The Hostel Night Desk – Part 1: Night Desk

The hostel in Reykjavik was silent at two in the morning, except for the radiator and the kettle.

Gunnar sat at the night desk with a paperback and a mug, as he did six nights a week. He was thirty, a languages graduate, tall and fair with a thick wool jumper and a faint, secret smile. The winter wind howled outside. Snow blew sideways past the window.

The door opened with a blast of cold, and a man staggered in with a rucksack and a face like a ghost.

"Booking for Theo Marsh?" he gasped.

"Good evening," said Gunnar. "Welcome to Iceland."

"I've been awake for thirty hours."

"Then you are in the right place." He found the key. "Dorm four. Bunk by the window. There is cocoa in the kitchen."

Theo was thirty-three, a lanky Englishman from Bristol with dark circles, a woolly hat and a look of stunned exhaustion. He took the key. At the stairs he paused, hand on the rail, and said hoarsely, "Is it always this cold?"

"Wait," said Gunnar. He glanced at his phone. "Do you want to see something?"

"Is it a bed?"

"It is better than a bed."

They stepped out onto the front steps, bundled in coats. The sky was wide and black, scattered with stars. Then, over the rooftops, a pale green ribbon rippled slowly, unfurling like silk. It brightened, bloomed, folded across the whole sky in a vast shifting curtain.

Theo made a small sound. "That's it?"

"That is it."

"It's... it's incredible."

"It does not happen every night," said Gunnar. "But tonight, yes."

They stood in silence on the cold steps, shoulder to shoulder, watching the lights dance. Theo's breath steamed. After ten minutes, he started to shiver.

"Come in," said Gunnar. "Cocoa."

In the kitchen, he made two mugs, rich and sweet. They sat at the long table until the light faded.

"Can I ask you something?" said Theo.

"Yes."

"Do you wake everyone up for this?"

"Only the ones who look like they need it," said Gunnar.

"Green?" said Theo, smiling.

"Green," said Gunnar, softly. "Very green."

Continue the story: Part 2 – Second Night.