Outstanding Story (Sub-junior) - The Swiss Hotel

“The Swiss Hotel” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2019 written by Aaryav Jaiswal, Kothari International School, Noida, India.

The Swiss Hotel

The Swiss hotel was constructed by John Smith in 1897 with his hard earned money. Mr. Smith has been working here as a manager. The hotel was crafted beautifully by renowned artisan. The furnishings were white with a touch of gold. All the appliances were best in quality. But now after ninety eight years the hotel needed repair and modern equipment to stay in business. People in town and outside the town would stay there for a short time as it was an old fashioned one.

One day suddenly, a fire rose in the building. The fire alarms were active. People came out to find out the intensity. As minutes passed the flame grew deeper. Everybody rushed out of the building with their luggage. They could hear the fire brigade and the ambulance from a distance. Soon Firefighters figured out the cause of the fire was a cigarette bud. How can somebody be so careless as to cause so much damage to a vintage building? It was none other than Mr. Smith himself. “Why would he do that”, the spy questioned. Is he trying to cover up something?

The next day spy was investigating inside the hotel, guess what! The spy found Mr. Smith’s lighter on the floor hidden under a gas cylinder.

The lighter has Mr Smith’s initials on it.

The spy handed over Mr Smith along with the evidence to the police.

Mr Smith was taken into official custody for 60 days. The spy investigated the hotel documents to find the reason behind the crime. He found an insurance policy for 10 billion dollars that was expiring in two years. John Smith wanted to renovate the hotel and get modern equipment with the insurance money so that he could make more profit. His greed brought him in this situation.