Vincent is perplexed. He can’t shake what just happened in the hotel room. He stares blankly at the Manna Crystal, which still emits a bright blue glow.
The taxi driver says “Cool glow stick. Are you going to a rave party somewhere?”
“Hm? No..no…”
“You haven’t told me where to go.”
“Oh I didn’t? LAX, and hurry. I need to catch the red eye”
“Business day trip?”
“You can say that.”
-ε-
Vincent arrives at his apartment. Quietly, he’s walking to his dining table and slumps down to the chair. Suddenly his cell phone rings. The voice comes on. Even the mechanical voice can’t hide the anger.
“Vincent!!! Why didn’t you call us after the job is done? It is imperative that we pick you up!!! You MUST not come back the way you come!!!! What were you thinking?!?!?!”
Vincent says “Sorry. I guess I wasn’t thinking. Especially after I murdered someone”
The voice quiets down. But Vincent can still hear the face paced breathing due to anger. Finally, after the voice calms down, it begins to speak again. “This must NEVER happen again.”
“I will let you know when your next assignment comes. Just be prepared.” The voice hangs up on Vincent.
Vincent throws the cell phone on the table. His mind flashes back to what happened in the hotel room. Ben’s final words ring in his ears “Find Jenna Dayton in Berkeley.” He takes the Manna Crystal, still glowing blue. He wonders what that means. Vincent thinks really hard, and tapping the crystal to his head. The next thing that he knows, he is lying on the floor, his body is smoking. The contact between his head and the crystal has made a mini explosion that sends him flying across the room. Suddenly he feels an electrical jolt in his head, and begins to see flashes of events that he never remembers before. They come up so fast that he feels that his head is going to explode. He can’t take it anymore. He screams so loud, holding his head with both hands, spins around, and then falls to the ground.
A couple of hours passed. Vincent comes through. “Ouch…my head…” He sits still for a while. He slowly gets up, searches his apartment for Bay Area phonebook. “What a pigsty!” He says to himself, not realizing that it has been him living in that apartment. After awhile, he finds a dusty phone directory under boxes of pizza and Chinese food takeout boxes. He blows the dust, opens it up, and begins searching under “D”
-ε-
Jenna wakes up that morning, with a feeling of uneasiness in her stomach. She learns to trust her instinct, that when she feels like a pregnant lady first thing in the morning, something bad somewhere in the world is going to happen. At first she doesn’t believe it. But it happened the day her grandfather died, the day Hurricane Katrina strikes, the day of Tsunami in Japan, and many more. But she brushes that thought, and does her usual thing in the morning, brewing a fresh pot of coffee while listening to the news. Today is the day she wishes she never hears the news. The news anchor, after announcing the world news, her mood turns somber.
“We have a news update from Los Angeles area. Today, in Holiday Inn Santa Monica, the police found the body of one Benjamin Rabinowitz. The victim was shot last night a couple of times in the chest. Robbery was ruled out as the motive as his wallets and luggage are still there. The investigators think that this might be an act of personal retribution. No eye witness saw the perpetrator entering or exiting the building. The police are now investigating this matter. On other news…”
Jenna drops her cup of coffee to the floor. She can’t believe what she’s hearing. The rest of the news sounds like a jumbled noise. She falls on her knees; both of her hands cover her face, shaking uncontrollably. She’s crying hard, mourning the loss of a mentor, and a grandfather.
-ε-
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