buggy

We were hanging out in this apartment I had been in before. It has been passed down from friend to friend. There was a really nice atrium, and cool steps inside. Sarah, unfortunately, had gotten way too skinny after she moved in here though.

I saw a really colorful caterpillar on the wall and you giggled. The rainbow colored caterpillar curled up to make a ball that looked like a little raspberry, each ball of color different. It pulsed and each bubble grew like a balloon, and as they grew each one came away from its body as if on an antennae. The balls of color swelled and bobbled around as they grew. More antennar grew from its body bearning little black flags. Each colored antennae bubble sloshed at the end of its appendage as they began bursting! sticky bug juice ran down the wall everywhere.

It was amusing until we realized that the juice contained thousands of tiny tiny wormlike babies. they were nearly translucent and resembled 1/4" long nematodes on speed. We tried to kill off the infestation with some alcohol. It didn't work, and we grabbed listerine, nail polish remover, anything we had on hand, but they just kept comong down the wall.

Soon there were longer ones as well, several inches. the waves of worms cascaded down the wall on to the floor where they began collecting all the dead exoskeletons of other bees wasps and tucans they found on the floor, organizing them into large grids of bodies. Grids were forming on most of the walls and parts of the floor before we had to leave. When the accumulated enough of a grouping they would animate the dead creatures and move their bodies into hiding.

bombs

we were all at my moms house when we saw the DHL planes in long lines crossing the area spraying some sort of chemicals. gross. we all covered our faces with our shirts, and tried to ignore the fact that the government had somehow allowed this to happen. the next wave of planes came by, and started dropping small shells, exploding on impact. one hit the neighbors. they were small explosives, and coming kind of slowly so we could jump out of the way if we were in the open space of the yard.

the next wave dropped heat seekers. i ran and some followed me into the next yard, and somehow we got away.

back at the house we saw the next round drop. these turned into robot spiders on impact and began dismantling parts of the house and the cars.

we saw the progression. testing newer bombs on us, one wave at a time. each one a different candy color, smooth, and tiny.

we retreated into the catacombs through the wine cellar. hopefully we could wait this out out with the others who were already down there.

drink up

the race had been over for some time, and the crowd were still pouring through the city, each team taking up camp in the doorway to a bar or an apartment along the street. everyone was still cheering for their side, although im not sure who won. i think we were all winning. as the night grew late, kids were kicking trash cans around the street and fights were breaking out. the crowd was drunk and lost. walking home, or at least to somewhere else.

we went into a cafe to finally sit. it was hidden in the back of one of the buildings along our street and they served only the secretest of drinks to big dark groups of people on big dark cushions.

rami bought us a round of drinks, and i started into mine. bubbly and blue. they soon got up to leave, and i noticed that mine had begun growing poisonous white crystals out of the fluid that a moment ago i was drinking. of course, its delicious because the crystals are deadly. of course.

winning

i was in a competition. we were all in teams, and right at the moment we were all in a rollercoaster type sled, made of tiny slats of wood that would bend and flex into the size of space they were in. it was like a bobsled or a rollercoaster, and each team was near each other in a long line of sled pieces all made of this flexible wooden construction. we went through tunnels and over rapids. i was in the first "car" with this little girl that was my partner.

we made it through the rapids, and then the tunnel we were heading down closed into a really tight space where i had to fold in half at the waist to fit through. i pushed her to the side and behind me so we could make it through.

at the end all the teams were confronted by what our scores were. i didnt make the cut for the final two. i always made the cut. this was the first year i hadn't and i was really disappointed, and it completely sucked, but i couldnt figure out why i hadn't had a good enough score even on the trivia part to advance our team. anyway, this was bulshit, and i got out of there as soon as i could. balls.

camp

this year at camp there were no buildings. everything was outside. there was a partial shell of what was once the dining hall, two walls and a roof. painted red. the wall near the lake was just the structure at 8'o/c all the way to the corner where it got more complex, and expanded to house a garage, with a few little windows with centerfolds taped up on the inside.

we all gathered at a long long picnic table in the center of the space. we were sitting at the lake side, and before th meal started i tried to tell about a dream i had - it was about thinking thoughts, and how all the bits of information got stored in different places in my brain. when i recalled them my brain knew how to gather all these pieces from each of their places simultaneously for seamless and immediate recollection - i had discovered something else about the process and was about to share it with the group, but george had been mimicking me just to my left. it was the really annoying fifth grade sort of repeating everything i say-game, so we moved to the other end of the table.

it was in the sun, and closer to the rest of the campus which was just a huge field these days. no rec hall or craft hall. "we can do everything outside" someone reminded us. at least there were still cabins.

i didnt know which one was mine to go sleep in, and carrying around my bedroll had become cumbersome. i just wanted to settle. 'tell me where to go' i kept thinking. i'm glad i didnt bring my good comforter because it kept getting caught on nails sticking out of everywhere and tearing.

at least all my friends are here. and i'm sure i will find a place to sleep soon. at that time, i will relax and take in the summer air, and its going to be amazing!

winter vacation

i had to get where i was going, so taking a ride in this guys truck seemed like a good idea. it was freezing outside, and the 6 or so other unhappy looking people inside the cab didnt seem to care that we were in the bed or the truck with the wintery wind chilling us. i pulled a bunch of the blankets on top of me, and realized that they all were vintage cloth signs and maps from an antique store in the area. he didnt seem to care.

eventually we got to the lodge. it was small, but was already packed with people. every time i came inside i seemed to misplace my boots. all three pairs, the big tall black ones, the brown cowboy boots and the red ones that i never wear.

i ended up eating a little something with a man of some sort of gonzo persuasion, and soon we realized we had stumbled into hell. this was unfortunate. it was still really cold. we grabbed hands and waited it out.

i got a ride back with him instead of the creepster with the truck, which was probably for the best.

arriving at home i was exhausted. i collapsed in my room near the window. my roommates girlfriends were in there chatting and although i could whisper to them when i floated in and out of dreams, my voice didnt have enough strength behind it to call out to the livingroom where it seemed the boys were having people over.

after a nap i focused myself and went out to see the commotion. a bunch of the guys were drinking growlers of beer on the shag carpeted floor. one of them gave me his glass. it is a small world, and my best friends from college were hanging out with my other friends' brother, and a guy i knew in highschool. awkward.

pizza party

drew picked me up at school, and we whisked past a few of his professors on our way to ritters to pick up a few more people, but it was closed. onward to the party.

when we get there its a mix of everyone i knew from FHS, but the ones that i wanted to see didnt show up for a while. by the time they all got there we had already ordered pizzas. k2 ordered the "sharp edge" pie, which i had to pick the pepperoni off of, but it had ricotta which was delicious!

this place we were at had an attic, and after exploring up there todd and i realized that all of the projects being stored up there were from my year, but now he was in school and the timewarp was almost too much.

we contemplated sneaking out the northeast firedoor right near the boys bathroom like we used to in mr. hardy's class, but ended up sticking it out.

candy monsters

i can't remember how it all started, but once we had offered up as many tiny colorful candies to the monster as we could it finally left and we were alone again in the hot tub. i can't believe we all snuck away from the group to the same place. no reasonable young people would spend their vacation at the resort for the elderly. it just seemed like the place that no one would ever look for us... and then there we were. all thinking the same thing.

well, now that its over and we have appeased the giant shadowy thing, i dont know what to do with myself. i think we are all going home on diferent flights tomorow, to different places. our makeshift headquarters is going to be mark's room once again even though there are candies scattered on the floor there too.

architectural digest

it was amazing that their new house made it into the magazine. the open living spaces and raised platforms incorporate all the best parts of balinese design into a beautiful and contemporary house in hawaii.

he had the sinking feeling that no matter how beautiful the space and how inspired the design, no one would ever respect him when his glossy spread was two pages over from images of how W and the mrs had redone the white house during their stay there. unfortunate.

face

"oh god, whats happening" she thinks to herself, unable to scream, as another piece of flesh falls away from her face, revealing more of the sticky lemon jello layer just under the skin, above the pink that begins to reveal itself now as well.

"why?!?" silent still, "should i call for help?"

now her whole left cheek has come off in soft little pieces into her hand. painless. without reason.

"how much more? why? when will it stop?"

night life?

its late, and she gets the tab at the bar. "don't worry i can just put it on my card," sweet.

"$1,000.00 can that be right?"
"no that says $100,000.00"
"damn, this has been a classy night"

as they leave the bar, it seems that the friends they thought were too busy for drinks get spotted in quite compromising positions with a few gladiators on the roof of the adjacent building.

"so thats where they were..." she comments under her breath as they scamper away, a handful of bright shiny moons under the red glow of the starless city sky.