“Go north.” The old man looked across the street that was littered with snakes chewing up the blacktop. “You’re a lot of help.” Johnny replied. “I try to be.” He looked back at Johnny. “There’s nothing left here.” “What are you going to do?” The old man was dressed in a white suit, and when he turned back to the hissing of the street, Johnny noticed that even in 100 degree weather, there were no sweat marks. Johnny only saw the nicotine shades of years of smoking. “These snakes will run out of blacktop. Then, it’s just me and the desert.” “What’s north?” “Not here. That’s where north is. Not here. I’m an old man. And maybe we’re the last people for miles alive, but that doesn’t make us partners. Or buddies. I’d just like to stay here and watch the end.” And with that, the old man lit a cigarette and eased back into the rocking chair he was sitting in. Johnny looked down at his feet, then back at the road. You had to keep your distance. Some of the snakes had a real reach and you could easily get picked off if you didn’t pay attention. You avoided the road. There were a list of things the snakes lived off that you wanted to avoid. Most oils. Tar. Strangely, liquor. Cars were out of the question, unless they were armored. Scores of people had tried taking the family out with all the windows rolled up and the doors locked and ended up with the bastards coming up through the engine. Ugly situations. The parents in the front seat being butchered by foot long fangs, while the car comes to a stop and the kids look dumbfounded at each other as the snakes cocoon the car… “You know, I knew it. I knew it when they brought it up.” The old man tossed a bottle of Jack Daniels into the street and watched the rolling wave absorb it. “They say things. These scientists. They say, we know this. We know that. But they never have common sense. You pull something up from the bottom of the ocean and you examine it. That’s fine. But then you start mucking around with mother nature and” he tossed another bottle “you get this.” “Provisions?” “Is this 1894? You mean food and water – over there, across the street.” The old man let out a single laugh, then went back to rocking. Johnny eyed the store across the street and looked down the road. “You ain’t gonna get a dead end for miles. You might as well be walking to North Dakota.” “You got food and booze…and cigarettes.” “I have ways. Kinda like the snakes. If they wait long enough, someone will feed them out of desperation.” “What about these houses?” “Full of snakes. You have to find a way across that road, boy.” Johnny eyed the street and noticed the traffic lights. “Ah, smart thinking. But if you drop…” The old man belted out another laugh and Johnny strode towards the lights. He took a running start at the poll, as it was close enough to the street that he could get bit. He jumped. Hooking both arms around the poll he began to squat up. The old man threw a whiskey bottle at Johnny, hitting him in the face and Johnny dropped to the desert below. The snakes swarmed him as the old man walked quickly across the street to the store. “I told you to go North!” It's up. Nope. Got flagged. Here it is. The old man wondered up the liquor aisle and grabbed a bottle of absinthe and walked back down towards the registers. He laughed out loud and then yelled “Scientists!” Then he stopped. Two feet away, hanging from the fluorescents was a snake. It opened its jaws to reveal a mouth the size of a tire. “Hang on, old buddy.” The old man stepped backward and the snake hissed. “When they brought it up, it had all the shape and size of a meteor: just a big black rock that had been pummeled almost to death for eons. Then they pried further and found the organisms. They were smaller than a booger on a mouse. Well, these folks in these labs congratulated themselves and the world celebrated aliens. Aliens! Folks don’t even know their neighbors that well and they get all excited about mouse turds from outer space. Well, I don’t get it.” The old man paused and scratched at the wound in his face. “Feller over at the store there bit me just now. See that skeleton yonder, that was a boy I was helping across the street. Snakes got him. Got a taste for it. Next thing you know, the snakes are in the store. Well, boy howdy, I’ll tell you what – those scientists sure fucked us good.” The old man began to cry. “Look see, old boy, I know you can hear me and I know you know I been feeding you boys with the choicest cuts of human. Now, why don’t you just back up and give me some space. Get you a nice bottle of Daniels.” The old man stepped slowly back to the whiskey aisle and grabbed a bottle. The absinthe dropped and the snake hissed and took a swatch of skin off the old man’s cheek. “Har! Fuck!” The old man slammed the bottle of Jack against the floor and the snake hit the ground hissing and lapping up the intoxicant. Four more snakes dropped from the ceiling and the old man looked up. “Jesus wept.” The ceiling was covered in snakes. One snake seemed to be king over them all. It was coiled around the entire store and six of the smaller snakes were curled up in its jaws. The old man grabbed another bottle of absinthe and clipped a carton of cigarettes on his gallop out. Knees in the air in a full-on Looney Toon sprint, the old man vacated the store and paused to catch his breath when the woman asked him which direction to go. “Go north.” “Do you know what happened? What happened everywhere?” “When they brought it up…” The old man stared up at the sun, tears streaming down his cheeks. “That’s how. They played with those aliens…got in their DNA. You know - the stuff that makes you a lovely lady and me an old man.” The woman laughed. “You’re not that old.” “I wasn’t once. See, all you folks end up a mile out. Stop the car, walk into town. Tourists! You think this is interesting or something. It’s terrifying.” “Why don’t you leave?” “Why would you drive into a quarantine zone? This all happened months ago. I know you all think it’s just some virus. But it’s not. Lab’s a couple miles up. That’s where it all began. But I guess you thought you’d take a look. Last guy had a camera. Pretty sure he was a reporter. What are you? CIA?” “I’m looking for my mother.” “Let me help you – she’s dead. Go North.” The old man pulled out a cigarette and fell to the ground on his butt and began to cry harder. “I’m stuck on this side now. I’m stuck forever without my wife.” “Is your wife dead?” The old man grinned at the ground and murmured “Yes.” The woman looked across the road. “Give me your jacket and that bottle of absinthe.” The old man handed her both. She doused the jacket in absinthe, and then pushed a bit of it into the bottle and lit it. Then she hurled the bottle into the street. The snakes rushed away from the fire and she grabbed his hand and said “Let’s go.” The old man took her hand and walked with her across the street. As they passed within feet of the snakes the old man fell to the ground. The woman knelt to help the old man and he came at her with a knife. “Fresh bait!” He yelled, eyes popping out, drool running down his face. The woman paused and then drew a pistol from her lower back and shot the man twice in the throat. There was a ringing and the woman pulled a phone from her pocket and replied into it “Agent Edwards.” She walked to the other side of the street, speaking into the phone and watching the snakes recede back to what would soon be a bloody skeleton. “Our leak has dried up. Bad intel, though. Also, I think there’s a queen here in the store.” “Here comes the Hocus Pocus.” The Speaker said. They were in an old colonial-looking house off a road somewhere in California. It was daylight outside and motes of dust hung in the air and passed between each agent as they breathed. Some were sitting on couches, others on chairs. One man had his legs dangling from a counter in the kitchen. “You are on a Green Card assignment. Present Green Cards.” The group of agents each took out a Joker card from their pockets and presented it. The cards were green with a red, and a laughing joker presented in the middle of the card. The speaker, no one had any idea what rank or what agency, pulled out a small flashlight-looking device and swung it around the room, reading each card. “Alright. DCI has acknowledged me and my permission to give orders as you will find, or did find, on the cards. This is a Hocus Pocus. If you are not familiar with that situational status, I will explain it. A Hocus Pocus is a situation that has no logical or scientific explanation as we understand it. For instance, if aliens landed, it would be deemed Hocus Pocus. Scientifically speaking, it is possible. Logically, aliens – intelligent aliens, should not be able to land here as physics and our own known knowledge of our own solar neighborhood would contradict it. Similarly, a ghost would be a Hocus Pocus. Hyper-intelligent apes. Houses made out of fish. You get the idea. This however, this situation, deals with the occult. If you are not familiar with the occult, you should not be on this team. You have been selected as your backgrounds reflect a knowledge of ancient wisdom, Aleister Crowley, and Tarot cards. Basically, you people are geeks.” There was a brief spatter of laughter that wasn’t returned by the Speaker. “My name is Ed. You can call me Ed if you need to address me. You do not want my full name. You do not want any information about me whatsoever. You are to perform specific tasks. You are not to delve into the information you gather any further than your assignment carries you. You are not to connect the dots. You are not to put the puzzle together. You are the puzzle. Each of you is a piece and let no piece meet. There will be no sharing of intel outside of the briefings you will receive via Green Cards. Now, the situation. About six months ago, seemingly out of nowhere, a snake handler by the name of Cabal Brooks appeared in the desert of Nevada. This man then approached the city of Boulder, Nevada and all hell broke loose. The first reports of problems came from a police deputy who was called to the home of Brooks on rumors he was amassing a large stock of illegal weapons. This visit then turned into a shootout. The shootout then turned into a standoff. I’m sure you all saw it on the news. Brooks was never located, but soon reports came in that a cult had formed around the memory of the man, who left a bullet riddled home and two dead officers. If you look at your Green Card, you will see a picture of the man. He looks like Colonel Sanders. Always wearing a white suit. Friendly guy. The FBI sent two agents to infiltrate the group and they were converted. There was a raid. No one returned. That was not in the news. Then there was no contact from the entire town. Next, the snakes began to appear. We headed this one off at the pass, and quarantined most of Nevada under the guise of a super flu. And now we’re here. About the snakes – we do not know where they came from or what they are. Obviously, snakes the size of trains are not known or logical scientific facts of our great Earth. However, we are in possession of an escapee of Mr. Brooks’ cult. And, yes, we believe, based on this individual’s account, that Brooks is still alive. This individual claims that these snakes are a simple charm of a legion of…things…that will befall our great Earth. It is this individual’s account that Mr. Brooks is summoning…wait for it kids…Satan.” The group exchanged incredulous looks. “Boys and girls, we take this seriously. The CIA is not in the religion business. Nor are we naïve. No folks, we have project after project of information concerning the summoning or the belief to reality of certain entities we can just call deities. I’m sure you are all fully aware of a Project Babylon back in the last century and let me just drop this nugget – it worked. I will not disclose to what extent, but rest assured your reality has been tweaked since. Tweaked is a nice way of putting it. But that’s internet conspiracy stuff, right? Maybe so, but right now I can safely and sanely tell you all that we believe that a force, a hostile force, is being created and threatens the United States. If that makes it a better way of saying it, so be it. But make no mistake: we believe this Mr. Brooks is provoking something illogical and destructive and thus the Green Cards. That’s it? Any questions? Just joking. Your Green Cards will alert you to your orders. The only information I will reveal about any assignments to all of you is that Agent Edwards will be taking point. As for the snakes, you are to keep your distance. This mission is for intel, not for house cleaning. Have a nice day.” “Repeat. There is a Queen in the store. Also, I may have killed Colonel Sanders.” It sounded foolish and she laughed to herself. Turning around, she looked at the body. The snakes were avoiding it and the Colonel, or possibly the Colonel, was gasping for breath out of the two new breathing holes she had given him. The sight was putrid. It was as if someone had stuck a piece of bubble gum in a trach hole and set the person breathing through it. Just blood bubbling up and popping. She turned around and the ground shook. In the space of a second, she had found cover behind a garbage can and was scanning the area. The snakes had completely left the patch of road where the presumed Colonel lay. An Open sign was swinging in the doorway of the store and the kid’s skeleton was still lying below the traffic lights. The ground shook again, but this time all but one window in the store shattered.


Jeremy found the caterpillar one summer evening when he was foraging in the old tumble-down house at the edge of the town. It was said that a crazy old man had lived there, but he was long gone. All the local kids knew how easy it was to get into the grounds, as there were several parts of the surrounding wall that had collapsed, allowing access to the now overgrown gardens. Jeremy had been trying to free an old grass roller, rusted and trapped by tendrils of weeds, when he had heard the other boys coming. One of the voices made him shudder with recognition. Quickly he had pushed his way into the undergrowth, so that he could not be seen. He had been right, it was Rob Nicholls, and his band of followers. Jeremy didn’t need to hear their braying laughter to know that they were up to no good. He held his breath. He’d had run ins with Nicholls before. However, as they had all grown older and arrived on the cusp of their teenage years, these run ins had begun to take on a more ominous nature. It seemed with every month the nasty streak that ran through Nicholls had become a darker shade of black. So far things had been little more than threats, with a bit of pushing and shoving. But Jeremy knew they were escalating; and he was hoping to avoid being around when Nicholls went on to the next level of thuggery. He sighed a silent sigh of relief as the gang passed him by, heading around the old house to where the greenhouses were. Sure enough, the sound of smashing glass could soon be heard. There was a violence even in this that made Jeremy very relieved that he had not been caught here on his own. Something had been pressing against his back; he managed to turn himself around. Hidden by the vegetation was what looked like an old garden shed. The door was unlocked, secured by a rusty latch. Jeremy pushed; the door opened inwards with surprisingly little resistance. He pushed a little more; there was enough room for him to pass. There was further smashing of glass, reminding him that he would probably be best hanging around unseen for a bit longer. Plus, his vivid imagination had already invented a hundred stories about the abandoned shed, and he was desperate to explore.

Inside there was a surprising amount of light. There was a large hole in the roof, as if something heavy had been dropped through it; a beam of moonlight entered through it, illuminating floating motes of silver and gold that danced in the air. It was, disappointingly, what it looked like, a garden shed. A variety of implements hung on the walls; shelves were filled with tins and jars with labels that had long ago faded. Attached to a wall was a rusty tap and a battered old tin bucket, There was a calendar from the 1970s on the wall, and an ancient looking stove on the floor, half buried in a sea of desiccated leaves. There were also many pieces of what looked like broken pottery scattered around the floor. Not much else; but then, Jeremy didn’t need much else. The imagination that uncontrollable shyness and being largely forgotten by his parents most of the time had provided him with an imagination that could turn anything into an adventure. He became aware of something rustling, deep in the leaves. He froze. He hated rats and was not too keen on mice either. The leaves began to move, like earth with a mole travelling through it. Part of Jeremy wanted to run; the imagining part of him though did not. The whatever-it-was came closer. Then the leaves parted. Two huge round eyes stared at him, black, unblinking. Then a body appeared, inching its way along the floor. It was a caterpillar; although this was the largest one Jeremy had ever encountered, even on TV nature programmes. It was the size of a kitten at least, he thought; and covered with silver hairs and bristles. There was something sad, lost about the creature. It seemed to glow a dull, sickly grey, like a neon sign that was fading. The creature regarded Jeremy with its huge black eyes. It would inch forward nervously towards him, then stop, as if unsure if Jeremy was a threat or not. Jeremy grabbed some leaves from the bush outside and bent down, waving the greenery in front of the caterpillar. “You hungry?” he said. The caterpillar continued to stare at him; Jeremy even imagined for a second that it had put its head on its side as if questioning him. “Don’t like that then?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out something. “You like chocolate, hm?” He unwrapped the chocolate bar and held it out. The caterpillar nudged it with his nose; then its mandibles opened, and the chocolate bar disappeared. The caterpillars body pulsed with a purple glow; suddenly his body had more of a healthy glow. “What are you doing Jeremy?” The voice made him jump. He spun round to see a girl standing at the open door. In the evening light he could make out her leather jacket, jeans, and boots that seemed several sizes too large for her. Dark make up around her eyes made her face seem even paler than it probably was. her head seemed to be shaved on one side, with a mass of green and purple hair on the other side. “Who…who are you?” said Jeremy, although she seemed somehow familiar. “I’m Stephanie!” she sighed. “Stephanie Burrows; we go to the same school!” Jeremy glanced at her hair again. “Okay, maybe I don’t look quite like this when I’m in the classroom. “I live next door, been watching you through my telescope.” She pointed to a window overlooking the garden. “Saw a shooting star a couple of days back; it came down in this garden, but I haven’t been able to find it…” she stopped suddenly. “What” she said, pointing “is that?” “It’s a caterpillar; I just found him…” “Its…huge! “And your feeding it… chocolate ?” “He likes it…makes him happy…” “Well that’s nice; but we should feed him some fruit as well. Wonder where he came from…” The girl picked up what looked like some broken pottery off the floor. The pieces fitted together into a large ball shape. She looked up at the hole in the roof. “Jeremy; I think you have found my shooting star… “I think he came down…from up there; this looks like some kind of egg…” Jeremy followed her gaze upwards. “You mean he’s a space caterpillar?” “Well we don’t have caterpillars this size on Earth, do we? “Tell you what; we’ll keep him a secret, come and feed him every day?” “I can bring him some chocolate…” “Okay; I’ll bring him some fruit from our garden.” Stephanie filled the tin bucket from the tap outside. She placed it in front of the caterpillar; the creature began to drink with a loud lapping sound. “Stay here in your nest” she said. “We’ll see you tomorrow…” They closed the door and dropped the latch. “Hang on” said Jeremy, peering out of the bushes nervously. “It’s all right” said Stephanie. “Those horrible boys have gone. I’ve been watching them with my telescope too. “So; meet you here same time tomorrow, okay?” Jeremy nodded. “I’ll bring chocolate” he said.

“We can share it.” For the next couple of weeks, they fed and watered the caterpillar daily. Every day the creature grew a bit bigger, its fur became brighter, more colourful. Now when they opened the door there was a bright, healthy glow from the creature, like an oversized neon glow worm. It did seem visibly pleased to see them, shuffling forward happily and allowing them to pet its head. After almost a month the caterpillar was the size of a large pig. It glowed brightly, its fur now glorious stripes of silver and gold. “It glows like the moon does” said Stephanie. “Tell you what; lets google it.” She took out her phone and typed in the words “moon caterpillar”. “Nothing …no, here we are. In a website called “Cryptozoo.com.” “Moon Moth. A mythological creature that travels the stars and is attracted to bright lights, such as stars and moons, in the same way an earthly moth is drawn to a light bulb.” “Moon Moth?” “Of course. Maybe they need to find a planet where they can feed and go through their transformation process...” The next day when they opened the door there was no welcome, no sound at all. The caterpillar was no longer there; instead, in the corner of the shed, was what looked very much like a huge pea pod. It pulsated regularly with purple and green neon light; occasionally there was what looked like a small electrical charge going through the body. “Amazing” said Stephanie. He’s turned into a chrysalis…” “I wonder what’s going to come out…” said Jeremy. The chrysalis remained in its dormant state for the next few days. Then one evening, Jeremy was about to open the door to the shed when there was a voice behind them. “What are you two up to then?” They spun round to see Nicholls and his gang, pushing their way through the bushes. They all wore matching tracksuits and trainers, with pudding basin haircuts and skin so pale their veins showed blue beneath. “What you doing in that shed all on your own, eh?” Nicholls sniggered, the other boys joining in. “None of your business Robert Nicholls.” Stephanie stood protectively in front of the door. Nicholls was small, almost a head shorter than her; even so, there was something about him that made her want to draw back. “Oh. So there’s something inside, is there; something you don’t want us to see, hm?” Nicholls stepped forward and pushed Stephanie to one side. She tried to push back but one of the other boys grabbed her. Nicholls stared at Jeremy, as if daring him to do anything. The other boys barged Jeremy out of the way. “Let’s have a look then, shall we. And then we can tell your mums and dads what you’ve been up to!” While the others held on to Jeremy and Stephanie, Nicholls wrenched open the door and went inside. “Right then” he said “Let’s see what we’ve got…” His voice trailed off. From inside the shed there came a strange, muffled fluttering sound; it reminded Jeremy of tent flaps in the wind when he’d been on a camping trip with his parents. Suddenly there was a scream from inside, and a frantic, panicked scrabbling at the door. “Let me out” yelled Nicholls. “Please let me out! The eyes…get me away from the eyes!” he sobbed. The gang of boys froze, unable to make a decision without their leader. At last Stephanie broke free and wrenched the door open. Nicholls came out backwards, staring into the shed and almost falling. At last he turned, staring wildly at the others. “The eyes” he sobbed again. The other boys stared at him in astonishment, taking in the damp patch on the front of his jeans. “Rob…you’ve wet yourself man” said one of them. They all sniggered; however, this time there was no arrogance there, just embarrassment, and an element of fear. Nicholls took one more look inside the shed. “Nooo!” he screamed once again. He pushed the others out of the way and bolted, falling several times in his panic to get away. The rest of the gang looked at each other sheepishly, then followed him. Jeremy glanced at Stephanie, then stepped inside. The eyes were there, enormous, glowing, boring into him, surrounded by multi-coloured patterns that swirled and eddied around like oil on water. Jeremy felt the remnants of a sense of threat, now fading into a sense of welcome, of happiness. “Those are…” “It’s wings” said Stephanie from over Jeremy’s shoulder. “He’s a fully-grown moth…” The Moon Moth towered over them. It stood on rear legs, other legs extending from a beautifully striped, gold and silver furry body. Antennae poked out of the hole in the roof, twitching as if searching for a signal. Two more eyes, the moth’s real ones, stared at Jeremy and Stephanie. “Those eyes…the ones on the wings…” said Stephanie. “I think they’re his protection; you know, like normal moths can pretend to be predators using their camouflage. I think they work by hypnotising any threat, unloading a sense of terror onto it. Like that Nicholls boy. He was aggressive, and the wings reflected that back at him, many times increased…” “No wonder he ran away…” “But he knows who we are; some memory of us has remained, even through his metamorphosis…” The moth flexed his wings gently, wafting a sense of pleasure towards them. Then, grabbing the edges of the hole in the roof, he propelled himself up and out. Jeremy and Stephanie followed him outside. He stood on the roof now and began to stretch his wings to their fullest extent. The moonlight illuminated him; and he began to glow along with it. “He’s getting energy…from the moonlight…” “That’ll be why he’s called a Moon Moth then, won’t it Jeremy?” The moth seemed to be growing in size and in strength now, more wings becoming more solid. They fluttered suddenly, the wind from them almost knocking Jeremy and Stephanie over. “He’s getting ready to go” said Stephanie. “But we can follow him!” She grabbed Jeremy, pulling him with her. They ran back to her house; Stephanie shouted a “its us Mum” before they thundered up the stairs to her room. The telescope pointed out of her window, straight at the moon. Stephanie put her eye to the viewer. “Let’s see if we can find…there he is. Have a look.” Jeremy looked. There was the Moon Moth, still standing on top of the shed, gazing upwards. His antenna were moving frantically now. Suddenly with a great flap that sounded like a circus tent collapsing the moth launched itself upwards, straight towards the moon. “He’s taken off” said Jeremy. “Okay, so follow him with the telescope…” Jeremey tracked the moth as it began to shrink with the distance, becoming smaller and smaller against the shining circle of the moon. Stephanie adjusted the settings as the moth got further away. “Okay” she said. So we’re at the furthest setting. You’re looking into space now…” Something caught Jeremy’s eye, in the periphery of his vision. Another flapping shape…and another. “Oh wow” he said.

“You’d better look at this…” Stephanie put her eye to the telescope and gasped. The Moon filled the viewer; it seemed to be covered with tiny flying things, all flittering and circling, revelling in the moon’s glow. “More Moon Moths. They’re coming; from the other planets, from outer space even…” Eventually the moths disappeared into the glow of the moon. “D’you think they live there?” asked Jeremy. “Well there’s no evidence; I mean the astronauts have never seen them, have they?” “How do you know all this stuff; is that on google too?” Stephanie grinned. “I do read books you know; and there is something called the dark web, so you are partly right…” “You know what I think…that they use the Moon for energy. Charge up on it perhaps; then who knows, perhaps they sail the galaxy, the light from the stars the wind in their wings…” “I hope so” said Jeremy. “At least…he’s not alone anymore.” He found himself staring at Stephanie; until she caught his eye and he looked away sheepishly. For a while they both stood, staring at the moon, and all the mysteries there and beyond.


The Colony 9 Incident The motors of the thrusters fired as we lifted off of the Exo-8175, a planet near the constellation Lyra.

I sat back in the black, cushioned seat as the g- forces pushed my body towards the back of the passenger cabin.

I remember the pilots saying the required "you might feel some discomfort during take off" speech.

Still, this was the least of my concerns now as I my mind recalled the massive explosion I had recently witnessed and all of the innocent lives that were lost. I shut my eyes during the take off sequence and I could see the images of all of the faces of the colonists. I saw the leader of the colony, a middle aged man with a brown mustache and beard and his daughter, who had just turned 20 Earth years old. There was a little boy there about 3 or 4 with red hair, being held in the arms of his mother.

They had looked to me, with eyes of someone pleading for clemency for a condemned man for assistance and I couldn't give them anything as much as I wanted to.

I failed them. " You let them die!", a voice in my head said as

the gas started putting me to sleep for the long journey back, but due some reason I fought back and struggled to remain conscious " No! I did what I had to do!

It was the only real choice!" , I screamed at the voice " Huh! Small comfort to Colony 9", it said to me in reply.

I shook myself awake again as the gas tried to coax me into sleep, but I wasn't done yet.

My trial had begun and I had to give an account of myself.

and with that thought in mind, I took out my pad, inserted small card and began a log entry.

Judicial Log: Colony 9 A month prior to my arrival, I had been called by the Council of Judhes to act as a mediator between two entities that had competing interests in the planet Exo-8175.

The two claims had been sent to Earth and had made a long journey to the powers that were and had eventually made it's way to the Council of Judges.

The council in turn, decided that they needed more information from the colony itself and had to send a representative to make the determination there on the planet itself.

For my assignment, I had to have the full dossier on Colony 9 pulled from the records as well as the planetary surveys that had been done on it 50 years ago. It took me a full day to go over all the records and claims in the government records office.

I found out that 50 years ago, a survey team determined that this planet was basically the size of Earth's moon and had an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere and there was ample plant and animal life there. About 5 years ago, a group of naturalists that called themselves, Colony, 9 had taken everything they had with them, including animals and plant life, packed them all on an old, broken down freighter from the junkyards around Ceres and left Earth and headed for Exo-8175 with the intent of making a colony there away from what they called, the chaotic administrations of the Ruling Council and the revival of the "Manifest Destiny" doctrine which basically stated "if we can see it, then it's ours" The other group that liked Exo-8175 was the Space Military Industrial Complex known as the Cadre and they had filed a claim on this planet as well for mining operations as well as a supply base for military fleet.

The planet was rich in mineral resources and it's location would give Earth Central a foot hold in that system for more expansion. The political climate back on Earth didn't help matters.

The Ruling council was divided on how to handle the two claims and had not made any official designation for the planet's use once it had been surveyed.

One faction sided with the "Manifest Destiny" doctrine and was eager to have the colonists removed as quickly and expeditiously as possible so that the military build up could begin.

The other faction was more aligned with the Colony 9 pacifists and had wanted to make sure that the colonists had a fair chance at making a viable colony independent of Earth Central, which didn't sit well with a lot of the other side who considered such an act as treasonous. Since the Ruling Council couldn't agree, the matter was sent to the Judiciary to decide and the Council of Judges, not wanting to make a decision sent me to the colony to basically be the fall guy if anything went wrong. I realized this part when I had finished reading the history and the dossier. The Council had given me the full authority to declare the status of Exo-8175. After a month long journey in sleep stasis,

met with the leader of COLONY 9, a man named Mark Lewis, and his daughter, Caroline at their home which was fashioned out the native rocks and mud.

and the kitchen was using an old style earth-oven that was something hadn't been seen in centuries since most of the food on Earth Central was preprocessed. The whole domicile was oddly ornate and almost mirrored a luxury hotel room in a sort of rustic way.

I felt that somehow, I had traveled to museum representation of early construction.

I had to admire the work. Mark explained the colonist's position on Exo-8175 at his dinner table, while eating a salad prepared from the local food on the planet. " You see," he said " the doctrine of Manifest Destiny works for us as well.

We agree with Earth Central that we humans do need to expand; we just disagree on how to do it.

Here, we just work within the environment rather than just marching in destroying it in favor of our old environment of plastics and steel". " Yes, " I said, taking a bite of the salad.

"I have to admit, I admire what you have done here. However, you must realize that it's going to take me than your interpretation of Manifest Destiny to convince the Council of Judges.

What else can you tell us? " " Well, the food here is plentiful, if you know how to prepare it and it could help Earth with food shortages there.

Our experiences here could be very useful to Earth.

This salad for instance contains a lettuce that has as much iron and vitamin content as a our own spinach, which is almost extinct, I might add, yet the flavor is entirely different.

The nuts in the toppings contain as much protein as our protein shakes.

Why there is enough supply here that we could end the food shortage on Earth and other colonies as well. All we need as the chance to prove that." "Earth has lost much when the land mass was used for more buildings, parking lots and as a result, there is a food shortage.

You know that everything is rationed on Earth." " You got Dad started and now he won't stop" she said as came in with drinks.

Her long, tropical print skirt, flowed and swayed with the motion of her movements.

She sat down to join us. "Ah yes! My own personal, peanut gallery here in the colony!" With a sarcastic bow, Caroline continued the conversation.

" This drink is made from a type of mint that grows here and only here and only in certain seasons." It was hard for me to describe the taste of this drink except to say that I definitely tasted the mint and something else that was like mango and orange.

"An excellent drink! " I said to her, savoring the tropical concoction with interest. It gave me the impression of being something that you would drink at the beach, lounging on the chairs and watching a sunset over the ocean. I wondered if this could revive a tourism industry

" Caroline has a natural affinity for botany.

She was at the top of her class back on Earth.' " Yes, I can see that " I said while sipping the drink " Well," I began as I stood up. " You have given me a lot to think about tonight. Tomorrow, the military representative will be here and her will present his case to me as well. After that, I will have to make a determination on the case.

I appreciate the hospitality you have given me." After that, I went back to the ship and rested in the cabin falling asleep to the faint sounds of alien birds flying in

the silver light of a double moon.

The morning came and I heard the unmistakable

roar of a military ship landing nearby and leaving scorched land in its wake.

Obviously, the Cadre had arrived and I got up from my bunk and got ready to meet with this representative who seemed to have brought a whole platoon with him.

They marched in unison towards my ship with the representative ahead of them.

His face was devoid of any sort of emotion except that of disdain which seemed to radiate amongst the entire company. There was a brisk knock on my cabin door as the pilot informed me of their arrival.

I had already changed and met the representative in the forward section of the ship which housed a plastic and steel conference table.

The representative was

a certain Captain Jennings, who greeted me rather stiffly and produced a packet of documents and pushed the lot in my hands without saying a word. I grasped the packet and looked at it while he stood at the entrance, stone-faced. The packet contained the text of the Military's claim on the Exo-8175 and restated the same claim, word for word what I read in the dossier and had the same beginning.. "We the people of the Earth Central, do declare that stars in the heavens are ours by right of Manifest Destiny and we shall take them by any means necessary.. etc etc..." and concluding with something about the importance of Earth's military might being supreme in all of the universe and hailing the great Emperor(who had been dead for 50 years and had no heir).

This was obviously some sort of power grab by the Cadre. I sighed as a I placed the packet down on the table. The papers spilled out of the file almost as if an old fashioned card dealer had laid them out for display. "Do you have anything to add?"

I asked Captain Jennings. He shook his head and left as stiffly as he had come, leaving me with the decision. I knew that this case had become a political football back on Earth and it was up to me and any decision I made would cause issues back on Earth and I would get the full blame. Talk about falling on your own sword. I examined the claims based on the claims alone looking as well as considering all the points of law that we had available that would be relevant to the case.

Then I considered the benefits and costs on both sides and both politically and the consequences for granting a claim to either party. If I granted the claim to the Colony 9 contingent, it would mean more civil unrest on Earth.

The Cadre would say that Council of Judges had usurped the power of the Throne and the Ruling Council and stir up more trouble until all out war ensued. If I granted the claim to the Cadre, then Colony 9 would be finished and the colonists would have no chance and they would have to go home as quickly as possible and there would also be more unrest on Earth.

Either choice would mean civil unrest and possible war. I hung my head trying to find a solution to this one.

"Mediate the dispute"

I was told by the Council of Judges.

Well,

I thought to myself, perhaps if I stick to the letter of the directive, I wouldn't have to actually make the decision but would just help the two parties to come to some sort of agreement, although, I held no illusions that this idea would be easy. I tried to meet with both the Cadre and the Colony leaders the next day at the colony's meeting hall an effort to get them talking.

I presented the issue at hand which was that I could not make a decision based on the Manifest Destiny claim alone since the Ruling Council had not approved a use for the this planet so the claims would be invalid on those grounds, so I gave them an alternative choice. They could share the planets resources in a sort of compromise

or they could both leave the planet empty handed and return to Earth.

Each party would develop Exo-8175 in their own way and contribute to the prosperity of Earth. Colony 9 was open to compromise but the Cadre representative, Capt. Jennings remained stone-face as ever and was visibly offended that he would be told to "go back to Earth empty-handed" After I presented my proposal, Captain Jennings began to talk cordially to Mark Lewis about sharing the resources.

The conversation went on for about a few hours as they talked. I decided to wait outside while they ironed out some kind of agreement.

I sat down at the bar in the foyer of the meeting hall and had the bartender make the lovely drink I had that first night.

I saw the boy watching me.

I smiled at him, as his mother came and picked him up.

I watched her go as he turned his head over her should and waved good bye to me as she walked out of the hall into the yellowish green sunlight. A few minutes, later, Mark and Captain Jennings came back from their talk.

Jennings left the building without speaking which left me with Mark. "Well?" I asked Mark. "He's unhappy about the arrangements", began Mark, "but he sort of gave me the impression that he would work within the confines of the law, whatever that may mean."

He pulled up a bar stool and got a drink for himself as well. "Very well, I can report to Earth that your two parties will be working together?" He handed me a draft copy of an agreement he had recorded.

"I explained that given the choice, we could both leave or we could both win"

and shrugged his shoulders.

"He seemed to agree to that piece of it and decided he would come back tomorrow so that we can decide what parts of this planet they want, you know, the boundaries, and so on." I held the silver tube containing the drive in my hand and glanced up at the blue sky that was partially obscured by the canopy of something like palm fronds and inhaled the smell of citrus letting it fill me. "Well,"

I said. "It sounds like mission accomplished and we have at least held off a civil war on Earth it seems.

Congratulations!"

"it's as they say... a step in the right direction, ay?"

he said as he took my extended hand. "Yes"

I said with a pause. "It is." The next morning, I was loading everything in the ship and getting ready for my departure.

I took a look around the area before I left and I saw that all was quiet.

The Colony 9 residents were still sleeping apparently, so I decided not to disturb them. I got into my cabin after instructing the pilot that we had completed our loading and we should get underway as soon as possible to present this draft agreement to the Council.

The ships anti-grav repulsors pushed us off of the ground slowly at first and then accelerated as we got closer to the trees.

I took one last look at the colony just in time to see the entire compound explode in flames.

I could barely make out some human figures as the fire licked its way through the flesh in a greedy frenzy.

I had never witnessed such cruelty. "You did this!" the voice said again. "No!

The Cadre did this! I could do nothing!" "Not true.

You could have saved them by deciding

in their favor."

While having this conversation with my tormentor or my conscience, I was also fighting the sleeping gas.

I took the log I had just written and also retrieved the draft contract.

I added my log to the encoded silver cylinder and waited.

After the ship left orbit, the gas came in my cabin more strongly but I had to stay awake just long enough... I took the encoded cyclinder to the back of the cabin and used the garbage disposal unit to get the cyclinder out of the ship hoping that someone would find it.

After that, I let the gas take me and I collapsed in the cabin just before the missiles hit us.

The cadre doesn't leave loose ends. I


Eleven years ago, it was summer break, and I just completed my first year of college. Instead of staying on campus, I decided to pack a bag and drive home for a few months. I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity for free rent and groceries. Plus, I wanted to see my high school friends again. After a month of doing the same thing every weekend, we were desperate for new ideas. Being the paranormal nerd that I am, I saw this as a chance to suggest a ghost hunting night out. Surprisingly, everyone was on board. The next question was, where should we go? After some quick Google searches, I found a forum that talked about a “haunted” park that was only 20 minutes away from us. Since the park closed at 10 PM and was regularly patrolled by cops, the forum suggested that night-time visitors should park in the nearby neighborhoods and walk to park entrance, to avoid being noticed. Easy enough we thought. We packed our flashlights and headed out to the park around 10 PM. In the car, I told them all about the history of the park and reported hauntings. *According to the forum thread, an axe murderer used to wander the woods at night, killing any unsuspecting night-time visitors. Although only 3 bodies were discovered, the actual number of victims who had fallen prey to his axe is still unknown to this day. Since then, it has been rumored that if you go to the park and walk the paths during a full moon between the times of 9:30 PM and midnight, mysterious balls of lights can be seen dancing around the woods. Some say you are left mesmerized by the dancing lights and unconsciously driven deeper into the woods. The further you go, the lights disappear and are replaced by insidious laughter and moaning screams. If you are really quiet and still, footsteps in the woods can be heard. The longer you remain standing, the closer the footsteps sound and are soon accompanied by heavy breathing. And if you are brave enough to wait until the footsteps are inches away, a feeling of dread and evil will wash over your body like a wave of thick fog before everything goes completely silent.* *People may go as far to say that these woods are cursed. Similar to the Japan’s Aokigahara forest, these woods have also driven hopeless souls to their end. For the finale, if you stand on one of the seven bridges, whispers of an apparition formed by the traveling mist above the water will develop in front of you. But no one has stuck around long enough to know what would happen next…* Before we even parked our car, everyone was already creeped out. As suggested by the forum, we parked in the neighborhoods and walked to the entrance. Luckily, the streetlamps did a good job illuminating the way, but they stopped before we reached the park’s entrance, leaving us in complete darkness. The first thing we did was cross a bridge into the woods. No one wanted to risk seeing an apparition quite yet, so we didn’t stand still for very long. I can’t remember if the moon was full, but we didn’t see any lights dancing around the woods as we walked down the paths. The more I think about it, I actually think there was no moon that night, because it was pitch dark. I remember laughing about how we couldn’t have picked a darker night. After about 30 minutes of walking through the woods with no sightings, we exited onto a beach that bordered Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful, warm night so we hung out on the beach for about an hour, gossiping, laughing, and telling ghost stories while we threw rocks into the water. Eventually, we decided to walk back to the car. On the way back through the woods, I distanced myself from everyone to see if I could catch something on my camera. I stood still on the path as my friends walked ahead of me. When they were far enough to where I couldn’t hear them talking, I decided to start walking again. But right before I left, I turned around to take one last picture of the path we were leaving behind… As soon as the flash went off, I heard a child giggle from the thicket of trees right next to me and I heard fast paced footsteps heading my way. My heart sunk to my stomach and I immediately had this feeling of dread take over my entire body. Within seconds, my fight or flight instincts kicked in and I took off running at top speed. It didn’t take long for me to catch up with my friends, but I didn’t stop there. I knocked over one of my friends and I kept running until the sickening sensation wore off. I stopped and turned around to see my friends running up behind me as well. I reached out to the one I knocked over to apologize and I felt her entire body shivering. *Why didn’t you say something?!* Was the first thing she said to me. *Let’s continue walking. I want to leave.* I apologized as we quickly walked back to the car and I told them what happened to me. Apparently, something similar happened to them too. After I knocked over my friend, the others helped her up. As they stood still for a few seconds, making sure nothing was dropped, they heard someone or something softly say “Come…,” which they almost blew it off as the wind. But what scared them the most was the sound of feet crunching the rocks into the dirt, heading their way. That’s when they took off running too. Maybe it was our imagination. Maybe we weren’t the only people ghost hunting that night. But I can honestly say that I have never encountered anything that has come close to giving me that same sense of dread.


(I got the idea for this from a writing prompt that said “Start a story with a sentence and then end it with the same sentence but in a completely different tone.” I also wasn’t sure if horror was exactly right, but I think so... here we are.) I knelt to the tub and slid my hand into the warmth, sighing, utterly content. I needed this. It had been such a long night at the hospital; being head of trauma had its perks, but last night was not a shining example. As I lowered my stiff, aching body into the hot bubbles, I could practically feel the stress melt off me. Legs relaxed and the little girl who swallowed a battery evaporated from my brain. My back relaxed into the lavender soak and the old woman who fell on the stairs breaking most of the bones on her left side bounded out the doors in my head. The pregnant woman who had gone into labor at her son’s band concert washed away with my hands, and the young man that had leaped from a building on a frat dare slipped out of my thoughts as I completely submerged myself. I let the bath jets kick on, creating a perpetual loop of bubbles. And hour later and I sat toweling my hair off at the foot of our bed. “Want to talk about it?” Liam asked as he ran his sturdy hands down my tense shoulders. Do I? I wondered to myself. A pause. Yes. Turning to look at him, I remembered a laundry list of reasons I love him. Deep green eyes that are always warm, how he never asks how work was because it’s never good, the way he never falters even when I’m at my worst… I could go on forever. “It was rough…” Liam nodded, solemnly. “I’ve let most of it go, but…” I trailed off, glancing behind him. He glanced back, following my gaze to the dresser mirror. “What’s wrong?” Concern seeped into his voice, hanging heavily in the air. “It’s just… been a long night.” I smiled half-heartedly. “Thought I saw something in the mirror.” I proceeded to tell Liam about the last patient I’d seen last night. He was brought in just after midnight. The kid was only 12. His father had found him in their attic covered in carvings — pentagrams, scratches, and other markings no one recognized were etched into his exposed skin and all over his back. Dad claimed the boy had gone to bed at 9. Dad had stayed up working and was headed to sleep when he heard deep chuckling and small whimpering from the closed attic. Their house had a pull-down ladders — no way the four-foot-nothing child had opened it on his own. But dad had a feeling and went to check his son’s room to be safe. It was good he did. When the boy got to the hospital, his temperature was problematically low and he’d gone slightly delirious with pain, probably exhausted too. He kept addressing someone in the corners of the rooms, occasionally screaming to get out, sometimes whispering to come closer. We’d stabilized him though. He was given painkillers and sleeping medicine then his wounds were stitched, dressed, and meticulously watched by the nurses. He would be fine, but he’d have the scars forever. Hospital policy in these cases is pretty clear; social services was called, police were brought in to interview the father who hadn’t even his son since they arrived, and hospital security posted a guard at the room door at all times until we heard otherwise from the authorities. It almost felt cruel. My gut told me this wasn’t child abuse, but that wasn’t my job to determine. Liam, of course, listened intently. He asked some questions, but ultimately let me get the whole story off my chest. “Is that everything?” he asked cautiously. “You still seem a little frazzled.” I pondered for a minute. Was that all? What am I not saying? Then it hit me. “The boy,” I said, “he coughed up blood all over my face.” Why hadn’t I remembered that? Liam pulled back a fraction of an inch. “It’s why we ended up sedating him.” “Are you okay?” “Of course.” I waved the questions off. “Full blood panel on both of us immediately following. I’m on mandatory 72 hour leave while samples culture, but it’s not like he had ebola.” I smiled, full and vibrant this time. “It’s a mini vacation.” “I’m sorry I’ll miss most of it then,” he laughed, pulling me to lay normally on the bed. “This meeting is what I would have at the bottom of my list of shit-I-could-do-this-weekend.” He wrapped his arms around me and I let my head hit the pillow, sleep taking me as I whispered how much I loved my husband. When I woke up, I was alone. The curtains were drawn, but some of the midday light peaked through. There was a folded piece of paper on the nightstand. Off to Chicago. I’ll call when I land at O’Hare. Dinner has been ordered and I’ll see you tomorrow night. Love, Liam I don’t know what I did to deserve that man, but I will forever be thankful for him. I got up, started coffee, took a quick wake up shower, poured coffee, and sat down in the living room. I grabbed my controller and powered everything up. Sipping my coffee, I watched the procession of startup logos -- Samsung, PS4, PS4 warnings, pentagram, PS4 startup menu -- wait. I blinked. Pentagram?? Power down everything. Wait a minute. Power up TV. Normal. Make sure input is correct. Power on PS4. Logo. Warnings. Startup menu. No pentagram. Probably just still waking up. Everything is fine. I downed my first cup of coffee and poured a second. For a few hours, I played video games and forgot all the work stress and the pentagram until a sharp knock at the door brought me back to reality. It was 6:30pm. The sunlight had all but disappeared. A second knock. I scrambled up and managed to open the front door before a third knock came. Pizza. Liam knew just what to do to cheer me up. “Tip is already included,” the delivery girl I’d seen a few times before said. She handed me three boxes - one pizza and two small long ones. “You guys enjoy.” “Just me tonight,” I said smiling. “Have a good night.” I handed her another $5. She looked confused, glancing behind me then towards her car then back to me. She smiled hesitantly but said good night and left. I raised an eyebrow. She must have expected Liam because his name was on the receipt. Closing the door, I headed back to the living room and… I backtracked to the hallway mirror. Was that someone walking behind me as I crossed in front of it just now? I walked back to the front door, then back to the living room, watching the reflection as I went. No. Must have been the shadow behind me that caught my eye. As I sat back down, I grabbed my phone. I hadn’t heard from Liam yet, but I know his company often gets flights with long layovers to save money. Liam probably checked the bag with his charger. What was I going to do with him? I chuckled. I tried calling anyway. “You’ve reached Liam. Please leave your message here and I’ll r̵etu̡r̨n҉ y̶ou̖̫͞r̘͎ ̸̹c̵a̤̥̲̹̝̫l̥̫l̹̺̫̱̱̫̺̀ a̛̪̩͘s̫͇͚̤͘ ̢̗̻̱̥͕̣s̟̘̻o̶͍̮̫̮͎̻̺o̸̗͓̺̖͡ń̖̹̠̥̞̣̬̝͔ ͖͇̞̠̘̯͈͢a̶̹̪̦̲̠̞s̥͙̗͇͈̖̩ ̢͚̯͢I̷̡̖̻͉͍̹̜̜̤͖ ̸̶͉͚̟͉̞̻͉͈͘c̡̖̣͍͜a̷̯͇͇͈̩̺n̢͍̖̯̳̟̯̞̲̱.̨̳͓̦͔͖̦̟̀͘ ̸̛҉̬͔͓̞̼T҉̶̗͕͕̙h͉̤̟̭̫̯a̷̶͇̰n̳̗̼̯̩̰̻͚͞k̡͎ͅs̴̥͕͎̞̻͟͝.͎̜͙̪̞̟̝” ̫̫̟ The audio got weird. Words scratched apart and jumbled, then the call disconnected. Did he power on his phone? I redialed. “You’ve reached Liam. Please leave your message here and I’ll return your call as soon as I can. Thanks.” Beep. I hung up. Definitely not on. I decided to message him on Facebook. If his laptop was connected, he’d see me on and maybe we could chat. After sending him a short thank you with a picture of my pizza, I dug in and turned on a movie. Rom-com, of course. I could use a- was that one of the symbols from the kid’s arm? Just now? On my rom-com opening credits? I put down my pizza and skipped back. Starring…. Nothing. No weird symbols. Just actors and actresses and directors. I blinked a few times, rewound one more time, then slowly went back to eating dinner. Probably time for real sleep after this. I ended up dozing after dinner. I woke up to the final swell of the orchestra as the couple said “I do” and kissed. Camera panned up to the perfect sky, and credits started to roll. On my phone, I had two notifications from Facebook Messenger. Liam: Hey you. Glad pizza is good. I’m on layover in Denver. Charger is in my suitcase and my phone died. :( I’ll call from hotel. Love you. Liam:⛧ H̷̞̞̥̬̘͉͍̘̞̥̻͐ͧ̌ͩͦ̃ͬ̀͢e͒ͦ̋ͮͩ̄͐̌̽̌́҉̵͖͉̥͈̰̭͈̥̥͖̯̣͇͕ ̵̼͚̲̻͇͓͕̘͈̙̜̱̠̦̳͎ͥ͒̒̅́̋̏͂̐̀ͫ́ͪͯ̈̅͡ͅi͕̩̮̪̝̝͎ͦ͗͛ͮ̂ͨͥͩ̄̀s̛̛̭̟͕̤͔͋̇͛̈́ͅ ̨̆ͦͩ̿̃ͨ̐̎̓̈ͭ́̅ͧ̉͋̚̚͝҉̸̪̩̹̟̙̝͍͘hͨͪ͌͛͂͗͂̂ͯ͋ͨ̇̓̇̒̆҉҉̰̫̥̪̻̲̦̙͟ͅe̎̊̊̉̈ͦ͒̂͟͠͠҉̯̬̻͇͉̹͚̱̤͇͍̗͖̠̟ͅr̵̢͓̖̠̼̘̦̞͙̹̻̬̭͎̗͙̻̲̮ͥ̎̂̈ͪͫ̀ͤ̽̄̈ͤͨ̃͒ͯ͂̀̚͡ͅē̛̦͎̗̖̠̊ͩͤ͐̆̐̑̈́͒̎̾̀͘̕ ̸̙̳̪̦̼̳̜̰̩̰̩̘̮̞͍͎̈ͬ̈́̀͗ͫͨ̕͟͢͠w̌͂̀ͬ͌̑͐̽ͮͯ̄̎̆̚҉̠̹̜̻̭̀̀i̧̾ͬ̂̊̆ͩͦͭ͆҉͔͙̖̖̥̙̫̀ţ̶̛̝͚̺͓̘̠̌̏͑̎ͧ̌̑͒ͦ͒ͥ̀͆͌ͫͅḩ̤̣̠͇̿ͫͩͭ̽̋͋ͭ͋͛͘͘͡ ̘͙̘̦̫̣̠̥ͤ́ͪ͆́͐͌ͩ̅͑͑ͤ̌̇̕y̡̙͍̠̝̰̪̻̫̥͎̗̹̯̟͇̥̦̓ͧ̓ͬ̓̓ͩ͗ͯ̀̚͝͞͠ͅò̶͇͎̝̟͙̗̰͖͚͙͇̱̮̟̀ͫͥ̋̿̉̊̃ͯ̑̏̕̕͟ͅų̷̩͕̬̩̳̩͇͓̘̳̻̙͎̄̃̅ͭ̐̇ͪ̀̒ͪͤ̿̅̐̈́̇͠.̈ͫ̒̓̈́́ͨ̅͊ͣ̈ͥ̕͜҉̢̥̟̤̙̻̰͎͚͚̞̻͉̙̫̦̭ ⛧ The second message had two pentagrams surrounding dozens of incomprehensible words and symbols. I blinked. They were still there. I took a screenshot, closed the app, and reopened the messages. The symbols and gibberish had changed to real words. Liam: ♡ Hope you enjoy your movie and alone time. ♡ Rubbing my eyes, I sighed. Time for bed. I turned everything off and headed upstairs, ignoring the chuckling and shadow that crept behind me in any mirrors I passed. As I laid down, my phone started to buzz. I sat back up. A local number was calling me. Why so late? It was almost 9pm. I silenced the ringer. If it was important, they’d leave a message. That night was restless. I kept moving and dreaming of a shadow behind me. I dreamt of living in my video game, all stealth and assassin. I dreamt of killing someone. I woke up with a start. I had a voicemail from last night. It was 3:30am. There was a message in my email from the hospital telling me the boy with the cuts had died. “Don’t laugh, it’s rude,” I told the shadow in the mirror. I listened to the voicemail as the shadow and I walked into the bathroom. “Hi, this is Lisa from Liam’s office. Liam never made it to the airport and his phone goes straight to voicemail. You’re his emergency contact, so we just wanted to check and make sure he’s alright. Thanks!” Liam’s green eyes stared up at me from the bathtub, no longer vibrant and full of life. A huge gaping wound glistened on his neck. My shadow friend nodded with approval as I set our phones on the sink counter. I knelt to the tub and slipped my hand into the warmth, sighing, utterly content.


12 October 2012 The Gorda Springs Inn is a popular resort in Big Sur, California; its spectacular beach, with its white sand and blue water, attracts campers, hikers, and musicians and movie stars trying to escape civilization. Leonardo Flores, the manager of the holiday resort, probably thought that his day was going to be the same as the rest, but something told him all was not well: two guests still hadn’t checked out of the apartment when they should have. ‘What the hell is wrong with them?’ he asked himself and started walking up towards the two women’s rooms. He didn’t know what was waiting for him beyond the door. A week before, the two women checked into the $250, one-bedroom, wooden, ocean-view vacation home. Upon booking, they oddly asked the owner not to rent out the room next door. However, the resort was unable to comply with this request. They refused daily cleanup. Regardless, the two women appeared perfectly normal to witnesses at the hotel, with no signs of anything out of the ordinary. However, One evening a man who was next door with his family complained that something was wrong with the couple. He said that they were making too much noise and that it was keeping his family up at night. During the night, there was a loud banging on the wall of the house and a man knocked on Tapia and Toves’ door. ‘Could you please stop making noise?!’ – the man shouted at the door but there was no answer. When one of the women opened the door more than 15 minutes later, he didn’t say a word; she simply shut the door in the man’s face. Abigail Tapia, 27, and Jacqueline Toves, 26, who lived together in a Long Beach apartment, were lying side by side on their backs on a double bed in the room. Their hands were bound together with duct tape and their heads were covered by black plastic garbage bags, which were also taped down. Tapia’s hands and feet were tightly bound, while the rope tying Toves was much looser. One of them wore a grinning Halloween mask placed on the bag, while another mask lay on the bed. The same mask, incidentally, was later discovered by police on the door of the two women’s home when they visited it. The Monterey County sheriff said it was a double suicide and that’s how the case was being handled. There was no sign of burglary, robbery or violence. The room appeared to be clean and no signs of a struggle were found. What was found in the room, however, were two letters – one typed, the other handwritten and dated late September. ‘The letters, addressed to family members, indicated that the women planned the double suicide together,’ authorities said. ‘It was clear from the letters that they were both desperate and wanted to carry this out,’ said Monterey Sheriff’s Commander Fred Garcia, who led the investigation. Garcia, however, declined to elaborate on the contents of the letters but revealed that Toves, who was unemployed, owed $63,000. ‘I spoke to my daughter every week and she gave me no cause for concern the last time we spoke. I want to find out what happened and I want to know the truth. My daughter is a happy and spirited girl,’ Toves’ father said when told of the sheriff’s suicide theory. The only flaw in the story is that the father said his daughter apparently suffered from depression two years ago and had to be hospitalized once because of it – could it have any significance? The two women checked into the $250, one-bedroom, wooden, ocean-view vacation home on October 3. Upon booking, they oddly asked the owner not to rent out the room next door. However, the resort was unable to comply with this request. The daily cleanup was specifically refused. On Wednesday, they ordered pasta and a bowl of clam chowder from the inn’s Whale Watcher Cafe and took it back to their room. Regardless, the two women appeared perfectly normal to witnesses at the hotel, with no signs of anything out of the ordinary. The autopsy results only raised further questions. Neither woman suffered any external injuries, with no signs of bruising or stabbing. Traces of alcohol and intermittent recreational drug use were found in their blood, but not in amounts that could have been dangerous. The suicides seem to be quite common in and around Big Spur. While many attribute this to the depression and loneliness that seem to plague the area, some suspect the presence of mysterious forces at work. Over the centuries, hikers and tourists have reported sightings of shadowy people in the region. Some say that these figures are the spirits of those who have taken their own lives. Others claim that they are something more sinister. Whatever the case may be, the presence of these dark entities has made Big Spur a place of fear and mystery. Some people overcame a sense of helplessness and despair and they can’t explain it. They feel as if they were being watched over by some higher power. But there are reports of an unknown creature appearing from time to time at the nearby Fernwood Campground, appearing to wear a mask. The creature is associated with the Essenes Indian tribe, who is believed to still have a presence in the area due to their anger at being subjugated by settlers in the past. These stories do not explain this death, but they are worth noting. The creature is said to be tall and lanky, with a long face that is half-hidden by a mask made of leaves and twigs. The eyes of the creature are said to be black and piercing, and it is said to have a voice that is both calming and frightening. Some say that the creature is a spirit guide, come to help those who are lost. Others say that it is a demon, that comes to claim the souls of those who have died. Others, however, have reported several recent deaths in the area: in August, a 38-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman were reportedly found dead in an SUV in an isolated area far north of Gorda. A hose from the exhaust pipe led to the rear window, and the couple is believed to have died in June. Also, in recent months, a man was found hanging from a tree a few miles south of Gorda, according to several Big Sur residents. Several suicides also occurred at Camel Middle School following the incident, but also on the Bixby Creek Bridge. In addition, there have been mysterious deaths on the roadside. If we look at the case more closely, however, we can see that the picture does not quite add up. Police say that Tapia first tied Toves’ hands and feet together, then his own, and then pulled the bag over his head and died peacefully next to his partner. This is possible but unlikely. It is the basic instinct of all living things that if suffocation occurs or an obstruction in the airflow of the lungs, we will struggle to breathe. It is impossible to suffocate without calmly allowing life to escape. It is sad that tragic events are happening in such a gorgeous and attractive place. The sun always seems to be shining here, and the sky is a deep, rich blue. The flowers are so vibrant and the trees are so tall. It’s almost as if this place is too good to be true. Supernatural or not, something makes people meet their doom. There’s a feeling in the air like something is watching you. And when the wind blows, it seems to whisper secrets.


Throbbing, empty, and distraught, I rested my skull against the vibrating windows of the great bullet train. Soaring Carrion Crows glided far above in the deep ocean sky, below the hidden moon but above the silky clouds. Them and I were one in the same, wandering in a vast world that held nothing at its core. A cruel place pitted against you. An impossible game of push and pull against god himself. “We have arrived at Narusawa, Yamanashi.” There I stood at the foot of the dense forest, nicknamed the ‘Sea of Trees’ or the ‘Suicide Forest’. The great mountain stood far back in the thick woodlands, though its peak shone brighter with a pride greater than any other. My eyes naturally drifted along the beautiful landscape. From the mighty white peak of Fuji-san, to the bushy green leaves far below and finally the dark forest floor, littered with bushes and various flora. I was ready. I entered the forest cautiously. It was awfully peaceful in here, like a sanctuary sealed off from the other worlds. The chirps from the birds, the sharp crunches from the dead leaves under me, and the whistling of the winds all harmonized together like a great symphony. However, this was not the time to appreciate the surrounding beauty yet, as the faint roars of the distant cars could still be heard. It was time to head in further and abandon the path ahead of me. The sounds of the cars grew smaller and weaker, as did any traces of society. I was now alone for sure. I sat down, placing the back of my head on the jagged bark of a large needleleaf tree. Small specks of sunlight pierced through the small openings in the leaves and branches, bestowing its warmth upon my skin. I could feel its delicate warmth; it resembled my mother’s touch. “Hi there, mister,” came an unknown voice. Startled, I jerked my head to the side to face the unknown voice. It belonged to a young Japanese girl who looked no older than 7. She fashioned simple and childish clothes, as expected from her age, but it was how clean they were which made her presence very uncanny. “What are you doing here, mister?” the keen, little voice continued. I stuffed the rope behind the tree from where she was facing, hoping to hide it. Whatever she was, she didn’t need to know the truth. No one did. “Just relaxing,” I lied. Her head turned slowly to the side and her eyes met something far in the distance, beyond the countless trees and deep in the forest. With that, the once large smile from her face sank into a slight frown, as though she was disappointed. “No one ever walks off the main path for an adventure anymore. All they want to do is die, just like you mister. Am I right?” The symphonies started once again, with the rustling leaves from the surrounding trees, the soothing songs from the singing birds, and the soft voice from the young girl. Though this girl’s voice had different air to it. When compared to the roaring screams and constant chatter of the people in the city, her voice was like a warm shallow creek or a bird chirping happily in Spring. It felt as she was a part of the forest, as if she were born and belonged there. I let out a soft sigh, giving up on my small ploy. “Yes, I have come to commit suicide. Anything wrong about- “ “Why?” The girl cut in abruptly. “Well… life has just been cruel to me. I don’t think you would understand, kid, but there’s just no more point in walking this earth and living this life of which I’ve never asked for,” I said. She looked down to the hard ground and pondered. After some time collecting dust and too into dusk, she looked back up at me. “Come,” she suggested. I followed her, although hesitantly. The thoughts of who she was and why she was here in such an isolated place still loomed in my head. We trekked through numerous creeks, through many trees, and even passed by a through bodies on the way by. Curious, I asked, “So how did you get here? “I forgot,” she said. “What?” I replied stunned. “I’ve been here for a long time. As long as these trees, so give me a break,” she said bluntly. “So, you can’t remember?” “That’s right. Though I have a feeling that I’m somehow linked to the Shinto here.” she said. “Anyways, we’re almost there.” After a little more walking, we arrived at a small clearing. In the middle, sat a lone Shinto Shrine. Its presence dominating the empty expanse, like a crimson flare in the dead of the night. We approached it closer, being careful to not step on the myriad flowers of which filled the ground generously. “Pray to it,” she smiled. I gave her a confused look and just decided to give in. I went down on my knees, shut my eyes, and gave my prayers. I wasn’t sure to which god or being I was praying to, but all I hoped for was a change in my life, hopefully a change for the better. I opened my eyes after finishing my prayer. A dark void appeared in front of me. A gaping borehole, just one misguided step away. I instinctively scurried back but was stopped by a pair of hands on my lower back. I felt a firm push. I turned my head, looking back, and she was there. Her two hands lurched out front as she smiled, as if she were happy for me. “I hope you understand now,” she whispered, and just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone along with the ground beneath me. An endless pit. I stared down into the dark below, panicking. My stomach churned from within, and my heart drummed like thunder. The wind no longer howled above me but screamed in my ears as I dropped. Black, despairing, hopeless, relentless. Everything in this hell hole, everything in this life of mine. We were one the same, just as with the birds, and the trees, and perhaps everything that ever came to live. However, with every dark cloud came a silver lining. Within the darkness and shadows that consumed both my mind and me, there was a spark of light. Within the nearing grasp of death, my mind escaped from its timely leash, and I began to reminisce. Reminisce on the times with my family, the great events that filled my life, and the beauty of a world filled with light, not darkness. This was what it felt like to live. As these memories surfaced in my mind, a small light at far down in the abyss surfaced too. The light slowly became more immense and grew as I continued to travel towards it at terminal velocity. I reached out my hand towards it, gathering all my might and battling against the counterforces that shackled me. The light got larger and larger, until all that was left was light, and oddly a small bed at the bottom. I landed in the bed with ease, sinking my face in the soft bedsheets, somehow unscathed. I brought my head above and peered around. It was my room. There was no longer any darkness or light around, just my room. Confused, I got up from my bed and looked up above, only to find the ceiling. This was no dream, this was real. This was her. I ripped open the curtains and in came the bright morning sun. The birds were chirping once again.


My name is Dante, and we get to eat the last box of cookies today. We’ve been saving them for something special. Today is special because I am five. I was four yesterday, and before that I was three, two, and one. Before I was one, I was in Babe’s tummy. Drake put me there. Drake is twenty-two. Babe is twenty-one. I’m so excited for the cookies. We will get to eat them instead of potatoes from the bathroom. Babe and Drake put a garden in the bathroom when I was two. I put poo in there to feed the food. We put seeds in there from old food, but they can’t be wet seeds. Seeds must dry before they grow. Never eat seeds, even if you are really hungry. Babe always says “Eating a potato seed today won’t fill you up the way a potato would tomorrow.” The rest of the cookies were gone a long time ago. Babe ate them when I was in her tummy. I’m so hungry that sometimes I will eat the leaves off of the plants when Drake isn’t in the bathroom. Drake was in the bathroom all night trying to fix the generator. We stopped using the generator for seeing lights when I was two. Now we only use it for the food lights in the bathroom. The food lights feed plants like the sun used to do. I’ve never seen the sun. The sun lives Outside with God and dogs and cars and rain and heaven and trees and buildings. It used to make light Outside until it stopped. Drake says God isn’t real, but Babe always yells at him when he says that. I don’t think God or the sun is real. Babe tried to show me a picture of the sun once. It was in the kindling. Babe will stare at the kindling for hours with her brown hair hiding her face before giving it to Drake to make fire. She says the stories hide in the kindling. I shook the kindling as hard as I could, but no stories fell out. It’s really cold everywhere in Wal-Mart. Yesterday, it was warm in the bathroom because of the food lights. Today it isn’t because we don’t have any more oil. Oil smells bad. We make it warm near the dressing room by making fire. Drake will start by setting fire to kindling with the old sparks from the night before. Then Babe will add pieces of chairs, or shelves to make it burn longer. I tried to make fire to surprise them once, but I messed up. The fire on the kindling was so pretty; I tried to pick it up to show Drake. My hands are rough and scratchy where the fire bit me. The floor is black where I held the fire. Babe sometimes points to different places on the floor and tells me stories about the spots. The biggest spot is brown and black. It’s outside the dressing room. That’s where I left Babe’s tummy. There is a brown spot where the floor changes from carpet to tile. I threw up there back when I was sick. Babe was really scared because the medicine was old. She didn’t want to give me medicine to make me better because it might have made me dead. I didn’t want to eat the medicine either, but Drake made me and I got better. Everyday I go shopping with Babe. I push the cart to make my muscles strong and Babe puts food in the cart for us to eat. I don’t know why she never adds more food. I used to ask her to put more food in, but she would start crying. I don’t ask anymore. There’s not much food on the shelf anymore. That’s why we can’t eat as much. Once a week, we take the cart to the toy aisle and I get to put a toy in the cart. I like the puzzles the best. The pieces fit together and make a picture. When I’m done with a puzzle Babe tells me all about the picture. My favorite puzzle had bears on it. Bears eat salmon. When I finish a puzzle, Drake adds it to the kindling. After we shop, Drake meets us in the dressing room. We eat on the futon where we sleep. We have eleven blankets to make the futon softer. Babe and Drake keep me warm with their bodies. Drake’s hair smells like oil. It makes me sneeze. Babe tells me a story every night before we sleep. My favorite story is about how Babe and Drake came to Wal-Mart. ••• Goldville was evacuated. Evacuated means everybody left. Goldville is with the sun and God and dogs and cars and rain and heaven and trees and buildings. Babe and Drake were driving the car that’s by the gates. Then there was an earthquake. That means the floor shook a lot. Drake got distracted by the earthquake and crashed into the doors. The doors used to be where the gate is. The bathroom has a door. The dressing rooms don’t have doors. They have curtains. Babe and Drake sat in the car for a while until Drake’s ears heard a jingle. The gates were closing. They shut with a bang! The gates were supposed to keep bad people from stealing food from Wal-Mart. Stealing means taking things without giving money for it. Babe says I don’t need to know what money is because it’s too complicated. We aren’t stealing because we aren’t taking the food Outside of Wal-Mart. The roads Outside were broken, and a lamppost fell over in front of the Wal-Mart. A lamppost is a really tall seeing light for when the sun leaves at night. It’s always night now. Babe and Drake couldn’t get out because of the gates were blocking the Outside, so they went back to the car and turned on the radio. The radio beeped and then turned on the emergency station. The guy hiding in the radio said, “The earthquake has reached 7.6 on the Richter Magnitude scale. Its epicenter is in Gardiner, Montana.” “That’s only a few hours north of here!” shouted Babe. “What are we going to do?” “Babe, calm down.” Drake comforted Babe this way ever since they met. “This building is solid. It’s not going anywhere. You-” He was interrupted by the radio’s fuzzy voice. “Prepare for aftershocks. Find shelter under a doorframe, or sturdy table. If you are Outside move away from buildings and power lines that can fall on you. Crouch on the ground and tuck your head into your knees. Protect your neck with your hands.” The radio kept talking as Drake and Babe fought about what to do. “Drake! We have to get out! The building might fall in!” Babe was very scared. Tears slid down her pink cheeks, but Drake calmed her down and made her stay in the car. The car would protect them from falling stuff. The shelves are all bolted to the floor so they didn’t fall, but everything fell off the shelves. The floor started to shake again and Babe and Drake crouched on the seats until it stopped. Glass bottles crashed to the ground and broke. The guy in the radio kept talking but Babe and Drake couldn’t hear anything over the rumbling. The floor makes noise when an earthquake happens. “The after shock…rumble rumble…Yellowstone…. Erupting … Crash!... Ash in the air..Boom!...Seal doors and windows…Bang!” Then, the radio stopped working and the second earthquake stopped. There were a lot more tiny earthquakes before Drake got out of the car to look around. There was broken glass everywhere. Don’t touch broken glass or you will bleed. Tables were knocked over and a lot of signs broke off of the walls. Fish tanks in the pet aisle were broken and fish flopped all over the floor in the glass. Drake tried to save the fish and put them in a big bucket of water. The fish all died and he later used that water to fertilize the bathroom. The pink tub for my bath used to be that bucket. Drake wasn’t scared at all until he looked Outside. In the sky was a big gray cloud moving closer and closer. It was the ash from the volcano. A volcano is an evil mountain that squirts lava and ash into the air. “Get out of the car!” Drake yelled. Babe didn’t want to leave the safety of the car, but she had to help. They grabbed the same cart that we still use for shopping and picked stuff from the mess. Babe and Drake worked together to put layers of tarps, blankets, and shower curtains over the gates to keep the ash from making their lungs not work. Lungs keep you alive by making you breathe. They didn’t just cover the gates. They covered windows and cracks in the walls attaching them all with a nail gun and duct tape. Anywhere that air could get in was protected from the ash. It took a whole day for them to start eating the food because they didn’t have money to pay for it. Drake and Babe were scared of getting in trouble. Nobody came to help by then so Drake got some yogurt from the refrigeration section. Dairy stuff was eaten first so it didn’t expire. Expired food can make you sick. After a week they started to eat the meat, it was cooked in the Subway. The Subway used to be filled with sandwich stuff but it’s all gone now. The layer of blankets by the gate was starting to bulge by then. The ash was falling and building up in front of the store. Babe felt it through the tarps. Eventually the ash would’ve broken through the blankets and tarps. Babe and Drake could’ve been buried alive. So they nailed some flat boards from the shelves to the wall and put layers of shelves in front of the gates to keep the ash out. They took tabletops from subway to block the windows once the ash started to reach window height as well. They ate the produce and frozen stuff together. I remember the last package of hot dogs. They tasted so good. The fire makes a crinkly black part on the hot dogs. It looked like my hands. I liked hotdogs because they were like me. On the last day of hotdogs, I ate an entire half! Some of the produce rotted before we got to eat it, but Drake took the seeds to the bathroom to make new food. Not all of the seeds grew but the ones that did, became food. Now we only have non-perishables left. That means the food won’t go bad. But the potatoes are dying and there’s not much food left. ••• One month later… I have a new favorite story now, and I would like to tell it to you today. It starts the day after my birthday. Babe was crying about how we were all going to die. She told me all about the outside world and why we couldn’t leave even if we wanted to because the ash built up taller than the doors long ago. Drake was listening to the story too and suddenly stood up. For the first time ever Drake told a story. It wasn’t about the past. It was about the future. He remembered that Wal-Mart shared a wall with a grocery store Outside. A grocery store is a place like Wal-Mart but filled with food. If we broke the wall, we would just end up inside of the grocery store. He tapped all along the wall to find a place in the concrete without metal beams and drew a door on the wall with chalk. Then he got a big hammer that’s called a sledgehammer and he started hitting the wall with it. He must’ve hit it over a gazillion times! Soon enough we could see through the hole. After 3 days worth of work there was a hole big enough for me to crawl though. I was really scared but Babe pushed me through the hole. Babe and Drake couldn’t fit though the hole because they are adults. I crawled out into the dark, and it smelled like inside the bathroom. Then my eyes started to see from the fire on the Wal-Mart side of the hole. There were inches and inches of gray dust on everything. There was shelf in front of me and boxes on the floor. There were so many boxes everywhere. I picked one up that looked familiar. I brushed off the gray dust, and there was a picture of cookies on the front! I opened the box from the top carefully to not rip the kindling. I did it just like Drake showed me. There were twelve precious cookies and I ate them all as fast as I could. Babe couldn’t stop me from the other side of the hole. I ate two more boxes before I remembered why I was here. I took as many boxes as I could back to the hole and pushed them through. Drake and Babe pulled me through and then we all ate together. It was the happiest moment of my life. The next day, Drake made the hole bigger and we all went shopping in the grocery store. There was a gazillion cans of food. All the produce was rotten but we found seeds for the garden and batteries for our flashlights. Babe says the grocery store is called Super Giant. I think she’s wrong. The grocery store is called heaven.


Ryan peered over his newspaper as Jesse entered the coffee shop and walked to the counter. Hating surprises, Ryan always sat where he could see the door. ‘What’s he doing here? Does he never stop?’ Ryan knew his nemesis always appeared without warning. Though it sometimes felt there was no escape, he prided himself on always finding an out. ‘Look at him. He can go anywhere, any time, and savor a rich, extra foam cappuccino, while I pinch pennies on the go. So unfair.’ In no hurry, Jesse stood as if modeling his tailored suit, awaiting his turn. He could afford the few minutes spent to get his coffee made to order. When his creditor addressed the barista, Ryan took his chance to slip out the door. Hood up, he huddled against the wind and sipped his black coffee as he jaywalked to the park. ‘He won’t be there. Who would go there in this cold?’ Ryan found a tree and leaned against the downwind side. He kept his eye on the coffee shop so no one could sneak up on him. ‘This sucks. How can I enjoy a simple coffee in the morning?’ Ryan chuckled. ‘Of course, I could pay my debt. Or fly to the moon? Just as easy... No guarantee he wouldn’t follow… or be there waiting.’ He shivered against a blast of wind. ‘…Bet the moon is warmer, though. No wind. ’ He thought about his missteps leading to his current quandary. He’d never been a gambler, but a juicy opportunity came along. He’d have made a killing if... That sure thing would have set him for life. Too good to pass up, he’d borrowed what he needed from Jesse, his best friend, to be repaid within the year. They’d once been closer than brothers. That was two years ago. But it all went south. Everything. The economy dived. Ryan lost everything, job, girlfriend, respect. Now he scraped by on unemployment and odd jobs. Who could see that coming? ‘Damn! ’ He couldn’t pay. Humiliated, Ryan broke from Jesse and his whole circle of friends. It was too much. ‘ How they must laugh together while living the high life. ’ He spent his days here and there, looking for work. Trying to survive. Once a highflyer, like his friends, he had no references. Any job he sought, he risked meeting someone from his past, a friend of Jesse’s. He felt his life drawn into the eddy of a slowly draining sink. Lately, it seemed he spent more time hiding than anything. Getting creative, Ryan became a master of avoidance. He dressed differently. Changed his car. Delisted his phone. Moved to a different, cheaper, neighborhood. After months, there was no relief in sight. He couldn’t sit at a bar for a simple drink. If someone sat next to him, he had to leave. Might be a friend of Jesse’s. ‘ Make new friends? You’ve gotta be kidding. ’ It’s a big city, but a small town. Yet, it was never enough. It felt like Jesse always found him. Yet, he never confronted. Not Jesse’s style. He didn’t even acknowledge him, like at the coffee shop. But he was always there. Present. ‘ Is he toying with me? Rubbing my nose in my failures? ’ Ryan stamped his feet against the cold. ‘ What’s he doing in there? ’ He thought about what he’ll do when finally confronted. ‘ He gonna shake me down? Break my kneecaps? No. He’ll look sad, play the ‘guilt’ card. I’ll tell him what I really think. And to stop harassing me.’ A late model limo pulled up and idled outside the coffee shop. It was Jesse’s. One night, outside a club, he saw that whale of a limo. Though tempted to kick out a taillight, he stopped himself. That rich pleasure would’ve been fleeting. Not Ryan’s way. ‘ There could have been witnesses. But the memory is sweet. That would’ve felt good. Boy, he’d have been pissed… ’ Setting his coffee down, Ryan ran in place to warm himself. ‘It’s his fault for trusting me. What did he expect, the fool, lending a fortune to a friend? Who does that? Calls himself a businessman. Didn’t even ask questions.’ Ryan ducked behind the tree as Jesse exited the coffee shop and got into the limo. It pulled away. ‘ Not only a limo, but a new one?’  He scoffed at the license plate: GR8CRDT. He downed his tepid coffee and tossed the cup. ‘ Screw him. Doesn’t need my money anyway.’ Feeling liberated, he walked toward his apartment block. ‘ Not watched. Not tracked. A few minutes peace from that bastard’s relentless pursuit.’ Ryan looked over his shoulder. ‘ Unless he drove around the block for a ‘gotcha!’’ He dismissed the paranoid fantasy. ‘ Don’t get crazy, Ry. Jesse doesn’t obsess over this.’ He waited at a light and watched the cloud of his breath shred and vanish. A delivery truck idled across the street. ‘ Get work with them? No. Might have to make a delivery to Jesse. Can’t do that.’ He weighed Jesse’s losses against his. ‘ The money, his time chasing me, the respect of his pals… What a dope… ’ It would feel good to get home, away from prying eyes, into the warmth of his modest apartment. Safe. ‘Feeling pursued isn’t paranoid when one is actually hunted.’ Ryan knew how a rabbit feels when pursued by a pack of coyotes sniffing at its trail. ‘ Can only do what it can do. Be ever vigilant. ’ As Ryan walked, the nagging fear crept back into his mind. ‘ Is this who I’m becoming? Or am I realizing I’ve always been a loser?’ He never expected to pay it back. It was just too much. He didn’t like it, but could admit the facts, at least to himself. These days, he only talked to himself. ‘When the principle’s added to the accrued interest… no way I can pay it. But indentured servitude was outlawed a century ago.’ Ryan knew bankruptcy remained an option. That would free him on a legal basis. Debtor’s prison was his idea of a joke. The issue wasn’t legal, though, but his betrayal of friendship. He would be admitting failure and dishonor. ‘ Where does one go for relief from that?’ He got to his building and entered the lobby. The warm air felt good. He summoned the elevator. Hunger gnawed at him. ‘What can be done? Must I resign myself to this miserable destiny? I’m tapped out. No money. No ideas. Can’t do it alone. It’s simply beyond my ability.’ The elevator door opened and Ryan stepped inside. He moved to press the button for his floor. Jesse stood before him. The doors closed. ‘ No escape. ’ Jesse blocked the buttons. Ryan backed into the rear wall. Eyes locked. Jesse said, “Ryan, we need to talk.” “Jess, I’m sorry. I don’t know how… But I’m gonna…” “Listen, Ryan. Forget the debt. Consider it paid.” Ryan stopped. He felt dizzy. ‘ Am I hallucinating? ’ “Jess? What are you talking about? I owe you so much. I have to pay you, but…” “Didn’t you hear me? It’s paid. You’re out of debt. Don’t owe me a cent.” Ryan fell silent. ‘Is this a joke? Are there cameras? ’ “But how? Why, Jess?” “That debt was crushing your life. I can’t do that to you.” “Yeah, but…” “Ryan…” “I want to make good… have to…” “It’s done, Ry. Nothing to do.” “What if…” “Doesn’t matter. You’re good. Relax.” The debt had distanced them. But also bound them together. ‘ What now? ’ “I hear you, Jess. Thank you. How can I thank you?” “Live your life.” “But… Is that it? Can we ever be friends again?” “Of course, Ryan. Always have been. That’s the point.” Tears streamed down Ryan’s face. He couldn’t speak. They embraced. Jesse held Ryan at arm’s length. They smiled. “Welcome back, Ry. I’ve missed you.” Ryan looked at him in awe, trying to comprehend. Jesse opened the elevator door to the lobby. Ryan walked out and into the sunlight. He stood, face up, feeling the rays, the warmth. A gentle breeze ruffled his hair. Alive, he felt every quivering molecule. A leaf danced and spun to the ground. A bird chirped. Children played in the distance. All was well. He felt free.