What's next?

Her hiding spot is compromised

Peggy drew herself in as closely as she could to the thick green leaves, tucking her legs in and wrapping her arms around them. Between the leaves she could see guests walking back up the corridor to their rooms, complaining about the unnecessary evacuation.

"If only they knew how much worse I have it." Peggy thought to herself.

She jumped at a sudden loud noise, just managing to not fall out of her hiding place. A maid, dressed in a black dress and white apron and cap, was strolling along the corridor running a vacuum cleaner. As Peggy's heartbeat slowed, she thought she might be in luck- a maid would have keys to the rooms, and if anyone was going to see her in her underthings this twenty-something girl who probably knew the value of guests' privacy would be the best choice.

Peggy was about to approach the girl when several things happened at once. The first was a young man pushing an empty room service trolley covered with a sheet, who stopped directly opposite her to knock on a door. The second was that the maid bent over to inspect a mark low down on the wall, absentmindedly tilting the vacuum towards Peggy's plant and in a moment stripping half the leaves from it, sucking them in.

Suddenly with no cover, Peggy also realised the door opposite her was opening, and she was about to be seen by more people than just the maid. Reacting quickly, she darted from her ravaged plant and jumped into the covered trolley.

She froze, hoping she had not been noticed. While holding still and waiting, she began aware that one of her silk stockings had laddered during the sudden movement, which upset her given the difficulty of getting hold of such things at the moment.

No one seemed to have noticed her. The sound of the vacuum receded as the maid moved on, then Peggy heard dishes being put on top of the trolley, just above her head. The man pushing it thanked the guest, and Peggy found herself moving, as the trolley she was hiding in was pushed up the corridor.