You choose to fly out to Washington DC and start your pursuit of Kepler Hawking.
Upon arrival in the city, you realize just how low on cash your bank account has gotten. You bring up your concerns with Mysticalis, almost hoping that it somehow has money that you were not aware of before.
“No need to worry. Follow me. I will get us some accommodations.” It walks with a purpose to the metro station.
After riding on the metro train for longer than what you feel it should take, you leave the station. This metro just doesn’t have the efficiency of New York’s. Mysticalis walks down the side walks into some newer looking residential neighborhoods. It starts to stick its head higher in the air, almost further up than what you would think would be possible. A human certainly couldn’t do it.
It sniffs the air inquisitively and its head turns quickly, glancing around the area and taking stock of all aspects. It takes a few experimental steps into one yard and then into another. You hold back a little bit but continue to follow. You actually blush a little bit with embarrassment by the strange behavior of your companion and how it might reflect upon you.
It stops abruptly and you almost run into the no longer flowing frame and coat of Mysticalis. It looks down the direction that you came from, sending you looking that way as well. Then it looks down the street in the direction you were both walking. It takes one final look across to the other side of the street and finally you catch on enough to not follow its glances. It then briskly bounds forward through the yard of a well-manicured lawn to a red brick house.
You reluctantly follow as you come to realize the reason it was looking around so frantically. It wants to be sure that you are not observed moving up to the door. It lowers a shoulder as it runs smack into the door while also nimbly grasping and forcefully turning the door handle.
You raise an eyebrow as you dash inside before you can be spotted by any weary onlookers. It starts to scout the house as you stand somewhat dumbfounded at the door. You can’t help but feel guilty that you are breaking in to someone’s house.
The situation is strange though, this front living room is completely devoid of furniture and belongings. You take a glance into the nearest doorway that views into the kitchen and there are actually a couple of boxes, some in various forms of unpacking. The place doesn’t really seem to have been lived in at all.
Myst pops back into the kitchen from a deeper hallway, “We’re clear of residents. Probably will be for some time if I’m not mistaken.”
You think of all the possibilities as to why this could be the case and wonder if you should even worry, “Do I want to know?”
Myst changes subjects abruptly, “May I just say that while your reasons might be just... I don’t know about you pursuing this course of action.”
“I need to know more. There might be someone out there... that I’m married too. Someone that has been looking for me... I don’t really know. I just have to find out more.” You shrug, still not even sure for yourself if all this trouble is worth it. “Kepler Hawking is the most solid lead I have outside of what may just be a setup of family and friends. I’ve got to find a new lead. When Kepler slipped me that business card on my way... on the start of my journey... he knew something. I think he gave me that card so that I could have a way back. There must be some reason why I never threw away or lost this card after so long.”
“I’m willing to help you track him down, but there is another agenda that I must attend to while we are here. I hope you’ll understand.” Mysticalis opens a cupboard and sorts through some sparse shelves of non-perishable foods.
“You just help get me to Kepler and leave the rest of that line of destiny or whatever up to me. I’ll deal with him myself. Speaking of dealing with things, I really need to get you to teach me some of your martial arts. You’re just so quick...”
Myst pulls out a couple of boxes and starts firing up the stove, “Well, I’m afraid that some of that is just my biological advantage over humans, but it couldn’t hurt to show you a few things. It’ll be a challenge to see what you can learn and what is beyond your capabilities. Tracking would be the same, well, more challenging.”
“So I’ll leave that part to you.” You lean against the counter, relax your breathing, and envision yourself sitting there, having the truth of you revealed to yourself. The cracks in the logic of the thought that someone else could know you better than yourself just makes you shiver. “He’ll tell me what I want to know. He has to want to if I want it. Why would he give me this card?”
Myst gets some water boiling and starts throwing together the make shift meal that makes your stomach growl. You came to the city on a whim, making you wonder... “What sort of agenda do you have here? Coming here wasn’t exactly a master plan. Unless you’re using me as a pawn in some sick game.” You laugh and think if you should push it.
“The networks of my people span the world. Some places are hubs for certain activities and groups. Just as your Washington DC here is the seat of government, my Watchers also have ways here in the area. More than that I cannot say.”
“Haven’t I earned more of your trust yet...” you sigh.
Myst ponders as the steam pelts its face. “It’s not that, it’s just that... I’m not completely sure. I’m young for my people’s age. And so... I know some things but I don’t KNOW them. I understand about certain things, yet they are new to me. Part of the system of being reincarnated. Well...” It actually laughs, “In a way, like your locked away memories...”
A few minutes later, you’re eating cheap food chalked full of preservatives and salt. Mysticalis makes a bowl for itself and toys with the food a bit while eating the less than savory morsels.
Myst speaks after finishing the last silent bite, “Give me a couple of days, and I will find Kepler Hawking for you. Then, we part ways for a time. You can come back to find me at this place when we have both finished our business.”
**
You hold up in the empty house for a few days. Mysticalis spends quite a bit of time out on the prowl for information and the scent of Kepler. It took the card for just a few minutes, rubbing its palms over the card and sniffing it, then ran out the door. While you’ve been hiding out, you’ve unpacked some boxes with pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags, making a huge make-shift bed of soft fluffy and comfortable things.
The book that you bought in the airport for your trip from Sunny California to Dreary DC can no longer entertain you. The pages of the book have all been turned. You even read a few of the better chapters a second time. Now, you just stare out of the curtain covered window, hoping to see Myst show up again and dreading seeing the owners of this place walking up. Your heart did skip a beat yesterday, but it was just a delivery guy coming to the door.
Finally, now, on your third full day of waiting, you spot something graceful dance through the drive way and disappear around the corner of the house. You know that dexterous movement now so well. You kip up and rush to the back door to meet Myst. Before you even make it to the sliding glass back door, Myst steps inside and gives the door a shove, closing it quickly and perfectly, hardly making a sound.
“Your friend, Mr. Hawking, is quite the man of routine.” Myst smiles in such a human way that you have not seen before.
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“Explain.” You feel a surge of excitement rise and fall from your stomach to your throat, unable to croak out any more words.
“I’ll tell you just where to find him tomorrow morning. Go on an empty stomach.”
Your mind wanders, thinking of all the things you could possibly learn about yourself. Were you a wealthy stock broker? Did you have an important job, maybe in the government? What was your real family like? You spend the rest of the night mentally preparing yourself and enjoying the company of Myst, playing a few games of cards with a deck you found in the bedroom stuff. You know it will be heading off to do its own thing soon, and you want to enjoy some more time together.
Adams Morgan, Washington, DC
You shut the car door and start to walk past the cars parked in tight in front of the diner. For a moment, you think that all you’ll be getting is a bite to eat, not absolution. You gaze up through the huge bay windows and spot your query. Kepler Hawking sits at a table with his perfect hat leaned against the oversized salt and pepper shakers. Your heart starts to beat quickly in your chest as you have trouble controlling your feelings and thoughts. You need to keep your cool. It wouldn’t help matters to have an outburst in a diner filled with patrons. You need to keep this subtle for now.
You swing the door open. As the door swings back at you and the chime goes wild, you realize that you need to stop. You take a deep, deliberate breath as the door closes behind you.
Kepler Hawking looks up at the violent sound of the door and makes eye contact with you. He smiles with a crooked twitch of the lips. You wonder if that is nervousness or the satisfaction of expectations being met.
You notice the eyes of the other patrons hang on you for only a second after the door closes. You focus your vision back on Kepler and even knick the corner of a booth with your hip, giving you a little stinger that twings through your body. The smell of maple syrup and pancakes make your mouth water, but you focus your sensory perception on your vision.
You slide into the booth, a crack in the fabric tears just a tiny bit more. You’d love to lean on the table, closer in to Kepler, but it looks as though it barely got a wipe down after the previous occupants ate.
“So. Here we are. I suppose you expected to see me again at some point considering the business card you gave me back in Manhattan. You made me travel all the way back to DC just for what reason?” You say as you sit firm and tall, back against the green plastic cushion.
“Well, I actually wasn’t sure you’d uh, remember, huh. Me. Here you are. I suppose you’ve figured out some things, uh, about your past.” He works his hands around the brim of the hat, even though it didn’t look like it needed any upkeep.
You go to slam the table with a fist but manage at the last second to just smack the seat cushion instead. “Damn right I figured something out that you are going to tell me you mother fucker like you had no idea like what you did to me?! You messed with my head and now you are going to fix it.”
He stammers for a moment and half coughs, “Nope, I ca ca...”
You point a rigid finger into Kepler’s face, “Shut the hell up you mind fucker. Do exactly as I ask.”
He puts his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. “Alright, I’ll try to throw a plan together. What I’m trying to tell you is that I’m not totally in control of these things that you want me to do. I don’t even know if I can do it again. I left you my card, obviously... well... look. I could have just disappeared and left you nothing and no way of getting your past back.”
Kepler pauses his blabbering and waits for your reply. You stare at him coldly, so much so that when the waiter approaches to bring you a water and fill Kepler’s, he instead just walks away with them.
Kepler clears his throat and puts his hands back on the table. “Okay, you told me to shut up and I didn’t quite do that. It seems that I’m rather cornered is all.”
“What exactly did you do to me?” You lean in and stare straight into his eyes with a fire of inquisition.
“I have a talent. I can change memories. I can rearrange your neural pathways so that some memories that were important, are now just gone. I don’t know if I can reverse it.”
“Well you better find a way how!” You stand up and feel only the slightest of embarrassment from your outburst.
“You were troubled. You don’t want me to help you... you don’t...”
“That’s not your fucking choice.” You toss Kepler a paper with a phone number on it. “When you decide you can help me...”
He puts up a hand with a single finger extended, but he says nothing. You just shake your head in disappointment. Time to get to the car and meet up with Mysticalis to figure out the next move.
**
You leave your impromptu meeting with Kepler Hawking unsure and disturbed. Your best friend now, Mysticalis, is not really the type that has good advice in delicate emotional situations like these. It doesn’t even really comprehend how human emotions play into actions. You’ll have to figure this out on your own. Do you trust Kepler and do as you want him to, revealing your past? Or, are you not trusting that he will help you at all and continue to seek answers elsewhere? You are at least at a dead end for now, if you choose not to take the Hawking option.
As you drive down the highway, back into Virginia, an aggressive car cuts over and you have to swerve to avoid getting into an accident. Then, as you try to swerve back into a normal lane, the car maneuvers such as you are stuck in an exit lane. Soon, you find yourself pulling up to a stop sign in a deserted area, just off of the highway, on the edge of the Potomac. You see some old industrial sites in the distance, and fields of scrub brush all around.
A sudden jerk of the neck jolts you from looking around as your vehicle is rear ended. Great! How will you take care of this one, you’re broke. You look in your rear view mirror and realize that the car that rear ended you is the same one that ran you off of the road and onto the exit. The car behind you starts to accelerate forward and pushes your car even with your foot on the breaks. You curse for having such a small, cheap, crap car. If you had a truck or even an old metal clunker car, this wouldn’t be happening.
You curse and slam on the accelerator. You feel the bumpers separate as you start to turn to follow the cracked, ill maintained road.
The car veers over to the wrong side of the road and the first warning you have of it swinging back is your side view mirror being crushed. You brace yourself as the other vehicle smacks into the side, shattering your driver’s side window. This then causes you to let go of the wheel reflexively to try to protect your face from the incoming glass. Of course, this attempt is in vain. You feel several cuts on your face and now on your hands as you grasp your head. With your hands no longer on the steering wheel, you go straight off of the road and through some of the lighter brush. The ride is bumpy and you try to get your foot off of the gas, but the next bump forces you forward and your foot right down on the gas pedal.
With one final vroom, your car launches off of an incline that falls away right near the edge of the Potomac River. You peel your arms away just in time to see the sudden impact with the dense, cold river water. That impact causes your unprotected head to lurch forward and smack the top of the steering wheel. Blood pours down your face and half blinds you.
The car starts to sink slowly into the water and muddy sediment.
As you come to your senses, the water is seeping up over the broken window of the driver’s side door. You start to swing your arms wildly in panic. In flashes, you think back to myth busters doing the same sort of stunt. You recall some of the movies you love. You think of all of these things that are not just helping you to escape, they’re just distracting you with hard to recall details.
You finally manage to unclick the seat belt. Your breathing is uneven and overwhelming your senses with a lack of control. The heavy, labored breathing stops being useful as your lungs fill with water. You’ve gotten an arm and shoulder with part of your head out the busted window, but now you feel like three of the strongest guys that you have ever known are pushing you down into a soft couch. Still, the feeling is smothering and the lack of oxygen is making your legs kick with no real objective.
You are now coughing and tearing up in the water.
Something starts to guide and direct your body away from the sinking car. Could this be what God is, you wonder? Your leading hand breaks the surface of the water. You start to breathe in air with the remaining water that you cough up. Alas, it is not the hand of God that is saving you. You see a clean, brimmed hat and an expensive suit with splotches of dried paint all over it. Kepler...
Kepler throws one of your arms over his shoulder and laboriously drags you toward the shallows. He doesn’t have an easy time of it and at one point, the slick muddy bottom steals away both of your shoes and probably Kepler’s as well. Without your ragged efforts, you might both drown here.
You finally see the salvation of the nearest groupings of reeds and an old, discarded tire. Kepler gives you a shove and you use all the strength you can muster to push yourself up through the mud and onto the, though still not solid, above water level ground.
“Jesus Christ!” Kepler struggles to take in enough air to recharge his exhausted muscles. He lies on his back, his outfit no longer recognizable with all the grey mud clinging to him. He reaches an arm over towards you. “You okay there?”
As you open your mouth to speak, you instead cough up what feels like a gallon of water. “I think I’ll live...”
“Alright, look... I’ll help you. It can’t make matters worse. Seems like you’re already in over your head, considering that somebody seems to want you dead.” Kepler sighs and his arms just fall into the water and he starts to regain his calm demeanor.
You crawl up further onto the shore. “Thanks. Hopefully... I’m not making a mistake.”