CHAPTER 51 – Vienna

The next morning, Eppie chowed down on oat porridge while relaying strategies to Simone to maximise their time at Disneyland. Her recommendations were from an alternative universe, but she had watched three whole YouTube guides on the universality of things like Fastpasses, packed lunches, good shoes, and Excel spreadsheet-level event planning. She told Simone to hold off the visit, because late December was hell, while early January had decorations but not the crowd. Besides, the second best thing about Disney was planning the visit.

Denise had been rightly suspicious about Simone’s windfall, but Eppie stepped in and assured Simone’s mother that the tips were seasonal. Placated, Denise joked that maybe she should work there too, and for a brief spell, Eppie had seriously pondered the horrifying logistics of having both mother and daughter under the Chen’s thumb.

Over the two-and-a-half weeks of the Winter Holidays, Simone would work four nights a week and look after the girls, while Denise would work every shift possible, because the holiday crush paid well and tipped well. Between the two of them, Disneyland was assured, especially if Denise did not attend.

Eppie did not feel entitled to comment, so after breakfast, she kissed the girls goodbye and promised to visit. Secretly, she sincerely hoped that, after May, she could perhaps make enough of a difference to move the Goodes family out of the neighbourhood to somewhere modest and safe. None of it was for Simone. She would be doing it for Cora, Renée, and Denise, who certainly deserved better.

She followed Denise to Mae’s Diner and had breakfast. Hugged the waitress goodbye, tipped her a $20 from her limited weekly withdrawals, then rushed back to the dorm. The public bus back smelled like someone’s sick laundry, with a hint of piss. She watched El Camino go by through the cracked window and made it her mission to get the girls out to somewhere nice, somewhere with yellow school buses and lawn strips.

The trip took an hour.

The campus felt eerie.
Both the college and her school were vacated of stuff and students. The emptiness of her apartment felt so strange that, like a child with an overactive imagination, she was starting to wonder if William might leap out from behind a door or lift and try to mug her in broad daylight.

William… Even now, Eppie could not believe that the [Usurper of Hope] was an actual manifestation. What he had done to Simone, to Mio, to Eppie, maybe to Valorie, it seemed… supernatural, as if the man were some kind of morality vampire.
Mio had abandoned Eppie before William had concrete proof.
Eppie turned from sympathetic Samaritan to willing participant.
Simone turned from innocent bystander to helpful torturer.
People like Lim and the families, who were caught in William’s orbit.
That one random guy who was forced to keep jailable photos on his phone.
Valorie… okay, maybe not Valorie. Senator Sanders’ daughter, as far as Eppie could see, did not have a single redeeming bone in her body.

Hey Antigone… her [Script Analysis] buzzed. Remember what you promised to do for Simone?

Eppie banished the thought, growling at her reflection in the lift.

DING—!

The door opened, and no William had arrived for her to defenestrate from the third floor.
She opened the door to her apartment, yelled, “Josefina!” just in case, then retrieved her pre-packed bag.

Then she performed a head-to-toe.

Passport. Phone. Charger. All of her legal documents in their original casing. The small notebook she carried everywhere and wrote nothing in.

She called a taxi from the lobby. Sony’s charge. Maddy had assured her that everything could be back-charged to her Sony expense account with three separate emojis.

Speaking of the Marvellous Ms Filmore.

She checked her phone.

Maddy was truly her guardian angel.

Eppie typed back “Merry Xmas and Happy NY,” then paused. “PS: Maddy, can corporate source me four Park Hopper Plus tickets? I need it as a gift for early January.”

She dropped by the Stray Cat Society on her way to the gate.

Inside, everything was in order. Lim had recently visited, according to the logs. The bowls were changed, the food was refilled, the litter boxes had only fresh poo, and the cats remained indifferent. Mr Chin came running to her. She picked him up and inhaled Mr Chin’s soul like Imhotep in the 1999 action classic The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser, stopping only when Mr Chin complained.

She folded the spare blankets and stacked them in the supply cupboard, then she was gone.

The taxi was uneventful.
Her hair was a mess, her clothes were cheap, and her bags looked frumpy. West Hollywood had no shortage of cute girls catching taxis, and Eppie wasn’t impressive enough to invite uninvited conversation.

LAX arrived with more chaos than usual. The slip road bottleneck, the horns, the people pulling luggage in the great Christmas Migration of Los Angeles. Eppie paid with her company card, slipped through the minimal security, then stood at the check-in for a whole five minutes before she slapped herself.

She left the line, watched by a few confused patrons, then joined the First Class queue. A young woman with [Comeliness] of at least 22 called her by name before ushering her through the First-Class security line.

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They made small talk as she was handed off to another service representative, who then inducted her into the Admirals Club.

Inside, throngs of businessmen gazed upon her with as much curiosity as the patrons at the regular check-in, but otherwise left her to ravage the salad bar all on her own.

Midway through a grilled Ahi salad, her phone rang.

It was Dad.

“Eppie,” the voice on the phone said. “It’s me.”

Eppie waited a full second before making her choice, “Mr Curon.”

Curon laughed. “So, you on your way? Are you at the lounge?”

“Are you checking my location?” Eppie affirmed her suspicion.

“Did Mueller not tell you it’s a company phone?”