32
Two Roads Converge
The hypercube went in the air before Sean caught it and handed it to Miles.
“Guess where your friend went.” Hunter smirked and nudged at it.
“Somewhere? She might be in New York.”
Sean reached under the desk and pressed a button on the bottom of the slate. The audible click made a panel in the wall move out of the way to reveal a television behind it.
The TV lit up. The screen showed the security footage of Kayla navigating the bottom basement level back West.
“No cigar.”
“So you mean to tell me that she traveled far into the future? I’m not buying it.”
“Of course.” Sean pulled a grin and pressed the button again, and the flatscreen hid itself behind a panel again. “Do you have friends back then, Miles?”
“What question is this?” Miles chuckled. “I do have them. Not a lot. But I learned to cherish them. You got friends?”
“No— Just myself and uh— a wife that’s no longer here now.” He forced a smile out of himself and shook his head. “After years of putting your pedal to the metal, you don’t have a lot of friends. A lot of years.”
“That’s, well, pretty bad. Sorry about that.” Miles no longer found it in him to keep it light.
The TV paused and froze to the last frame of the video.
“Sure. Okay.” He waved dismissively at him, turned away, took off his glasses, and reached into his pocket for that piece of cloth. “You kinda wanted to do something to chase that someone, you know? Memory no longer a memory, something to live for.”
“That’s why you worked here.”
“That and the huge paycheck that would weather us both.” He turned back, smiled, and replaced his glasses. “Anyway, she’s in California. Helped test the thing.”
“Okay.” Miles is still stuck in the blue, and nodded. “What do you expect me to do with this information?”
“She’s your friend, is she not? Kayla Ferrule?”
“She is.” Miles scrunched up his nose. “You guys can just call her by her full name? Don’t you have liabilities and rules and—“
“Can I be your friend?”
Miles leaned back in his chair.
“By all means.” His arms are outstretched and gestured to the TV. “Is she up there? By the sixth or seventh floor? Nice set you got there. What is this, a film? Is she the star of an orientation film now?”
“Perhaps you tell me, Miles.” Sean nodded towards that cube Miles was holding as it began to glow purple and flashed. “You wanna know why it’s purple? What this is gonna do?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Destiny, Miles. Do you believe in it? Some form of pre-destination in no matter what you do, in the end you will be corralled into the same ending?”
“I’m not too keen on it.”
Sean smiled.
“I used to believe in it. When you get lazy, your brain can’t stand non-productivity and kick your butt into action. When you get to a crossroads it will always work out for you. One universe her dad didn’t make it. The other, he did! We’re sitting inside it right now. You can’t change what will happen. It all leads towards the same goal. Those people with their ‘sixth sense dreams’ and—“ His voice trailed off as his eyes locked onto the ground.
“Do you miss your wife?”
“For us, finding someone special is never easy. And then you will run into the misfortune of— losing her—“ Sean looked at the machine that was halted. “Purple light means destiny. You don’t get to choose your landing spot with this thing. You can only embrace it.”
“I don’t think you can tell me absolutely nothing and expect me to serve some purpose.”
-
Irene was on a chair against the wall inside the yellow room. Luna is on the farther part of the bed close to the windows. The rich girl sat on the edge of the bed.
She played with the cube with her hand as it flashed purple. The flashing became more and more frequent until it stopped itself and glowed a solid purple, as if it was waiting.
The redhead shot the butler a look. Luna threw up her wrist to check the time. There was a look of somber on Irene’s face as the sentiment went across the room.
The mascara-laden eyes of the girl who is currently playing with the cube blinked in confusion as her senses can’t discern if the stuff above eyes was natural or not.
The other two exchanged a glance, and nodded at each other.
“It’s time.” Irene stood up.
The girl looked at Luna. The latter nodded and looked away.
She clutched on the cube and slowly closed her eyes as she allowed herself to fall back onto the mattress. Irene gestured toward the door with her head, and she and Luna left the room to catch the descending meal car.
-
Manhattan seemed much different than what she had seen a few weeks ago. There was a rush of people leaving their cars, dressed appropriately for some event guarded by a bouncer in a polo shirt, and moving inside a door that made a spectacle of bouncing light off of glass.
Blue hour drew to a close as the skyscrapers that stood mightily before her either faded into the night or lit their own artificial candles.
The rich girl pulled the right side of her open fur jacket forward an inch. The strip of red check flew like a flag in the oceanic nightly breeze of the city. She moved it back before she marched towards the reception.
The man in the white tux with the fake smile waded through another group of guests before getting through to her.
“Card please, madam.” The card was passed through as the man checked with his written list behind the lectern. “Your name?”
“K— Aurora.” The exhale.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” The receptionist seemed to not notice and opened a palm in the door’s direction as it unlocks. He pulled it open. “Please, Miss Ellis.”
Aurora descended the stairs into a concierge hall. Some well-dressed people signed with loud mouths on the velvety guestbook. One handed her a fountain pen.
She signed with a shaking hand, while trying to get a peek inside the hall.