chaosorc

Maeghan sat with her arm folded on an open book in the library. Wood, green plastic, bronze lamp, someone pecking away at a computer keyboard somewhere. Rows of books, stinking away.

What's wrong

She was staring off with her glasses sideways, leaning on the palm of her hand, mouth turned back with teeth exposed looking disgusted by whatever was beyond the wall of the basement library.

She straightened her glasses and turned to look at him. He was standing next to her, canvas buckle pants, baggy t-shirt, tousled looking hair full of some lotion smelling product.

Eh

He looked at her exposed shoulders and cleavage now that she was facing him, he pulled his lower lip in and his mouth squirmed.

Ew

He turned and she said, wait.

She stood up and gathered her books and her bag, they walked outside together.

What do you want

You just looked

She looked at him expecting an explanation.

You looked sick or something I don't know

I am sick

Great

No

What's your problem

The guys

He put his hand to his chest like, who me

The guys, she nodded

Well we are shit

Don't be like that

Like what

You could change it

How

Effort

He touched his hair and held out his palm to show her something like she had missed it.

Allow me to demonstrate

He leaned against the wall and crossed a leg, stuffed his hands in his pocket and stared straight at her.

You approach me, what's wrong. And what, I leave the library and you follow. Now what's your plan, you say, you looked sick or something. What do I look like?

His shoulders were hunching, he had stopped leaning and was now curling over like he was taking a beating.

What do I look like? I don't even know your name, kid.

David.

Meghan.

Pretty.

Thanks. So answer the question.

I did.

He looked at her with sincerity and it broke her.

Are you okay?

No

She covered her face and clutched her bookbag in front of her.

Fuck, is it something I did, he tried to look at her, dodging slightly from side to side.

Yes. But it's not your fault.

Are you alright can I get you something

Your number

---

I know it is not going to work

Why don't you tell her

I want to feel it while it lasts

But it is about to end

Still feels good while it is here

Are you making it worse, what if you could have met someone else, or she could, aren't you wasting both your time

Endless string of questions stretching into a future that might be inevitable but is not a reason to escape the present joy, pleasure, the benefits of the moment

The plastic and heat will collect in all things, they will spin at the bottom of the ocean until they exhaust themselves then lay down and die.

Take the car batteries to the beach and set them free. Return to nature my leaden acidic children, go forth and multiply. Robe and rod adornments, long hair and beard turned north by the wind. Shibumi shade and Yeti cooler on the beach.

•

She is always there sitting with me at the lake crying and talking about suicide laying in bed naked next to me saying, if you have any fetishes now is the time to speak up, saying, you might be onto something, to conclude our argument and kill our relationship, etcetera.

The doctor looked up, so you're haunted

A voice behind him, yes

He looked over his shoulder and a man in a long white robe with bloody tracks like he wiped his hands on his chest, he looked up at his wild beard, short and pointing every direction, brown and gray, his eyes covered with two X shapes, black electrical tape.

He looked back at his doctor, his face appealing, tears in his eyes, face torn with fear.

A wave of heat hit him, the sun scorching his scabbed and bubbling skin, sticking to the rocks and grass on the ground, ants squirming in the heat, dark water shimmer mirage on the horizon, his eyes and mouth dry, lips cracking from the heat. His last words a dry rasp, death valley.

---

Did he say, you don't have to do this? That's my favorite. Because you do.

It stood with one white eye revealed by the pillowcase, the other had rotted and become a dark hole sticky, the cloth stuck to it like a black scab. Its arms were now crisscrossed with wounds from victims who tried to scratch, bite, and cut their way out of its grasp. Its nails were dark with blood and a man gently scrubbed with a sponge and exfoliating soap as he talked to it.

Once we get you cleaned up I will let you rest, okay?

It took a breath and let out a slow hiss from its throat. Pink lacerations and pock marks, small blobs of someone else's blood.

•

Thomas scanned the area and saw a woman with a red and white mask, almost like a yin-yang symbol. Her body was exposed and open, she stood by a curtain at the end of the hall near the restroom. She beckoned him with an outstretched hand, a grand theatrical gesture like a vampire.