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Evening in Parrodipolis' Off-Central Park, near the glow in the dark Merfrog pond.
On one of the benches near by sat a woman. A sad, lonely looking woman. She was dressed in, starting from the ground up, a pair of navy-blue Chuck Taylor All-Star high-tops, on her feet were a pair of argyle socks. Her pants were a well-worn, and ripped in places, pair of blue jeans. Moving up her body, she was wearing a black shirt advertising the band Girl Parts. On her wrists were a few too many bracelets and a couple of wrist bands. On her left was an old calculator watch. A few of her fingers had some rings on them, one of the rings was a Waffle. Her black nail polish was cracked and chipped in places. She had short, sandy blond hair which was pulled back and into two small ponytails, one on each side of the back of her head. She had somewhat pale skin was wearing a pair of black plastic glasses. Next to her on the bench was a graying black hood. Under that was his olive drab colored messenger bag. On top of the hood & messenger bag was a plastic bag which now contained half a loaf of white bread.
She had been sitting there for a at least a hour just tossing chunks of the enriched white bread at the various half fish, half amphibian creatures that now crowded around her. They would follow the flight path of the bread pieces & when it hit the ground, the merfrogs would swarm & then fight over who got the piece. It most often was the biggest of the bunch.
This is what Catherine Gillespie plans on doing until she is completely written out of the universe. She attempted to alter her fate but found that it was almost impossible to do anything this late in the game. With her last few dollars in she had in her wallet, she bought her last Mondo Gulp from the lone Parrodipolis location of Gulp 'n Go (the connivence chain store was more of Goth Haven thing but they had recently just started to expand out to other cities). She also bought a few candy bars, an egg salad sandwich & the loaf of bread. All she had left was the bread & half of the Mondo Gulp.
She took a sip of his drink before sending a another chunk of bread flying. Before it had hit the ground & she had shallowed her gulp she heard from behind her "Hello Catherine."
This freaked her out a bit: she didn't expect anyone to be there or know her name. She also almost choked on her carbonated soda. Catherine turned her head in the direction of the voice & saw a tall, slender man standing there.
In his right hand, he carried a grey Umbrella which he held like a cane. He wore a plain looking three piece slate grey suit. Under the suit jacket was a slate grey button down shirt, a slate grey vest & a slate grey tie. His shoes were pitch black. His brown hair was cut short & was slightly balding. He had a neatly trimmed, well groomed Goatee.
It took Catherine a few moment to face the place, but then she did & said "Mr. Spooky?"
"Yes." He said as he made his way around the bench.
"May I sit down?"
"Sure. It's a free bench."
"Thank you." Mr. Spooky said as he sat down.
The two of them sat there in silence for a few moments. Catherine broke that silence by saying "I wasn't sure you'd know who I was."
"Why?"
Catherine opened her mouth to speak but Mr. Spooky said. "Is it because today you're slowly been erased from the universe to make way for another Catherine & everyone you knew doesn't know this new version so they'll not know you?"
Catherine sat there a bit stunned with her mouth open.
"uh…." she said.
"you are probably wonder why I still know you?"
She nodded, still stunned & with her mouth open.
"I'm not sure how to explain it exactly but I'm more…" Mr. Spooky said & paused to search for a right words. Once he had found them, he continued. "I'm more intuned with the universe then the others that you know. So, the minor alterations in the narrative flow of the universe don't affect me as much."
"oh…" She said. She was still a bit stunned but had regained enough composure to maintain a conversation.
"Yes." He said with a smile & a twinkle in his emerald green eyes.
"Is there anything I can do to stop this?"
"Not exactly." He said matter a factly.
Catherine frowned a bit.
"But let's go get a drink. It's a much better way to spend your last few hours then sitting here." Mr. Spooky said as he stood up.
"ok." Catherine said as she gather up her stuff.
She took the rest of the bread she said & threw them up up in the air to land where they may. This caused a massive Merfrog frenzy. Catherine then took one last gulp from her Mondo Gulp before tossing the rest in a near by trash can.
When she turn back around to follow Mr. Spooky to where ever he wanted to get this drink she noticed she was no longer in Off-Central Park but on the sidewalk outside some Bar. She looked around & thought it looked like the Hell's Bathroom part of Parrodipolis.
"Where are we?"
"One of the many bars that dot this part of the city." Mr. Spooky said.
"How did we get here?"
"It doesn't matter how we got here. Just that we are here now." Mr. Spooky said just before he entered the bar.
Catherine had made almost a mission to not come to this part of the city. It scared her a bit. She didn't know anyone who came to or lived in this part of the city & there wasn't anything here that she couldn't find elsewhere so he avoidance of this section wasn't that hard.
The bar was filled with people, smoke, loud music & some odd smells.
Catherine followed closely behind Mr. Spooky. She didn't know where he was going but didn't want to lose him. He might be the last person she knew in the world. But she did loose him. He was just right there in front of him, she didn't think she had looked away from him but guessed that she had.
She looked around for him but couldn't see him anywhere. Then, it seemed like the crowd had been parted into two groups & she could then clearly see that Mr. Spooky was seated in a corner booth. He waved her over. Catherine made her way over to him & the booth. Once she had done that, the two groups then merged back into one large group.
"I didn't there would have been any of these at this time of the night?" Catherine said as she sat down.
"There wasn't." he said.
Catherine wasn't what he meant by that. But had learned to except cryptic answers from him. She had known Mr. Spooky for a few years now & didn't know anything about him. She knows he has some special powers that allow him to do things & appear places when you need him. She had come to think of him as some sort of Guarding Angel.
"Why did you pick this place?"
"I wanted to show you something. Actually someone." He said as he pointed out someone.
From across the bar, there she saw a waitress. She had pale skin, shoulder length pitch black hair with light blue highlights & had heavy bangs that almost obscured the top half of her face. She had a few facial piercings & her arms were covered in tattoos. She wore a low cut, ripped black tank top. Under that tank top, she could see her leopard print bra & was quite busty. She was carrying a tray loaded with drinks. On her wrist she could see were a lot of bracelets and a couple of wrist bands & her fingernails were painted black.
Catherine could see anything of the woman past her upper torso.
"Who's that?"
"The new Catherine." Mr. Spooky said.
Catherine stared at the waitress & remembered the photo she had seen earlier that day. It was her. That was her replacement.
"Why did we come here?"
"To show you who Catherine Gillespie will be in…" Mr. Spooky paused to pull a pocket watch out of his vest, he looked down & opened the watch. He noted the the time, put the watch in the pocket & then looked back up at Catherine. "… a little over an hour."
"Why? I didn't need to see her. There is not reason for me to see her. As you said it won't matter in a hour."
"I didn't say it wouldn't matter. I just said that in under an hour that will be Catherine Gillespie. That means we have an hour to do something."
Mr. Spooky smiled.
"Go over there."
"and do what? Say Hi, I'm the old version of Catherine Gillespie. Pleased to meet you."
"No. Nothing that forward. Just order some drinks from her."
"Isn't there some cosmic force that would keep me from doing that? Like it would cause some sort of paradox & the universe might end because I talked to her?"
"Well… if you won't know unless you try. And if the universe does end, what does it matter to you? You won't exist in two hours anyways." He said with a smile.
Catherine thought about that for a few moments then went to stand up & walk over there when everything got quite. The loud music had stopped playing & everyone around her looked like they had been frozen in time.
Catherine looked back at Mr. Spooky & he was still moving.
"I was afraid this might happen."
"What?"
"One of those cosmic office holders has come to stop you. Well, since I'm still mobile. It's come to stop us." Mr. Spooky said as he stood up.
"Where are they?"
"You shouldn't be able to miss them."
Catherine looked around the bar from anyone that looked out of the ordinary or was still moving. It was hard to look for anyone out of the ordinary but it was the Hell's Bathroom part of the city & there were a lot of weirdos about.
But there was one person, they were sitting at the bar. Their back was turned to Catherine so all that she could see of them was they wore a long black tattered & torn black cloak. Next to them on the bar was a helmet that resembled if you you going to mask a skull into a motorcycle helmet. They shot back their drink, put on their skull helmet & turned around to face the two of them. The masked man stood at least a foot or more taller then anyone else in the bar. He made a beeline to Catherine & Mr. Spooky. He just past through like a ghost anyone that was in his way.
He stood there before them, looking down at them. Even through Catherine could not see his eyes she could feel him starring at her. She could also feel him breathing rather heavily.
"Can we help you?" Mr. Spooky asked.
He didn't respond. He just stood there, breathing heavily.
The three of them just stood there looking at each in silence for a few minutes. Catherine was feeling uncomfortable. She either wanted the man to do something or go away.
"Listen here. Are you just going to stand there & breath on us or are you going to do something?" Mr. Spooky asked.
Then Catherine saw that from under the helmet, two red glowing eyes. She looked over at Mr. Spooky. He was looking back at her. The seemed to know what the other was thinking. So both of them jumped to each side of the large imposing man just before two laser beams shot of from his eyes. The beams then hit the booth & it disintegrated into dust.
Now Catherine wished that he'd go back to just breathing heavily on her.
Catherine began to crawl away from the man, hoping to loose him in the crowd. She tried to blend in with the crowd. She stood extremely still with a group of people standing around a small table.
She could see & feel him looking for her. He did past by her her table. Just as he past by she felt the need to sneeze. She tried to resist the urge. But it just wasn't enough. So, she sneezed. He had found her & shot two more laser at her.
She jumped out of the way but the laser hit the table & the people standing around the table. The table, the people & everything on the table turned to dust.
"crap." Catherine thought & might of said it out loud but wasn't sure.
She tried to find somewhere to hide but wasn't sure there was one. Catherine had made her way to the bar & was not hiding behind it.
She could hear him breathing & it was getting closer. Then she heard Mr. Spooky.
"Excuse me?" He said.
Then Catherine heard Mr. Spooky hit the man with his umbrella. Catherine peered over the bar to see the two of them now fighting each other.
"Catherine!" Mr. Spooky called out.
"Catherine!"
"Yes?" She said & then had to duck down again as the man fired off two more shots in her direction.
"Catherine, you need to get to the other Catherine. It's your only hope."
"But what about the possible paradoxes?" She called out from behind the bar.
She heard two more laser shot fired off & then notched that the bar she was hiding behind had now been turned to dust.
"Get to her! Not sure how much longer I can hold him off!"
Catherine stood up & scanned the bar for her counterpart. She found her. Catherine began to run for her. She started to avoid being hit by the lasers fired at her. As she ran she could see various people & parts of the bar turned to dust. She had to get to that other Catherine.
She was almost there, she reached forth her hand. She closed her eyes as heard the lasers fired off & ever though with her eyes were closed everything went white.
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Catherine opened her eyes to find that she was laying face down on her bed. She looked around & everything was there. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Then she heard some glass break & that sound was way too close to not be in her apartment. This deserved some investigation.
She sat up, slide off the bed & walks over to bedroom door. She slowly opened the door & there wasn't anyone out there in the hallway. She did see that one of the framed photos she on her wall & fallen off it's hook.
She slowly crept down the hallway into her living room. She turned the corner & went into the room finding no one there.
She looked around the room. Nothing was out of place. Everything was where it was when she fell asleep. Was it all dream? Catherine wasn't so sure. It seemed awfully realistic for a dream.
She then noticed that the light was still blinking from earlier. He pressed the button & the message played. It wasn't very long. There was some silence & then the click of someone hanging up. She guesses it was a wrong number.
Catherine sits down on her couch to wonder if it was all just a dream.
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EPILOGUE:
The Hell's Bathroom part of Parrodipolis.
One of the various Bars that dot that section of the city.
There is a man at the bar restocking the place for that night. He hears the door open & close. He also hears someone walk in.
"Bars' closed. We open at 6." He said not even turning around.
"oh. sorry." a voice said. It was a woman's voice.
He turned around to see a woman standing there. She had pale skin, shoulder length pitch black hair with light blue highlights & had heavy bangs that almost obscured the top half of her face & her emerald green eyes. She had a ring in her left nostril & one on the right side of her lower lip. Her arms were covered in tattoos. She wore a low cut, ripped black tank top. Under the tank top, she could see her leopard print bra & was quite busty. Slung over her right shoulder was an olive drab messenger bag. On her wrists were a few too many bracelets and a couple of wrist bands. On her left was an old calculator watch. A few of her fingers had some rings on them. Her black nail polish was cracked and chipped in places. She had a short red plaid mini skirt on. Around her waist was a studded black leather belt. Her belt buckle was that resembled the old NES controller. She had some argyle socks & pair of navy blue Chuck Taylor All-Star high-tops on her feet.
"It's just that I saw that you had a Help Wanted sign in your window"
"oh. Sorry I yelled at you." He said & smiled.
"It's ok. I wasn't sure if you were open or not." She said & smiled also.
"Let me get you an application."
"Thanks."
"My name is Mitch, by the way." Mitch said as he held out his hand for a handshake.
"Hi Mitch. My name is Catherine but everyone calls me Kat." Kat said as she shook his hand.
"Ok, Kat. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Mitch."
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The End?
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