Between Worlds (TEMP HOLD)

Six: Reunions

         I rented a dingy little hotel room, and browsed over Jasmine and Oscar's profiles (so to speak, profiles, everyone has one. These profiles give you every detail about their lives, possibilities on location, and anything else that may have been left out.

          King lays napping on the bottom of the bed.

         Jasmine was from a poor, dangerous country overseas. They could have gone there for protection, but Oscar more than likely would have been killed. I remember Jasmine's words back in the bath house that night... She'd been killed for money. Would she really have gone back? No.

          I flip through her file, and almost feel a twinge of guilt for her.

          Jasmine had been forced into an arranged marriage to a man twenty years older than her. This man already had money. But he had wanted more. He murdered Jasmine. And her parents? They got a share of the cash. So did the cops, to keep them quiet. Jasmine wouldn't have returned to her country. No fucking way.

         Oscar's family was coincidentally in California.

          They were close. Maybe seventeen miles from my hotel.

         Their home in Cali was only a vacation homes, so chances are his family wasn't there right now. They could possibly be at the fam bam's summer home.

         Before getting to the hotel, I'd gone across the street to the small shopping center and bought office supplies and snacks and prepared for a long day plotting. So far, I taped one idea, one flash card up on the wall in messy, quick handwriting. OSCAR'S VACATION HOME DAY ONE.

          I poured over their biographies, where they went for vacation every year. And by the time I read through both, I knew that Jasmine had never really been anywhere, and had a love for the smaller places in life. Her actually wanting to be Queen of a vast and populated Underworld surprised me. But I know why Jasmine was chosen. She was beautiful, and corrupted, and her LOTL husband had... Power. Money. Jasmine was corrupted. She could put on a good face, she could smile like nothing was wrong. She could lie.

         But Jasmine didn't choose the life that was picked out for her. Only in the Underworld, she picked out a life for herself.

          What if—

          I shake my head, considering the possibility and then shaking my head. No. No fucking way. And then I realize yes. Yes, Jasmine could have gone back. Jasmine could have wanted vengeance. She could very well have used Oscar. As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I write down the address of Jasmine's former husband. Her home.

         Taped on the wall.

          Oscar came from a family that had money. He could be anywhere from London—my heart skips a beat—to Maui. I write down every vacation spot he liked. Day One through Day Sixteen.

         I had the television on low, and I think the news was on. Something about war in the Middle East; invading soldiers. Did Jasmine's husband have any power there? I wonder. With all that money. And then I just think no, no, if she's anything like her family, than they would have selfishly kept it to themselves. Spent it for themselves. Hoarde it and keep themselves safe.

         God, I couldn't wait for people like them to be stuck on the beaches of the Underworld forever. To be stuck forever in those fields.

          But what was the plan when I found them? Have a drink and talk things over? Somehow, I didn't think they would go back to the underworld after tea time and scones.