Episode 010 Previous Episode	Next Episode
“Follow your heart Your intuition It will lead you in the right direction Let go of your mind Your Intuition Is easy to find Just follow your heart baby,” Jewel, Intuition The vending machine rumbled as it spat out a bottle of water. Everett bent down and collected it, standing to continue reading a notice on the bulletin board next to the snack machine. He squinted, struggling to read the small type. “They’re starting construction on a bypass?” he muttered to himself, leaning towards the board. With a displeased look, he shook his head and turned, heading back towards the auditorium. Marilyn was scribbling down notes as one of the experts displayed a multi-media presentation of a map of the city. Writing studiously, she wasn’t aware of Everett until he sat down next to her. “Here you go,” he said, handing her the bottle of water. “Oh, thank you,” she said gratefully, tearing it open and chugging the contents quickly. “What’s he going on about?” Everett asked, looking at the map on the large white wall. “Those yellow dots are where the Rose is confirmed,” Marilyn said. “They think they’ve got a movement pattern for the Rose.” “That’s it?” Everett said. “Good grief, I came up with that long ago.” “So why haven’t you tried to stop the Rose?” she asked rhetorically, sipping more of the water. “I wanted to follow him,” Everett said. Marilyn whirled around in her seat, startling Everett. “You mean you’ve seen the Rose?” she said, her eyes lighting up. “What’s he like?” “Black and red,” Everett said with finality. He took the bottle from Marilyn and took a sip as well. “He was wearing a mask and had what appeared to be a utility belt.” “What about the rose?” she asked eagerly. “Did you see him place the rose on the criminals’ back?” Everett was quiet. “Which crime were you at?” “The pawn shop robbery,” he said. “I watched the Rose stop the guys and then followed him a few blocks before losing him.” “How’d she, he look?” Marilyn said, flustered. “I mean, does he know, like, all sorts of kung fu and stuff? Did he use any weapons?” “No,” Everett said. “It wasn’t much of a fight. As far as weapons, I didn’t see any on him.” “Cause at some of the sightings, he’s supposed to have a sword of some kind,” Marilyn swooned. Everett glared at her out of the corner of his eyes, but stayed quiet. “He’s just so, amazing.” Everett just rolled his eyes. The auditorium was slowly emptying. Like water filtering out through a slow drain, the mass of people at the single door in the back had conglomerated while only a few were able to pass through at a time. “So what do you think?” Everett asked. “Still have confidence in your elected officials after hearing their reactions and plans?” Marilyn chuckled. “Uh, no. I don’t know how much confidence I had to begin with, but tonight certainly didn’t assure me.” “Yeah,” Everett agreed, sitting back in his seat, glancing over his shoulder at the doors. “You know,” he remarked, “I’ve never voted for a winning candidate in any election.” He sat back, considering that. “From the local school board up to President and everything in between, no one I’ve voted for has ever won the election.” “Maybe you should start voting for the guy you don’t want to win,” she suggested, beginning to pack up her things into a shoulder bag. “That might be the solution,” Everett said, standing. Marilyn’s laughter echoed on the parking deck. Everett walked next to her, smiling as well, as the two slowly turned around and around, heading up the levels of the parking deck. “It’s so weird that they close the stairs after ten o’clock,” Marilyn complained, still laughing. “I mean, what about people working late and stuff?” “Maybe they’re afraid of squatters and homeless people sleeping in the stairs,” Everett suggested. “That’s horrible,” she remarked. “I’m not sure what’s more horrible, though; that they’d try to keep them from finding shelter or that someone needs a stairwell for shelter.” They turned around the bend, to find a burgundy car sitting alone in the middle of the top of the parking deck. Alone in the city, the urban winds sweeping by them, a strange silence descended. Marilyn’s steps slowed quickly until she stopped altogether with a distant look in her eyes as she gazed off into the distance. Everett stepped ahead, then stopped and turned back to Marilyn. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Standing still, she smiled cryptically. “There’s something wonderful about parking decks,” she said. “Something, I don’t know, magical.” Everett listened, staying quiet. Marilyn looked at the nighttime sky above, featureless because of the city lights. “I’m going to save the world,” she remarked, as if to herself. “Are you now?” Everett questioned harmlessly, leaning academically against the railing of the parking deck. “You know that psychic, Madame Kieri?” Marilyn asked. “I went to go see her.” She turned to Everett, certainty in her eyes and tone. “She’s really good.” “I’ll bet,” Everett accepted. “She told me that I was going to save the world,” Marilyn said with a smile. “That I’d climb the tall tower, ascend the stairs of destiny, and stand before a fallen song. She said I’d…” She stopped and looked at Everett. “You don’t believe a bit of this, do you?” He just shook his head. “Where’s your imagination?” she asked. “Imagination is one thing,” Everett said. “Believing in psychic phenomena, that I can do. I don’t know that I think they, or anyone, can see the future, but I believe there might be something to the claims. But believing that some woman living in this city, working out of her house, giving palm readings and using tarot cards and crystals and whatnot; I just can’t buy that she’s really psychic.” “She told me I was going to save the world,” Marilyn insisted, a dash of desperation in her words. Everett could only look at her supportingly. Marilyn looked away, her hair falling down between her eyes and Everett’s. “I should go.” She started walking towards her car. “Will I see you again?” Everett asked, not getting up. Marilyn stopped. For a moment neither moved. Only the wind rustled Marilyn’s hair as it blew off the street. She turned back to Everett. “Maybe,” she said sentimentally. “I mean, anything’s possible, right?” “But you don’t want to see me again, do you?” he said. She smiled sadly, her eyes watering up. “You’d just leave me behind again.” She turned, heading for her car. Everett waited by the railing, not standing until she had long driven by.
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