tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9233439971265798142024-02-19T23:41:44.398-08:00Catherine“Hello, Bod,” she said.
“Hello,” he said, as he danced with her. “I don’t know your name.”
“Names aren’t really important,” she said.
“I love your horse. He’s so big! I never knew horses could be that big.”
“He is gentle enough to bear the mightiest of you away on his broad back, and strong enough for the smallest of you as well.”
“Can I ride him?” asked Bod.
“One day,” she told him, and her cobweb skirts shimmered. “One day. Everybody does.”
“Promise?”
"I promise.”
--- Neil GaimanAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-33823181984965194972015-04-22T12:02:00.001-07:002015-04-22T12:08:09.381-07:00Complete Cessation of Hostilities<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Catherine felt like cold sludge was pounding through her veins. Not the most comfortable of sensations to say the least.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-a90c1166-e287-2709-2da9-a08b930a495d" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“In a completely unexpected turn of events, we are witnessing what appears to be a complete cessation of hostilities. ISIL forces have pulled back to their bases in Tikrit, while Iraqi forces are bringing in aid to civilians throughout the region.”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Indulging in such human practices was something she didn’t often do. Needless to say, Catherine was drunk. Perks of working as a bartender. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Free booze.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">It was supremely difficult for her to fulfill her duties while drunk. But it had been a long night.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">It had been a very long night. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">After copious amounts of alcohol, Catherine slept for a long time, and dreamt for most of that time. She had wandered through the haze of time, moving between the veils of past, present, and future. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The future presented itself to her like the strained tones of an old flute drifting throughout the recesses of her mind. A host of voices calling from somewhere far away: “</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The blind given sight. The beggar given wealth. She will drag her feeble frame towards the light of a distant land.” </span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Not exactly comforting.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">The past wove itself into her nightmares like a friend on the brink of death, refusing to give up or let themselves be beaten. Scenes that brought images to the forefront of her mind. A little girl lying in a pool of her parents blood, a man kneeling over her grinned: “Need a hand?”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The girl trembled, but the women inside called out, “</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why help me? You’re the one that put me here in the first place!”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Her insides roiled. But still her sleep persisted. Too much liquor always set Catherine on edge.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Look. I just want to go home and you coming in here and making me push you out a window is not good for my image.”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">His image? He’s fucking Satan! What image?</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Interfering with you pointless little plan is not why I came here. Call me Ripley cause believe it or not, not everything I do is because of you. I don’t wake up and think ‘Oh. How am I gonna piss off Catherine today?’ I have my own life and I’m just trying to live it. If there are actually people dying outside of your Plan well then, sister, you’ve got a much bigger problem to worry about than me.”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">You have your own life? What irony, Catherine thought. Death and Satan, sitting around chatting about life. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">And yet, he was remarkably good at bringing up valid points.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">If the disturbances in The Plan weren’t his fault, whose were they? </span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">What did he mean?</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">What did it all mean?</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">When the veils of sleep at last were lifted, the blanket of existentialism and self doubt remained. The beautiful light of dawn only served to further increase her confusion as the concept of a hangover made itself fully known to her.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 36px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-41625735012730584082015-03-08T12:59:00.001-07:002015-03-09T04:27:44.214-07:00Hazel Pierce, Clive Buccatti, and a Starry Night<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Hazel was supremely confused about where she was and why she was there. She appeared to have wandered into the smoky, dimly lit bar. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ab67d944-fe48-b661-4eae-5d99992363f4" style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Check the paper.” Catherine strode in through the swinging door that led in from the kitchen.</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hazel made her way to the bar counter, where lay a newspaper. “Why this,” she asked.</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine rolled up her sleeves and set to work polishing the fine mahogany countertop. “It’s tomorrows paper. Read the obits. I promise! It’ll get interesting.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hazel eyed the other woman suspiciously as she flipped from the front page to the obituary section, deep in the inky heart of the paper. She began to rapidly scan column after column, wary of the steady, relaxed motions of the room’s other occupant. </span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“A local employee at a children’s home fell to her death death today after stumbling on a toy and plummeting down the stairs. She was rushed to the hospital and declared dead after several hours in an apparent coma."</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest as her eyes lit upon that all too familiar shape. “That’s my name! Why is my name here?! Wha-? What’s going on?!?”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Relax! Your name isn’t going to stay there. Keep reading, and do try to calm down a bit.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Far from calm, Hazel tore through her own obituary. She only paused for a thousandth of a second to consider the story of her long tumble down the steps and the orphanage. “What does it all mean?!”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Well child, by all rights you should be dead and gone right now. The Plan, however, has been experiencing a lot of flux recently. And I have decided that you have a lot more work left to do.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You know,” Catherine continued. “I too am a child of the system. I grew up in an orphanage after my parents, or her parents really, were taken.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Why are you telling me this?”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Because in the end, you choose what system to be a part of. You spent a long while doing great things in South America, only to throw yourself back into a place that you never really left. A place that you clearly never made your peace with. Isn’t it high time to make your peace? Hazel, you bring many gifts to the table, but staying in the orphanage forever is holding you back. In the end, it is your choice to stay or go. But it must be that: it must be your choice. Not the choice of some random toy truck that you would happen to stumble on on the way downstairs.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hazel absorbed all of this with trepidation. “Why are you telling me this?! Where are we?”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Hazel, in a short while you will wake up in a hospital bed and all of this will be naught but a lingering memory. The only thing that will remain will be that question will be are you willing to let go?”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hazel remained silent. The poor girl was still very confused and unsettled.</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Try and sleep now, and soon you will be back.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hazel wondered how on earth she was supposed to sleep. At least until The woman at the bar handed her a glass of some clear liquid. </span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Drink.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hazel drank deeply. </span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The slow, methodical movements Catherine’s cleaning lured her deeper and deeper into a trancelike state. She closed her eyes for the briefest of moments.</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A glaring white light, accompanied by the cacophony of beeps and whirrs awaited her on the other side. </span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The friendly face of Brian leaned over her, smiling as always. </span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Welcome back, Hazel.”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Our earlier report of the death of the local children’s home employee seems to have been rather preemptive Janice! In a stunning turn of events doctors managed to bring her back from the brink of death!”</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But this was just the beginning of what would prove to be one of Catherine’s longest days yet.</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The face of the brutish man haunted Catherine wherever she went: “Fix this, wench!” For for the past several weeks, Catherine had been striving to do just that. Countless hours of planning and reflection had left her absolutely nowhere.</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine was becoming desperate.</span></span></span></div>
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And desperate times call for desperate measures.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">As the darkness of the apartment and the darkness of her mind finally overwhelmed her, Catherine let her anger guide her hand to the smooth hilt of the knife. Letting her caution take flight, she left her dark sanctuary, creeping out into the hallway and steadily towards apartment 43. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">As she approached the doorway, Catherine could feel his presence, his pull guiding her towards her destination. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The feeble deadbolt was no match for her fury. The door practically opened itself before her wrath.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Welcome Catherine. I’ve been anticipating this moment for some time now.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Catherine did not respond. She crept forward, carried by darkness, fluid as a dancer.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“I am here. In the kitchen. Come join me at the table.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">His form was silhouetted against the dull light of the single light bulb that illuminated the space. He sat at the table, the seat farthest to the right from the head.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“This is where Judas sat. Arguably my biggest success, he was. Here he sat and schemed up the death of Christ. Come. Sit and eat with me.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The light seemed to bend for a moment before a feast appeared before them on the table.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Join me in the flesh and blood of Christ.” His wicked grin flashed through the dim lighting.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Catherine did not move.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Stupid bitch, I’m offering you a way out!”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Catherine spoke.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“I’m Death! There is no way out of Death! Death is inescapable!” </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Then try it bitch! Do what you have come to do! You think yourself free from your own Plan? Haha! You thought I was an idiot.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Do it Catherine! I’m sure He will reward you!”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Eternal glory bitch! It’ll be you-”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">And Catherine snapped.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It wasn’t what he said, but rather the way his words slithered from his mouth that moved her to action. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">She threw the table across the room, smashing furniture and leaving deep gouges in the walls. Plates shattered and wine spilled. Catherine lunged, plunging the knife towards the serpent's heart.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">For one glorious moment, she could taste victory.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Then Clive laughed. His laughter boomed and rang throughout the room, barraging her ears. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Catherine found herself suspended millimeters from Clive, completely immobilized. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“You see Catherine, The Plan transcends any of us, and most of all you. You are bound to your own works.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Catherine was speechless.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Clive reached out and wrapped his fingers around her neck, dragging her through the wreckage of the room. He took her to a window and pressed her face up against the glass.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Look at the stars Catherine. A testimony to God’s far reaching touch. God doesn’t want you. God doesn’t love you. One day you will see this and know real truth.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Catherine, immobile and weak in his arms, said nothing. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“You wanted to dance, Catherine. You wanted to play. Well here I am. Come back when you’ve figured stuff out bitch.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">And with that Clive smashed Catherine through the window, glass and blood flying off into the night sky. Her body arched against the starlit sky before beginning its descent towards the earth below. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">As she left the confines of the apartment, she was freed from her immobilization. Her body never reached the ground. Even as she fell the darkness engulfed her one last time, carrying her through the night time shadows and back to the lonely sanctuary of her apartment.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-80101663099615309042015-02-16T17:03:00.001-08:002015-03-04T17:09:21.513-08:00Peshawar, A Thaw, and the South Carolinian Miners<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Who are you?” The kid practically shouted at her, his words laced with desperation and panic.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-6563bd10-8650-fc19-fa62-8787256ae4b9" style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“My name is Catherine.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">"Why are you here?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Because this is the end. And no one is alone in the end. You are joining the true majority.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“But why? I'm not even 18 yet!”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“My child, you are a part of something so much larger than yourself. You are a part of the plan. You are a part of something that transcends the limits of human comprehension. Death is but another stage in the long journey of life. No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. A wise man once said, ‘Death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.’ Take comfort in these words.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“At least 20 people were brutally killed in an attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan today. Women and children are openly grieving in the streets as officials help to remove the bodies.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Goddam.” Catherine needed a drink. Children, especially the ones who were old enough to know what was coming, were always the hardest to deal with.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Lenny will can my ass for this,” she muttered as she walked into the stuffy common room of O’Harley’s bar, conscious that she was currently skipping her own shift at Joe's. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Brand loyalty is a dying art. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Catherine strategically positioned herself two stools over from the only other man at the bar. Of course Death knew him on sight, but Catherine was more inclined to acknowledge the man's good looks and calming smile and less inclined to think about The Plan and the gruesome end this man would day meet. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Warmer weather is headed our way folks! Looks like things will begin to thaw out a bit as the high climbs into the low fifties!”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Hey let me get that for you.” The human part of Catherine felt as buoyant as a leaf upon the wind as the man offered to buy her drink for her. “Not too many women come in here and order three fingers of straight gin. That stuff can kill.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Catherine did her best to embody the charismatic man with the white horse as she flashed her biggest smile: “Believe me, I know. And I am definitely not ‘most girls.’”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Believe <i>me,</i> I can see that.” The man flashed a grin right back. “Name’s Maxwell.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“In a stunning turn of events, authorities managed to rescue all of the miners trapped in South Carolina after the mine collapsed last Thursday.”</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Catherine felt sorry for dragging Maxwell away from his evening, but duty calls. Catherine felt the call of The Plan. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was unusual for Catherine to share such an intimate moment with another human being: that intimate moment when a life floats away from its earthly confines. The shadows masked the weight of the world upon her face as she bode farewell to the man in blue taking flight in the evening sky.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Catherine reflected on the whole experience on her way back into her apartment.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Hey lady! You hear about the guy who jumped off the asylum?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A moment of annoyance. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course I heard about it. I was there.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Some freaky shit! You know, you look a lot better than the last time I saw you. You want to grab some coffee sometime?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Or not," she muttered.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“What was that?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Nothing.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<b style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Nothing at all.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">A break from the drama. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">So to speak.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-81242934214142988252015-02-06T17:26:00.000-08:002015-02-06T17:26:07.992-08:00Seasonality and the Pale Horse<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Death was always naught but a concept before her. A powerful, omnipotent concept, but a concept none-the-less. Death came into being when the very first rift in God’s Plan occurred. A simple bite of an apple was all it took to shift the balance and give wings to this darkness. It wasn’t until the first deviation from Death’s own Plan that the thin red line between the pulsating energy of life and the all encompassing totality of death that Death could cross over, relinquishing its hold on the loneliness and despair of nothingness to bring a shadow into the light. When he, the one with the forked tongue, came to that house and painted the walls of the family’s living room the color of the setting sun, Death robbed him of his final victory.</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-d4c3b3c5-612c-4b85-1df7-60aa290d4a69" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">A little girl.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">The little girl. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Death welcomed her into its gentle embrace.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Death brought her across that thin red line that had so long kept Death from joining humanity. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">And then Death took her soul and purged it in the fires of Asphodel and the waters of the Styx. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">And thus, Death conquered Death itself.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Death had entered the fires and waters.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">And Catherine crossed back into the light.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">The Plan would continue.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">It always has.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">It always will.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But even Death seeks comfort and reassurance in the presence of old acquaintances. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Catherine rode her pale mare across the the backdrop of meadows, tranquil and ordinary but for the three men on horseback cantering towards her. The magnificent beasts leaving great rends in the ground, crushing any flower and clover that dared to stand in their way. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">She stood on a rise, surveying the scene with a strange mixture of the peace brought by the late evening oranges and reds and the apprehension of knowing what she had to do next.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Spurring her own mount, Catherine moved forward to meet the men: the charismatic man astride his noble white steed, beautiful blonde hair flowing in the evening breeze. The scarred, brutish man in uniform, muscles stretching the coarse fabric across his broad chest and shoulders, sitting astride his mount as red as blood. The gaunt, thin faced man, looking for all the world like a man in need of a good meal, astride his mount as black as the coming night.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">The first man, the one who could conquer the hearts of mortals with a wink and a smile, hailed Catherine as she approached. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“Good sister, why have you summoned us here?”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">The brutish man in the uniform grunted his agreement.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">“I have business elsewhere. Get on with it.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">The third man, the man with lifeless eyes and skin stretched tight over bones, simply stared.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">Catherine addressed them:</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I don’t know how I may appear to the world, but as for myself I seem to have been only like a girl playing on the seashore and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than the ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. For some time of I have walking against humanity, going through the motions of dead and living alike. For my part I have found this to be gratifying, almost thrilling. Like a child, face plastered to the window of their favorite candy store, dreaming of the joy and delight that await within. This living Death has given me the chance to play, the chance to laugh, the chance to play at love and emotion. A little girl died for me, and a little girl has lived for me. But now, this man has...interrupted my grace period. This beast has reminded me of the harsh reality all of us in this immortal life face. This man threatens The Plan, an institution that transcends any one of us, that may even transcend Him. I seek your council. I seek the wisdom you carry.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The man with the winning smile and wavy hair fixed her gaze upon her.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Death. Or Catherine if you prefer. For some time now, the divine have been… watching you. You have become very involved with these humans. Some argue that you have been neglecting your duties. The three of us are all that remain. The last three to stand by you.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You have a duty. Your distractions have caused you to lose sight of your place in the The Plan. He has made significant ground. We have done our best to curb Satan's efforts while you have decided to play pretend.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The brutish man with the mean face pointed at her.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Fix this, wench.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The three men turned their steeds around and rode off, leaving Catherine alone on her hilltop. The wind caressed her hair as the profound loneliness of her hilltop drifted down upon her shoulders like a fresh blanket of snow upon the Earth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"> Her pale horse snorted as she turned it around and slowly trotted towards the setting sun. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-40613205495865831062015-02-01T06:01:00.001-08:002015-04-22T12:14:48.249-07:00Mexico City, Massive Cold Front, All too Present Death<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine was frustrated. The man at the nursing home had decided to die early. How rude. He wasn’t supposed to leave for at least two more years. This was not going the way Catherine intended. The Plan does not work that way. The Plan always works.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-67c41090-4571-0bc0-9d54-82b7d65feacc" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Several killed today in a blast at a maternity hospital in downtown Mexico City. Many are mourning the loss of children and women alike.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At least something was going according to The Plan.</span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine casually flicked off the television suspended in the corner of the bar and returned to the pleasant tedium of wiping down used glasses. Cognizant of how devoid of life the room was, Catherine sighed. And Lenny chose that moment to come barging in. </span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Hey Cat! You seen all these fires around town? Weird ain’t it!”</span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine stepped into the still night air to see these fires for herself. That night she was being called to the children’s home. “Memento mori,” she would whisper as the child slipped away. Another peaceful journey, just as hard as any other. </span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A woman, dancing in and out of the shadows that danced in the light of the fire. Catherine paused to examine the soft face of a mother untouched by age. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine couldn't stay long. She had a feeling, which was never a good sign.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You will find her.” Catherine reached out a hand to the woman, offering peace. She smiled, offering warmth. “I hope to see you again.”</span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Thank you Joanne. Now let’s send it over Joe for the today’s forecast.” “Thank you. We have a huge front moving into today folks. I’m talking record low temperatures for this time of the year. High winds, snow overnight, it’s going to be crazy!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The last time The Plan deviated, it had been his doing. If history repeats itself, he had decided to stop playing by the rules again. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Her anger brought a stillness and a blanket of cold upon the town, muffling the noises of life.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Time for an intervention. </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The man was walking down a sidewalk. As he passed by an alleyway, Catherine chose that moment to emancipate herself from the shadows holding both her and her anger back.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Hello Clive. Hello… Lucifer. I see you have decided to stop playing nice.”</span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Hey babe, take it ea-”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The darkness seemed to arc from Catherine, almost as if it had a life of it’s own, as Catherine slammed the feeble body and its unwitting passenger into the wall of the alley. Tendrils of shadow engulfing them both.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“First off. I am not your babe. No one talks to me like that. Secondly, the minute you start taking lives, the minute you begin to interfere with The Plan, I will speed up Clive’s chapter. I will take him from you so quickly-”</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">"God you're sexy when you're angery."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">"Did you not hear me?"</span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clive sneered: “Ha! You think that will stop me? There is always another Catherine. Or should I call you Mrityu? </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Śmierć? Malach HaMavet? Dea-</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Death is all too present for the families of the protesters who clashed with police yesterday. Protesters turned violent after the local authorities refused to meet any of their demands for change.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Catherine’s hand closed around his throat and the air seemed to be laced with ice. There was a palpable drop in temperature, even as the nearby fires surged and danced in their braziers.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Do not.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Say.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">We are done here. You have been warned.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">She melted back into the shadows so quickly, one might wonder if she had ever been there at all.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> Her voice hung in the air even after she was gone. “Do not threaten me tempter. I will end you. Or our mutual friend will.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Reports are coming in that the second Japanese hostage was beheaded early this morning. With have yet to confirm the authenticity of the claim.”</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Emperor, your sword won’t help you out</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Sceptre and crown are worthless here</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I’ve taken you by the hand</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">For you must come to my dance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-22308694787294273492015-01-19T19:16:00.004-08:002015-02-01T05:58:44.359-08:00Clearing Up, Central Texas, 12 Year Anniversary - Apartment no. 13<span id="docs-internal-guid-a9898d26-0557-011d-96d3-dea0dfe4ad73"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a9898d26-0557-011d-96d3-dea0dfe4ad73"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;">A face in the crowd. A face that lingered perhaps a little too long.</span></span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a9898d26-0557-011d-96d3-dea0dfe4ad73">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a9898d26-0557-011d-96d3-dea0dfe4ad73"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Creep,” Catherine muttered under her breath as the other girl watched her and mustered something that may have been a smile.</span></span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a9898d26-0557-011d-96d3-dea0dfe4ad73">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Still, the idea of a friend. The idea of a connection. Could she save the precious few remaining layers of her humanity? Not many women come to the bar and into her life.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Well it’s certainly cold and snowy today folks, but the skies should clear up by early tomorrow, promising great weather in the coming weeks.”</i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Hey Cat, I’m going to get these new menus ready.” Lenny had begun his his shift a few minutes ago and was now entering, armed with scissors and menu sleeves, to prepare the new lists of just-barely-above-par food options.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s when it struck Catherine with the force of an executioner’s axe.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A moment of tunnel vision, edged with blackness, focused on one double bladed, gleaming point in space.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“A double murder was reported in central Texas today. Reporters were denied access to the scene as investigators began the forensic analysis of the crime.”</i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Memories stormed the impenetrable walls of Catherine’s mind, forcing their way into cracks sealed by the passage of time and flinging themselves over the ramparts only to assault Catherine with image after image awoken from deep within the recesses of her mind. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blood.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Screams.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shattered light.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A fire deep inside that young chest.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“An interesting story Susan, today marks the 12 year anniversary of an unsolved murder that left authorities baffled. The perpetrator seemingly took the daughter of the murdered family with him, never to be seen or heard from again. ”</i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine passed out.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-5066129206901219992015-01-12T19:58:00.002-08:002015-02-01T05:57:56.159-08:00Downtown Philly, Resurfacing Project, and a Literary Legend<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A sense of wanting. A sense of loneliness. A sense of a longing so ingrained in one’s heart that is begins to gnaw away at the core of the humanity hidden deep inside.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-695772e8-e170-510c-a4e0-90d484da4cf9" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <i> </i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“A kidnapping has been reported in downtown Philadelphia. The mother has already made several public pleas for her child back, and has vowed to do whatever she needs to do to get her child safely home.”</i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Catherine’s heart, there was very little left to strip away. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"> A trip to the nursing home. Caressing those hands so papery thin that they might just float away at their own accord. She smiled as she held those hands, watched those eyes rejoice as they realized this was the cusp. Catherine’s words reached across the void: “There’s no need to fear. Death is here, but death does not bring pain or suffering. Just breathe.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"> A temperature drop in the room. A gentle waft of cool air. The darkness in the room was palpable. Not an unpleasant darkness, but a darkness that is present just after the sun sets.</span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> “Folks, watch out for the connector today! The city has begun its long awaited resurfacing project to do away with the crevices impeding our morning commutes.”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A roommate. A friend. Another voice to fill the void of a silent apartment, a silence broken only by the over enthusiastic voices of the news. Catherine needed a human connection. Someone to listen. Someone to be heard.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i> “Literary legend Ignatius Bellmont is making a special appearance today as a part of his national publicity tour to promote his book on seeking out and making friends. Today’s stop includes one of many where he stops into bookstores to do book signings and seminars.”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white;"> “I’m not that desperate,” thought Catherine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-50092165701908750562015-01-12T04:27:00.000-08:002015-02-01T05:57:22.860-08:00The Weather, a String of Murders, and Glitter on Main <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Hot damn.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Sally, today’s weather is going to be a doozy! Mild breezes, sunny, and unseasonably warm! Haha! I hope everyone gets in a little sunlight on this beautiful day!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine briefly noticed the weather blaring over the T.V. monitor in the clinic’s waiting room before she rapidly diverted her attention back to that chiseled body and all its fine, fine features. The doctor of course. Not the weather man. No, he was balding and sporting a frankly embarrassing combover. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <i> </i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Late yesterday evening, there was a string of murders that were discovered by authorities to have all been linked to a single killer.”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Oh come on.” A chill passed over the room, and plants seemed to visually curl up and die as Catherine was informed that she would not be seen by the doctor, but rather, an aging nurse with an attitude. “Honey, you better stop eying Doctor Brian and get your behind back in the examination room before we have the shared experience of an unscheduled colonoscopy!”</span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <i> </i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Thank you Sally for that. In other news, a truck delivering a large shipment of, hehe, glitter has started leaking all up and down Main! Hahaha! This certainly is bizarre!”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aside from her the fire in her head and the cold shakes that kept racking her body, Catherine felt something.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="color: white; white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This made Catherine very uneasy.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine doesn’t feel emotions. Occasionally some relief or ease at the laugh of a child or the smile of one of the customers at the bar. </span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <i> </i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Ladies and gents I hope you’re not becoming too attached to this warm weather, because there appears to be a lot of fog and chills in the coming week.”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After her disappointing appointment and subsequent prescription pick up from the pharmacy, Catherine found herself limping (due to lingering discomfort in her colon) towards the one place she was always welcome, embraced by old friends and enemies alike.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The welcoming, calming mists of the graveyard enveloped her slight frame like the arms of a long lost friend as the sun crept below the horizon, throwing the world around her into a cascade of darkness and light intertwined. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-923343997126579814.post-12042152270058658212014-12-15T14:17:00.002-08:002015-02-01T05:56:43.472-08:00Washington Bay Area, Outside of Kabul, and the Weather<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The day started with nothing that would excite anyone who actually watches the news on a regular basis. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Last night, a brutal triple homicide was reported in the Washington Bay area. Authorities were on the scene in minutes after responding to the call of a woman walking her dog.” </i></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As she rolled out of bed, Catherine shivered a little. Not because she was used to hearing about death and destruction every morning, and not even because her aging coffee maker would breathe its last breath as she would tried to fire it up. Catherine shivered because it was cold in her apartment. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“16 dead and 32 wounded by a car bomb outside of Kabul late last night.” </i></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A deviation from her normal routine, Catherine stopped for some coffee before heading over to the bar to open up for the day. She forged on through the cool, misty morning, unperturbed by wave after wave of the slowly advancing fog, her trademark scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. A scarf of such a fine, ethereal, grey wool that one can never be quite sure what color it really is. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Let’s send it over to John for today’s forecast, and lemme say folks, it looks like it’s going to be a cold one!”</i></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And thus began Catherine’s 62nd day working at Joe’s. Though sometimes tedious, Catherine enjoyed the simple act of serving others. She savored the long conversations with man, woman, young, and old who came to her counter. She would smile every so often as she would slide glass after glass down the long counter to the welcoming embrace of the customers. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She wouldn’t leave the bar till 6:30 that evening, when Lenny would come take the night shift. It was her night off after all. </span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another trek back through the swirling mists of cold, damp December air. As she would pass through the doors of the apartment building, she would enjoy one brief moment of the warmth and light of the lobby before being plunged into darkness. She could hear the muttered curses of the lobby’s other occupants, but she would just head to the stairs and move along with her evening.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catherine was used to the darkness.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Thank you Sally! Today folks we’re looking at fog and cold for the majority of the day. Keep your kids close moms because its really easy to lose track of things in heavy fog cover.”</i></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As Catherine would tuck herself in, only one more thought would flit through her mind before the blackness of sleep: “Damn. I forgot to get a new coffee maker.”</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03773853384157680922noreply@blogger.com0