Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 4

"Lady looks like a dude."

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"I have to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"When that...that thing..."

"A lost soul, what about it?"

"When it went through me...I heard a voice..."

"Ah, that's normal. When a lost souls goes through you, you get some of the memories of their life."

"So that voice I heard...?"

"Was something from that guy's life, yes. I wouldn't recommend pulling a stunt like that too often though, since they also take some of your energy. That's why you fell."

"Alright..."

"You still brooding over that? Cheer up already. Our next stop is your apartment."

"My what?!"

"Why do I have to repeat everything I say? Your. Apartment."

"I get my own place?"

"Of course. Like Hell I'm letting you stay at my place."

Ah. Should've seen that one coming.

"It's nothing big, but good enough for you to live in. And we need to sleep too."

"Okay. So where is this apartment of mine?"

"Right behind the corner."

As she says that, we go around a corner. In front of us is a big house. Malice sees the look on my face.

"Hey that whole house isn't yours. Think of it as a dormitory. There are other people living in it too."

"You live here too?"

"Hell no."

Well that’s a good sign.

"Hah hah. Watch your thoughts rookie."

You were supposed to hear that.

Malice mutters something about getting no respect from the little brat. I roll my eyes.

"So we can go in?"

"Yeah."

~*~*~*~*~

For once not another hallway. This looks just like a hotel reception. Malice goes to the desk and starts ringing the bell. After a while a teenage-boy shows up.

"Malice, long time no see. You finally got kicked out of your own place?"

"Nope. Rookie has a place here."

"And the name is...?"

"Anya Wales."

"Oh that girl who got beat up by a lost souls?"

Has everybody heard of it already?

"It's a small place and rumors go fast."

"Wales, Wales..." they guy flips through a big red book. "Ah here! Wales, Anya: A15"

"A15? Wow that's a good one." The guy gives me the keys. "Don't lose those."

"I won't. Where is A15?"

"Hallway A, door 15."

More hallways. Great.

"Alright, we can go now. Right Josh?"

Josh nods and disappears through the door behind the desk.

"Josh takes care of this place. But he also reports about all the misbehavior so be nice."

I nod. After looking around a bit I find the hallway A. At the end of it is a door that has 15 above it.

"So that's your place."

I open the door and go inside. It's a nice place. Nothing too big as Malice said, but I'll manage.

"You can bring here anything you want. But you already have the usual stuff." She looks at me. "But if you wanna go shopping, ask someone else."

She starts to walk away but turns around before she reaches the door.

"Meet you at the Office tomorrow, 8 AM sharp. And you better have that report done by next week."

With that she's gone. I sigh.

"Is the mean lady gone?"

I jump at the voice. I turn around and in front of me is a girl. She's got a red hair and green sparkly eyes. She's dressed in casual jeans and a green top.

"Yeah...who are you?"

"Oh I'm your next-door neighbor, Samantha. But just call me Sam." She grins at me. "So you're the rookie. I've heard about you."

Looks like everybody has.

"Well my name's not rookie. It's Anya Wales." She raises her brows.

"No need to get mad." She looks around. "Pretty bare don’t you think? Is it post-modern or something? Feng shui?"

"I got inside for the first time a few minutes ago. Hardly enough time for decorating." Sam laughs.

"I see. But you really need some spirit in this place." She gives me a big smile. "How about some shopping?"

Before I can blink she's already dragging me down the hallway.

~*~*~*~*~

Newsflash: the world of the dead has a mall. Don't ask.

But it's HUGE.

Sam pulls out a notepad and a pen.

"So let's work out our strategy." I look at her like she's grown an extra head. Strategy?

"Yup. So what do you want? Any favorite color? Shape? Texture?"

"How about we look around and I pick what I like?"

Sam puts her notepad and pen away. "OK."

After an hour I have mostly everything I need. We decide to go for some ice cream. After we enter a small cafeteria Sam sees something and starts running.

"KAORU!!!"

The guy she's yelling at looks up from his coffee and tries to dodge a flying Sam. Too late. Sam is already hanging on his neck and smiling her big smile. He manages to save his black suit from a full cup of hot coffee. He's wearing glasses and has his long black hair in a ponytail.

"Haven't seen you in a while!" She points at me. "This is my new friend and neighbor Anya, her house has no color or anything so we're doing some shopping!" Kaoru looks at me.

"I'm really sorry that you have to spend so much of your time with this nutcase."

Then it hits me.

Not he. A she.

Lady looks like a dude.

"Kaoru you meanie!" Sam hits her in a friendly manner and turns to me. "Anya, this is my best friend Kaoru Houshakuji. She's the information expert of the Office. Bad sense of humor but she's alright."

"So you're the Kaoru Kyoto and Malice were talking about!" Kaoru doesn't seem too happy about the mentioning of her (apparent) relative.

"His twin actually. But I was blessed with more intelligence." Sam shakes her head.

"They don't get along too well."

"I can see that..."

"Oh yeah what are you doing here anyway? Thought you'd have to work or something-"

"They gave me a day off." She looks a bit depressed.

"She's a workaholic, they couldn't get her out of her office."

"Who told you?"

"Josh. He had a conversation with your substitute."

"Darn."

"Oh c'mon, you got to relax a little!"

"Might as well ask you to give up the sugar."

"NO! I WILL NOT GIVE UP THE SUGAR!"

Kaoru looks at me and rolls her eyes. Then she looks at her watch.

"Well I better get going."

"We'll join ya!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?" Sam does the puppy-eyes. I can see that Kaoru's going to give up.

"Alright. But you have to let go of me!"

"Why?"

"You’re not my girlfriend!"

"But-"

"We are not in a relationship Samantha Morgan, so let go before I have to do something I might regret!"

Sam lets go.

"Good puppy."

"Hey how about Anya?" She's already pulling my arm. Kaoru looks at me.

"Straight, and she's not my type anyway."

"Aww." Sam looks disappointed.

"And stop trying to put me together with everything that moves."

"I don't do that!"

"Yes you do."

"What are you two talking about?" Sam looks at me.

"Our Kaoru here is bi and still single. She needs a partner."

"The upstairs said I don’t need one!" Kaoru's blushing.

"I mean in a romantic way. I wanna be a bride's maid someday!"

"Then go torture someone else about it!" Sam pouts.

~*~*~*~*~

We're walking down a park. Sam and Kaoru have been talking about things I have no idea about. Then the subject changes to me.

"So you've already gotten your first case? Impressive!"

"I almost screwed it up."

"That's what Malice is there for, to clean your mess!" Sam is joking again.

"Sam that's not helping."

"Remember your first case Kaoru?"

Kaoru winces. Sam goes on.

"She almost dropped off a bridge! And her partner had to wipe the memories of 5 people!"

"Wipe their memories?"

"Yeah, when humans see something they shouldn't, we wipe their memories of it."

"Oh."

"Causes a lot of paper work for everybody."

"I had to fill 10 papers plus write the report!"

"So you're doing alright for a rookie." Sam winks at me. Kaoru stops.

"So this is my place. You two can go on now."

"But Kaoru!" Kaoru gives Sam a death glare.

"Absolutely no." She opens the door and walks in. The door closes. Sam stares at the door.

"How long have you two been friends?"

"A few years. Kaoru's been here longer though."

"So what's with her and Kyoto?"

"Sibling fights. They talk to each other eventually. The longest time they haven't talked to each other has been 3 months."

"And now it's been...?"

"2 weeks. So don't worry."

"But how are they here together?"

"They were murdered at the same time." I gasp and she looks at me with no spark in her eyes.

"Keep this in mind: never ever ask any of us how we died. It's not polite and some of us had a life we'd rather forget."

I nod. The logic is easy. I don't want to talk about my death to anyone either. At least not yet. Sam goes back to her usual self.

"So now that that's over with we should head back."

I nod again. It's getting late anyway.

~*~*~*~*~

I get back to my house. I spend the rest of the evening putting groceries to the fridge and decorating. Now I have a green carpet and blue see-through curtains. I have some new clothes now since Sam insisted it. I put on my pajamas and slip into my (now dark green) bed. I set the alarm to ring at 7 AM and fall asleep.

It's been a long day, even for someone dead like me.

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N/A: Yes, Kaoru can be used for both genders. And there's a song called "Dude looks like a lady". Let's swap some words and we have a whole new thing.


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