Too Broke For Afterlife

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Pebbles poke into my back and despite not feeling actual pain, I am very uncomfortable.

The moon is shining brightly above my head. What time is it?

I rub my dry eyes.

Not far away water is flowing and I can hear small waves crashing against the stone. The sound itself is very calming but I try to not let that feel me.

Who would have thought that going to Heaven would end up in me sleeping under a bridge?

I turn around to my friends and spot Clemens a few feet away, sitting with his eyes closed. Is he sleeping or just thinking?

"Hey! Psst!"

He looks over to me but in the dark it's hard to read his expression. "You are awake."

"Yes. Good observation. Where is Nox?"

I slowly get up from the ground and stretch.

"She left to handle some things."

"What do you mean?"

Confused, I walk over to him and scratch my head.

"She didn't tell me what she was going to do but that we will reunite once she is done."

"Dude…" I dust off my clothes. "Last time someone left was Isabella walking out of the hotel room. Now we are searching for her. What is Nox thinking?"

"She knows what she is doing. Either way, now that you are awake we should continue moving."

Clemens gets up and shoulders the backpack he had found yesterday at the side of the street. I don't know what he is carrying or if he is even carrying anything but the print of the yellow sponge wearing pants definitely looks ridiculous.

Let's hope he's got something useful on him because honestly, I doubt we are going to survive this.

We are two people chasing after Isabella with no clue where she possibly could have gone. And on top of that, we are inside the Government District, basically running around in the Mayor's garden, our arch nemesis. This is so dumb, I can't believe it.

We start walking up to the road and a black limousine rushes past us. 

It almost feels like someone is watching us through the toned windows but I try to shake off the paranoia.

"So, what's the plan, chief?"

I'm not sure why I'm letting Clemens lead but I do know that I myself have no idea what to do.

He stops in front of a big sign, showing a map of this world. A small red dot marks where we are standing.

"Okay, if we approach this problem from a rational point of view, the smartest thing to do…"

"Yes?"

"...is to somehow break into the government building."

I stare at him.

And then I take a deep breath.

"You're joking."

"I'm not."

He looks back with nonchalant eyes.

"Clemens."

"Mhm?"

Another deep breath. 

Then I yell.

"IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS THAT 'SMART'?"

I shove him and the man stumbles.

"That's literally the most dangerous thing we could do! Do you want us to get caught? Is that part of your plan?"

"Of course not." Clemens almost looks offended by the fact I'm questioning his intelligence.

"But why else would Isabella go here if not to pay a visit to the Mayor? There is nothing else here. If we want to find her, we have to reconstruct her actions and take them ourselves."

I hate to admit it but he is right. Isa is in danger, I can't just chicken out now.

"Of course we have to be careful and make sure we stay undetected." With that, the topic has been discussed to him and Clemens continues walking.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I mumble and follow reluctantly.

Looking at the sky I now notice how the black is slowly turning into purple. It must be very early in the morning, maybe around 4am on Earth. 

The government district is very clean and it wouldn't be hard for me to believe that Clemens, Nox and I were the very first homeless people to ever sleep under the bridge. I'm surprised we didn't get caught by any of the patrolling cops that now keep crossing our way more and more often the further we get into the center of this small world.

They are wearing very fancy looking uniforms and the purple aura of some tells me that these aren't all NPCs.

It only takes a few minutes of walking until we reach what I assume is the government building, where the Mayor lives and makes all her wonderful decisions.

The building is white and has a few elements that remind me of baroque castles my mom used to look at on TV. The very European style almost clashes with the typically shaped modern buildings surrounding it.

All of them form a circle going around a small park with beautiful trees and benches. The place is quite busy with lots of souls talking and walking around. There are coffee shops, restaurants and even a cinema with a bowling alley underneath.

"What is this place?" I ask Clemens as I watch the colorful hustle.

"I am not too certain. It certainly does not appear as it did in my imagination. The proximity between ordinary beings and the headquarters of this entire realm make this building appear as more of a town hall, full of enraged residents, more than a truly powerful institution."

We start walking along the promenade and I let my eyes glide over a kiosk to my right.

There seems to only be two magazines being sold here. One published by the Train of Thoughts, the other one is called Heaven's Eye.

I pick up one of the papers to check the front cover.

When I see the main article, I almost drop it.

"Clemens." I grab his arm.

"We are f*cked."

"What is the reason behind your trouble? Oh. Damn."

He grabs the magazine and looks at the pictures showing the faces of our group. 

The title reads Have you seen them? 

"This is not good."

"You're damn right, it's not!" I rip the newspaper out of his hands and throw it back. 

"What now? They are hunting us!"

Clemens tries to calm me down. "We already knew that. The problem is that they are informing everyone else now as well. We need a disguise."

He takes the backpack and opens the zipper. Then he pulls out two pairs of kids sunglasses. 

Clemens hands me the pink one.

"I'll be Spongey Bob and you're Patrick. Fun, right?"

I just stare at him in disbelief.

"Oh, come on, Judith! You're harder to entertain than a statue. Stop being so sour."

"Did you just call me Judith?" 

I grab Clemens' shoulders and hiss into his face. "Don't ever call me Judith."

"Why? That's your name, isn't it? Nicknames are usually reserved for friends. I didn't know we had reached that stage already."

I let go of him and put on the sunglasses. "We haven't and probably never will. Especially not if you call me Judith again."

<<<

With our hoods over our heads and the sunglasses on our noses, we somehow manage to enter the building. 

But the guard did give us a weird look. I guess he isn't used to Spongey Bob cosplays. We do look kind of ridiculous.

The receptionist stares at us as well as we walk over.

"Yes?" She scans us both.

I look at Clemens, hoping he has got a plan. And he does.

"Excuse us but we are looking for a friend. We have reason to believe that she was here. Do you happen to note down visitors?"

Ah. good idea.

But instead of answering his question, the woman calmly looks from Clemens to me. She lifts an eyebrow.

"Why don't you take off your glasses?"

I freeze.

F*ck. I did not see that coming. I need an excuse, quick!

"Young lady?"

"I can't," I blurt out.

"Why?"

Because you might recognize me and put me in prison.

We stare at each other as I try to find an explanation.

"We...uh...we just came from...the mall. And we got...eye surgery. We have to wear glasses for the next 3 days or...you know."

I smile awkwardly and I'm glad the woman can only see half of my terrified expression. But she doesn't seem to care anyway.

"Really? You can get eye surgery these days? What mall?"

She leans forward. That's when I notice the red gem in her upper arm. 

This is not an NPC. We are fine.

"The big one. In San Andy."

"I have to go there someday, I've always wanted bigger eyes. Anyway..."

She clears her throat, trying to focus and rummages through the papers on her desk.

"To view the visitor list you have to fill out this form and then-"

Clemens grabs the sheet and a pen. "Thank you." He walks away a few feet and starts filling it out.

I want to follow him but don't get the chance.

"By the way."

I look back at the receptionist. She is smiling. 

"I like your glasses."

My Patrick glasses.

"Really? Oh, thank you. They...were on sale."

She nods.. "Very retro-chic."