It turns out that the building where
we landed this morning was a magazine organization office. A closed magazine organization office. The
Marquette was still full of light and sounds, in spite of the growing evening,
with the first stars starting to appear on the night sky. The light posts were
turned on, and there were white decorative lights on the branches of several
trees all around. We were at the front of the entrance of the building – we can
see the plane on the rooftop, actually.
I looked at Sky. “You didn’t check
what their closing time is?” I said accusingly.
“I thought you were going to say
something nice!” he said.
“I am nice. I’m just wondering how
we’re going to get home.” I replied. “Home?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.
“Back. I’m just wondering how
we’re going to get back.” I repeated.
He nodded. “Yeah, me too. The receptionist will miss us.” I laughed. “You’re
right.” I looked up to the roof once again. “So how are we going to get up
there again?”
“Some buildings have emergency
elevators or stairs – ” I interrupted him then. “All people know that Sky. What
are you trying – ”
“We could use that emergency stuff you
know.” he told me.
“We could use them through the inside. That’s why it’s called emergency
for the people inside that piece of concrete.” He sighed. “I’m not good with
structures, okay? I prefer guns.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “Wow. That
wasn’t obvious.” he looked at me. “Maybe we should just go to the Marquette office
and buy our souvenirs on the way.” I listened to him while looking at Dash chase
what seemed to be a cricket. I said to Sky, “Are you sure they’re… you know.
Safe people? I mean – ”
“Don’t worry. Imah checked them out.
They’re good.” then he looked at me in the eye. “Unless you have a better
idea?”
“I don’t.” We started walking then.
The sounds from the speakers weren’t pop and rock music like the ones this
morning. They now played mellow and slow music. Instrumental. We passed through
shops and people alike, both full of life. As I watched the vendors give their
customers the change, a random thought occurred to me. “How much does your
credit card have?” I asked Sky. “Cards, I
mean.”
“Does it really matter?” he replied
tiredly I sympathetically nudged his shoulder. “You did a lot today. You should
go and sit on the bench. I’ll go to the office – ”
“Not on this planet, you don’t.
Wherever you are, I’m there.” he made way for the bench. “We both should get
some rest.” He said as we sat down. Dash barked lively, and I picked up a stick
and threw it behind him. He went running to fetch it.
“You knew I was trying to get away.” I
said grumpily.
“Yeah. Don’t do that again. Even if
you do escape, I’ll come and find
you.” I scowled at him. “Why don’t you just let me go? It’s not like I have
money for you and you don’t have to take a complete stranger to extravagant
places and get bushed.” When he looked at me, it was like he can see my very
soul. “You’re not a stranger.” his looks said that he was not telling me
everything, but I can sense that he was telling the truth.
“You don’t even know my nickname.” I
defended. “And, no offense, but you’ve only laid eyes on me for three days. So
I’m basically a stranger.” he looked away. “You’ll find out soon enough.” I scoffed.
“Yeah right. Soon enough. If I heard correctly from Imah earlier, it’s
goddamned months.”
“I’m
only doing my job, okay? This isn’t
even a part of it.”
“Which
one?”
“Taking
you to extravagant places and get bushed.” he said, imitating me earlier.
“I
didn’t ask you to do that. You did that on your own – ”
He
continued as if he didn’t hear me. “He said my only job was to get you safely
and not to scare you.”
“He? Like your boss or something?” I asked breathlessly. He
replied, “Not exactly. He just, uhh,” he looked like he was trying to find the
correct words to say, “he just hired
me, so to speak.” Why in the world would someone do that?
“So
after you drop me off to him, you’re
just going to leave? What if he kills
me?” I asked unbelievingly. “He won’t kill you. He would never do that.”
There’s only one person I knew on the outside who wouldn’t kill me.
“Will
I see Carsh again?” I asked him. I miss him so much. My life feels so pathetic.
He contemplated the thought before answering. “It depends on the person.”
“Person?
You mean your boss?”
“No,”
he responded, looking at me. “Depends on Carsh.” I looked at him as if he’d
gone mad. Of course Carsh would see me. Why
wouldn’t he? Sky snapped his fingers near my face. “Forget what I said.
This isn’t right, okay? I shouldn’t even talk to you, much less be your friend
– ”
“We’re
not friends, and you’re the one who started the talking and the flirting – ”
“He
said to make you feel calm and normal as much as possible, what could I do?”
“Who’s he?”
“Enough.
Let’s go back to our first condition – no questions.”
“Do
you know that you’re such a bipolar person?” I stared at him. “Whatever. Let’s
just not talk to each other much from now on, okay? And I won’t take you out
much either, this is just an exception. I panicked earlier; I don’t know why I
planned to go here.”
“Figures.”
I muttered, thinking about the closed office.
“Hey,
watch it.” he looked at me threateningly. “You didn’t even say thank you.”
“Uhm,
thank you?” I said uncertainly. He nodded and said, “Much better. Now, where is
that zombie dog of yours, we have to get going.”
“Zombie?”
“He
sleeps like one, you can’t deny it.”
“I
think it’s charming.”
“Whatever.”
he said. I’m getting sick of those words like “trust me” and “whatever.” I
listened around for Dash but didn’t hear him, so I whistled and he came
bounding to us with the piece of stick I threw earlier. I bent down to him and
nuzzled his fur with my fingers.
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