THE MOMENT
Monday had misgivings. She entered Aurelio’s garage with something on her mind, and his eyes sparkled with mischief as soon as he saw her. He was in the middle of a conversation and gestured at her as she approached.
“Look, I have another appointment to get to,” he said it as if her presence was predetermined. “If we start now, you get an unofficial head start while I finish up.”
“I only have to beat you once,” the stranger stated, and Aurelio nodded. “That's the agreement. Win one time, and you get my whole inventory.”
“Alright!” He grinned. “It's a game!” They shook hands, and the stranger used a black card to open a portal at his feet, and he began to descend. “Get ready to finally get knocked on your butt!” He laughed, and Aurelio nodded at him with a wave.
“You're gonna have to really set up something elaborate. Good luck!”
His head dipped below the smooth concrete floor, and then the portal closed. As soon as he was gone, Aurelio lifted his hands to waist height to type on an invisible keyboard.
“And... ignored,” he chuckled and finally turned to Monday. “What can I do for you, Monday?”
“Ignored? Didn't you just challenge him?” Monday was looking for someone to trust. Was he really the best choice?
“Technically, he challenged me. If he can't complete the objective, I win by default,” he grinned. “For some reason, he somehow got the idea that a few hours was long enough to beat me.” No, this was too important. Monday made up her mind that he was not the person she could confide in. It was obvious scheming was in his nature. But she suddenly needed an excuse to be there.
“You know, I was actually looking for Aurora; I guess I ended up here by mistake,” she replied. “Alright, well, she ain’t here,” he nodded. “I don’t mean to rush you out, but I want to close up shop for a few hours. Maybe take a nap,” he said.
“Yeah, I’ll head out. Thanks anyway,” Monday waved as she created a portal to exit through.
“See ya,” he waved. Monday sighed as she stepped through the portal. She could only think of one more confidant, and in an instant, she emerged from the portal on Chroma Corp. premises.