The half-forgotten
Other half of my short life
In short story form

 
Hold You Forever
11-20-1998

I'm in a building, and there's gas leak. The place is bound to explode at any moment. There's people everywhere walking around, sitting down on the floor and on steps, and so on. I yell out for everyone to evacuate. They do. I go to all these rooms where people are just doing their own thing, demanding they evacuate, that the building is gonna blow. It turns out to be a huge mall-like structure, except built UP instead of OUT. Somewhere along the way I team up with some Asian girl. I think I've finished when I see people sitting on a long stairway to the basement. I tell them to leave, but they're more reluctant. I get to the bottom on the steps, where there's a car parked. Finally, people start to leave, and I wonder why the building hasn't blown up yet, and also marvel at how I'm pretty much sacrificing my life to save all these people. The Asian girl makes to leave in the car (someone else is driving it). I stop her...well, she's tying her shoes...and I say, "You've got to be from Ann Arbor." "Nope." "Detroit, then." "Nope, Meddleton." I've never heard of Meddleton, but for some reason I feel like I should know it (Milford in reality).

I walk through a dark forest and come to another building that's missing one wall, about 3 stories high. There's football players training inside. I tell them to evacuate, and they think I'm full on shit. I pretty much don't care at this point, and turn to leave, when one of them pokes something behind me with a long rod. I look at it, and it's this ant-eater-lookin' furry thing with a long snout and a long tongue, lots of teeth, green bulbous eyes. I get the impression that these dangerous things are all over the place.

I walk down an aisle of plasticware and don a big plastic (somehow bottomless) garbage can as a suit of protective armor. I grab a plastic pale-type thing and put it on my head. Now I'm ready to face the creatures and make it back through the forest.

At some point I meet someone, and they don't recognize me, so I remove the plastic helmet.

I'm at an indoor baseball game, and I'm first at bat. The guy pitches, throws a strike. For some reason I get it into my head that when he pitches next, someone behind me will hit the ball, he'll catch it, and throw it back, at which point I shall strike it. Doesn't happen. Strike. Next pitch, I almost swing, but see it's gonna be a ball, and catch myself, but the umpire apparently thinks I swung enuf, and calls me out. As I walk by him to the dugout, I say, "That's FUCKED up." He makes to say, "Maybe so, but..." and I continue the line, "Yeah yeah, I'm still out." I view the game. Next batter gets lucky and runs all the bases, plowing through people on the field and such. I notice it's Reid, how he's so hardcore about playing sports. I think how he just swings at everything, and then convey this wisdom to the guy beside me, who's not really paying attention. Suddenly the next team is up, tho I'm still in the dugout. As one guy runs by, three very large-breasted women undo their swimsuits and flash the guy.

He trips and falls. They do this to several runners. I cna't see their faces, though. Eventually they go out and run onto the field, lying down and just plopping their wares out on the ground. They're actually not attractive. Tons of very fat, big-breasted women storm the field and run around, bouncing up and down in front of me. It's disgusting, and I hang my head so I can't see.

When I look up, the field is gone, and I'm sitting in a chair in a dark room...at a party. Turns out the layout of the house it's in is exactly like my OLD OLD house on Antoinette, except the kitchen area isn't a kitchen, and the garage area is just another room. One "soft" girl comes u pto me and straddles me from behind somehow, delving into my ear with her tongue, and kissing my neck. I'm like, "Are you crazy? My dad's right in the next room." I get up and walk over there. My dad's lying on a mattress, talking to some other girl. All the women here are fat and ugly. Nonetheless, I walk around, looking for that one girl again, cuz out of them all, she was still the best, if not that great.

I make it to where people check in their luggage (ok, obviously not exactly my house here). Off to the side is a small carpeted (ceiling, too) tunnel, barely enuf to squeeze through. I do so, and end up in a VERY small corridor. There's noise from down some narrow steps. Some guy goes past me, carrying a bowling ball bag. I know that downstairs is for the sports skill center or something, and that I'm not allowed, so I turn back. I can't fit my head through the tunnel at first, but I finally manage it. Someone's on the other side, asking, "Can you make it through? Are you a big guy or a skinny guy?" "I'm skinny, I've got it." I make it out. I go upstairs to check my old bedroom. People are sleeping...all these guys with all these fat girls. Ugh. I go back downstairs, figuring by now I've been ditched. No loss.

I take a drive, and at some point where traffic is backed up, I see Cindy coming in the opposite direction. I point her toward the parking lot on my side of the street and pull over to it. Somehow she ends up going the other way, so I try to follow, but then she turns around, so I hafta turn around AGAIN to catch up to her in the lot. We both park and get out of our cars. I think it's amazing how I've found her here of all places. We give each other a hug, and I say, "It's so great to see you. I could hold you forever." I keep holding her, so forcefully that we keep losing balance (ie she needs to step back and I forward to maintain it), my head just kinda buried in her shoulder. I finally look up and see a man stealing a bicycle. I let her go and run after him. I grab the bike and part of it comes off. I secure it in one arm and pursue the man pedaling away. I catch up with him, beat the shit out of him, and return the bike. All these people are watching, and they clap for me. I bow and shake all their hands.

I get on the bike and ride, emerging out of a dirt trail by the side of a house. Jeremy C is riding on front of me, and he's stopped to push some flowers over to the side so we don't run over them, except he's taking forever to do it. Two little black kids (boy and girl) catch up with us. I think how I used to come here all the time, that the trail used to be larger, and different people lived in these houses (it was a court, and daytime...oh it was daytime when I saw Cindy, too). Nonetheless, we all entered the house. A man and a woman were inside, preparing to leave, and didn't seem to mind our presence. They were going to a ball or something. They left, and the black kids turned on some R&B music (heh). The couple returned to get some baggage. I asked the man if he needed help, but he didn't. They left again. Chad E' mom came in, assumably the former owner of the house. Then Chad came in, dressed in a white suit. He had a very thin beard, and a longer face than normal. Much older, like 30s. I was dressed as a bum. Other people came in, all dressed in various outfits, pertaining to no particular style or time period. I took some clothes out to the trunk of Georgia's (Chad's mom) car and threw them in the trunk.


posted by Phlegm at 11/24/2003