I opened the door slowly, leaving it open as I walked inside. Driving by the burned out warehouse hadn't felt like returning to the scene of a crime, but being in this room did. The orange extension cord noose still hung from the light fixture, beckoning. I wasted no time in getting the rest of the money from my stash from inside the hot plate. I kept looking back at the open door, and couldn't help but feel like it was going to slam shut and trap me back inside here. I quickly scoured the place for anything I wanted to keep, knowing I would never set foot in this room again. In the end, a handful of books and a few changes of clothing were all I wanted from that life. I closed the door and quickly headed back outside to the car. Antonio took the small laundry bag holding my possessions as I got in.

"Where to sir?" he asked, starting the car.

I looked at the Hotel's weathered facade and watched the shadowy ghost like forms of men moving behind the filthy glass. "I don't care. Just get us out of here."

Antonio drove around Los Angeles for the rest of the afternoon and evening, stopping only to spend the last of my money. For seven hundred dollars I picked up two suits, four shirts, four ties, a belt, a pair of shoes, and a suitcase to carry it all. I laid them all out on the guest bed and had cut most of the tags off when she walked in.

"Very nice. Are you going to wear one tonight?"

I almost laughed as I turned around to face her. "I don't think that would be very appropriate. I'm going to wear this," I said modeling the black dress shirt I'd brought from the Hotel.

"How appropriate is this?" she asked, turning around slowly. She wore a skin-tight, long-sleeved, black bodysuit that started at her ankles and ended in a high turtle neck. It made her thin figure look even leaner. Her glossy straight black hair fell onto her shoulders and framed her face perfectly.

"It's perfect, and so are you," I said holding my left arm open toward her for an embrace. She looked at me curiously with a slightly furrowed brow as though I'd confused her temporarily. She recovered quickly and smiled as she stepped forward to take my outstretched hand in hers.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

I felt awkward, as if I'd made some kind of mistake. "Yeah, let me put my new shoe on."

Antonio stopped the car next to the front door where the block long line started. The movie marquee jutting out over the entrance read 'Beware of God, with Propain and the Spamsters'.

"What kind of music is this?" she asked as we walked inside past the nodding doorman.