41 Friends

We were sleeping until noon, and since we had already eaten all the food from the bar, we decided to visit a diner before heading to Frank, who should hopefully have finished our IDs by now.

After another healthy meal, where I spent nearly three hundred dollars, we headed towards his house. But when I knocked on the door, he opened it and greeted me by pointing his shotgun at my head.

"Didn't we already settle this the last time? Do you really want to shoot the guy who prepared the money for you?" I ask him, relaxed, and show him the black leather bag full of money.

While Cthylla rubs her forehead behind me in annoyance and waits until our small greeting ritual ends.

"You can never be sure. Maybe you brought some friends with you that you don't even know about," he says and puts his shotgun down after looking left and right again.

I can literally see invisible people. I would know that...

Then he steps to the side and says with a smile, "Come inside. Mi casa es su casa, well, it's still my casa, but you guys get the gist."

"Sure, mi casa no es tu casa, got it." I say and give him the bag before we all enter the house and walk upstairs.

Afterwards, he searches for something and comes back with two paper bags and gives one to each of us.

"Look inside, I'm sure you will like it," says Frank, excited like a small child. He seems to be really proud of his work.

We open the bags, and there are driver licenses, birth certificates, and even the student ID for Cthylla, all of this in triplicate.

I checked the driver's license, and it is exactly like the old one. Did he steal the official 3D printer from the government or something like that?

"It's good, isn't it? With this, even if the FBI gets them in their hands, they will not know the difference. And because you seem to have a fire problem, I made it triple." says Frank happily after noticing my reaction.

Well, replacements are always good, but I don't really plan to hang out with the FBI to check if he is right or not. Because even though Aiden's name was cleared, Henriksen and the whole FBI still know that I'm not Aiden...

I look at Cthylla, and she seems to be impressed too.

"I'm pretty surprised that it looks so legit. I thought we would get some hand-drawn licenses or something like that," she then says and places her new driver's license in her wallet.

"Well, you see cherry head, some people can't simply walk around and look good to get a sugar daddy. Some of us need to work for that..."

Wait... so I'm his sugar daddy now?

"You are lucky that your work is good, or I would have kicked your ass for that comment..." She says and puts the small paper bag in her handbag.

Well, she didn't finish her university and is basically jobless right now, so she can't really counter him at the moment.

So basically, I'm his and her sugar daddy right now...

---

After we obtained our new belongings, it was time to bid farewell, and Frank accompanied us to the door.

"Well, good luck with whatever you young people do nowadays, except spying and being snarky, that is," he says jokingly as he attempts to close the door.

However, I stop him. "Wait, I have another job for you."

"Oh, really? Do you want the library ID now?" he asks, crossing his arms.

"Maybe later... I need some information about a cult that uses this symbol as their trademark." I give him a hand-drawn Cthulhu symbol.

Then continue "They are pretty secretive, and gather followers from everywhere. But they still meet and have a leader, so they can be found. So I think you are the right person for the job."

"Hmm, I don't know... cults and stuff like that are more Bobby's thing, but if the payment is right, I will do what I can," he says after thinking about it for a while.

"Sure, every time you provide something valuable, you will get paid. Just let me know how much you want. Oh, and one more thing: don't research the symbol or talk about it.

Simply look for people who draw it or have it as their company symbol or something like that."

I don't want him to become a Follower by getting too involved...

"This will double the price..." He says, while turning around the paper to see what I wrote on the back.

"It's my number, and here." I toss him a penny, and he catches it.

"What is this? The first installment or a spying device?" he asks, looking confused at the coin.

"A magical spy device that allows me to track you down. Consider it a failsafe in case the government comes after you someday, and you need someone to have your back."

"Hmph, the government will never get me... but if this works, it could be useful. Can I get some for personal use?" He asks, extending his hand.

"No... they are imprinted on me. You wouldn't be able to use them."

"Fine, keep your magical gadgets for yourself... So, is there anything else? If not, I'd like to get back to work," he says, a bit annoyed.

"No, there's nothing else. But if you give me a discount, I'll teach you next time how to make them."

This makes him smile again, and he stretches out his hand for me to shake, so I grab it.

"Deal, and now go away." He says, letting go of my hand and closing the door.

"I should have shot him when I had the chance... maybe I can still shoot him in the foot or something like that..." says Cthylla, breaking her silence after observing us curiously.

"No, if you shoot him in the foot, he won't be able to climb the stairs anymore... we should probably go anyway because another crazy guy is waiting for us," I say to her and walk to the car.

She sighs and follows me to the car.

---

Arriving at the car, I want to open the driver-side door, but she stops me by placing her hand on the handle too, then asks seriously,

"Why can you still do it? You always find the strangest and most unique people and befriend them. While I can't even do that with normal people without thinking about the fact that they will die one day..."

The curse of being immortal.

I lean against the door and say, "Why? Well, mostly because people like that are useful, so I befriend them, and then they are more willing to help. No attachment involved. It's simply taking and giving until they are gone..."

This makes her look disappointed at me for a moment, as if she expected a revelation. But you can only see so many people die before you stop attaching yourself to them.

Most people would ask why use people anyway when you already know everything?

The thing is, even after living for ten millennia, I still can't do everything and need people to do stuff for me.

This is because the world around me is constantly changing and evolving, which makes it impossible to know and learn everything.

A lot of people believe that immortality makes you omnipotent or something like that. However, the truth is far from that.

In reality, a human with an endless lifespan is still a human who is stuck in a never-ending learning and adapting process while always being behind.

Unfortunately, such people who are always living in the past and can't catch up with the present will also never be able to shape the future...

A touch from her on my cheek brings me back to reality, and she asks, "Should we get going to your other not friend?"

I smile at her and nod, but when I want to open the door, she doesn't let me and holds the handle in place.

"You know I have a driver's license again, so my time has come to drive this baby," she says and lets her hand wander down the engine hood.

"Sure, why not? I can study the grimoire while you are driving," I say and give her the key, then walk towards the passenger door.

While she looks at me confused, probably thinking that I would fight more for the driver's seat. To tell the truth I would let her drive even without a driver's license since mine was burned down too... but she never asked.

I sit down and relax while she throws her handbag in the backseat and starts the engine with a smile, then lets the car roar for a bit.

Probably to annoy Frank, and also to get used to the pedals, I let her enjoy herself and take out the grimoire until the most horrible thing happened...

She grabs her bag again and takes out a CD from it, then she wants to put it in the car player, which was probably replaced by Aiden before dying because it was a new CD cassette combo player.

Where the heck did she even get it from?

So I ask her frightened, "Please tell me this is a new jazz CD?"

"No, the driver decides the music, and no jazz for me. I 'borrowed' this CD from Frank while he wasn't watching.

At least he seems to have good music taste... look at this, the first CD from the young Taylor Swift in this world," she says excitedly while showing me the gate to hell.

Then she puts the CD inside, and we begin our journey towards Bobby, while my girlfriend tortures me with horrible music.