“Insignificant. That’s what they think of us.”

“I respectfully disagree commander. I’m sure they never intended to hurt our feelings. In fact there was a lot of support for us from the masses.”

“Our feelings? You must be joking. Those ignorant fools don’t even know we exist. I never agreed with our President to adapt their culture and language. Our language had 531 alphabets. A whole 504 more than this stupid English we have adapted ourselves too.”

“You mean 505, sir. But the whole point was too simplify our communication systems. Also, it would have made rehabilitation easier to their planet if we ever had troubles on our own.”

“We are a far superior race. We can not possibly get into any trouble these earthlings could help us with. The only thing they seem good at is increasing their numbers. Their numbers increase in integral proportions. I’m amazed how they do that when their species possesses only one genitalia per specimen. Its shocking.”

“Erm. I’m sure they are good at other things too. Sir. We have observed and implemented other systems from them too. Like their judicial process. By not killing anyone who committed a crime and having them imprisoned after having them tried in the court has both increased our relatively negligent population and also increased employment prospect. Not to mention their game of football. You do realize a petition has been made to convince other planets to take up the sport too and maybe, then we can have interplanetary club teams and all the planets can compete in galaxy cups every held every century.   The possibilities are limitless. It’ll help in establishing peace across the universe and understand new life and new civilizations.”

“Did you just quote Star Trek on me? You know I hate that thing. Universe is not something you can dress pretty and talk your way through. You’ll be disintegrated even before you step out of your solar system. Leave alone your galaxy. Now, Firefly I can relate too. But don’t ever mention Star Trek again.”

“I’m sorry sir. Won’t happen again.”

“I see we’ve reached within range. Shoot the fizziles.”

“Are you sure you want to do this sir? This may be considered as an act of war.”

“An act of war would have been had I shot them with gizziles and annihilated their race. This will only stun them for an hour. Let them know, Pluto is a planet. And we Plutonians don’t take kindly to be ignored or their planet to be demoted off the solar system.”

“Acknowledged.”

She had been making out under the blanket of stars ever since she could remember. Well, maybe when she turned 15, just to keep things real. The boys, they were never really of a particular type. Red-haired, brunettes, tall, short – all sorts. She never went for the fat ones though post the Randall incident (He had squished her in a moment of passion you see!)

Her mama was an alcoholic. Her step-dad was a no-good sob and always leched at her. They called her names behind her back. ‘Whore’, ‘slut’, ‘skank’. The names didn’t affect her so much. And with the boys, sometimes, it was fun, other times utterly boring – ‘I mean, like seriously someone’s gotta learn how to use their tongue there!’

This time, she instinctively knew was different. Micky (née Michelle) wore Goth but had the face of an angel – all baby blue eyes and dyed black hair. Her touch was gentle and sweet – a woman’s touch. All that leather and yet such softness to the skin.

She closed her eyes and let her universe implode around her.

She struggled to untie the ropes cutting into her wrists. Her legs were bleeding by now. She looked around trying to squint through the darkness but it looked as if she was locked up in a void. There was an eerie silence all around her. She was suddenly blinded for a moment as a spotlight flashed on her. She instinctively smiled for a moment. Just then, the ground beneath her gave way and she shrieked as she fell deep into the darkness but no one heard her; she didn’t hear herself. There was just a creepy silence.
She woke up with a start, drenched in sweat. Looking around her empty house, a quick tear escaped her eyes and, not wanting o leave her alone again, clung on to her curled lashes. Scared that it might smudge her mascara, she rushed to the mirror grabbing a tissue on way. She quickly dabbed her eyes dry and gazed at the wrinkled face staring back at her. Through all the makeup, you could still make out the beauty that she must have been. Colours, glitz, glamour, camera flashes, she had it all. People of the opposite sex, irrespective of their age, swooned over her. One look at her was all they ever wanted. When she smiled, she left people wondering if anything in the world was more enchanting than her. Her eyes looked like they held a million secrets; and millions would give their lives to know even one of them. Her long lashes fluttered lightly in the breeze.
She never had anyone in her life; she didn’t need anyone, she had the entire world at her beck and call. Her life revolved around her fans and admirers, and theirs around her. Many came to her professing undying love, but it was something she believed she deserved as a right from everyone. All her joy was centered on the applause and appreciation that she received after every movie. Her relationships failed but the fact didn’t bother her because she knew she would never be alone. She knew it all…
She slowly lost everyone and everything as her beauty faded. Her weak smile made people look at her sympathetically with reminiscence of how she enchanted everyone when she was a diva. Her eyes had wrinkles around them that brought loneliness along. She did not need surgeries, she did not need enhancements; she was an eternal beauty as everyone proclaimed and she prided herself for that. But tonight, realization dawned on her as she finally comprehended the truth – it was all over. She had lived her life for people, for crowds; now the empty house troubled her. She had to do it tonight.
She lay, undressed in fragrant water filled with rose petals in her spacious bathtub. Aroma candles flickered as they cast a dim light over her lifeless face complete with makeup. She could suddenly see a burst of light as the spotlight focused on her again. She waited for the rainbow that would take her back again to the life of applause. She didn’t kill herself; she just moved to another world where she could entertain…

Dude this sux.

Beats chem. and study hall. What did u bring 4 lunch?

Forgot. Is there machines?

Didn’t see any. U want half my sandwich?

Ok. Thx. Wtf are we doing here?

Learning about stars, duh. And not smelling Ms. Carmody’s no soap using ass.

No I mean like wtf are we doing here on this planet. What if it goes on forever backwards and forwards? All the space and dust and stars are really just a molecule in something else. Or what if there is a tiny world living on the atoms on the electrons in my hair?

R u high right now?

Yeah a little. But what’s the point? All this space isn’t really space, it’s full of all kinds of shit and we’re just tiny people on a tiny planet in a tiny galaxy in the corner of a cloud of crap floating around.

Wow you’re in a good mood. But #1, electrons don’t have atoms, it’s the other way around.  And #2, so what if there’s a bunch of random shit in the sky? We still have a chem. test on Friday and u obviously need to study. A lot.

Did u see those nebulaz? When you’re little u think the sky is the biggest thing there is and then u find out there are all these other skies past the sky. And then we’re all just made up of a bunch of tiny atoms and electrons and whatever. It doesn’t make any sense. And it doesn’t even matter. OMG I am going to fucking strangle that guy if he says how about that one more time.

I know. How about that universe? Look, a dipper, how about that? Doooofus! Hey did anyone ask u to homecoming yet?

No. I thought Dylan was going to but then at Brianna’s party I told him I only go out with guys that can suck their own dicks. I thought it was hilarious but I was really wasted.  I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a whore now. BFD.  Did u ask Madison.

No, Kevin did. She blew him off but he’s kind of my friend so it would kind of suck either way. Brianna had a party?

Yeah, Saturday. U didn’t miss much. When is this over?

I don’t know. So r u going?

To homecoming? What for? I can listen to lame pop music at home. Dances are stupid anyway.

Yeah they are. I’m probably going to skip it too.

My dad left.

Back to Iraq? I thought they had to give him 6 months before they sent him on another tour?

No, he left us. A few days ago for some redneck skank he met over there. Don’t say anything ok? If school finds out they’ll make me go see that fucking weirdo shrink again.

OMG that SUCKS! Wtf? Why didn’t u tell me?

Dude, keep up. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t say anything at first because I didn’t really believe it. I thought it was just something he said because they were fighting. U know how they are. But then he left and he took the dog so I know he’s not coming back.

That’s crazy! How does it not matter? I can’t believe he took Baxter. That’s fucked.

Whatever. He hasn’t been around much and even when he’s here he’s not really here. He forgot my birthday last year, remember? Anyway I was so mad at first. And sad. I don’t even know what it was. Like I was frozen or something. Or totally blazed. U know when you’re so high u can’t move? Well u probably don’t but it was like that.  But now I’m sitting in this stupid freezing upside down toilet bowl room and it’s like it’s all the same.

Um, u lost me.

There’s stars in the ceiling, there’s stars in the sky. What’s the difference?  My dad came back,  he left, so what? Everything just keeps on doing whatever it does and u can’t stop any of it, so what’s the point? I could jump in front of a bus tomorrow and it wouldn’t matter, u know?

No, it would matter a lot. I get what u mean about feeling small but come on. Just because there are all kinds of things u can’t change doesn’t mean u don’t count.

Well I know people would be sad and whatever, but they’d get over it. People die all the time. People leave all the time.

Ok so u don’t matter to the cosmos. Nobody does. But u matter to me.  And if u jumped in front of a bus your dad would still be a total dick and we’d still have a chem. test and the sun would still come up. But I wouldn’t have a best friend to show my poems to or teach me guitar chords or sit on the roof with all night or pass notes to during boring field trips. And every time I heard a new band or saw a new slasher movie or wanted to call someone for no reason and talk for 3 hours, I’d think of u and I’d end up going crazy wondering why I never told you this and no, I’d never get over it for my whole life. Because u fucking matter to me more than anything in this whole stupid shit filled universe.

Dude r u crying?

No why r u?

It looked like u were a little.

Kind of looks like u are.

Shut up. I’m starving did u bring chips?

“It’s only a lightning storm.”

“Just keep talking.”

“Happens all the time.”

“Not up here.”

“Sure up here.”

“Not to me up here.”

“Give me your hand.”

“Can’t. It’s taken.”

“I didn’t mean it like—”

“No, I mean it’s welded to this whatchamacalit.”

“I think it’s called an armrest.”

“I think it’s called a false sense of security.”

“What’s your name again?”

“Chloe.”

“Can you close your eyes for a minute, Chloe?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“Because I might miss the lightning striking the wing of our plane.”

“Pretty sure you’d feel that.”

“Or that little gremlin from The Twilight Zone movie.”

“Oh, fuck! What is that?”

“What?!”

“Kidding.”

“Not . . . funny.”

“Sorry.”

“So totally . . . not . . . funny.”

“Really sorry.”

“I don’t know what your name is, but you are so totally not funny.”

“Linus.”

“Oh, God. Seriously?”

“Totally seriously.”

“You’re kidding, right? Linus?”

“Does it matter? According to you, we’re already dead.”

“True. So then . . . Linus. Any last words?”

“Give me your hand, Chloe.”

“Can’t.”

“Just do it.”

“Fine.”

“Better?”

“Sweaty, but . . . yeah. Better.”

“Put this in your ear.”

“Can you do it?”

“Sure.”

“Sorry. My hair.”

“I got it.”

“What are we listening to?”

“Give it a second.”

“Oh . . . wow.”

“I know.”

“Oh . . . God.”

“Are your eyes closed?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“What is . . . ”

“Just listen.”

“’Kay.”

“Chloe?”

“What.”

“My hand isn’t normally this sweaty.”

“Shh.”

“‘Kay.”

“Linus?”

“Yeah?”

“This being your sweaty right hand and all, and me missing gremlins because my eyes are closed, and on the very astronomical chance we somehow survive all this and . . . well . . . is there a Mrs. Linus waiting at the airport?”

“ . . . shhh . . . ”

written by blistertoe (blistertoe.com)

Police lights turned outside the backyard window.  James stood watching with nothing else to do.  Caught captive in the sprinkling of rain.  Each step he saw in a new drop.  Another idea in a new drop.  Across the street, the house with the noisy dog was quiet.

One thing had happened.  But on the window, a thousand raindrops had landed.  A thousand ideas.  A thousand possibilities of what really happened.  All of them would spread.  Neighbors were emerging.  Evolving from their worlds like slow Cro-Magnon.  Rakes rested on houses.  Mowers calmed down with the lift of a handle.  Jump ropes sank.  Everyone stepped into the streets like a July 4^th parade.  Their gaze fixed on one thing.  A police car parked crooked in a driveway.  Lights slow going.  Silent.  Just the revolving monotony of red and blue.  The sense of sound melted down into a gradual absence.  The absence of one sense immediately heightening the others.  Dirt and summer heat waved up from the streets in a musky haze.  More neighbors spilled from backyards.  The tanginess of barbeque growing putrid in their mouths.  Popsicles were moldy and sticky and dripped down the little ones’ hands.  James saw from the window the final crescendo of Our Town on a cheap MGM backlot.  All the dropped clues and songs and dances pieced together so nicely.  A big white shiny smile.  A gay two-step hand in hand past town hall.  This fascia was shattered by a police car.

James flicked back the window lock.  Lifted the heavy wooden window with a shaky arm.  He propped the hammer in the corner to keep the window from crashing down.  The damp musky breeze hit him first.  Garnered the deepest association.  On the news at lunch, he knew it would be here after  lunch.  The green globs slid towards home as an unstoppable force.  Leaning over a half-eaten bologna sandwich, James was enthralled with its power.  We knew it.  We knew it and we could do nothing about it.  Tomorrow, it would rain.  While we are cleaning up lunch, it would begin to rain.  Slowly.  We would look up, unsure.  Stick out a hand and verify.  The hard, cold force of one drop would confuse us, two would assure us.  It was raining.  The drops would increase slow, and then gradually drop faster and faster as we hustled the patio furniture inside.  The dusty dank scent would leak up from the roadways and driveways.  Our foreheads would be dotted and our arms would collect drops in our little hairs.

James knew it all already.  The rain would come.  It would spoil pick-up games.  Postpone reunions.  Push a bride to tears.  But they would ignore it.  Like he ignored it.  The silly superstitions he would try would not matter.  He could still eat Fruit Loops even if something bad happened the last time.  He could wear the blue boxers.  He could think sunshine.  Say it three times.  Nod.  Put away all his dishes.  It would still rain.  The silly superstitions would not change the rain from coming his way.  He saw the looming green coming.  It was on two stations.

His stomach still felt heavy though as he left his lunch at the table.  He shouldn’t have put on the blue boxers.  He shouldn’t have tempted whatever it was.  He knew what happened the last time.  A dampness spread through him.  He tried to ignore it.  But it sat with him and reminded him.  But he looked at the TV.  The bloated green waves had not changed.  And wouldn’t.  The events of today did not have a specific pattern.  Patterns attached themselves.  James attached patterns to find excuses.  He was aware of it.  The processes.  The patterns.  The reflections.  It must have been this…all the excuses.  No chance.  No choice.  It was coming.  He always knew it.  James sat down.  He was going to be there regardless.  Like the rain.  He didn’t understand why everyone was so shocked to see a police car.

written by blistertoe (blistertoe.com)