Things have been rather stressful lately at my job. I work for a suicide hotline so you might assume that things are always stressful, and you’d be correct, but now it’s more than just the calls, our company itself is having some serious issues as well.

Beyond that though, last week I had a call that no one could have been prepared for. At least, that’s what I tell myself. I’m not going to get too descriptive, I don’t want to go through it all again, but it started as a somewhat typical call and resulted in the caller killing his wife and twin daughters before rushing out the door with his gun in one hand and the phone with me in the other to commit “suicide via police”. I was given the rest of the night off and then HR called me and told me they had set me up with a weekend to relax.

It took place on Wednesday and they told me not to come in the rest of the week. For my weekend, they set me up at a new spa that had opened up in town, Sol Spa and Retreat. I was to check in Friday and stay through Sunday afternoon.

After looking them up online to confirm my reservation, I saw that the spa was open to customers for appointments for their various services and also included some rooms for people who would be staying to enjoy multiple treatments and just to relax.

They had an onsite cafe, The Cornucopia Cafe, as well as the Luna Cocktail Lounge. I almost didn’t make the connection, but they also owned Stag Springs, the company that just started providing our company’s water cooler water and water bottles in the vending machine.

I recognized the name listed in some of the treatments offered in the spa such as the soaks. I knew they also provided bottled waters, but didn’t realize that they had such a wide variety of products like mineral waters specifically for soaking in.

Apparently all of the companies are subsidiaries of Elysium Inc., a fitting name for a company providing relaxation and refreshment services I guess.

I packed comfy clothes and a couple of nicer outfits in case I decided to go to the Luna and left my cats some extra food and water for the weekend. The building was set so that separate entrances were available for the spa, the cafe, and the lounge on one side for people just coming in for a single visit, and around to the side was the entrance to the retreat section which held the rooms, as well as its own entrances to those services.

When I checked in, I was given a brochure of the services available to me through the package that my employers had covered and the desk clerk offered to explain any of the spa treatments I might not be familiar with before telling me how to locate my room.

The design of the retreat section was vaguely Egyptian, but not tackily so. Sand colored walls and a few statues here and there made up the majority of the decorations. It was very minimalistic overall. My room was comfort itself though.

A huge, soft bed, a long sofa set before a television that offered some channels of music or sounds simply for relaxation along with soothing pictures, a claw footed tub and shower both in the bathroom, and dressers, a closet, and a nice desk where I’m sitting here typing this up.

After first checking in and looking over the brochure, I chose to first undergo the Stygian Soak, it was described as a very deep mud bath for pulling all of the toxins out of one’s body and promoting skin and general health.

I wouldn’t say I believe much in crystals and herbs and the like, but as long as I’m staying here for free, it can’t hurt to try out some of these things that I hadn’t tried before, particularly those that would normally be out of my price range.

There was a very fluffy robe in the closet that I was told to wear for my first treatment, and someone came to my room to lead me down to the spa.

The Stygian Soak was so dark as to be nearly black, and very warm. After I settled in, the attendant smeared some of the mud over the majority of my face and neck as well and then covered my eyes with apple slices.

I had assumed that there would be cucumbers involved, but I wasn’t going to argue, I don’t know anything about this stuff. She offered to bring me something to drink if I would like, water, juice, or a smoothie as at this point as putting alcohol in my body would just be adding a toxin while they were trying to remove them from my body.

When she mentioned the pomegranate smoothie, I went for it, that stuff is expensive, I might as well enjoy all of the freebies.

The mud bath definitely surprised me, it was relaxing, the tension just seemed to melt out of my muscles and joints, and whatever the process of toxin removal is, I will say that my entire body felt stronger and less heavy, less stressed than usual.

Whatever the apples were supposed to do, I guess they did. My eyes no longer had that terrible itchiness that comes from staring at screens day in and day out and the dark circles I had developed from my nightmares had vanished as well.

The smoothie was excellent, I was happy to hear that they were available from the cafe and that The Cornucopia was working towards filling grocer’s shelves and vending machines beyond their own sites.

This whole experience was starting off wonderfully, I was already ready to leave a 5 star review and maybe start setting aside some of my checks for another visit.

Elysium Inc. had my support in their endeavours for sure. Once I was cleaned up from the mud bath, I had lunch delivered to my room.

I spoiled myself with croissants with apple butter and some pomegranate juice, which was just as tasty as the smoothie. I was told that they have their own supply of pomegranates, which is why they tasted so much better than normal. Honestly, I hadn’t tried pomegranate juice too often in the past, so I took their word for it, I was prepared to drink the stuff the entire time I was here though, it really was that good.

After lunch I was scheduled for a massage with some of their Lavender Lethargy Lotion in my room. They brought up the table and I was just wrapped in a towel. Normally I’m a bit shy about things like that, but something about the place made me feel comfortable enough to go for it, and I’m so glad that I did.

Whatever tension was left in my body was worked out from it with the strong hands of my masseuse and that lotion left me half asleep. She was kind enough to help me to my bed for a nap afterwards and told me that’s a normal reaction.

I had my first bit of sleep that didn’t involve some sort of nightmare in a long, long time. That last call might have been the one that broke me, but honestly, stepping back for a moment for the first time since I had started, every call was a stressor, and most of my nights were rough since I had started working there.

I woke up a bit late for dinner, but discovered that I could go down to the lounge and still catch something from the kitchen as well as a couple of drinks.

I dressed in my nicest dress and didn’t bother with much in the line of make-up other than some lipstick, my skin seemed to be glowing from the treatment earlier and there was no reason to cover it up with paints and powders. The Luna Cocktail Lounge was dark with patterns of moon cycles as the trim on the wallpaper and small lamps suspended from the ceiling in blues and purples with tiny twinkling white lights gave off the impression of twilight. I took a seat just off of the bar and ordered a basic cheese and olive tray to nibble on while I had a glass of wine.

There were some other customers, a few at the bar, and some at the tables that had couches and armchairs around them having subdued conversations, all of it blending in with the ambient music. When the bartender came back to clear my dishes and offer another drink, he asked me if I would like to try one of their signature cocktails. Looking over the menu I asked him what exactly the Green Ferryman was. I had heard of a Green Fairy before, but I’d never tried absinthe, perhaps now was the time. He told me it was a traditional absinthe, sugar cube, and water drip which substituted a variety of Stag Spring water as the water drip.

Generally it was suggested for those who were drinking to forget something. As that was the reason that I was here, I decided that it would be the perfect end to the night.

I had two, I believe, or was it three? Green Ferrymen before I realized that they were quite potent and decided to call it a night. I needed to use the bathroom before wandering back to my room so I headed off in the direction that they were in, at least I thought so, I hadn’t actually used them, but I had seen a few people leave and go down that hallway and assumed that was where they were going. You know what assumption does, but I learned again, the, well, very interesting way.

Walking down the hallway, I heard some noises coming from further down. There seemed to be panting, mewling, cursing, and the occasional bitten off shout.

I began to wonder if there wasn’t something even more relaxing where those sounds were coming from, if you know what I mean. Feeling rather naughty, but also quite inebriated and curious,

I followed the hallway to a door, and then down a flight of steps. I was thinking that either some couple had wandered off to a storeroom, or perhaps I had discovered a secret sex dungeon and wondered why the doors weren’t locked, or at least monitored, when I was able to identify the door from behind which the noises were coming. It was warmer here, I thought perhaps the water heaters were close by, and I was sweating a bit.

I quietly opened the door to peek inside and that’s when I discovered how completely wrong I was. Heat washed over me from just the crack in the door I had opened and within that room it had to be well over 100 degrees. The room was carved stone somehow, unlike the wooden walls of the hallway, and strapped tightly to a stone near the far back corner was a man with a rag wrapped stick in his mouth.

He was completely naked and his body was emaciated, ribs sliding sharply under his skin as his body writhed against the stone every time a drip of water landed on his feet from the icicle above him. Blood stained his skin from where the rock had sliced it and bruises seemed to color more of his skin than not. His feet were frozen to the ground with rough juts of ice climbing up his ankles and thickening over his feet.

There was a bowl set aside on a table near the rock, both appeared to be stone. He looked at me the second that I cracked the door and began gesturing his head towards the bowl and looking nearly relieved.

That the man was being tortured was obvious, and definitely not in the way that I had initially thought. Either way, there was no way I was setting foot in that room. The heat was too much and I had no desire to come anywhere near whatever that ice was.

Perhaps this was where the other people had gone, to hold the bowl over him for a while, but I wasn’t about to put myself in that position. I closed the door, wincing at his muffled screaming and sobbing when he realized I wasn’t going to help him, and made my way back up the stairs. The bartender caught me when I was coming out of the hallway and asked if I was okay before having someone escort me back to my room. They set a couple of bottles of water near my bed and got off my shoes before tucking me in.

This morning I decided to get a smoothie delivered along with some pastries in my room for breakfast while I type all of this out. I’ve really found a gem of a place here, I wish I could just stay forever. I’ve scheduled some wraps and scrubs for later today and will get the mani-pedi and waxing done tomorrow so that none of the treatments damage the polish.

When I opened the desk drawer to find another cable, I discovered a number of brochures in there, including one from my company along with one from another company that looks to have similar aims, a crisis center.

When I looked them up online, I saw that they were hiring, and for a good deal more than what I am being paid. I love my company, they provided this weekend of bliss for me, but they were also the reason that I needed to have something like this to begin with. At least at the other place I might be able to afford it on my own.

You’re probably wondering about the guy in the basement. Could it have been the drinks? It might have been, but I highly doubt it, while it let me forget all about why I was here to begin with, other than the general inebriation, there was no other effect, not even a hangover, and it was far too real to all of my senses.

I can still recall the smell of his filthy body and sweat, I can see perfectly his bloodshot eyes flickering over everything in the room and the way his mouth was raw against that stick and cloth shoved in it. I remember the deadening of the skin of his legs where the coldness against the ice. I hadn’t really thought about that all last night, but that had to be why the skin there looked so bad. He really must have been there for quite a while; I wondered how often they fed him. I have no idea how that ice was staying attached to the ceiling with how hot it was in there, nor how it reformed when it landed on him, but I’m not a scientist.

I probably should be more concerned, but this place really is wonderful. I’ve seen the miracles that they can do with whatever it is that they have in the waters here. I was broken and am being healed, he must have a reason for being the way he is. If they think he needs to be broken, I’m sure they know what they’re doing. I’m not going to let it ruin the rest of my stay either. On a final note, if you get a chance to try a product from Elysium, I suggest that you treat yourself well and do it.