Random Silly Stories

Nicotine – Chapter 2

2011-12-06T21:40:00.001-08:00

Aftersending yet another mug of coffee to Cassie, Liz starts to work. She took Blake’sfolder and looked at Blake’s picture. Then, clutching a copy of the target’sbinder, she closed her eyes and concentrated, biting her lip. Slowly, a goldenglow surrounded her being and formed a smoky shape above her head.

Thesmoky shape, still glowing, floated off and disappeared through the ceiling.Having done that, Liz opened her eyes and went to the coffee machine and made amug for herself. As she leaned against the counter, savoring her coffee, shewondered if her doppelganger at her campus is doing the assignment that’s dueon Tuesday.

Meanwhile,the smoky shape has split into two upon exiting the building and streaked offinto two different directions. One of them went straight towards a pubdowntown, where Blake is now sitting, drinking with his best friend. Itmaterialized into an exact copy of Liz right on the stool beside Blake.

Sheblinked her eyes, trying to adjust to the dim light. Blake looked beside himand saw her, sitting there, clutching at a binder and trying to figure outwhere she is. Upon realizing she’s in a pub, a look of horror crossed her face.

“Oh,crap!” she cried out, making a few heads turn to look at her. She looked aroundand saw a few scary-looking men leering at her. She clutched the binder eventightly and struggled to remain calm. It’s not just the men in the pub that’sscaring her, too. She’s underage, and if she’s ever caught here, it’s not goingto look good on her records. As she took a few deep breaths that stank of stalebeer, she heard Blake’s voice next to her.

“Hey,aren’t you…” he narrowed his eyes, trying to remember. “You’re that girl fromthe newsstand at the corner, right?”

“Huh?”startled, she turned around and saw him. Immediately she breathed a sigh ofrelief as she recognized him. She handed him the binder. “No, I’m from theoffice just now. Although I do work at the newsstand on weekends,”

“Oh,great,” he said as he received the binder. “Not even my first day and workalready,”

“Oh,and Cassie said to study that and meet her at her office at 10 tomorrow,”

“Great.Thanks,” he replied, putting the binder of the counter and taking another gulpof his drink. “You’d better get out of here before security comes. Thebartender’s gone for a while now,”

“Um,okay,” she said, and faded into nothing, leaving behind an empty stool. Almostimmediately a burly man walked in from the back door, looked around and walkedback out. She’s just in time.

“Hey,who’s that?” the guy next to Blake asked him. He’s a tall, lanky man with messybrown hair falling all around his head, making his head look like a mop. Hiseyes are small and sharp, and his voice gives the impression of someone who’salways stoned. “That your new girl? A little too young, ain’t her? I’d watchout for Chris Hansen if I were you, buddy,”

“Justshut up and finish your drink, Luke,” Blake growled, taking another gulp.

Atthat Luke burst into laughter and patted him on the back. “Hey, relax, dude.Jeez, you’ve been such a ray of sunshine lately,” and then he noticed thebinder on the table. It was plain brown card, with CLASSIFIED stamped on thefront cover. “Hey, what’s that?”

“That,my friend,” Blake pulled the binder closer to him and placed his forearm on it.“Is what we’re celebrating right now,”

“Workalready?” his small eyes widened with surprise. “Whoa. They don’t waste anytime, do they?”

“Apparentlynot. Guess I’ll be going straight home after this,”

“Aw,man!” Luke said, clearly not approving of the idea. “What about the chicas downat the club? I need a wingman, dude!”

“Luke,I’m sure that the chicas will be all over your wingman if he decided to come,”he winked at Luke. “You’ll have a better chance with them if you go without me,”

“Sheesh,whatever,” Luke rolled his eyes and finished his drink. He knew what he’ssaying is true, anyway. So far, he’s not had much luck with women. The lasttime he had this bright idea for a double date with his best friend, he endedup going home alone. Both ladies went with Blake. He knew he should’ve resentedhim for that, but he’s his best friend for what seems forever.

Besides,given his nature, he’d find the humor in that and laugh it off anyway. He stoodup and picked up his keys from the bar counter. “You need a ride home?”

“Nah,I’ll walk,” Blake said as he finished his drink and stood up, holding thebinder at his side. “I need to stop somewhere on the way. Take care, buddy,”

“Yeah,you too,” Luke said as he walked out. On the way he winked at a lady sittingalone at a table, smoking. The lady rolled her eyes and looked away. Heshrugged and went out. Blake, on the other hand, took the back door and wentinto the back alley. It’s a shortcut to his apartment.

Hetook a right turn and entered a lane bordered by shops. He walked along thelane until he came to a store with Abbey’s written on the front door and walkedin.

“Hey,Blake,” the old lady at the front counter said as he walked in. She lifted alarge paper bag filled with items on to the counter. “Here’s your groceries. Weran out of cheese, though,”

“Thanks,Abbey,” he said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Howare you doing?”

“Oh,fine, as always,” she turned to reach for a fly swatter on the desk behind her.“Those knees of mine are giving me a hard time, as usual,”

“Well,you shouldn’t be working too hard,” he said as he paid the bill. She rang it upin the cash register.

“Ohwell, the bills need to be paid anyway. And don’t you go on giving me theSocial Security speech. I won’t take it,” she said as she swatted a fly on thecounter. After flicking it away with the end of the swatter, she turned andlooked closely at him. “You, young man, on the other hand, should take bettercare of yourself. I hate to nag at you, but all that cigarettes?” she motionedto the paper bag. “You won’t go past fifty at this rate,”

“Abbey,”he looked back at her. “Thanks for reminding me. You’re so like my mother,”

“Andyou’re so like my son,” she looked at him seriously. “And that’s why I keepreminding you. Because I care,”

“Well,I care about you too,” he said. “That’s why I keep telling you to just take themoney and rest,”

Atthat she threw up her hands and put them at her hips. They looked at each otherand smiled, and there was an understanding between them. “Well, so long Abbey,”he said as he turned and walked out. She was looking for something beneath thecounter, but she raised her hand in a wave without looking.

Hewalked out into the street, and saw the stars overhead over the glare of thestreet lights. As he walked home, thoughts ran over his mind, random thoughtsof everything and anything at all. He barely saw the people that passed him.His feet knew the way well, and without even thinking about it, he foundhimself standing in front of his apartment building.

Heentered his empty apartment and turned on the lights. It was a large space,bought with the money from his first job. However, it always bothered him abouthow empty it was. Oh, it was well-furnished, with the best furniture money canbuy, and since money was never a problem, there’s always something new everyweek.

Buthowever much he tried to crowd the space with furniture and gadgets, it stillseemed empty to him, and he don’t know why. He placed the binder on the coffeetable, and the groceries on the kitchen table, and walked into his bedroom.

“Ineed a shower,” he said to himself out loud. His voice echoed back at him. Heshrugged and undressed and walked into the large bathroom. He stared at himselfin the large mirror set on the wall. Now here’s a familiar face. “You need ashave,” he said with a smile, and his reflection mimicked him. He sighed andtook his shower.

Aftera long, warm shower, he went out in his towel and sat on the couch in front ofthe TV and switched it on. After flipping through a few channels, he settled onan infomercial. The product is yet another useless kitchen appliance, a sort ofvegetable blender. He turned the volume up and laid back, feet on the table.

That’swhen he saw the binder. After a bit of reflection, he reached for it andflipped it open and read leisurely. It described a cemetery on the west side ofthis town. On the next page is attached an envelope with pictures in it. It waspictures of the graveyard. It’s not a particularly scary-looking graveyard, butalmost serene-looking.

Onepicture caught his attention. It was of a stone angel, standing tall over agrave. The writings on the base are faded, and the stone itself is green withmold. The rest of the pages are just accounts of strange occurrences thathappened recently. Overturned earth, broken headstones, and stray bones. Maybe it’sa grave robber.

Heclosed the binder and put it on the table. Then he stood up, went to thekitchen and put away his groceries. When he came to the cigarettes, he bit hislip. Maybe Abbey’s right after all. Oh well. He shrugged and lit one, and tooka deep draw. He blew out a cloud, and put his hands together.

Thesmoke condensed into a statue of a little girl in full size. She had long hair,reaching to her elbows, and her eyes were empty, staring into space. He sighedand turned away and the statue turned back to smoke. He flipped on a switch,and an exhaust fan sucked up the smoke. He glanced over at a picture on the refrigeratordoor. It was a picture of him and the little girl, only he was a little thinnerand less bulky. He finished the cigarette looking at the picture, and making stonerings from the smoke absentmindedly.

“I’mgoing to bed now,” he said aloud. The infomercial answered him: “Thank you, andgood night,”

Heturned off the TV, poured himself a glass of milk and went to bed. He stared atthe ceiling for a long time before finally falling asleep.

Nicotine - Chapter 1

2011-12-06T09:11:00.001-08:00

The woman peered at him throughgold-rimmed glasses, reaching for a folder that he had placed on her desk. Sheleafed through the papers inside, then took off her glasses and looked at himagain. He didn’t seem to mind at the very least. It was an interview, afterall. And first impressions are important anyway.

Sohe kept both feet planted on the floor, clasped his hands behind his back, and stoodthere, staring straight ahead. It has been a long day of failures coming in andgoing back out again, and she’s looking more than a little messed up. A lock ofgolden hair hung across her face, escaped from the tight bun she kept in placewith hairpins at the back of her head. Rings are beginning to form under herotherwise bright eyes, and lines of strain crossed her forehead as she squinteddown at the folder in her hands.

Thesmall room was dimly lit, with hints of lingering smoke making the room evengloomier. A plastic potted plant stood wearily in the corner, as if trying towilt, but without success. His eyes stealthily scanned the room, noting detailsdown, trying to figure out what kind of person his future employee will be. Ahalf-filled ashtray rests slightly to the left of her desktop. A smoker. Anempty coffee mug, with brown stains down the right side of the handle. A lefty.No wedding ring. Shirt sleeves rolled back.

She,on the other hand, is totally absorbed in the contents of the folder, leafingthrough it rapidly, giving an occasional nod and a pleased hum. Finally, shecarefully rearranged the sheets and placed it in front of her. Then, shelighted a cigarette, took a deep puff and leaned back in her office chair,crossing her legs as he looked at him again.

He’snot the tallest man she’s ever saw, but he does seem to fill the small areawith his presence. Broad shoulders, and a thick neck. He gave the impression ofbeing sturdy. This man kept his dark hair short and trimmed, and hisclean-shaven face bears the hint of a beard. His stance is good, and he kepthis facial expressions under control.

“So,”she finally spoke. “Blake Freeman, right?”

“Yes,ma’am,”

“Youhave got an impressive resume, there. In fact,” she paused and took anotherpuff. “So impressive that I’m beginning to wonder. Why on earth would you applyfor a job like this?”

“Ihave my own reasons, ma’am.”

Shesighed and flicked the ash from her cigarette into the ashtray. “I suppose youdo. However,” she took another puff. “I noticed that there was no mention ofyour expertise in there. Oh sure, you specialize in eliminating targets andacquiring items, that I know, but how? You need to sell yourself more. This isan interview, you know,”

Withoutspeaking, Blake stepped forward and subtly took the half-smoked cigarette fromher fingers. “If you please, ma’am,” he said when a look of annoyance crossedher face. She waved her hand in dismissal. Her face hinted interest, and alittle awe at his daring. Stepping back, he took a deep draw from the cigaretteand released a huge cloud of thick smoke. She raised an eyebrow.

“That’snot enough. A smokescreen? I’ve seen better,”

“Oh,you haven’t seen better,” he replied as he assumed a stance, as if he’s holdinga sword with both hands. To her amazement, the thick smoke swirled andcondensed into a sword in his hands. The blade glinted in the dim light, and hetwirled it a few times with one hand and stabbed the floor with it. Resting hisweight on the sword, he said, nonchalantly, “And that’s how I got past airportsecurity,”

She was just staring, wide-eyed andwide-mouthed at him. Suddenly she leaned forward and flipped back to the firstpage of the folder. “Wait a second. It says here that you’re only 33. How onearth did you master that kind of skill?” she looked at him, waiting for ananswer.

Heshrugged, and returned the now stubby cigarette to her. “That’s for me toknow,” he pulled the sword out of the concrete floor. It left a hole in thegray carpet. He ran his finger down the length of the blade, and the sworddematerialized back into smoke and disappeared into thin air. “And for you tofind out,” He looked at her and gave her a mysterious smile.

“Oh,well,” she sighed again. “Looks like you’ve got the job. I’m Hayley. CassandraHayley,” she held out her hand, and he took it. “Thanks, boss,” he said as heshook hands with her. “When can I start?”

“Willtomorrow be okay?”

“Tomorrow’sgreat. See you tomorrow,” he said as he turned and opened the door, lettingfresh air waft in. There was a smile on his face as he walked out of thebuilding and into the streets. Tomorrow, he will be one step closer towards hisobjective.

AfterBlake left, Cassandra leaned back in her chair and unconsciously reached forher coffee mug. Upon realizing it was empty, she set it back and sighed. “Liz!”she screeched. Almost immediately the door opened and in walked a teenage girl,with the same hair and eyes as Cassandra. She was holding a binder in herhands, and her golden curls tumbled messily about her head.

“Yes,Cassie?” she said, a little timidly. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What?No, no, no, sweetie,” she said, panicking a little. “I just needed a refill onthis coffee,” she held out her mug.

Atthat Liz smiled and took the mug. “Well, you don’t have to sound like you’remad at me, Cassie. I’ll get whatever you want,” she chirped as she literallyskipped out of the door, forgetting to close it behind her. Cassandra put herface in her palms as she rested her head on her desk.

Elizabethwas her little sister, and she’s agreed to give her a part-time job as herpersonal assistant to cover for her college expenses. She’s a little unstableat times, but she can be in a few places at once, which made her great atoffice work. Plus, she does make a great cup of coffee.

Shestraightened up again and noticed Blake’s folder on the table. She picked it upand placed it in her desk drawer, then leaned back in her chair again, handsclasped on her belly as she stared at the ceiling. Blake does seem to have alot of secrets to him, but he seems nice enough. And he does have that aura ofprofessionalism, and he doesn’t talk much. She likes that in a man. Maybe shewon’t have to hold interviews again for a long time. She smiled at the thought.

Lizcame in with a steaming mug, still clutching a binder in her arms. She caughtCassie smiling to herself. She set down the mug on the desk and started togiggle. That startled Cassie. For some reason, she started to blush. Gettingcaught off guard like that, by her little sister… That’s not very good.

“Whatare you giggling at?” she scowled as she reached for the mug and took acautious sip. Not too hot, but not cold either. Just warm enough to taste good.She sighed in satisfaction and lost her scowl.

“Nothing.You’re smiling,” she said, starting to giggle again. “I haven’t seen you smilelike that since Randy –”

“Whoa.Stop talking,” she cut her short. ‘Randy’ was not the name she’d like to bereminded of. The unemployed boyfriend she put up with until he dumped her. “What’sthat binder you’re carrying around, anyway?”

“Oh,this?” Liz started, disoriented by the sudden change in topic. “Well, let’s see…Oh, it’s the next target. I kinda forgot to give this to you. Eh heh heh heh,”

Cassiesighed and rubbed her temples. “You’ve been carrying this binder all over town,made coffee and answered phones but forgot all about it? I swear, if it wasn’tbecause you were my sister…”

Theylooked at each other for a moment and smiled. Liz placed the binder on thetable and stepped back and waited. Cassie flipped through the folder for amoment and mm-hmmed.

“Havethis delivered to the man who I just hired and a copy to, um, the guy with the…the…” her brows creased in concentration, trying to recall either a name or afeature.

“Thewhat?”

“Youknow, that guy… The one who can, uh, can make, um…”

“Chester?The guy with the strange tattoo on his neck?”

“Yeah!That’s the one!” she settled back and let out a long whoosh of air. She must begetting old and senile. “You know, Liz, keep this up and maybe I’ll let youtake over my company,”

“What?No way!” she stuck her chin out. Her face wore an almost horrified look. “Iwant to make a shelter for poor homeless kittens! I don’t want to run yourcompany!”

“Yeah,yeah. Whatever,” Cassie rolled her eyes. “Anyway, send a copy to both of themand tell them both to meet me here at –” she glanced at the organizer on thewall. “– 10 in the morning tomorrow.”

“Okay,Cassie. Anything else?”

Cassiechugged down the remaining coffee and held out her mug. “Yeah. More coffee,”

Clouds

2011-10-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

   “Clouds sure are pretty, huh?”

    Alex snapped out of his book instantly. Visions of prisoners in Bastille vanished as he slowly regained consciousness of his surroundings.

    “Huh? What?” he asked.

    “I think the clouds are just pretty today,”

    Alex looked up. The sky is big over the field they were in. He can see a few round, fluffy clouds in the east and streaks of white against the pure blue higher up.

    “Yeah, sure, nice one Cass,” he looked back at his book, trying to find the place where he left off. Cassie pouted and looked at his book.

    “The French Revolution? Come on, Al. We’re in a pretty field on a beautiful day. What’s with the book?” she said, obviously annoyed by his studiousness. “Close that thing for a while and lay back,”

    With a sigh, he dog-eared the page and closed the book slowly and carefully placed it at his side. Cassie smiled and laid on her back in the short grass. Overhead, she can see the sky between the branches of a shady tree.

    Alex looked at her for a while, and did the same, crossing his arms under his head. The clouds floated slowly across the sky.

    “Hey, I can see a bunny!” Cassie said suddenly, pointed to a cloud. Alex squinted at the cloud. “They all look like bunnies to you,” he said.

    “Come on,” she laughed. “What does that one look like to you?” she pointed to a pure white cloud a little apart from the others.

    Alex squinted again. “Looks like a cumulus to me,” He can hear Cassie sigh beside him. “On second thought, it does look like a plate of mashed potatoes,”

    He looked over to his side. Cassie had her eyes on the cloud, and she is smiling a contented smile. For some reason it made him smile, too. He turned his gaze back to the sky.

    The sky looked deep, as if you could get lost in it if you gaze long enough. Some clouds seem further up than others, making the sky seem deeper. A soft breeze blew, bringing the smell of grass and wood and swaying the branches above. The sound of leaves rustling is deafening, but pleasant.

   They laid back in silence, just enjoying the moment of peace.

    “You know,” Cassie said, after a while. “I think green, blue and white are a really nice combination,” she kept her gaze at the sky through the swaying branches.

    “Uh-uh,”

    “Not much of a talker, are you?”

    “Nope,”

    “Is something wrong?” she said, concern in her voice.

    He looked at her, and she was looking intensely at him, her eyes seemed to be looking deep inside of him, brow furrowed in concern.

    He sighed and looked back at the sky. “I wish today never ends,”

    There was a long pause as Cassie looked back at the sky and thought deeply. “Yeah, me too,”

    He looked at her. The clouds are reflected in her eyes. Her voice is soft and gentle as she spoke, and there was a sadness in her voice.

    “You know, this must be what heaven feels like,”

    “Yeah,”

   The leaves rustled again. Far off, at the horizon, a tiny point of light is slowly growing in size.

   “I really – never mind,” she said, “That one looked like an elephant’s head,”

   “Cass,” he said, his eyes on the growing point of light. “It’s close. I can see it from here,”

   “Don’t look at it,” she said firmly, her eyes searching for a shape in the clouds.

   “Cass, we haven’t much time left,” he said, anxiously. “Can you promise me one thing?”

   “What?” she said, distractedly.

    “Well, if – if –” he hesitated. “If, say, heaven is real,” she looked at him. “If heaven’s real, will you come and look for me?”

    “You don’t believe in God,”

    “No, I don’t, but if it was real all along, will you?”

    “Yes,” her eyes are downcast. “Yes, I will,”

    “I’m glad,” Alex said, and relief was in his voice. “I’m really glad,”

    She looked at him, and tears were silently running down from the corner of his eyes.

    “I’m scared, Cassie,”

    Cassie moved closer and hugged him, and he tried so hard to keep from crying, but the tears won’t stop coming.

    “Hush, now,” she said, still embracing him. “It’s ok. Let’s just look at the clouds for now,”

    He nodded and laid back, his face hardened. Cassie laid down close to him and laid her head on her chest, and he put an arm around her waist and held her close.

    They both tried to keep their gaze away from the now rapidly growing light in the sky, and tried to just enjoy the moment, knowing it will never come again.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

2011-09-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

“Miss Ching?”

I started and immediately stood up, simultaneously sendingmy stationery clattering to the floor as I knocked the swinging table down.Everybody else in the class roared with laughter.

Including him.

Mr. Rahman sighed and took off his glasses, wiping itagainst his shirt. “I suppose you won’t know the answer to my question,” hesaid wearily. “You may sit down. Miss Gloria? Would you care to answer?”

I sat down and gathered my pens and notepad, eyes glued tothe floor. My face is burning. I just hate these swinging table tops. You know,the kind that comes with the chair? This isn’t the first time I messed up inMr. Rahman’s class. He’s got a habit of putting a Mr. or Miss in front ofeverybody’s name.

In fact, I’ve been making a fool of myself since thebeginning of this semester. Since he joined our class.

Tall, dark and handsome,built like one of those rugby players you see on ESPN. I can never concentratewhen he’s sitting in front. In fact, I have no idea what Mr. Rahman has beenteaching this past two months.

“Very good, Miss Gloria. Now, for the next problem…”

I finally gathered all of my stuff and set them down on theempty chair next to me. My friend Mai used to comment on how I’d bring tendifferent pens to class and never actually used them. I rarely took notes.

Especially when he’s sitting there. I can feel my face burn again.

One of these days, I’m going to rupture my facial veins justfantasizing like this.

“Mr. Ralph?”

I froze. Oh my God, it’s him! He’s been called!

“Would you demonstrate in front how x would change with y ingraphical form?”

I suddenly got very interested on x and y. I settled downcomfortably and propped my face on my hands and watched. Smiling like somepsychotic stalker. Joker would be proud.

He shrugged and stood up after a pat on the back by one ofhis friends. He walked slowly to the whiteboard, with a gait that said easyconfidence. He picked up the marker and drew a perfect loop between the twolines, smiled (ohmygodhissmileismakingmefaint)and sauntered back to his seat.

Mr. Rahman leaned on the rostrum and looked at Ralph’smasterpiece, an eyebrow raised.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Ralph made a mistake here…” he said, andcorrected it with a differently colored pen.

I don’t care. That’s how I’ll be doing my graphs from nowon. Oh, he’s just so perfect! I swooned. I can only imagine him wrapping hisbig, strong arms around me, as he looked me deep in my eyes and said, in hisdeep, strong voice, “Hey, baby, wanna get married?” And I said… and I said…

“Miss Ching?”

I snapped out of my temporary view of paradise and lookedaround. Everybody’s looking at me, especially Mr. Rahman. “Is something thematter? You look faint… Ralph, can you take her to the nurse’s office?”

I think I really fainted then, because the next thing Iknow, I was being carried by someone through a long corridor. I opened one eyeand looked, and almost fainted again. Ralph is carrying me in his big, strongarms! I snuggled against his chest and smiled. I could get used to this.

“Here she is,” I heard him say as we arrive at the sick bay,all too soon. His voice is just like I imagined, and I blushed again. I was puton a bed, my temperature taken, and my eyes checked.

He sat on the chair next to the bed and watched. I startedblushing again, and the nurse looked alarmed. “Oh, dear, I must get the doctor,”she said, and left us to ourselves.

We sat in silence for a few moments, me fidgeting, and hetexting someone. Finally I broke the silence.

“Hey, thanks,”

He looked up. “Oh, no prob,” and looked down again.

“My name’s Ching,”

He smiled. My eyes fluttered again. “Mine’s Ralph,”

I was about to say something else when someone walked in. Itwas another guy from our class. Damn, what a pest! I clenched my fists underthe blanket.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Ching here fainted suddenly,”

The other guy looked at me and held out a hand. “Hi! I’mJoe,”

I shook his hand and smiled. “So, are you guys, like,buddies?”

They both exchanged a look and smiled. Uh-oh. I do NOT likethat smile.

“We’re… more than friends,” Joe said, looking deeply intoRalph’s eyes, gripping his left shoulder.

“Yeah,” Ralph said, almost too passionately, “More thanfriends,”

No. No. No. I decided to push it.

“Like, you guys are in a team together or something?” Isaid, trying to deny what is slowly dawning on me.

“Nope. Closer than that,” Ralph said as Joe gave him a peckon the cheek.

I dry heaved. This could not be happening to me! All myfantasies, broken! I don’t know what happened next, but I got a three daysmedical leave after the doctor checked me. Turned out I got a fever right thenand there.

I called up my best friend Phoebe and told her whathappened. She just laughed and said she’d still try to get him anyways. Theslut. I told her I don’t care anymore, and she can do whatever she wanted. Iknew that guy was way too perfect to be available.

When I returned to class, I can barely look at him anymore.I still daydream in class, but of what could have been and how I’d like tostrangle that guy.

A week later, I saw him making out with Jane under thestaircase. I could not believe my eyes. Wait till Joe hears about this! My eyesglinted with vengeance, and I feel like a butterfly as I floated over to Joe,who was having a drink at the fountain.

“Hey,” I said, smiling like the Cheshire cat.

“Oh, hey. Ching, right?” Oh, so Joe has an accent.

“Yeah. Guess what,” I said, my voice getting all excited. “Ijust saw Ralph making out! With a girl!”

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me as if he was lookingat a pink elephant. “Y..eah, so?” he asked. “Have you been watching long?”

I was taken aback. He doesn’t seem mad or jealous at all! Or…

“Wait, isn’t he your boyfriend?” I blurted out. Whoops.

At this, he laughed so hard that he had to hold on to thefountain to keep from falling. All the while I’m standing there, looking like ahammered sheep. “Are you done?”

“Oh, oh, whooo…” he said as he wiped his tears. “You haveGOT to be kidding me. He’s my cousin,”

“WHAT?! You kissed him!”

“I’m from French. It’s common for me to kiss my relatives,”

“WHAT?!”

Living Still

2011-09-04T05:33:00.000-07:00

When you first step into this town, I guess the first thing you’ll notice is the quiet. The thick, heavy quiet, and the lack of people. Sure, most towns don’t have that much people anyway, but this town seems deserted. However, it’s not.

Welcome to Aldelati, the town where dreams come true. It’s situated in the middle of nowhere, and no crops grow here. The people are strange, and the animals are dumb. And to think that this place used to be so busy, too.

Used to be? Yes, my friend. This place wasn’t always like this. There was a time where Aldelati was the place to be. Placed in the intersection of several – several, mind you, not one or two – important roads, we can’t help but have all sorts of people coming in everyday, and different people coming in as soon as those leave.

And I’m in the place to know, too. See, my dad runs one of the biggest inns in town, and I used to get to meet all kinds of strangers every night. Tired businessman, laughing couples, noisy families, classy wives of merchants, you name it. We had it all.

Being the son of the innkeepers, I naturally run a bar on the ground floor of the inn, with me as the bartender and a couple of friends as waitresses. And, oh, my girl Relda. She’s the head waitress here. And between me and her, we had a lot of gossip coming in every day.

Sometimes the gossip had nothing to do with this town, sometimes it’s about some superstar, but most of the time, it was something close. Like how Mary Sue took two men home last Saturday night, or how Mr. White’s son sells crack at his old man’s farm. Petty things, really, but I like to be informed. It made the life in this busy town better.

So I guess I can only tell you what happened to this town only through the gossip I get. From what I’ve heard, it all started with Grendell deGract. She’s Relda best friend, and the second prettiest girl in town. After Relda, of course. So it’s no big deal to say that there’s a lot of gossip surrounding her.

To add to her popularity among the bar customers, her widowed mother’s rumored to be a witch, too. The people around here knew her as Old Witch deGract, but affectionately. See, Mrs. deGract is a good witch. She helped with the crops, gave blessings to newborn babies, helped in delivering them, and, as good as the gossips can tell, helped ladies stay young and beautiful.

One day, a fine young man entered town, Randy Lisper. He’s a good-looking man, and seemed quite rich, too. A lot of the ladies went crazy over him, but Grendell, she went head-over-heels in love with him. Now, it is said that Lisper was engaged in some other town far from here, and that he’s on the way to some other faraway town on a business trip, so I guess he’s not thinking of checking out the babes on his one night stay here.

But then again, I guess I was wrong. My guess was that Lisper saw how easy Grendell was going to be, and he took her with him for the night. But of course poor Grendell thought that Lisper fell in love with her, and she’s just heartbroken when she woke up alone next morning. She spent the whole night at my counter, getting drunk and crying.

When we had to close for the night, Relda sent her home, still crying. She told me that Mrs. deGract looked somewhat different that night, as if she hasn’t slept in days. What happened next, nobody knew. What we knew is that the next morning, there’s a huge uproar, and the whole town is in shock.

The local cemetery has been literally turned inside out, with tombstones and gargoyles strewn around as if they were swept by a hurricane, and each plot emptied. All the dead townsfolk are gone, and not a single bone remained in any of the coffins. Only one dead body remained in the whole cemetery, and it was Randy Lisper’s.

He was impaled on one of the spikes on the fence at the far side of the graveyard, facing in, with the spike going in the base of his spine and going out the back of his neck. The most disturbing thing about him was the fact that his face was frozen in a laugh.

Grendell and her mother was nowhere to be found. Some people went to their house and found it empty, but they saw something weird there. As soon as they entered the house, they saw handprints all over the place. Every square foot of the walls, ceiling and floor were covered with reddish-brown handprints, as well as their furniture.

The handprints came in all sizes, from adults to children to even babies.
Of course, nobody would live in the deGracts’ house after that, and the mayor had it burnt down. During the burning of the house, some folks said that they can hear Grendell howling, but some said they heard nothing. We set the graveyard in order again, and the mayor decided that we build a library on the foundation of the deGracts’ home. Lisper’s body was taken down and cremated, and his ashes were sent back to his hometown with no mention whatsoever of what happened.

Try as we might, the town was never the same again. Little by little people stopped coming in, and the roads leading in and out of our town became overgrown with grass. We never left, though. Soon we found that nobody was hungry or thirsty anymore. My bar was still filled with people, but people just ordered a beer and never drank it.

People also started looking older and became so thin that bones showed through their skins. I noticed that Relda’s cheeks have lost all flesh and skin, and now her teeth showed. Everybody looked almost skeletal, but nobody died. We just went on doing stuff that we do, but now we never went outdoors anymore. The sun hurts our eyes.

But if you happen to come here at night, you’ll find that this town is quite alive.
And that’s how Aldelati became what it is now. We’re still here, still living, but hardly any new gossip comes into town. If you do come by, be sure to stop by my bar. We’ll be happy to have you.