Too Broke For Afterlife

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"250."

Isabella's bidder card is high up in the air.

Surprisingly, nobody else bids along.

She smiles confidently at the auctioneer who waits a few seconds.

"$250. Any higher bids?"

Silence.

He takes his gavel. "250. One. Two."

"300."

My head shoots around to the person who seemed to have changed their mind last second.

Oh, will you look at that. 

It's the man from earlier, the one Isa and I had made fun of.

His smug smile is back on his face as he looks over to us but Isabella stays unswerved.

"350."

"400."

"450."

"500."

Oh wow, 500 bucks for a simple necklace? This guy must really be aching for revenge.

Isabella turns to him and huffs lightly. 

I'm not going to lie, this bitch attitude she's got going on is kind of hot.

She looks back at the auctioneer.

"1000," she declares with a smile.

I whisper. "Dude, don't carry it too far. That's way too much money."

She mumbles back. "No, I think the necklace will look great in my house in Corfu."

Isabella's competitor seems shaken, unsure whether to continue or not. 

I'm sure though that he understands the game.

If he stops now, Isa will get the necklace and he will look like a loser. But if he continues bidding and Isa stops, he will end up buying a highly overpriced necklace he never even wanted.

"$1000. One. Two."

The auctioneer looks over to the man who lightly shakes his head.

"Three. Item number 12 goes to number 41. Congratulations."

Isabella looks at me victoriously. I raise my eyebrows.

"You just spent 1k on a stupid necklace. How can you be happy about that?"

"It's cute how you suddenly worry about my finances. Don't worry, baby. 1k is nothing. And it was completely worth it."

The baby bothers me but I don't feel like pointing it out.

The auction continues and I let my eyes glide over the people, still looking for any suspicious actions.

I stop at a guy around my age who is looking right back at me.

I nudge Isabella and whisper. "That guy...is staring at me. Could he be one of them?"

She looks at me. "You're pretty. That's why."

"You mean Olivia is pretty."

"She is stunning."

The weird comment shuts me up and I look back at the auctioneer as Isa huffs. "Jealous?"

"Of a robot? No, definitely not."

I'm not jealous. Hah! 

Isa shakes her head. "You're a bad liar."

<<<

The auction must have been going on for at least an hour now and I really have to pee but Isabella won't let me leave in case I miss the gold coins.

I shouldn't have drank so much coke, f*ck.

"Item number 23. A collection of 5 gold coins."

Immediately, I'm ripped out of my half-comatose state and I straighten my back.

"These coins are of unknown origin but seem to serve as decoration rather than currency."

I stare at the projection screen. 5 big gold coins lying in a black box, lined with grey velvet.

In the middle of each coin is the outline of a crystal. 

I grab Isabella's hand and press it tight, she looks at me amused.

"The material is gold, 9 carat. We will start at $250. Any bids?"

Against my expectations, Isabella doesn't raise her bidder card.

"What are you doing?" I hiss.

She pats my hand. "I'll jump in at the last second."

"Why?"

"Why not? Let me have some fun."

A few people seem to be interested in the coins.

"260."

"270."

"300."

"305."

And so on. 

I anxiously follow the bidding, waiting for Isa to finally do something.

After a little while, only two men are left bidding. They have goaded each other to $600. 

$600 for decorative coins! But that might be the gold alone, I don't know how much that is worth.

Neither of the men seem to be willing to budge, they are hungry for this item.

"650."

"800."

"900."

I sink deeper into my chair. Hopefully they won't go too high, in the end if Isabella wins she will have to pay what she bids.

Suddenly I do feel bad about the $2 pretzel.

"1000."

"1050."

"1100."

Good, they are slowing down. Soon one of them will give up.

Isabella seems to be as calm as ever, still holding my hand.

One of the men hesitates. 

"1120." And it's clear that this is his last bid.

The other one already looks like he has won. "1150."

The first man's card goes down. 

The auctioneer waits a bit, then he picks up his gravel.

"$1150. One. Two. Th-"

"1500," Isabella interjects

Thank god!

The man looks less happy, he throws my companion a death glare.

"1600."

"1700."

"2000." He raises his eyebrows, thinking that this bid will stop Isabella.

But she just smiles at him.

"5000."

Oh lord, I think I'm about to pass out.

The man stares at her for a second, then he throws his bidder card onto the floor. "God dammit."

"$5000 dollars. One. Two. Three."

The auctioneer hits the podium with his gravel three times. 

"Sold to bidder number 41. Congratulations."

Isa turns to me to wiggle her eyebrows.

I can't believe it. This bitch just spent $5000 in the blink of an eye. I can't even buy a simple shirt from Primemark without feeling guilty.

The rest of the auction passes in a haze. Isabella joins another bidding to uphold our alibi, this time without winning the item. Good for her, I wouldn't have spent a single dollar on that ugly picture frame.

After number 30, the auction ends and the gravel man tells us that the other items will be auctioned the following day.

"I'll go pay, you wait here. Okay? Don't talk to anyone."

Isa gets up and I look after her with anxious eyes, wishing she wouldn't leave me alone.

Now that she has bought the coins, we both have a target on our backs. 

My fingers start tapping against my knee as I take a deep breath.

Let me check my messa-

"Hello."

I almost jump at the voice and turn around to the guy from earlier, the one Isa said was flirting with me. Now he is sitting right next to me, smiling.

"Hi."

I turn my face away again, showing my disinterest, hoping he would leave.

"I'm sorry if this is a bit straight-forward but I noticed you during the auction and have to admit that you are quite beautiful."

No. Please, anything but that.

Isa, where are you?

"I'm Robert, what's your name?"

His arm creeps around my shoulders and I can feel warm fingers through the texture of my blouse.

I quickly shift away to the chair on my right.

"I'm sorry Robert but I have a boyfriend."

"Oh…" He doesn't sound disappointed at all, instead he keeps looking at me. "But does that matter?"

Oh my god.

"It very much does. Could you please stop talking to me?"

Why are the men I meet never able to take a hint? 

"Very well." Robert sighs and then gets up from his seat. "But you're missing out on something."

I just roll my eyes. Why did nobody tell me that Miami is full of fuck boys? 

As he is about to leave, he walks into Isabella, who is carrying a suitcase, probably holding the coins and necklace.

Robert looks her up and down. "Oh, hello there."

She just raises her hand. "Don't even try. Come on, Ju- Olivia. We have to leave."

She waves me up impatiently and I quickly follow her demand so that we can finally get out of here.

Her steps are fast and I have trouble keeping up.

Once we are out of the hall, she grabs my arm harshly and hisses: "I said, don't talk to anyone! What's so hard to understand about that?"

"I'm sorry, he was just trying to hit on me. Nothing happened."

"Oh really?"

She roughly grabs my shoulder and pulls on the blouse.

"Ouch!"

"Then what is this?"

Speed walking down the hallway, it's hard for me to make out what she is holding in her hand. All I see is a black rectangle, hardly the size of a thumbnail.

"I...don't know?"

"A GPS tracker, Judy. That guy was supposed to distract you so he could bug you."

Isabella pulls me into the next bathroom and throws the tracker onto the ground before she stomps on it, making sure no part of it stays intact.

"We have to teleport now. They could already be following us."

In the next stall, we both pull out our teleportation devices that Walter had given us before we left.

"Ready?" Isabella has pressed the suitcase with the coins to her chest.

I nod.

Then, the door to the bathroom swings open. 

"I know you're in here, get out!" a woman yells.

I stare at Isa with fear in my eyes. They found us.

Push she mouths and that is what I do.