 · 10 Oct
- 8 Oct · 10 · Owen Blake · B-10 · £20 · 11 Oct
- 9 Oct · 11 · Lena Park · B-11 · £20 · 12 Oct
- 9 Oct · 12 · Felix Achebe · B-12 · £20 · 13 Oct
- 10 Oct · 13 · Maeve Doyle · B-13 · £20 · *(not returned)*
*Note: Dormitory B has twelve beds. Key B-13 was issued on 10 Oct to a guest assigned to bed 13. There is no bed 13 in the room. Deposit has not been refunded.*
· · ·
**Reception note (Brightwater, 11 Oct)**
Guest Maeve Doyle checked in on 10 Oct for two nights. She paid the deposit in cash, took key B-13, and asked for the bed by the window. Staff took her to Dormitory B and found the room full: twelve guests, twelve beds, no spare bed by the window. She said she was happy to stand. She sat on the floor in the corridor with the key in her hand.
Maeve's checkout is due 12 Oct. She did not check out. Her key has not been returned.
· · ·
**Room inspection notes (Dormitory B, 12 Oct, 07:30)**
Twelve beds made. Twelve lockers empty. A thirteenth bed, unlisted, has been pushed into the space between bed 6 and the window. It is a single bed, made up with a grey blanket, tucked tight, with a hot-water bottle at the foot.
The thirteenth locker has the key B-13 in it. Beside the key is a card: *Maeve Doyle. Please keep my bed made. I'm still here.*
· · ·
**Guest complaint (Felix Achebe, 12 Oct)**
I'm writing to complain about the room. I'd been sleeping in bed 12 for three nights, and every night I've woken around three to find someone sitting on the end of the bed by the window, with their back to me. They don't speak. They just sit, very still, looking out at the car park, as if they're watching for a lift that's always late.
Last night I asked the woman in bed 13 if she could move. She said she couldn't. She said she'd been told she had to stay where she was until someone came to check her key. Then she turned round, and her face was the same as the one on the card at reception. I didn't sleep after that.
· · ·
**Reception note (Brightwater, 14 Oct)**
Felix Achebe checked out early and asked for his deposit back. He did not return his key, B-12. He said he'd left it in the drawer by his bed, and that he wasn't going back to fetch it.
Staff entered Dormitory B and found the drawer by bed 12 empty. The key B-12 was on the thirteenth bed, in the grey blanket, tucked under the pillow, beside the hot-water bottle.
· · ·
**Brightwater ledger (updated, 20 Oct)**
- **Date · Bed · Guest · Key · Deposit · Returned**
- 12 Oct · 13 · Maeve Doyle · B-13 · £20 · *(not returned)*
- 14 Oct · 12 · Felix Achebe · B-12 · £20 · *(not returned, deposit refunded in full)*
*Note: refund for Felix Achebe was paid out of the cash float. The float has been short by £20 every morning since. It is always found in the thirteenth locker, folded.*
· · ·
**Final ledger entry (Brightwater, 27 Oct)**
Dormitory B: all beds occupied. Twelve named guests and one unnamed guest in bed 13. Deposits paid: 13. Keys returned: 0.
*Reception note: Dormitory B closed for repairs on 28 Oct. The beds were removed and the room repainted. Keys 1 to 13 were refunded in full to the guests' bank accounts, and the cash float balanced for the first time since October.*