Chlorine Halos

Houses & Hotels

Gazing into his gentle brown eyes, free of any scars, I greeted him with disbelief.

"Jaime?"

His voice ran flat, completely devoid of emotion. "It's nice to be acknowledged again. I've missed that," he said, folding his arms, covered by the sleeves of a pearly-white velour tracksuit, identical to Jasper's. His clean-shaven face gave his blank expression a certain touch of youth, though the crinkles around his stare kept that familiar air of wisdom I came to know.

"You-You're—"

"The less fortunate version of myself," he said, turning away and hopping down to a lower stone square, another taxi.

My eyes wandered over the uneven topography of the point, blanketed with a darkness left by the absence of the light-filled, pillowy clouds above. A single penrose shimmered in the distance, at the base of the switchbacks, leading out of the desert basin.

"Jaime, wait!" I called, hobbling over the taxis. As I closed the distance between us, a spoken understanding slid between my strained grunts, though a slight lilt gave it the sound of a question. "The California is a part of Cartesia?"

"The California is Cartesia," he replied, approaching the penrose, anchored to a bronze post. Gesturing to the winding, spotted granite road, which paved over the sandy path I remembered, he added, "Vámonos, mijo."

"I don't understand," I said, standing near the post. "What's the penrose for? I mean, the road's at an incline, but it's nothing we can't hike."

"Without that penrose, you cannot enter the hotel."

"What?"

"Nobody finds The California; The California finds you."

Gulping a fear tethered to hesitance, I reluctantly brought my hand to the glowing glass of the orb. After a tiny wince, my furrowed brow relaxed. No gravitational shift. No consequential exhilaration. Nothing. "Huh." I took a step forward, feeling any lingering uneasiness roll off my shoulders.

Halfway up the first switchback, I looked back to Jaime, still standing at the penrose. "Aren't you coming?"

"I'll meet you there."

"Right," I mumbled as I continued to trek forward. "Just once, I'd like to do something the easy way."

After rounding the third curve of the road, I peered over the edge and down into the point. Confusion cocked my head to the side. Jaime still stood one switchback away; I hadn't moved any further.

"What's going on?" I asked, descending the slanted trail.

"Like I said, The California finds you," he answered as he walked by me.

Turning around, I scratched my head, but dropped my arm at the sight of a colossal, cubic structure, nestled between the paved path forking around it. Nine large, translucent windows stretched across each wall, arranged in three rows of three. Every window gleamed with a single, radiating color, transitioning to another somewhat randomly. Losing myself in the spectacle, my eyes unfocused as I watched the orange lights chase the blues while the reds collected at a corner, only to be separated by the yellows, greens, and whites.

"Sure is something, isn't it?" Jaime said, breaking the hypnosis.

"Yeah, sure is," I replied as I blinked several times, each one more exaggerated than the last. A quick glance behind me turned into a dumbfounded gawk. The point was gone, replaced by an endless flatland of sand and stone. "What is happening? Where are the taxis?"

"Why do you think people never hear about anybody leaving The California?"

Observation crept toward conclusion. "Because they can't."