Chp2: [Hospital City] Motel Christmas
Escape from Hospital City Part II
We arrived at the motel late at night, we could see the neon signs and the pink flamingos eternally staring towards the drop-off. The off-pink motel stood completely by itself in the middle of the sand. A parking lot with one burned down car, a green pool, and an used-to-be-pink welcome sign.
Alex falls in Love.
Keuren took note of the entrance of the motel miles away, old magic protecting the perimeter. As soon as the three of them ditched the car Keuren re-appeared them out of black flames in front of the entrance. The barrier around the motel had zero affect on them--they were expected. They crowded around the registration window that lit up with hot Christmas lights, waiting for someone to appear.
Ellis slapped the silver bell.
**ding!**
A digital hologram of a tired woman with a cigarette appeared and then solidified, "Name?"
"Karas" Keuren answered.
The woman flipped through her ledger and then shorted out and disappeared.
...I need to tell Keuren. I need to tell her that I love her,
Of all time, Alex can't keep her thoughts calm.
We've come this far, without words we know exactly where to lay the bricks to keep the castle standing. Something I wouldn't give up
But now I'm cursed with this disease, and one way or another its going to be noticed. No matter how careful someone is, the heart in love is a trigger happy tornado...
This is where it started - the day we escaped Hospital City and went to see the fortune teller. We were all apprehensive about the risk we were taking: the three of us being crowded into an unknown space. But nonetheless, Lady Marketa had important information that we needed, and she would absolutely not budge on disseminating unless the three of us we're standing right in front of her. A high risk we would take, for any hope of leaving the floating city alive.
A message appeared briefly and an automated voice, "Room 312" replayed.
The sound of a knock, and the door to the registration office opened, with the numbers, "312" materializing into cheap golden colors and then melting into nothing. The three of us entered one by one, the motel was now the inside of an old wooden space, with a small table in the middle, and nothing else. We moved the purple no-ren out of the way, entering one by one into the dimly lit shop gliding over the creaking wooden floors. Lady Marketa's silhouette sharpened by green and purple auras. She sat in the wooden table, upright, hands clasped and eye piercing as if she'd only been waiting on us.
The three of us approached her and surrounded her table. There was a moment of silence and then Keuren spoke, "We've come to collect the information; We've appeared as requested. Please oblige."
The woman looked up at of them and said, "Aren't you curious as to why I requested all three of you to be present here at once?"
"Aren't you curious as to why we've kept you alive this long?", Ellis chimed "Just give us the tip so we can get out of here."
The woman sighed, and then said, "My name is Lady Marketa. Although you young women may not have much awareness for me nor care for of, I am established as a permanent member of this society."
"We're aware." Keuren replied heavily. And they very well were. They all knew that she could make certain requests to the Karas, and they would be required to answer, but they've never seen her. "Mie just has a short temper, and I, short patience. Please be forward." Keuren's placid expression somehow also demanded her said impatience.
Lady Marketa's expression softened, "The reason I hold permanence here is because of my special gift. Clairvoyance." Her eyes grew wide when she said this and she clasped her hands a little tighter.
"And as you probably figured, the information I have to give you is not just in regard to your next target but to your future as we-"
Ellis interrupted her, "We don't nee all of that extra shit lady! We came here for the information thats it. Stop playing games with us!"
"Fine." Lady Marketa cooled back to her seat. "Every path has a favorable outcome as long as you choose forward"
This time there was a pause in silence
"Your target is a young woman on the other side. She has particular skill, that, if you're smart, you'll keep around. She is your path."
An imaged flashed of a brown skinned girl with dark curls laying in a casket engulfed in flames
"What does this girl have?" Keuren said annoyed, blinking the image away
"She can live inside of dreams...like a parasite."
Code for a blue cigarette appeared in front Marketa's lighter, "I thought I said no recording." The digital ashes flicked into nothing as they disappeared.
Ellis immediately terminated the code, "I didn't hear that."
"Well, I think we'll stop here then." Marketa smiled as the shadows in the room shifted to a spotlight on the exit, Keuren turned around to leave
“Ah.” Lady Marketa, lifts a finger, “Aren’t you forgetting something.”
Keuren turns to face her, annoyed that she would have to do anything
“What?” Keuren asks impatiently
“Everyone always pays a price…”
Keuren’s eyes harden.
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"Fuck that lady." Ellis scoffed.
"-Anyway," Keuren shrugged off their experience,
"Let's keep going." Alex took a step but then fell to her knees in the sand and let out a blood-curdling scream. The back of her legs were bleeding with heavy dark streaks; Alex had paid the price.
Ellis, teeth gnarled, ego wounded - whipped around to look for Marketa, but the motel was gone.
x.