The door opened and a well-polished shoe stepped over the threshold echoing through the room and amplifying the anxious feeling inside me.
Those high-gloss black loafers were attached to a leg of a person I can only describe as the embodiment of 'old money'. Stood before me was a regal looking man. He had sleek black hair with a pencil tucked behind his ear. He wore a midnight-blue suit adorned with golden buttons, and a pocket pin bearing the same scarab symbol as the headset's load screen. He was currently holding a leather bound book, flipping through its pages as he was muttering to himself for what felt like minutes.
*Ahem*
I cleared my throat trying to get him out of his obsessive turning of pages. His hand stopped and he finally looked up from the book. Through his glasses stared cat-like eyes, the same color as the door he just came from. Those were the kind of eyes you hear people talk about in wilderness documentaries.
I noticed I had stopped breathing like prey caught by its predator. "Mallory Ashen, I presume?" and with those words I felt like a spell was lifted.
I gasped in a big breath, coughing through my words. "Yes, that's me. Mallory Ashen." I began shying away wishing I never called for help. 'What is one more avatar being brutally murdered' I thought to myself, regretting yet another decision.
They looked me up and down coldly and turned to the left where they conjured up a panel. "Uh huh, I see now. Aubrey this is nowhere near a favor. You irresponsible, reckless, scatterbrained buffoon."
As Gene began roasting Aubrey a new one, he visibly started to heat up then his body morphed into that of a woman. Their blue blazer turned into a tan one with a cream-colored blouse, and their trousers turned into a brown flannel knee-length skirt.
She was still ranting and mid-sentence turned toward me. "And you! You went along with their shenanigans?" She pointed her finger at me and then crossed her hands.
I thought the icy eyes were scary but now they were fiery red, blazing with anger. She was like a class rep who just caught me cheating off my friend's exam. I brought my hands up and dropped to my knees by bodily instinct from childhood.
"Sir, I mean Miss? Gene! I had nothing to do with this! I am just as upset as you really. That scatterbrained...shiver... That reckless...shiver... Aubrey. Yes, Aubrey left me stranded here, and on top of that they gave me this (I gestured to Mumsy) thing to guide me."
'Note to self, I think Aubrey can hear me. From now on I won't talk shit out loud. shiver Or think it.. I won't think it either!'
Why is it always me that gets the crap end of the stick?
Gene, noticing how flustered I was, backed down some and began to straighten her pin. "Yes, I know. I just read all about it in a letter they left behind. Humph. They will owe me big for this." She stood taller and readjusted her glasses. She grabbed the pencil that was placed now in her bun and began writing in what I can only assume is her log book. "Mallory Ashen. System name Lemon. Odd choice, but I have seen worse. AI droid with a 'Cooking with Mumsy' programming?" She then looked up at Mumsy who was still trying to use me as a shield.
She made a face and muttered an off comment that I have poor taste.
She then walked over to my desktop and inserted a USB drive she took from her pocket. "Pull up 'History'." She then began nodding like she understood something then I saw a flash of amusement then horror before she sighed. "Open reincarnation tab."
"Are you going to send me back? Please, I am not cut out for this." I pleaded desperately, holding up prayer hands.
"Clearly." She replied "I did just look up your history." I turned my face away, feeling quite ashamed. "No. I am not sending you back. I have no one to cover this, and Universe help us if Temperance finds out." She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can already feel a headache coming on."
She turned back to my computer and began clicking and typing away. As she did she called out, "You have been getting random reincarnations with short-term soul contracts. Basically they are destined to live only for a little while. They have purpose, but not a long lived fate. I am adjusting it so your next avatar has a greater purpose or a soul contract that will keep them alive longer than four minutes and thirty-two seconds."
I heard Mumsy say "4.32 out of 5" behind me under her breath. I wanted to turn around and bop her on the head, but didn't want to be chastised for playing around. 'Oh, she has another thing coming if she thinks this is over!'
Gene finished up and removed the USB. She turned around and said, "That should help. Now, is there anything else you need while I am here?" But her eyes said, 'That better be it.'
I couldn't help but cower at that gaze. "There is one thing, you mentioned something about pay?" I said sheepishly. Mumsy meanwhile started taking slow, deliberate steps away.
"Oh." Gene said, looking up at Mumsy and back to me. "All funds were to be allocated to the droid. The majority has been spent on making a kitchen themed home screen and a recipe section in the storefront. I wouldn't have wasted my earnings on - what would you call it from your world? That's what it was 'skins'. If you want my suggestion, stop making financial decisions that are not economical." With that she snapped her fingers and the once almost clear blue door showed up, now with a blazing metallic-red glow.
All you could hear was the echo of heels clanking on the floor followed by a slamming of a door. Struck with a sense of déjà vu I was standing there looking at the void where a door once stood. You could almost perceive the sound of my neck creaking as I slowly turned to look at the cook from hell.
"MUMSY!!"