Carrying his only suitcase, Bethany followed as the men took the boxes inside. Grabbing her son quickly after placing the bag onto a lobby chair, she hugged him tight. “I’ll talk to you soon, baby,” she informed him before spinning on her heel and fleeing the room.
“Wow, that was quick,” Ken observed her through the front glass as she climbed into the car and sped away.
“Yeah, she’s upset. I guess that’s what you could call her Band Aid method to avoiding issues; rip it an’ run,” the younger man laughed, then offered his hand. “I didn’ thank you yesterday for all that you’ve done. It could’ve ended a lot worse; I’m sorry I yelled at you about it.”
“Hey, don’t mention it,” Ken gave the appendage a few pumps before indicating a chair. “I’ve got some work to do, but I’ll be in my office if you need me, and help yourself to some of the coffee if you like, while you wait.”
“Thanks,” Charlie grinned, reaching for a cup as his attorney closed the door to the next room behind him. Smiling at the young girl behind her desk, he took a seat to wait for Ms. Kapoor. That’s an interesting name, he thought to himself as he considered it.
His mind turning over what he knew about the young woman with the fiery-redish hair, he recalled her deeply colored skin. She had appeared tall standing at the front of the courtroom when they were huddled up for her confab with the judge, but since she had on a pair of spiked stilettos, it had masked her true height, he felt certain.
A few minutes later, the woman in question opened the door briskly, and announced, “Well, you’re here and ready. That’s good. My car is parked right outside.”
Whisking herself back out without so much as offering to help, Charlie stared after her for a moment with a wide open jaw. Snapping it shut, he hoisted the largest of the boxes and carried it outside, where Ms. Kapoor stood next to a bright red Ferrari Spider. “You expect all my stuff to fit in that?” he demanded curtly, already unimpressed by his more or less new boss and her expensive ride.
“Yup,” she punched a button on her fob and the front popped open, exposing the tiny cargo area. Leaning against the passenger window, she stared at her phone while he carried his box over and dropped it into the shallow trunk.
Staring at the parcel with wide eyes, it fitted snuggly into the small space, but had cleared on all sides. Shrugging, he stomped back inside, bringing out the second box, with the suitcase slung over his shoulder.
Plopping the second box on top of the first, he squeezed the suitcase into the open area left between them and right hand wall. A perfect fit, if it closes, he conceded as he reached for the cover and slammed it down.
Looking up at him, the woman’s satin red lips curved into a smile, “Would you like the top up or down?” She wore a red pantsuit, her white top emphasizing her cleavage, and her auburn hair hung over her shoulders and cascaded down her back in a riot of waves.
“I, uh,” he stammered, drawn in by the deepest brown eyes he had ever seen; I could’ve sworn her eyes were green yesterday. “I don’t care, either way,” he managed a grin.
“Good,” she gathered her shiny locks, twisting them up into a bun and applying a golden clip to hold them into place. Strutting round the car in her high-heeled, red leather boots, she slunk down into the driver’s seat and hit a button inside. In an instant, the roof popped up and folded over, fitting nicely into the storage area behind the seats. “Hop in, Charlie.”
Grunting, he opened the door and melted into the passenger seat. As they pulled easily out onto the highway a few minutes later, he watched the woman next to him in utter awe. Who the hell is this girl?
Deciding to wait to play twenty questions, he stared out the front glass, only daring periodic glances in her direction. Her eyes hidden behind her shades, he wondered how he could have missed their almost ebony shade; but, she wasn’t right in front of me, either, he decided.
As they took the 10 out of L.A. and headed towards Arizona, he shouted with a frown, “Where are we going?”
Shooting him a quick smirk, she smoothed a few loose strands of hair and called back, “We’re going to our community center; it’s a little off the beaten path.” Spying a station ahead, she pulled in and put up the top, commenting off handedly, “That should make talking easier. We need to go over the rules before we get there.”
Stepping out, she opened the fuel tank access, “Would you mind filling it up while I visit the ladies’ room?” Not waiting for his reply, she sauntered inside and paused at the counter to hand the attendant a few folded bills before disappearing out of sight.
“Jeez,” he muttered under his breath, further annoyed by her attitude towards him. Not really seeing another option, he then climbed out and did as she had requested. While he topped off the tank, she returned and handed him a bottled beverage before sliding back behind the wheel.
Staring at the container, he grimaced at the Dr. Pepper; at one time, it had been his favorite carbonated drink. The recollection of that fact made the hair on his neck prickle, but he couldn’t exactly pinpoint why. Shutting the small door, he opened his and dropped his soda on the seat, “I need to take a leak, too,” he informed her before slamming it shut and heading inside, whether she liked it or not.
The more time he spent in the company of Ms. Kapoor, the less he liked it. She appeared aloof, almost snooty, with a holier-than-thou air about her. Taking care of business and giving his hands a quick wash, he marched back to the car with a prepared list of questions.
Closing the door and fastening his seatbelt, he opened fire, “Ok, so who the hell are you?”
Smiling beneath her shades, she eased the car out onto the highway before she replied. “My name is Karma Kapoor, and I’m your new counselor. I run a small outreach program that helps troubled individuals find their way.”
Again, the hair on his neck bristled, and he could feel his breathing growing shallow in excitement. “That’s a pretty unusual name,” he chose his words carefully. “So, do I call you Karma, or is it always Ms. Kapoor?”
“Karma will suffice,” she flicked her gaze over at him briefly. “We’re going to be together for a long time, Charlie.”
“Two years isn’t that long,” he turned to look away, giving the side of the road out his window a long gaze. “And where exactly is this place we’re going?”
“We have an out-of-the-way location,” she supplied. “I’ve found that people in your situation tend to do better when they’re not distracted by too much around them.”
“I see,” he rolled his tongue against his cheek for a moment. “So, how many people are out here at your little rehab center?”
“Rehab center,” she repeated softly, “That’s an interesting name for it. Accurate in a way, I guess. We currently have eight at our facility, which we affectionately call Purgatory.”
“Purgatory?” his voice squeaked as he swung around to glare at her profile. “Why the hell would you call it that?”
“Because it’s not really prison, but it’s not home, either. It’s not exactly a half-way house, although the idea is the same,” she whipped into the left hand lane to pass a slower car smoothly, then eased back over in front of them. “You can relax, Charlie. I’m not going to hurt you. There’s nothing sinister about Purgatory; it’s just a place between worlds, where you can get your bearings. And we only have a few rules. There’s no outside access except during designated hours. No one comes to visit, and no one leaves the compound without my permission. And finally, and this is the most important, Charlie; everyone here is respected. Failure to comply has severe consequences, and you don’t really want to find out about those.”
Grinding his teeth, Charlie’s mind raced. He’d seen too many weird things in his life to not be on edge at that moment. Karma; there’s a coincidence for you. And Purgatory? The phrase a place between worlds hadn’t escaped him, either. Of course, the smart move would be to have a little patience, rather than demanding explanations. If she doesn’t know that I suspect,
I’ll get a lot more answers through observation.
Keeping her eyes on the road, Karma steered them across the state line, finally taking a left onto a smaller road well before they got to Phoenix. The young man next to her seemed out of sorts, but had fallen into silence, and that was fine with her; he would find out all he needed to know as soon as they reached her little compound in the middle of nowhere.
Bad Penny
Charlie stared at the soft brown earth flying past his window, picking up on cracked and crusted spots here and there. The narrow road they had taken hardly qualified as more than a path, but with open dirt on either side, it was hard to say that it mattered. In the distance, a green patch loomed ahead of them, giving him an ominous feeling in his gut. Purgatory, but like the Garden of Eden?
As the area grew closer, he recognized a few trees, each standing like a giant, fluffy corner post to a large gray structure filled with glass windows. Emitting a small shudder when they pulled up in front of the massive estate, he reached for the handle and climbed out onto the firm ground of the driveway.
“Nice place,” he remarked casually.
“Thanks,” she grinned at his nonchalance. “Come on inside, and we’ll get your stuff out of the boot after your tour.”
The stone path that led to the double front door was flanked on both sides by green grass. Well-manicured, the lawn seemed out of place surrounded by a scorching desert, and two large rose bushes hugged the structure on either side. “How do you get it to grow?” he asked absently, pausing at the base of the single step.
“We have an underground water source,” she supplied easily, pointing at the pair of windmills off to the side of the house, between it and the barn. “This used to be a giant lake, but it moved underground centuries ago; we tapped into it.” She opened the door and indicated for him to follow.
Inside, her boots clicked loudly on the wooden floor. From the outside, the place had appeared almost shabby, but inside, everything held a crisp, bright feel, despite the tinted glass. The stuffed couches in the sitting room to the left of the entrance filled in the space, forming a V-shape that looked out through the glass walls.
“Wow, this place is nice,” he followed her into the sitting room.
“Of course,” she indicated the plants that lined the entire glass barrier. “We call this the atrium and we have a rotating schedule for watering the plants. I'll show you where to find the duty board, and you’ll want to be sure you don't forget when it's your turn. I get really cranky when my plants start turning brown,” she grinned, but the effect gave him an odd twist in his gut.
“Ok,” he nodded, his eyes taking in the rest of the room anxiously. Something about her did anything but put him at ease.
Moving to the corner, where the two glass walls met, he placed his hand against the glass for a moment, then withdrew it and sauntered along the far wall to where the next room began, indicated by the change in the flooring. A giant pair of tables sat in the center of it, each with eight chairs around and tile beneath them.
“You said there were only eight of us,” he indicated the arrangement.
“Well, there are at the moment, but we are equipped to handle twice that number,” she followed him into the dining space. “This way to the kitchen,” she indicated across the bar.
Trailing along after her, he observed more potted plants along the base of the glass exterior, only this time they were cacti, which would require a minimum amount of care. Walking through the kitchen, he noted that it had solid walls on three sides, and that a staircase to the right went both down and up. “You have a basement?”
“Yes, that’s the work area. We have a gym, and everyone has a cubical for their computer. You will be assigned one, and be allowed access for two hours per day, and internet access one day per week, which is part of what we call your ‘phone time’, so use it wisely.”
“Ah,” he hoped he appeared calm at the realization they had thought of everything, and there would be no stolen chats with his mother. “You know, you said this isn’t a prison, but it’s starting to look an awful lot like one,” he observed.
“Well, give it time,” she breathed airily with a smile that made his skin crawl.
“Karma,” a male voice called from the stairs as a muscular man with coal black hair descended them. “Oh good, your back,” he continued when he had reached the bottom. “We have a problem with Lorren -”
She cut him off with a wave of her hand, “Not now, Phil. I’m showing our newest guest around,” she indicated the newcomer with an open palm.
“Phil?” Charlie stared at him with obvious surprise. “Phil Parson?” he demanded a little more forcefully. His opinion of Purgatory took a nose dive with the appearance of the bad penny that indicated trouble loomed in his future. Maybe prison wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Ah, you two are acquainted; lovely,” Karma spun around and headed down the stairs, “Take over the tour, would you, hun? I’ll be in my office when you’re done,” she called as her bun disappeared out of sight.
Letting her go, Charlie addressed the man he had met the last time he was in Arizona, “Care t’ tell me wha’s going on here?”
“What’s going on?” Phillip laughed, indicating for him to follow him up the stairs, to the second level, “You didn’t listen, that’s what’s going on.”
“I did to listen,” Charlie hissed at his back, “You said not t’ poison my mother’s life and I did exactly that. She doesn’t know anything about… anything.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t listen to a damn thing I said about Karma, now did you?” Phil stopped at the first door on the right of the long hallway that divided the upper floor in half. “This is your room,” he stepped inside. “I’m at the other end of the hall, and we each have one roommate, for now at least. His is that bunk,” he indicated the lower bed on the right hand wall.
Pausing in the entrance, Charlie could see that it opened in the center of the wall that separated the room from the hall; symmetrical. He had noticed it downstairs, but it didn’t really stick out until he stood there looking at another room where everything seemed to have a mirror; two sets of bunks, two sets of lockers, two chairs by the window, each on opposite sides of the room. “Is the whole house like this?” he asked, moving to the wall of glass that made up the exterior wall.
“Like what?” Phillip demanded tartly.
“I dunno; balanced,” Charlie indicated the two chairs absently. “In the atrium, there were two couches, one for each window. In the dining area, two tables. There were even two sinks in the kitchen.”
“Hadn’t noticed,” Phil lied flatly, turning around and strutting out. “Welcome home, Charlie.”
The younger man remained behind, taking the time to open a few drawers and cabinets in the storage units. Finding most to be empty, he mentally staked out which would stow his gear, and decided to take the other lower bunk on the opposite side of the room.
Once he had worked out his accommodations, he returned to the hall, where in fact the pairing pattern stood out more than ever; each door had a twin, one on each side of the hall, and an identical staircase went down on the far end.
Deciding to check it out, he peeked into the rooms as he passed. He discovered that the next pair, center of house, were a pair of large bathrooms; each complete with two toilet stalls each along the left walls, identical storage units mounted on the back wall, and a pair of shower stalls on the right. Looks like the dorms back in Austin, he noted.
Descending via the far staircase, he located Phil on the lower level. “I thought you were giving me a tour,” he didn’t bother to hide his anger at the older man.
“Yeah,” Phil smacked his lips, indicating the wall behind them, “That door takes you back out to the foyer, and you came in through the atrium on the other side. This is the great room; as you can see, it spans this whole side of the house.”
Indeed a great room, it consisted of two large clusters of seating area, with couch
es that faced one another, and two chairs sitting side by side between them on the interior end. The second seating area mirrored the first, which by now had become expected.
“What’s with all the windows?” Charlie indicated the latest glass wall.
Phillip laughed, his tone cynical, “That’s our power supply.”
Raising his eyebrows at him, Charlie had had just about enough of his attitude. “Ok, let’s cut through the bullshit, shall we? You and I both know who the other is. You’re an empath, an’ I move shit,” he slid the coffee table before them over a few feet with a wave of his hand for effect. “So how about you actually tell me what the hell is going on here.”
“Not a chance,” Phil sneered, turning to walk away. “Stay out of the barn; you only get in there if Karma invites you, and put that table back. She tends to freak out when things are out of place.”
Staring at the balding back of his head as it disappeared down the second set of stairs to the basement, Charlie fumed. “Invited,” he muttered, spinning on his heel and marching through the archway to the foyer. Slamming the front door behind him, he strutted down the path, realizing when he reached the car that he had no way to open it.
Closing his eyes, he dropped his head back and allowed the evening sun to cascade onto his face and neck. “Jesus, what the hell am I doing here?” he breathed aloud.
“It’s ok, you can do it,” a small voice called from behind him.
Righting his head, he swung around to face a young girl, five foot at best, with dark black hair and sullen brown eyes. Dressed in black jeans and an equally dark tee, a spiked leather collar around her neck gave him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his gut; what, does she think she’s a dog?
“I’m not a dog,” she shot back angrily, a tear instantly forming and spilling over onto her flushed cheek.
The Karma Set - Summer Spirit Novellas 4 - 6 Page 3