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Part 4

Viik looked down on the metallic cube he’d received from the grey bouncer-butler. It was solid with glossy sides which reminded him of black marble, but still, he knew that it wasn’t made of stone. It was just a cube, no buttons, no cracks, no displays, nothing. He slipped it back into his left pocket and continued walking down the pathway, he was just about to retrieve his hand when he felt something else in his pocket. He pulled out a card, a small note was attached to it, “the pin is 3497, this card is limitless and valid until 11.59pm this evening”. Viik stood there perplexed for a moment, then continued walking towards the park exit. The shock was slightly lifting, as he exited the park he caught a glimpse of a shopping centre down the road, once inside he walked straight for the closest ATM. Indeed, the pin was correct, disposable amount: “unknown”.

“Over here, quickly! He’s here, we don’t know what happened”, Viik looked up, there was a crowd gathering around the ATM. “He just fell backwards”, Viik didn’t understand why all the fuss around him. “Okay let’s get you back on your feet”, two men took his arms and helped him back up, they walked him to an office down the hallway. “So what happened back there?”, a security guard sat on the other side of a paper filled table, a woman entered with a cup of tea. “Erm, well, I was retrieving cash from the ATM for my parting gift, and then it all came to me, my dog died this morning… Sam”, Viik broke down crying in the chair. He took a sip of the tea and continued sobbing, he felt a reassuring arm on his shoulders, “oh, that’s sad, you really liked him did you?”, the woman who had brought the tea was trying to comfort him the best she could. He looked up at her with teary eyes, she had a nametag on her suit, Susan – Vice Mall-Director. Viik nodded and took another sip of the tea. “So you’re all right then”, asked the security guard smiling at him. Viik nodded once more, the guard had a few words with Susan and left the room. “Shall I call anyone for you?” she asked concerned, Viik shook his head, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry”. What a mess I’ve created here, Viik sighed on the inside and looked up, “I’m all fine, just a little shock back there”. He left, Susan told him to stay for a while and recuperate a little but Viik insisted it was fine.

How embarrassing Viik thought to himself, he hurried outside, I can’t buy things in there now, I’ll head for another place. He walked fast down the alley until he emerged into a crowded street-promenade. It was quite hot compared to what he was used to, back home he didn’t vary the amount of clothing much during the seasons but it rarely surpassed 25 degrees Celsius. A laid back kind of guy like Viik didn’t like extremal temperatures, around fifteen to twenty was fine with him. A little heated he walked into the first cell phone shop he could spot, got the best deal available and hurried along, what else did he need? Sunglasses! He’d seen way too many sunglasses lately, now he needed some as well! He secured a few other items as well and a catchy backpack, including a laptop, a watch and small supply of coke to counter the heat. He got himself a nice black mountain bike and a delightful meal at the closest top quality steak restaurant.

He opened the laptop, he made sure to tip of the waiters enough for them not to complain about it. Viik checked up on the regular forums he would usually visit and had a quick word with a few of his mates back home, no one believed the fact that he was in the US right now all of a sudden. First of all Viik hated travelling with his family and Viik would’ve told them beforehand if he was to leave. And no way would he be allowed to travel alone like this. When he pointed out he’d been “missing” for the last weeks they admitted perhaps there was something true about it after all but they were still rather doubtful. Oh well, his mates back home were less important right now, he checked out some information regarding the transport company he’d been hitching a ride with recently, tried digging up any information on the bouncers that seemed to be flourishing in his paths and lastly posted a fat blog entry on his webpage for the last few weeks. “Come to the back”, it was a deep decisive voice. Viik looked up and gasped, it was a tall man, wearing worn down bowler shoes, a white suit, and navy blue sunglasses, no doubt, it was one of them.