003; Junpei

r | major character death

[SHIFT complete. Begin Timeline Fragment 003.]

"Больше?"

She could speak English, better than some clients, but most wanted "exotic" element.

Or just liked idea that they could call her whore and she would not know.

He had not called her that. Yet. But way he was downing vodka she poured for him, would be soon, probably. She shrugged off jacket, dropped it to floor. He barely looked at her. Had barely spoken except to scream curses at door when he had trouble with card.

Maybe he really did just want talk. Worked for her. Usually paid more, less work.

"She lied t'me."

She could barely make out words. "Okay. Who lie to you?"

He ran hand through hair (greasy, not washed in days, probably smell bad) and poured more vodka into glass. Or tried to. More vodka landed on table.

"She ssssaid she was gonna stop lyin' t'me. She lied ab't that."

He laughed, waved glass around, spilling more liquid. She hoped he drink too much, pass out, so she could steal wallet. She saw, downstairs, him pulling out much money from wallet. At least five hundred, she thought.

She turned away when he fell, put face over waste basket, waited for vomiting to stop. If he wanted kissing, he needed to brush teeth first.

"Sorry. I didn't even ask you your name."

"Катя." Why she gave him real name instead of one of her fakes, she not know. She doubt 'Junpei' was his real name.

"Ka- ka- katyeah." He stood on shaky legs. Managed to finish vodka in glass, but did not try to pour again. Just grabbed bottle and drank straight from it. "We were ... w're were we?"

"We meet downstairs. You -"

"Yeah, she." His voice was slurred so badly she had to listen hard. "Sssshe. She ssssaid - she said she - she w'n't gonna shift again. No m're sh'fting."

He stopped there, like he thought she understood.

"Я не пон- I not - she shift ... gears? You fight in car?"

'Junpei' started laughing. "We n'er fight over n'mal stuff. We can't just ... ffffight o'er who gets to drive, or ... or ... sssshe s'id it was 'ver. No m're messssssing with stupid timel'ns. No more mani - hic - p'lating. This - this our world, now, b'tter or w'rse. We're sssssupposed to make future, us, now, in the pr'sent. In th' now. But she k'ps messssssing with th' past. She's an addict. She can't f'cking ssssstop."

Maybe he was insane. Maybe this was bad idea. He drank from bottle again and stumbled, falling to his knees again. Pulled out something from pocket.

"'Fore t'night, y'know, I was ssssober for s'ven months. Two weeks. Tree ... three daysss. Gotta c'pper chip. No good now."

He went silent. She waited, and just as she thought, he slumped down, then over. She pushed up jacket to get to wallet and counted quickly. Only four hundred fifty. Still not bad. There was still time to go back to bar, find another man.

She thought about trying to pull him up to bed, but he was too heavy. She decided instead to get pillow, put it under his face. His face was whiter than it looked before and felt cold. As if he was dead, even though she heard him still breathing. It was slow and not even, but still there. She brushed his hair off face, and as soon as she did, he started to shake.

Like Саша.

She ran out, down hall, hitting every door until someone answered.

"I need doctor! My friend have seizure."

Man looked at her and made angry noise. "Friend. Yeah, right."

"Not care what you think," Катя said. "Please, help."

Man continued to frown but did take phone out of pocket. "I'll call 911, alright?"

"Спасибо. Thank you."

A woman came running down hall from other way, tying robe around waist. "You need a doctor?"

"Да, пожалуйста." Only when back in room did she realize she was not speaking English, but it not matter. Woman was bending over him. Felt for heartbeat, then used fingers to clean his mouth.

She could not wait to see if he was okay. Police might come with doctors. As woman tried to breath for him, Катя picked up jacket and moved from room, as quiet as possible. It would not be safe to stay in hotel, but it was late and 'Junpei's' money made up for last one who had cheated her. She could take rest of night off.

Sirens grew loud as she exited building, so she turned in other direction, kept head down.

She would have to check paper in morning, see what his name really was.

[End Timeline Fragment. SHIFT to 004.]