Jyri had been shocked to find his old friends here in this universe. Well, he wasn’t sure if "friend" was the right term. But definitely friendly acquaintances. He also wasn’t sure if he even wanted them there. It was nice seeing familiar faces. But they were also the last thing he needed.
“How’d you get here?” Jyri asked the three.
“We went through the portal,” Lavina answered. “Great job on the discovery! I know you’ve always wanted to find a portal to a parallel universe.”
“Thanks. But... It stayed open? I thought it closed itself behind us.”
“No, it’s definitely still open,” Corvin said.
“That must be how Holger and hodags have gotten here,” Faye said.
Lavina gasped. “Hodags are here?”
“Who’s Holger?” Corvin asked.
“That estin we got lost trying to find,” Kirsten reminded him. “And never found.”
“Somehow he found his way here,” Jyri said.
“We have him hidden in the abandoned building over there.” Faye gestured towards the direction of the building. “But enough about that. Why’d you go through the portal? How’d you even find it?”
“It wasn’t that hard, given that I live on the mountain it’s located inside,” Corvin said. “These two here were quested out, so we went back to my house. But we decided to check out the caves in the mountain, because Lavina remembered you finding out clues about portals in there. She wanted to see if you ever found it.”
“And you found it!” Lavina grinned at Jyri. “I knew you could do it.”
Jyri rubbed his arm, looking away. “Yeah. How long have you been here?”
“Where have you been staying?” Faye asked.
“We just got here,” Kirsten said.
“And we don’t have a place to stay,” Lavina said. “Maybe we could stay with you?”
Jyri couldn’t imagine how they could have three more people living in that two bedroom apartment. And he knew Oliver would never allow it. But where else could they go?
The door behind Jyri opened. “Jyri, Faye, there you two are!” Jasper smiled at them. For once, Ran wasn’t with him. If Jyri had to guess, Jasper probably had him doing something ridiculous.
“I’ve been looking for you...” Jasper's voice trailed off as his eyes landed on Corvin, Kirsten, and Lavina. He frowned. “Who are these people?”
“Old friends,” Faye said.
“Catching up with old friends on company time?” Jasper tsked while shaking his head. “I’m afraid I’ll have to dock your pay for this. Now get back to work.”
“We'll see you later,” Jyri said to Lavina, before following Faye and Jasper inside.
Once inside, Jasper turned to Faye. “I need you to clean the women’s restroom.”
“Why?” Faye asked in a worn-down voice, her eyes half-closed.
“Because the janitor just quit on me. And you.” Jasper turned to Jyri. “I desire a smoothie.”
“Okay.” Jyri wondered what a smoothie was, and how he would go about getting one.
“So, I need you to drive to Jamba Juice and get me a large Razzmatazz with an energy boost.”
Jyri only understood the first seven words out of his mouth. “Drive” stood out in particular. “I don’t have my license,” he reminded him.
“Oh, come on!” Jasper threw his hands up. “Jamba Juice is only ten minutes away. You’ll be fine.”
“But I don’t know what- where that is!”
“Use GPS then.”
“I don’t know what that is either!”
“You don’t know what GPS is?” Jasper raked his fingers through his hair as he groaned. “This is getting ridiculous. Give me your phone.”
Why would he want his phone? Confused, Jyri walked to his cubicle. Jasper followed with an impatient sigh. Once at his cubicle, Jyri picked up the phone at his desk, and held it out towards him.
“Not your desk phone, moron. Your smart phone!”
Did he mean the device everyone around him carried at all times? Jyri frowned at him. “I don’t have one.”
“You don’t have one?”
“No.”
“You’re under the age of sixty and don’t own a smart phone?” Jasper shook his head. “I really have to do everything around here, don’t I?” Muttering under his breath, he stormed off.
At least Jyri didn't have to drive anywhere. He went to his desk with a sigh, noticing the absence of Oliver. Perhaps he went on lunch. Perhaps Jyri should take his own lunch. And it wouldn’t hurt to check in on Holger. He just didn’t want to run into his old friends quite yet. He needed time to think about what to do about them.
Thankfully, there weren’t any signs of his old friends anywhere. They must have moved on to explore elsewhere. Jyri made his way to the abandoned building that housed Holger, bagged lunch in hand. He walked inside, and called Holger’s name.
No response.
His food and water dish were both empty. Something did not bode well with Jyri. He walked throughout the deserted, barren building. Holger was nowhere to be seen. Strange. He was there that morning.
Jyri left the building to search the outside perimeter. No signs whatsoever. He swallowed. Could someone have found Holger, and run off with him? Did something scare him away? Jyri meandered back to work, noticing Oliver’s car in the parking lot as he did so. Shawn’s car was absent. Oliver was probably with him, as usual. Hopefully the two were far away from Holger. The last thing he needed was for Shawn to discover him.
He found Faye outside the restrooms.
“Holger’s missing,” Jyri whispered to her.
“Seriously?”
“I can’t find him anywhere.”
Faye chewed her lip. “Maybe he’ll come back.”
“I hope so.”
“Can’t find who where?” Brittney asked as she approached them.
“Oliver,” Jyri said quickly. “Have you seen him? I thought he left for lunch, but his car’s still here.”
“Is Shawn’s?” Brittney asked. “Those two always eat lunch together. Didn’t you know?”
“Of course!” Jyri made a show of hitting his palm over his forehead. “I didn’t think of that. Thank you.”
“No problem.” Brittney walked into the women’s restroom.
“That was close,” Faye whispered. “Except it gave me a horrible thought… What if Shawn and Oliver found Holger, and did something to him?”
“Like what?” As much as Jyri disliked Shawn, he didn’t think he was cruel enough to harm Holger. Oliver even less so.
“Sneak him off somewhere? Steal him for themselves? Who knows.”
“I think it’s more likely Holger ran off on his own accord.”
“Hopefully he’ll come back on his own accord.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7q71uz5AVq
But Holger never did. Jyri and Faye checked, right before their shifts ended. Not only did Holger never return, but neither did Oliver. Or Shawn. Jyri stared at Oliver’s vacant cubicle. At the monitor’s now-black screen. Shawn’s cubicle was in a similar state. Nobody had seen either of them since morning. Though he hadn’t been able to ask Jessica. She wasn’t feeling well, so she had left work early.
Once Ran was finally free, Jyri and Faye had to fill him in on everything.
“How are we supposed to get home?” Ran asked.
“Oliver’s still not back?” Brittney walked up to them. She had a purse slung over her shoulder and a ring of keys in her hand. The last remaining person in the building.
Jyri shook his head.
“That’s strange. Let me try calling him.” Brittney pulled a phone out from her purse, did something to the screen, and held it up to her ear for a moment. She brought the phone back down, tapped something, then did more scrolling and tapping. Frowning, she held it up to her ear again. Then back down, and tapped the screen again.
“Anything?” Jyri asked, though he already knew the answer.
“No. I tried both Oliver and Shawn. Their phones go straight to voicemail. They might be turned off.”
Faye snorted. “Figures.”
Brittney made a noise of agreement. “If you need a ride, I could take you home. I just need to turn off all the lights and lock up first.”
“Thank you,” Jyri said. Although that problem was resolved, he continued wondering what happened to Oliver.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Wi5a460EJ
and then Add to home screen.