28
Ellis Island

Two knocks rang on the green room as the sun rose and fired orange light onto the carpet.

“Coming.” A female voice from inside drew its hand to slide open the door.

“Is Kevin here?” 

“No, he isn’t.” Irene turned a smile as she noticed the red plaid flying uneasily against the breeze that flowed into the room. “He hasn’t been back since last night. Luna took a Taxi back, but he didn’t. No idea where he went, anyway.”

Kayla’s eyes pointed at the yellow door.

“Sorry. Is there something that you’re coming to me for?” The redhead exhaled and looked at the rich girl.

A small drone carrier flew inside the home about three hours later with a small bag in tow. A free-standing mirror was placed in front of a chair that Kayla sat on, as Irene unhooked the bag from the drone and set it off.

Luna walked out from the yellow room into the main hall.

“Fantastic.” Irene went over to pull the table over. “Luna, you okay?”

“I’m doing well.” She yawned and pulled her arms skywards and flashed her blue eyes. 

“Come get this table for me, will ya?”

The table was pulled until it was right of Kayla. Irene took a chair and sat just to the left of the mirror, remaining in front of it. Luna looked puzzled but she stood silent next to the door she just came out from.

The stacks of neatly-folded artificial fur and skirts were raised out of the bag. Then came the brushes and cover. She fished the small red plaid strip of fabric from the bottom of the bag. Irene took the backing adhesive off of the strip, spread open the light mink fur coat, and pinned it inside with the embedded magnets. The piece underneath was revealed to be in light pink when she checked it for size and turned to Luna.

“You sure no one else’s here?”

Luna came back after a brief intermission.

“Zero.”

Irene tapped a few options on her film and the glass panes went frosty.

“You know what to do.” The gaze only lasted a few seconds before it obligated.

Everything seemed too close. Too intimate. It was almost suffocating, though the fabric was designed to give her as much air as she wanted. The light pink dress gave her minimal cover. 

Kayla felt her bare legs touching the material of the chair for the first time in many years. Luna looked at the linen that seemed to wrap itself around her skin and exposed her in more ways than one that flared open like a bell toward the bottom. Two more checks that cleared the dress held itself up through the full width of her meek shoulders and relented for her arms and how the length the entire piece reached.

Kayla gave an shifty glance at Irene, who responded by throwing the coat over her that wrapped her in three-quarters of an inch of protection, the white fur at the top made a fringe out of her neck and cheeks. 

“Angel had a longer cut, but this was as short as she could go.”

Irene patted down her skirt, and Kayla flinched and retreated further and further back inside the chair, fearful that the fingers might turn insensitive. The redhead retrieved the flat heels and mounted them on her leg. 

“Just pull out the support from the bottom of the shoe in case if they wanted high heels.”

Kayla felt like she was back on the Space Race again, but she had no intention of ruining anything in her vicinity. Luna gave her the subtlest of nods, though she looked away at the end anyway.

The halo around her neck was straightened out. The few pockets Kayla was provided with was filled with a can of mace. Irene plucked the hypercube from her pocket and handed it to Kayla.

The rich girl looked at Luna eyes wide, the butler nodded with a small smile. She took the hypercube in her hands before she was told to look into the mirror as her view was quickly obscured by Irene.

“This won’t take too long.” Irene flicked the case open, and caked it on her face. It didn’t come close to two complete layers before the thick brush went back in the case and the small firm applicator made Kayla’s eyes close. “Okay.”

Kayla stared into the mirrored variant of herself. If you could still deem that “herself” at all. 

She tried to practice that “innocent smile” that gets floated around. She can’t recall where she first heard about it, maybe in Vegas with a half-smashed Jerry explaining to her what he wanted in a girl. But the emphasized eyes that made her stares a thousand times more intense, contrasted with the dress that is arguing with her eyes on what type of girl she would have to be. Her cheeks told her “unprepared”.

“Eric? You got the presser?” Irene turned to her and nodded. “Alright. See you in five.”

“You wanted yourself to be unrecognizable.” The redhead reached for Luna’s approval. “The best we got. I know your stylists could make it so much better.”

“Eric?” Kayla grudged at her.

“I promise he won’t tell. You never saw him before.” Irene took out a small camera hidden in her pocket and aimed it at Kayla. “We do need this.”

“Hey, Irene.” The friend entered after the named freed the lock for him. He carried with him ten plastic plates and the machine from their office. He trudged up to the carpet up where the rest of the group are.

Irene placed the metal presser that looked more like a modified sewing machine.

“We used to make props for our division, but Eric got the position when we rotated.” She placed the plastic plate at the bottom of the head that was fit to the size of the material. She tapped on her film a few times, and the press went down on the plate, and as it went up, it revealed a membership card with the photo she just took.

The purple card listed a few generated credentials.

“Your new name will be Aurora Ellis.” Irene handed her the card. “When they ask you for prints, just let them have it. Age 23, birthday is in October. Tell them you have never been to a club before but you wanted to make it memorable.”

All this just to catch a glimpse of him.