DO NOT READ THIS ENTRY IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE PREVIOUS ENTRIES! It will spoil the story for you...
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"Hello, this is Menelaus?" he
said into the receiver
"Hello Menelaus. This is
A(*)&)()___" A stream of static assaulted his ear after the first few
words. He pulled the phone away from his ear and then gingerly replaced it
there. "Sorry," he said, "you're breaking up."
"Not me. Listen closely..."
(MAJOR TWIST REMOVED HERE AS I'M GOING TO BE INSERTING IT LATER IN THE STORY FOR THE READER)
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The mime continued walking around the party
talking to random people. He found that because he fit the stereotype of a
general "Anime nerd" without actually being threatening or a mouth
breather most people were quite happy to talk to him. He looked up and saw
Calliope approach him. "Hi there!" he said, "Really, this party
is..."
she took his hand, "Come speak to me
near the lifts."
This wasn't good, he was never to leave an
assigned job area, aspecially if it was with someone who had found him out. Was
it different if it was another operative? Probably not. He spoke under his
breath, "Hey listen, I know what you're doing and I"m doing it too
and it doesn't matter OK? You know we can't leave so let's just keep
going..." He looked at her. She looked immeasurably sad, there was a
pleading in her eyes. "Wait, what's wrong? Have I mis judged this."
"Please." She said, "please.
Four. Come to the lift."
"For who?" He was confused. she
pushed her finger into his chest and whispered,
"Four. You are. Four. Please, come
with me."
His mind shattered into a million pieces.
Wordlessly he took her hand and they walked out of the room through the glass
doors and to the lift. The lift dinged and the doors opened as they approached,
even though they didn't push the button. The mime felt like he was a small kid
again, walking with a fruit box in one hand, holding the hand of a little girl
in the other. The pressed the button for the ground floor and the lift began to
descend.
---
Menelaus was out of breath from running
back inside the hotel to the lift area. He furiously pressed the button to call
the lift as the call echoed in his mind and kept pressing it until the doors opened. Once they did he leapt in
and pressed the number for the floor of the party. He fidgetted as it went up.
He hoped he wasn't too late. Too late for what though? What possible reason
would they have for leaving? The elevator dinged that he had reached his floor
and he practically wrenched the doors open. He raced into the room yelling,
"Kusa! Calliope! Don't leave! They're waiting for you!" And saw everyone had their
eyes on him. Everyone but the actors playing Kusa and Calliope.
--
The lift doors opened at the ground floor
and they stepped out, together. The mime briefly considered letting her step
off first but originally he had been the one leading her, back at the compound,
helping her with everything so this was a more logical step. Equals. They
stepped out onto the lobby floor. He saw beaches in his vision, Europe, ruins,
cafes and forests. He saw sunlight and happiness. He turned and smiled at the
little girl from his past, and she turned and smiled too. He saw the doors of
the the hotel fly open and men in black swat gear came in. They did not fit with
his vision. They were scary in fact, with black gas masks that blacked out
their eyes and what looked like rubber bullet guns. He smelled a familiar smell
wafting in the door. Peppermint. Peppermint and cinnamon. A pale hand appeared
at the door… no, a hand wearing a white glove. It was followed by a filthy
jacket sleeve and then the rest of the jacket, enveloping a filthy man with a
white face. He had an eyepatch. That was new. He strode in and straight to the
mime and slapped him in the face.
“That is for my eye. That is the start of
what will happen for my eye.” He grabbed the girl’s arm, the mime moved to stop
him and was shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet by one of the swat
members. He let go of hand and saw her meing led away. He saw the filthy man,
his teacher, lean over him with a small syringe. “Welcome back, Four Two Seven.”
It was injected into his neck and everything went dark. At least the dark can
be a friend to a mime.
----
THE END (till I finish it properly, anyway.)
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50,731 words
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