Chinatown

I was walking quickly through the busy morning Manhattan streets, the air biting at my neck. It was the end of November and winter was approaching fast. I called out sick today, told Bella I wanted to unwind after yesterday's bullshit. She reluctantly understood. What I really wanted to do was go check out the tip I had gotten from my cell mate.

I walked passed a mother trying to get her crying children to school, and a hot dog vendor that had the wheel come rolling off. I watched it roll in front of me and then walked passed.

I found the street where the guy had told me to go, the laundry place on Mott. Problem was, it looked like EVERY place was a fuckin laundry place. I couldn't read any of the signs either.

I walked around aimlessly for about 20 minutes until I found an alley that lead to an inner part of the markets. There was a room with a few washers inside and I guessed this was where he meant.

"Liu Shun?" I asked the guy standing out front. He looked around and then pointed to a scrawny guy around the corner. I went over to him and asked again, "Liu Shun?" He looked around and eyed me for a second. I showed him my wrist and he smiled and then started giggling.

"Oh shit. You got tagged bro. Come on." I followed him into the laundromat and then upstairs to a small smoky room. A woman was sitting on the couch, surrounded by candles and burning incense. Liu Shun slapped my arm and I showed her my wrist. She just smiled in recognition and then offered me the seat across from her. She poured me some tea and handed it to me. I took a sip and it was horrible. Bitter and a bit alcoholic? Shit it was like 8 in the morning. I looked up to gasp for air and all I saw was a flurry of powder being blown in my face.

I looked around and the room had gone. We were both sitting in a nondescript abyssal blackness, seated in the same positions as we had just been. Around us were ovular windows containing a different scene. Emily. Kacie. Marley. Bella. This woman could see everything I had done in the passed two days regarding the curse.

"Interesting. You started to understand better last night, but you still fight the curse." She looked at me with a far away stare. "You cannot fight this curse."

"You mean, playing my role. I tried to do that last night."

"Tried and failed. Depending on your definition of failure. You have come to remove the curse but it is dangerous." She started. I stopped her.

"No, I don't want to get rid of it. I want to understand it. I want to learn how to best use it." She paused and looked at me.

"Interesting. Lost the love of your life and you would rather understand than get her back?" She waited.

"Yeah. This will be a much more interesting life with the curse." I mused.

A smile crept up onto her face. "How deep do you want to go?"

"How deep does it go?" I asked.

"As deep as you want. The bracelets, their creation, how to apply curses, how to find them, where they go. The curses themselves, limitations, boons, that sort of thing. You could spend 1,000 years understanding it all." She said. "Luckily the curse will give you that time."

I blinked. "Wait, 1,000 years? I'm immortal?"

"Functionally not cosmetically. You will never die in this millennium but nobody will find that odd or extraordinary. No messiah complex." She looked at me knowingly. "The curse is owed your torment. You will have to watch as everyone you love and care about finds someone else. Always moving on, drifting away, leaving you, and then passing on." She said. This should depress me but I felt like there had to be more. "If you try to fight the curse, as you have been doing, you will feel the full brunt of these torments."

"If you allow the curse to take control, you trust in it, and let go into its embrace, it will protect you. The Friend will always be around when you need him most." She said. "But letting go is very hard."

"I don't know about that. I feel like I've let go of a lot in the last two days."

"You have let go of nothing. You still use your ex girlfriend for sex, you enjoy your roommate and neighbor, you look for ways to work the wording around so that you can benefit and the curse is destroying them as well as you." That hit me. I didn't want to destroy anyone else.

"Okay, so what. No love? No connection to anyone?" I was getting annoyed.

"Friendship is about sacrifice. Giving yourself up completely for somebody else to help them. Not to benefit yourself. Once helping them becomes the benefit, you will have let go. The curse will guide you from there."

"How can I tell if someone is my friend? How can I avoid making someone upset?" She lunged forward in the dark abyss and grabbed my shirt.

"Let. Go." She shoved me and I was sitting on a sidewalk with two busy streets around me. I blinked at the sudden reintroduction of light and then stood up. I looked around and saw the Chrysler Building a block ahead of me. I was in Midtown. I don't remember walking here did she teleport me? I thought about hailing a cab but decided to walk home. I needed to think.

I stopped on a bench and thought to myself. "Let go." The curse would take care of me if I just didn't try to have sex with people? Didn't try to get stuff? I didn't really have a choice. If the curse was fucking with everyone around me like she said, I needed to do this for them. I took a breath and let go. I felt a warmth in my chest as I exhaled. Could that be the curse? Maybe, but probably not.

I walked back to lower Manhattan. I was standing on the crosswalk when a guy with headphones in started to step out into the street. I jumped forward and grabbed him and pulled him back, just as a bus barreled down on the spot.

He took his headphones out and looked at the bus. "Holy shit. You fucking saved me. Thanks dude." He gave me a hug and was panting.

"No worries. Just pay attention." I pointed at him smiling.

"Yeah, for sure. You headed this way? I'm going to my friends party, she just moved into a new place. You should come say hi." He said sincerely. I smiled internally, is THIS what she meant? The curse would hook me up?

"Uh. Would she be okay with a rando walking into her apartment?" I asked.

"You just saved my life. If you weren't here, NEITHER of us could walk into her apartment. Come on, I insist." He said firmly. I shrugged and followed him.

"So, what's your name?" He asked.

"John," I extended my hand.

"Henry. Nice to meet you."

We actually talked. I tried to relearn how to have a conversation. He was a student at NYU working to become a game developer or something. I told him I worked in a Chem lab at my school. We actually talked for a bit. He was going to Sarah's apartment because Chloe was gonna be there. He wasn't sure she noticed him though. She was a tall blonde bombshell with a sweet face. I told him about my redhead boss and how I got arrested yesterday cuz of Marley.

"Oh man, did you actually touch her tits?" He asked under his breath as we walked. I smiled.

"Oh who knows. Maybe I did." We both laughed. I stopped as I sensed we were about to go into this small apartment building. I decided to give the Friend Curse it's fair shake. "Listen, Henry. Can I give some advice about Chloe?"

"Yeah, sure man. I'm lost over here."

"Well have you tried talking to her? Have you made attempts to get her attention?"

"Oh sure. I've asked her out before."

"And she said no, obviously."

"Yeah." Henry rubbed his head nervously.

"Try something today at this party. Ignore her."

"What? Ignore her?" He sounded surprised.

"Yeah, women are very sensitive to changes in our behavior. If you keep trying to chase after her, she knows you never change, knows you're "safe," if you stop focusing on her, she will think something's up and she will come to you. Then you're on the high ground and you have the advantage." I said, barely aware of what I was saying. My mouth was coming up with some good shit though.

"What if... what if she's like in my way or something? Do I still ignore her?"

"Well, don't be rude but make it clear you aren't here for her. Focus on talking to me or Sarah or whoever else is around and only acknowledge her if she talks to you first. Never initiate. And hey, if this doesn't work then just tell her you were feeling off today. But try to stay the course. I know you're gonna wanna talk to her but just... wait her out. She WILL come to you to see what's wrong. Don't admit something is wrong just ask her what she means, make HER say everything. Got it?"

Henry was closing his eyes and nodding. "Okay. Okay, I think I get it. Make her come to me by focusing on other things. Let you tell the story. Got it."

I hit his chest as I walked into the stairwell. "Good. Let's go."

We walked up three stories to an apartment door and a tall slender redhead answered it. "Hey Henry! Who's this?" She smiled.

"John Doe, you must be Sarah." I said extending my hand. She took it and smiled. "Henry here saved me from a bus! I had my music in and he pulled me back, totally saved my ass like a hero." Sarah just gave me a Cheshire grin.

"He did huh. Where's your music now? Did he borrow it?" Sarah asked playfully. I looked around to see that he still had one ear bud in.

"Nope, I have my own..."

"He saved you and invited you to my party out of what... gratitude?" She knew what actually happened but I smiled at her defiantly.

"Yep. That's the story."

"Well, it sounds like a tale someone might tell to boost someone's street cred in front of his crush. If that's what you're doing, consider us friends." She said letting us in. "Henry needs all the help he can get." I pulled the ear bud out of his ear and tucked it into his shirt. He looked really nervous. Just then, two tall blonde girls walked into the room.

"Hey, Zoey. I didn't know you were coming." Henry nodded to one of the blonde girls and she nodded.

"Yep." She said gracefully walking into the living room. He turned toward the kitchen and put his backpack down.

"Sorry, hey. I'm John Doe." I said, sounding like I had no clue who they were.

The girl closest to me shook my hand. "I'm Chloe and that's my sister Zoey." I looked over and back and then just smirked.

"Really? Chloe and Zoey?"

She laughed. "I know, but we've grown into it. Nice to meet you John, how do you know Henry?"

"He saved my ass from getting hit with a bus. Yeah, I was standing on a curb and I was gonna step off and he pulled me back. We got talking and he told me to come up here with him." I said firmly. Chloe looked at Henry and then back.

"He's a good egg. It doesn't sound like him though, that man doesn't notice anything. Oblivious! I'm surprised he wasn't the one you saved." Chloe said playfully. I was trying to tell a story without knowing this kid. Still, it didn't hurt him if they saw what I was trying to do.

"What do you mean he doesn't notice anything?"

"Well, my sister has been after him for years and he never notices her. He's always focused on me. It drives her nuts." I almost laughed at how coincidental that was. Actually, this whole thing was coincidental. Wait, is this the curse? I try to help Henry get with the girl he wants so now there are two of them? Why wouldn't he mention she had a sister? Especially someone as hot as Zoey, she was so cute. Okay, well time to play match maker.

"Hmm. Maybe I can steer Mr. Henry in the right direction. Good eggs deserve happiness don't you think?" Chloe smiled warmly.

"That would be very sweet of you. Thank you, John." I had a suspicion. I weird, haunting suspicion but I wouldn't really ever be able to check. I went to Henry.

"Why didn't you mention Zoey?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah. I guess I always forget about her. She's cool though." Henry said. I sat on the kitchen counter and looked over at the living room.

"Go talk to her, bro. She's been trying to get your attention for years. You're doing to her what Chloe does to you, break the cycle." I said. He whirled around and looked at Zoey.

"Wait, she WANTS to go out with me?"

"That's what Chloe said. Hey have you ever talked to Zoey before today?" I asked.

"Hmm, you know what? I don't think I ever have. She's always been away or doing something. Chloe's mentioned her though." I doubted that. I think the curse INVENTED Zoey and fit her into this backstory as much as it could. I mean it could keep me alive for 1,000 years, it could probably create people out of thin air.

Then a realization struck me super hard. The universe just bent itself to my will. I decided that Henry should be successful with the girl of his dreams and the universe PRODUCED her for me. Holy shit. I was a Djinn.