On lovers' lips we're all lost souls who can never come home.

- New Order, Singularity (2015)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dawn light broke on a cold and dreary day as Hank drove Milton's Ford Fusion with Anna and Bumbles inside.

"It's nice being up early," Anna said. "I like having the city to myself."

"Yeah. Things are okay out here," Hank said. "It's what's in my head that's jumbled."

"Well, that's a switch. I'm the opposite. I'm fine with myself and all, but some bitch tried to kill my Fuji. And the PEP Center was attacked, my apartment building is full of cops…" Anna's voice trailed off. She stared glumly out her window. "I can handle it, I know, but what's going on?" She turned to face Hank. "And where are you taking me?"

Using the garage door opener on the back gate, Hank drove onto Milton's estate. Anna spoke in disbelief.

"I can't believe I've never heard of this place! It's huge! How come you know about it?"

"We'll talk about that later, but first let me show you something."

As Hank parked in the carriage house, Anna gawked at the many cars. "My gosh! That's a Puma XJ-12!"

"Uh-huh. And an Aston Martin, and a Renault."

"Who owns this stuff?"

"Uh," Hank said, hesitating. "It's Milton's."

Anna swung at Hank, hitting him on the shoulder. "I knew it! I knew you knew who he was!"

"Not really. I mean, I only met him…"

"The same day you met Rio," Anna finished, her voice seething with the certainty of knowledge. Hank turned off the engine but kept his hands the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. "Well?" she asked in a demanding tone. "Take me to him."

Hank gave a huff that rivaled Anna's best. "Can I just talk?" he asked. "Can I say stuff without you talking back?" Her rapid blinking offered brief silence, so he took advantage. "Okay. Look. You and I, we're different. We are very different people, and that's good because then we can admire each other. We can be alike that way."

Anna had held her tongue for as long as possible. "We're alike? Oh. And how so?"

Tension pursed Hank's lips. He got out of the car and walked with Anna and Bumbles towards the garden path behind Milton's mansion.

"We forgive people for what they do," Hank said, after thinking about it a while. "We offer comfort instead."

Anna stopped walking and got in his face. "You're acting weird and I'd like to know why."

He stared at his feet, embarrassed. "At Asok's I knew everyone. You like helping too, and you know a lot of people." She remained silent, so he continued. "We lead in ways we don't understand, but we're there for those who need us when the world starts falling apart, standing tall and unshaken."

Anna relented and somewhat agreed. "I don't let stuff bother me."

"Me either."

"Yes you do."

"Well… I don't let being bothered by stuff bother me."

She laughed at him lovingly. He stopped walking where the garden path disappeared into the chasm, washed out by the river having changed its course. Trees and shrubs and garden finery lay askew around its edges, tilted at odd angles by the cruel force of nature. The steps leading up to the sunroom looked broken, as the washout ate away their foundation.

"What the hell happened here?" Anna asked.

"Remember the seiche that took out the bridge? It's doing the same thing to Milton's estate."

She peered over the edge of the chasm, into the unending black. "Be careful," Hank said. "What's down there will eat you alive."

She turned her head and looked at him sideways. "I'm not afraid of the dark."

A second path circled around to the front of the mansion and, as Hank and Anna walked it, Bumbles sniffed every brick and bush that lay between them and the redoubt. Upon turning the final corner, the laundry room window could be seen, still hanging open from two days ago.

"This is where I rescued Bumbles. He was in the basement."

"All alone?"

Hank chose not to mention Rio's supposed Bad Guys. "I don't think anyone's been here for days."

Anna looked through the window. "I see lights."

"I guess there's emergency lighting, but everything else isn't working. It's like the power's been cut or something."

She surveyed the grounds. "This place gives me the creeps. I don't like it one bit."

Hank felt slightly sad. He realized how much he missed Milton. Not as much as Rio did, but he sure wished he could talk to the man.

"Where's Milton?" Hank asked Bumbles. "Where did he go? Find him, Bumbles! Find Milton!"

The dog tore off for the portico path that led to the conference lunch room. He soon was long gone.

"He's happy to be home," Hank said about the dog. He tested the door to the redoubt. It was locked.

"There's tons of stuff in there," he said.

"You mean like guns and bullets?"

"Some of it. But mostly survival gear. Cots and food and things. It's sort of a bomb shelter."

Anna laid her palm on the door. "For when the world falls apart," she said.

"This is Rio's place. It's how she stands tall."

Anna placed her palm on Hank. "Why are you with her?"

He shrugged. "She needs me."

"No she doesn't. She has this place. And Leanne. And this Milton guy. Otoko. A billionaire."

Hank spoke to Anna's hand, still upon his chest. "Milton's gone. Nobody knows where he went. That's why we have Bumbles. He disappeared, and left everything behind."

"Do you think he fell in the river?"

Hank shook his head. "I think he left to force Rio to work with me."

Anna used the hand she had on Hank to shove him away, "Not while I'm around, she doesn't."

"Aika said the same thing, you know. She forced you to make Rio my PEP Sponsor."

"Yeah. And I am your PEP Counselor, so I'm in charge of her. I'm the top dog around here."

Hank led Anna into the the conference lunch room. It remained immaculate, despite being exposed to the weather. She marveled as she walked its perimeter, touching everything while heading towards the transverse hallway.

Hesitantly, Hank brushed his hand across the surface of the blank vending machine. "This is where I first met Milton," he said while facing the machine, talking to it as if it were a friend.

"And Rio," Anna reminded him, this time only with slight scorn.

"Where did you go?" Hank asked the machine, as if he were talking to Milton.

Bumbles barked very loud, from somewhere in the great hall. "And where did you go?" Hank asked again, this time in regards to Anna and the dog.

He made his way down the transverse hallway and entered the maze of artifacts that filled the great hall. "Where are you?" he asked again.

Anna didn't answer, but Bumbles gave a yip. Hank followed the sound to a full-size diorama of a traditional Japanese wedding, cordoned off with velvet ropes. Centered in the display was a mannequin wearing a bride's uchikake kimono. Two mannequins representing the bride's mother and mother-in-law were dressed in tomesode and stood in the back. The central mannequin had its arms extended, showing how the sleeves of the kimono nearly touched the floor. They were decorated with noh theater masks and the faces of painted geishas, with butterflies highlighting the background, either having taken to wing or sitting on fuchsia blossoms. A half-dozen kanzashi hairpins made to look like swords were laden with flowers and leaves, and skewered into mannequin's wig, to serve as a bridal headpiece.

The wig nearly toppled to the floor as Anna wrestled with the mannquin to remove the kimono. "My butt is freezing," she said before Hank could ask any questions. She was wearing the dress slacks from her work suit and the thin pastel tunic Leanne had given her, so she wrapped herself in the bridal kimono for the added warmth.

She poked her arms through the sleeves. "How do I look?" she asked brightly, smiling and posing like the now naked mannequin.

Although stunned into silence at the rapscallion's behavior, Hank had to admit that she looked gorgeous. She twirled to make the sleeves spiral around her body.

"Should I also put on the headpiece?" she asked, working to dislodge the hairpins. Finding it to be too much work, she approached Hank and stepped over the ropeline.

"If Milton can give you a car," she said as she strode past, "he can give me this."

She retraced her steps back to the lunch room, running her hands along the appliances and countertops. "Everything is so damn white," she griped. "What's the deal with that?"

She stopped at the blank vending machine. "And what's this all about?" she asked, her interest being piqued.

"Press a button," Hank said, hoping and waiting.

Anna hugged the monster, a princess in its clutches. Not a damsel in distress, but a warrior. Fierce and strong.

"I hear it humming," she said.

"See if it works."

With her ear pressed to the machine, Anna eyed its six wide buttons. Slowly, she chose one. As she lay her hand upon it, motionless, Hank blasted her with thoughts.

Do it. Make it work.

Anna inhaled deep, and released the beast. She grabbed Hank by an arm and marched him out of the conference lunch room, heading towards the carriage house.

She spoke harshly, being brusque. "Take me to the car. We're leaving."

"But why?"

She spoke over him. "And we're taking a different car. A big one. There's not enough room in the one you have now for all of us to fit."

"What… what about meeting Milton?"

Anna forced Hank to walk faster. "Plus it's out of gas."

"We have to wait for Bumbles," Hank said, making Anna stop. "We can't leave without him."

She turned on him suddenly, and gave a ferocious look. He thought sure she was going to kill him.

She sneered at him instead. "This place is a horror. People die here. All the time."

She turned and walked away. Hank dutifully followed.

"What?" he asked, repeatedly. "What?"

"You said so yourself. Rio's a killer."

"I was joking!"

"No Hank-sama. No you weren't. She knows how to kill."

"Aw, come on," he said. "She's just upset because Milton…"

Anna interrupted. "Left her, do you think? Or maybe perhaps, she murdered him?"

Anna was sprinting now, and showing no sign of slowing. Hank paused while chasing after her to call for Bumbles. The dog responded, panting and running pell-mell. They found Anna in the carriage house, looking over the cars.

"We're taking this one," she said, reading the nameplate. "The Bentley Continental."

Finding the doors unlocked, she got in the front passenger seat. Bumbles barked at her from outside the car, while Hank searched the strong box for the ignition key.

"Where's Milton?" Anna asked Bumbles through her rolled-up window. "Where'd Rio bury his body?"

"Knock it off," Hank said while opening the rear passenger door, to let Bumbles in.

Within seconds, Hank had put Milton's estate behind them. Arriving back at Rio's, they saw Leanne's car out front, in a ten minute loading zone. With no place else to park, Hank pulled the Bentley in tight behind her. He hoped she would let him use her parking spot in the garage while she was away on business.

Hank tried to explain to Anna his reason for visiting the estate. "Rio thinks something bad happened to Milton."

"So do I. She murdered him."

"Come on! He means a lot to her. She's dedicated her life to him."

Anna looked out her window to keep from looking at Hank. "Yeah. That's why she's shagging you."

Hank scoffed. "You know as well as I do. No one is shagging anyone."

Anna whipped her head around and glared. "Oh really? Are you sure? Leanne and I might have… uh, 'shagged' all night, you know."

"Yeah. And so did me and Bumbles."

"Bumbles and I, you moron," Anna corrected.

Upon hearing his name and sensing stress, Bumbles intervened. He tried to get between the quarreling couple and, as Hank forced him to stay in the back sest, Anna gave a history lesson.

"Have you ever heard of kaidan? It's a kind of Japanese story. The kind of story where a ghost seeks vengeance on those who wronged it in real life."

"Okay. So, what about it?"

"Sometimes the ghost is so angry that it wants everyone to die. Everyone and everything."

Hank blinked. Anna carried on.

"That house? That… that creepy machine in an insane white room? It wants to kill us all."

"No, Anna. No, no. Listen to me. The vending machine? It's like magic! It gives you whatever you want."

"Did it give Rio to you?"

"No. That's not how it works."

"Did you try to make it give you me?"

"It gives you what you want to drink. That's all. It's just a vending machine."

It was Anna's turn to scoff. "A magic vending machine."

Hank took a calm breath. "Anna-san? I'm going to say things you will laugh at, and will want to tease me about, but I want you to please listen. You're supposed to be my counselor. Right? Helping me with my Genius."

She paused, so he gave her an order. "Listen to me," he demanded.

Anna responded with distraction, digging in her purse for her cell phone. "Oh! That reminds me! I have to check with Fuji and see what we're doing today."

Hank placed a gentle hand on Anna's wrist, to make her stop digging. "Listen for just one minute. Please. It's… sometimes it's hard for me to talk."

She softened her expression. "Yeah. I've noticed."

"Would you like to know what kind of Genius I am?"

Anna hesitated. "Okay. I thought you thought you were false positive."

"I am. I'm a Dot. But Dots make people do stuff. They cause things to happen. And Rio and Milton? They've been training me to use my Genius. Teaching me how to make things happen."

Anna hesitated even longer. "Okay. So… what are you going to make me do?"

"That's not how it works. You don't make people do stuff like they're hypnotized. You make them want to change things. Convince them to work together as a group."

Anna held back a laugh. She spoke with derision. "You tell people what to do?"

Hank began to get flustered. He didn't believe in Reality Making, yet here he was, explaining it to Anna as if he had bought it whole-hog.

"No. I just… I think about the way I want the world to be and then… ahm… people do the stuff it takes to make it happen."

Anna blinked as Hank spoke. "I can totally see that," she said.

"You can?"

It was her turn to confess. "I've been so lucky in my life, and especially this past year. I get everything I want. I got Sue Marie to let me move in with her. I got Fuji to give me a job." She stared soulfully into his eyes. "And I got Aika to give me to you."

"I'm starting to believe what Rio says more and more," Hank said. "Certain people can persuade other people, and it's some sort of thing that you can be a Genius at. Dots can make Reality become whatever they want it to be."

"And Rio can do it too?" Anna asked, already knowing the answer. "She can make things happen, can't she?"

"Yes, I think she can. But for her, it's like her specialty is she can make things not happen. She prevents things from happening."

"Well, what about this Milton guy? Why can't he or you or—you know, Rio—bring him back to us?"

"I don't think it works with him. He's too smart. He knows about Reality Making, so he'd have to want to be with us."

Anna resumed looking out her window. She watched Leanne exit the apartment building with bags of luggage for her flight to Switzerland.

"I think something bad happened to Milton," Anna said, soft and quiet.

Hank sighed. "Rio thinks so too. She thinks there are ways you can make people do bad things, just as easily as you can make them do stuff that's good."

"Hank-sama. Kaidan. Wakatta? Something went wrong at that house, and now it wants bad things to happen."

"Rio says the whole world's turning black."

"Hai. And that is what I think, too. Blackness found a home. It waits for us at Milton's, wanting to kill us all."

"Bad Guys," Hank muttered to himself.

"What?"

"Rio and Milton. They talk about Bad Guys. They say Bad Guys want us dead."

"I don't think it's just us. I dont think that at all."

"You don't? Well, what then?"

"I think they want to kill everyone. Every one and every thing. Pure evil and horrible death. There's good and bad in the world, Hank-sama. It's called Yin and Yang."

"You think bad karma is at Milton's?"

"I think the evil we saw there will take over the world. So many people live here now, and the bad outnumber the good."

"You think that?"

"Since you showed me that creepy house, I sure do."

"Rio says the Bad Guys took the house away from Milton. Like, they've got him locked up somewhere, or are torturing him or something."

"Yeah. And we'll be next."

"You mean you and me?"

Anna never looked sadder. "I think they won't stop until they take away everything that is good." Her sadness turned to anger as she studied Hank's plain white face. "You don't seem bothered by this."

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on Leanne as she headed back in for a second load. "No. I don't believe it at all. I have a hard time believing any of it."

"Oh, I believe it. I do."

"I think Milton just left, and that's all. Maybe even, he's spying on us. Making sure we do the right thing."

"Making sure we live his Reality," Anna offered.

The car grew silent for a while, until Hank spoke again. "What are you thinking?" he asked.

Anna remained silent, but her eyes were huge. She looked ready to confess her innermost secret—her hopes and fears and dreams.

Her nightmares. She stared at Hank.

"What?" he asked again.

She touched him lightly near his elbow. "I sometimes wonder if anything's real," she said. "You know? Like, right now I know you're real. I see you and can feel you, and I see Bumbles in the back seat. I can hear him breathe."

She wriggled her fingers in front of her, as if touching the air. "But what about everything else?"

Hank said not a word as Anna carried on. "Right now, I see no one but you. What if right now, no one but you is real?" She shot him with a look he felt physically. "It's possible, isn't it?"

She waited, demanding an answer. "Gosh," Hank said. "I don't know."

Anna huffed, playing with the sleeves of her kimono. "You're such a douche sometimes."

The Book of ABSTINENCE - Chapter TEN

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