Metempsychosis Apotheosis
by Raine Monday

Over the next month I stayed in Érd and ate Hungarian food, walked Hungarian streets, and watched my wife slowly turn into a Hungarian housekeeper. The city was lovely with red-tiled roofs, old stone buildings set amid newer architecture, and lush green lawns, parks, and outdoor areas.

I rented a little yellow car so I could follow the people who had stolen my wife's body. They apparently had nine different locations around Érd and visited them each night. They were harsh with transgressions, hauling old men and women out of houses by the hair sometimes, and throwing them into the back of the white vans they drove. Then they took them to a warehouse in the older section of town where they were unloaded. I never saw what happened to the people, they disappeared into the warehouse and never came back out.

They were violent, and all had evil looking sidearms. Burly men and women who appeared from all races and backgrounds. They wore black synthetic jump-suits and knit caps on their heads.

Even the women looked like they could bench-press me.

The Warehouse had no outside signs or indicators, and was set behind a fence topped with razor wire and monitored by human, electronic, and canine guardians. I bought a digital camera and used the zoom to get a close-up of the logo on jumpsuit of one of the guards. After googling for a bit, I found the infinity sign enclosed by a triangle to represent Transmigration studios, a DBA under aha! Lord Mallory Inc. I remembered Karyn telling me to look for Lord Mallory.

It was a tough schedule with the late nights of watching the agents and early mornings so I could keep track of Karyn. The only moments we saw each other were after work for an hour or so before they came to check on her.

"Why you no eat goulash, it put hair on chest!" she said, wolfing down the chunks of meat in spicy red sauce. Karyn hated spicy food, but apparently Susan loved goulash.

"Ah, a little spicy for me."

"Baby, you." She sniffed and lit a cigarette. After worked she constantly smoked now. "You make luck in progress?"

I sighed, after almost a month, I hadn't made much progress. Lord Mallory Inc and Transmigration Studios had a sparse digital footprint.

"Not much," I said taking a small bite.

"I tell you, go home and fuck Karyn. It okay. I be Susan now anyway."

"No, I refuse to do that!"

She chuckled at my outburst. "You want old sloppy pussy, eh? Fuck me instead?"

I didn't like the person she was becoming. It was rare that the old Karyn showed through. 'Susan's' sense of humor leaned more toward bawdy and the obscene, something Karyn would never repeat in polite company.

She looked at me. "I sorry. Forget sometime."

"I know," I said.

"You still my goofball?"

"Of course."

"Come give hug. Time you go anyway."

I gave her a hug. It felt like hugging my much older aunt, and not my gorgeous wife. I bit back tears as I released her, and saw her darting away tears of her own.

"What we do?"

I shrugged. "You said you'd be here a month. I figure we wait and see what reveals itself. Maybe we get a clue and I can use it to get you back."

She nodded, tapping ash from her cigarette into a saucer. "Or maybe you get caught, trying."

I shook my head. "I'm being careful."

"I know."

The next day, she disappeared again.

***

I waited for six more days in Erd, eating at the little café down below, and basically watching my laptop like a hawk. Eventually, the money ran out, and I had to catch a flight back home.

Surprisingly, 'Karyn' met me at the airport when I landed.

"Robbie!" she said, running up to me as I entered the baggage claim area. "I missed you so much!"

She gave me a hug and a kiss. "How was your trip?"

"Uh..." I said, looking at her. She looked very 'Karyn' with the hair, makeup, clothes and everything else picture perfect.

"Oh! I need to catch this for our feed." She turned around and took a pic of the two of us, making a peace sign with her fingers and pushing her lips out slightly into a perfect imitation of an Karyn Adamson pose.

I gave a grin for the camera, then looked at the arriving baggage board.

"I missed you so so much, baby!" she cried, leaning up to give me a kiss. I touched her lips, and she drew away. "Not too much, or you'll ruin my lippy!"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Very typical Karyn.

Except I knew it wasn't her.

"So why did you have to go on a business trip again, baby?"

I shrugged. "You know, business."

She nodded, hoping I'd give her more, but when none was forthcoming, she took another series of selfied around baggage claim.

My suitcases finally spewed out, and I hauled them off the bin. Following Karyn, we made it out to the car.

Driving home, we listened to Karyn's playlist, and she did a video shoot using the dash cam, talking about how hot it was in Los Angeles and three makeup tips to heat proof your face.

It was eerie how much she'd become Karyn. My Karyn. Same smell, same attitude, basically her bright spirit that shone a little more than anyone around. If I wasn't careful, I could easily fall for her, again.

But I knew my true wife was somewhere else, someone else and I just had to wait for a message.

We fell into old routines. I had a hard time being with her for any length of time, and could NOT allow myself to make love. She was just as passionate, just as sensual as the real Karyn but I knew it wasn't her and that killed any ardor I might have had.

She grew 'offended' and moved back to her parents. It didn't matter to me; the real Karyn was out there, somewhere. I just had to be patient.

It took three weeks for the message to come again. This time from someone in the Philippines.

J3327i hi

J3327i: Love

And then the connection dropped.

I sighed, gathering staring at myself in the mirror.

This had to stop.

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