Summer 1978
Sienna knew she could no longer stay in Texas, not after what she aided in doing. Unexpectedly, an unrelated tragedy in her birth city of Los Angeles lured her home. Sienna and her boyfriend, Tom, decided to handle the final affairs of her recently deceased mother and lay low in Los Angeles, half a country away from that night.
Once in Los Angeles, the hotel they booked erroneously canceled their reservation. A seemingly kind stranger informed the couple of several vacancies at The Ambassador Hotel in Hollywood. The stranger told Sienna and Tom that the same thing happened to their reservation. She only came back to collect her traveling companions and move over to The Ambassador. Tom, having never been to Los Angeles, pled with Sienna to splurge with him on a hotel above their means. He reminded her that they should get some money by selling her mother’s old junk and emptying her bank accounts. Sienna reluctantly agreed as she scratched at an already raw patch of skin behind her left thumb.
As they pulled up to the hotel, Tom couldn’t contain his excitement. The grandiose driveway with its tower marquee promised guests the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood. The Ambassador was certainly a step up from anywhere either one of them had ever stayed. Sienna thought this could be a welcome break from the deaths that surround them.
The receptionist at the front desk greeted the couple with enthusiasm introducing herself as Anna. Behind her hospitable smile, Anna’s eyes reminded Sienna of a cat who used to hunt mice in the alleyway behind her mother’s house. As she tugged at her sleeves as though hiding an embarrassing rash, Anna asked what brought the happy couple to Los Angeles and the historic Ambassador Hotel. Sienna responded with news of her mother’s death. Anna’s expression turned to sadness, though Sienna thought she noticed a slight grin at first. She quickly wrote off Anna’s possible smirk as a nervous tick when faced with uncomfortable news. The receptionist offered them a discounted bereavement rate. Before Sienna could decline, Tom accepted with great zeal. Anna said she would help them up to their room as the normal bellhop was on his break. Once in the elevator, Sienna looked at Anna’s wrist where her sleeve had crept back up again. Instead of some form of embarrassing skin condition, she saw the tip of a star on Anna’s lower wrist. Anna covered the tattoo and gave Sienna a knowing smile. As the elevator doors closed, Sienna broke the skin behind her left thumb, drawing blood that dripped to the floor.