Avatara

Brian put a gentle hand on Walker's left shoulder. "We should give her some space."

"We?" shouted Walker. "This was your bloody idea." Walker's attention turned back to Grace. "You have to be believe me, I am sorry. I was going to end it as soon as you gave up the block codes."

Grace was so aghast at what she was hearing. She felt angry that a man she once loved now left her feeling such hatred and contempt. She wiped around her mouth with the sleeve of her beige trenchcoat. She looked at Walker dead in the eye with defiance and then she walked away towards two large brown doors she had seen on her left. Lights lit up above her as she walked to the door.

Brian scuttled up beside her, she looked into his eyes and indeed he looked like a man possessed. "I don't have much time as I can only maintain my projection so long from Bhutan."

"I can take care of myself," said Grace.

"But there's so much more I need to tell you," said Brian.

"I don't care!" Her scream echoed.

"Brian what are you talking about?" Walker was still following. Probably still hoping that he could get through to Grace. Brian, the avatar of Yi, did not provide Walker with an answer and continuing walking beside Grace.

Grace realised that there was a keypad beside the door instead of a door release button. Its was silver panelled. With the numbers running across in rows of three from one to nine, with a zero on the bottom row between a star key and a hash key. A red light flashed at the top of the silver panel.

Grace glanced at Brian, who shrugged his shoulders. Then she let out a heavy trembling sigh, and looked towards the floor. Walker stepped in between them and keyed in a number into the panel and the red light turned green. He pushed the door open and Grace stepped out. She noticed with her open hand that there was a very light drizzle of rain.

Walker tried to get through to her again but this time it was with less conviction.

"Grace, I'm sorry, I only wanted the block codes. I knew you would not give them to me if I asked because you don't trust me anyone."

Grace stopped walking for a second and replied to Walker without looking at him. "There are no block codes and if you had any sense you would know that."

If Grace looked at Brian she would have realised how blank he was while she was having an interchange with Walker. He stood again as if frozen for a moment, then his right hand slowly fished into a zipper pocket on his right hip. He pulled out a key. A car key.

"Let's take his car," he said. He walked towards an unremarkable blue one and its lights flashed as he moved directly towards it. Grace hesitated.

"Please Grace," he said. "I'm still in control of this body and this will get you home quicker." He noted the confusion of Walker looking on, now at a bit of a distance by the large doors through which they emerged. "We have not got much time," he whispered. "This problem is bigger than you or me, and only by working together can we stop it." At that moment an avatara flew over them in the sky and there were several youths in avatara forms on the street with the contorted faces of ghouls, instead of normal faces.

Grace got in the car. She felt soft on the fabric seats but her back became stiff when she remembered that it was the car of a man who had bound her in cuffs and put her in a cell.

Yi, speaking through Brian, asked Grace for her postcode. The car was self-driving and took her home in ten minutes using the fastest possible route.

"I want you to meet someone," he said. "I suggest you have a shower, when you get back. There will be a red taxi ordered for you and it will be outside your place in thirty minutes. Please get in, as it will take you to the meeting point. Mr Snow Globe has an important business offer to discuss with you that will replace Avatara."

The car doors opened automatically. Grace turned to him before exiting. "What will you do?"

"I'm going to take this car twenty miles from here and then exit this man and allow my soul to go back to Bhutan. It has been a real struggle to keep the host soul at bay while I have controlled the body. I shall savour many days of rest as my recovery."

Yi's final words were these, "Grace do not try too much not trust, anymore than you can trust. That ounce of trust we need, to stop the chaos enveloping this world." Grace felt like she understood but was confused at the same time.

After Grace left, the car zoomed off. And there she stood at the bottom of a flight of steps, leading to the main door, through which she would find a staircase, with a set of stairs after another that would eventually lead to her flat. Hopefully. It reminded her of her situation.

"It's just one thing after another," she thought. She would have called the police to check if her flat was secure but she had already seen the police in a weird, sadistic way, and she felt she should check herself. Any trust she had left, she had given to Yi. She took a deep breath and started climbing the stairs.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------