Mime Spent Apart

Part 22

Menhaus was out of breath from running back inside the hotel to the lift area. He furiously pressed the button to call the lift and kept pressing it until the doors opened. Once they did he leapt in and pressed the number for the floor of the party. He fidgetted as it went up. He hoped he wasn't too late. Too late for what though? What possible reason would they have for leaving? The elevator dinged that he had reached his floor and he practically wrenched the doors open. He raced into the room yelling, "Kusa! Calliope! Don't leave! They're waiting for you! And saw everyones eyes on him. Everyone's but the actors playing Kusa and Calliope.

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The lift doors opened at the ground floor and they stepped out, together. The mime briefly considered letting her step off first but originally he had been the one leading her, back at the compound, helping her with everything so this was a more logical step. Equals. They stepped out onto the lobby floor. He saw beaches in his vision, Europe, ruins, cafes and forests. He saw sunlight and happiness. He turned and smiled at the little girl from his past, and she turned and smiled too. He saw the doors of the the hotel fly open and men in black swat gear came in. They did not fit with his vision. They were scary in fact, with black gas masks that blacked out their eyes and what looked like rubber bullet guns. He smelled a familiar smell wafting in the door. Peppermint. Peppermint and cinnamon. A pale hand appeared at the door... no, a hand wearing a white glove. It was followed by a filthy jacket sleeve and then the rest of the jacket, enveloping a filthy man with a white face. He had an eyepatch. That was new. He strode in and straight to the mime and slapped him in the face.

"That is for my eye. That is the start of what will happen for my eye." He grabbed the girl's arm, the mime moved to stop him and was shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet by one of the swat members. He let go of hand and saw her meing led away. He saw the filthy man, his teacher, lean over him with a small syringe. "Welcome back, four two four." It was injected into his neck and everything went dark. At least the dark can be a friend to a mime.