Clean Sheet

The final preparations have been made.

I wasn’t originally planning on skipping town today, so I ended up pulling something of an all-nighter to get everything I needed to done, done. That ranged from laundering my bedsheets to booking an Amtrak ticket down south to Philadelphia with my old, near maxed-out credit card.

New York’s been, through thick and thin, my home for these last twenty years. The city has always had a certain magic quality to it—even when times were shit and the pickings lean, it’s always felt like the centre of the world, a black hole of wealth, money, and power that I could never quite pull myself away from. The city has always promised something more.

But now, I know I need to get out of this place. I can’t do what I need to do with Vidocq constantly dogging me. Claude Ashworth would just be a colossal exercise in futility if the identity was ever uncovered, and the best way to make sure that Markus Najbreit never gets traced back to my new self is to get a fresh start somewhere else. Besides, executing on my plan requires meeting the rest of my family, and that too means getting out of this town.

I flip through the contents of my backpack, checking that I’ve got everything I need. Two changes of clothes, some electronics, all my documentation… all seems to be in order. Everything else that I could need, I can buy now. It’s funny, what a couple grand in the tank can get you.

Claude Ashworth’s supposed to be worth a few million, but when I checked the bank accounts that Mr. Samuel gave me the details for, they each only held a few thousand. I was a little disappointed, but it makes sense. Mr. Samuel makes a decent amount working for Father, but he doesn’t have extra millions to throw around.

A notification buzzes on my new phone.

It’s the Affection Multiplier, so I check the app.

Leaving New York is a big milestone, Markus, the first line of text reads.

You seem quite certain that it is going to work out.

We’re not asking you to reconsider.

Instead, we have decided to add an additional perk to your store. Whether you purchase it or not, is up to you.

Godspeed.

I look behind me, but nobody’s there. So what is this that I’m feeling inside? The Affection Multiplier is trying to suggest that leaving New York is the wrong move. I can’t understand why that would be, though. I’ve tried toughing it out here for the last twenty years, and it’s gotten me nowhere. Now, I finally have the chance to make something happen. I need to get out of here.

I click open to the store. Sure enough, beneath all the old perks that I could purchase before, there’s a new one.

Perk - Multi-Accounting: Creates a separate point score for each identity-person you maintain. Note: Identities, assumed by you, must be considered a separate person by the person you are interacting with for a separate point score to be created. New identities begin with a baseline score of 0. Merging identities (for instance, by telling someone that both identities are actually you) may result in higher or lower resulting point scores depending on how well received the revelation is. Cost: 50 points.

Holy shit. Holy shiet! Sparkling shieet in a toaster!

If there’s any perk I’m ever going to buy, it’s got to be this one. My scores with the people I need to get to most—Kara, Madeleine, Claire—are all well below a hundred. They hate me. This effectively gets me a clean reset on my score, assuming that I can keep up this identity of Claude Ashworth.

Without a second thought, I buy the perk. It disappears from my shop and deducts the fifty points, leaving me just fifty remaining. No matter. I click over to the Scores tab, and I let out a low chuckle as I see what’s on display:

Warren Najbreit, Score: -1000 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Sofia Najbreit, Score: -150 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Salome Najbreit, Score: -200 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Hyerim Najbreit, Score: -250 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Kara Najbreit, Score: -250 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Madeleine Najbreit, Score: -200 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Jessica Najbreit, Score: 2 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Claire Najbreit, Score: -200 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Erin Najbreit, Score: -15 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Holly Najbreit, Score: -150 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Scarlet Najbreit, Score: 55 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Tiffany Najbreit, Score: -35 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Amanda Najbreit, Score: -200 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

Elianne Najbreit, Score: -150 (as Markus), 0 (as Claude)

The clean column of 0s is such a beautiful sight that I consider screenshotting it for posterity, but that would be unwise. Just because the app itself is now invisible, that doesn’t mean that pictures of it are. Instead, I just gaze it, slowly working out all that it implies for the plans in my head.

I let my imagination run loose, and of course, it immediately turns to the…

There’s a knocking at my front door. I grumble, annoyed at the interruption of my fantasy, but when I check who it is, I open up the door.

Here are two delivery men, carrying an old refrigerator on a cart. They are beefy, muscular men, hints of tattoos poking out from under their sleeves. They advance towards me, and one of them cracks his knuckles with a nasty smile.