DAY 4 ASH “Quit squirming, will you?” “Sorry, your bed is so comfortable.” Ash twisted under the sheets like a wriggling newborn. It felt too fantastic to just lie there. “Yeah, well, don’t mess it up,” Ivy said and rolled over. “Don’t you have to go to work or something?” Ash sighed. “Yeah, I should.” He rolled off the bed and went into the adjacent bathroom, picking up his clothes along the way. He splashed some water on his face and arms, scrubbing off the dried sweat and saliva. He only needed to look presentable–no need to smell like a rose, especially since the bathroom was saturated with perfume. After…

RION Ernest turned to the ‘Pans & Scans’ in the People magazine he had swiped from the break room. No tits there either, but Rachel Dolan’s body was smoking. God, if she was standing naked in front of his bed- A pair of suited men in sunglasses entered through the double doors. Nothing new there. Suited men had been coming in and out of the hotel all weekend, all stinking of money he’d never have. He thought they’d all left by now. Ernest flipped to a clothing ad. Quite the set on her, but he could see her ribs, and that was always disgus- “Excuse me.” Ernest glanced up. The…

ASH This was it–Ivy’s house. He had tried calling her all throughout his march, but it only rang and rang and rang. Either it was a wrong number, or she had no answering service. The rest of the time he cursed and prayed he wouldn’t end up hovering over a mutilated body. At the beginning of her block, he froze. What would she think? A strange guy she barely knew coming to her house with no provocation. Someone who snuck into her workplace, found her address, and walked all the way here. What was the difference between him and the stalker? The difference was that Ash wasn’t deceptive. Ash wasn’t…

RION Tuesday glanced between the hotel phone number and the keypad. It rang twice before someone picked up. “Hello?” “Hello, can I be connected to Room 117 please?” “Just a moment.” Thirty seconds passed by. Tuesday thought this was taking a long time to press a few buttons. “Hello? Still there?” “Uh, ma’am, there’s no registered to Room 117.” “Really? There should be. Can you just try connecting me anyway?” “One moment.” There were some clicks. Then a male voice answered. “Hello?” “Is this… Rion?” “Tuesday?” he said, elated. “Hey, how’re you doing?” “Um, pretty good. All things considered.” “That’s good to know.” “Did you find out anything?” “Yeah, sorta.…

ASH The bouncer was standing underneath the VoRTEX marquee, next to the sandwich board propped up on the sidewalk–the one with flashing lights and the words GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS. Ash couldn’t tell if it was the same bouncer who kicked him out before. He had been focused on Ivy at the time. He didn’t want to go through the front door, but sneaking in through a skylight didn’t make sense either. All that spy movie stuff looked appealing on TV, but he didn’t want to plan out the logistics of it. The best plan right now was to talk to him. “Hey,” Ash said, “Do you know a girl named…

RION During the night, there were sirens. And flashing red lights out the window. People tromped outside the door. Shadows danced across the hall. There were hushed voices, doors opening and closing, and requests for people to “return to their rooms”. Rion huddled next to his bed and waited. And listened. And didn’t move. Should he escape? Where would he go? How would he get in touch with Tuesday? Was Memory all right? Would she return? Did he leave any evidence in the room? Did they have fingerprints? DNA scanners? Were they compiling a list of suspects? Did Paul mention him to anybody? Was Paul alive? Was he dead? Was…

DAY 3 ASH Ash walked into the White Knights HQ thinking about what Jamal said last night–‘Tomorrow is another day to set things right’. It helped to stop him from panicking when he saw a hefty stack of red flyers on the desk. Anfernee was watching TV, flipping between the news and early morning cartoons. Squirrel, who had walked in with him, pulled up another chair. Jamal was sitting at the computer with Ivan looking over his shoulder. “Ash, you came back,” Ivan said with a shit-eating grin. “Yeah, I came back.” Ivan approached him for his daily manhandling. “Where’s your uniform? You know we got a patrol today.” “My…

RION At eleven o’clock at night, Room 103’s door opened. Paul entered. He was alone and drunk. He had been at conferences all day with a hangover and little sleep, so no doubt he had been at the bar drinking away his tension. “Memory? Are you fucking here?” he called to the darkness. There was no answer. “Wherr’ th’ fuck is that bitch,” he slurred as he fumbled for the light. Her bags were still here so she hadn’t skipped town. She’d left no notes, no messages. She just wasn’t in the room. But he was too drunk to care at this point. But not so much that he didn’t…

ASH “Jeez, you sure know how to have a good time,” Squirrel said. “Sorry about that,” Ash said for the fifth time. He leaned against the dirty white wall of the staircase. Both the alcohol and pavement had gone to his head, so he was a little woozy. Squirrel fished for his apartment keys. “Don’t be sorry, man. That was awesome. I’ve never been kicked out of a strip club.” “Technically, it was just me.” “Yeah, but we were there with you. We were the rough riders. Don’t take shit from nobody.” Ash rolled his eyes, but kept silent. Only Squirrel had offered to help him after the scuffle, to…

RION At five o’clock in the afternoon, Rion emerged from his room. The conventioneers would be at the seminar or at dinner. It was the best chance he was going to get. No one was there to see him creep to Room 103. The door flashed green when he inserted his stolen key. Jeez, didn’t they fix the door? Didn’t Paul tell anyone that someone broke into his room? Still, he slid into the door and shut it quietly behind him. He heard a woman gasp. Memory was sitting at the table. “You,” she said. This was unexpected, but not an obstacle. “Are you all right?” Rion asked. “I should…