Scene Three - Part B - A Room with a View:

The Setup:

Chaos Factor: 5

Characters: Jimi, Eddie, Mrs. Rosse

Threads: Find out who killed the dead guy. Investigate the Salvage Company.

[In the last scene Jimi scoped out some guys at a salvage company from a room in a hotel just a couple of blocks away. He took some pictures and then called for some company when it was too dark to see.]

The Story:

The room is pretty dark and quiet, not many souls in this shabby hotel down by the waters edge. A sliver of blue light from the streets stabs its way through the room and offers the only challenge to the overwhelming black. "B" stands up and for a moment the slim outline of her body and hair is framed by the light.

Walking into the bathroom and snapping a light on with an audible click she calls into me, “ Pretty shameful you calling me up. This could land you in some serious...”

“Nah, I think I’m good. I don’t remember paying.”

“I didn’t ask you to, silly man.”

“If you had, I’d have thought twice.”

“I’m sure you would have.”

We always play this way. Ever since I picked her up out of that mud, blood covered, left for dead. Years later she took to the streets as a walker picking up the johns. I think that night I found her left something in her, same something I got in me. She’s got a good heart though, and I look out for her.

She comes in and her bronze skin and black hair mark her Korean heritage. She’s put on a dress, although it is flaring out in the back, she’ll probably want me to zip it up. I pull on the bottle and think about things. The leftovers of my investigation are lying on that table; a camera, wrappers from the subs I ate, and a whole lot of nothing.

She comes over and gives my head a small slap with a silky hand, “There you go thinking again Jimi. You gotta relax, that tension’s gonna eat you up someday.”.

“I was thinking about you baby”

“Liar”

And she’s right. Women always know when a man isn’t thinking about them. Lucky she ain’t the jealous type. She’s into that witchy voodoo crap, maybe I should tell her about the lions. I thought that was some weird stuff.

“You know I found a man who had been left all torn up in the lion’s cage at the zoo. What do you think about that. You think it might be one of the gangs?”

She looks at me from over her shoulder while I’m pulling the zipper slowly up, her black hair washes over her arm parted at the tip of her forehead.

“That doesn’t sound like the gangs to me.”

She has a weird look in her eye. Maybe she knows something, but whatever it is, she isn’t going to let it spill. That means she’s either too afraid or she thinks her idea is too silly to say it. I’m not going to push the issue. She is getting her things while I take another pull from the bottle. Finally, she stands in the door way, light again framing her thin body and she looks at me like she is looking at a dead man.

“Jimi, whatever you are getting yourself into. Look out. Lions and kings, Jimi, lions and kings, dark stuff.”

“You take it easy B, don’t you worry over me.”

After she leaves, I lock the door and tuck my pistol under the pillow - you can’t be too sure. Falling into a dark sleep I dream of a house near a stop sign. I’m going inside. The hallway is dark, I put my hand on the door handle to the room and I’m scared of what’s inside. I smell burning cheese and I hear giggles from out in the back, I think it is a playground. I open the door. There is a black horse in the room. He is looking at me, motionless except for his breathing. He breathes in, and then snorts it out, breathes in and then snorts it out. He is looking at me, his eyes are dark. I’m walking up to him. I feel a tapping on my shoulder but I ignore it. The horse is breathing and looking at me. Someone keeps tapping me on the shoulder. I reach out to touch the horse on the nose. My hand gets closer and closer. The tapping keeps up, I turn and look, it is the horse head on the body of "B". I can tell by the dress. She moves her horse head close and whispers into my ear...

I decide again to lower the chaos factor to four since it seemed to be in the control of the Jimi.