This week...

Another paragraph from my current project.

Lucy was in bliss. Somewhere outside herself she could sense that her physical form was weakening. Every one of the supernatural beings that used her body as a gateway between her world and theirs crippled her just a tiny bit more. But with so many thousands of them passing through her, she was now so drained that she would probably never be able to reclaim it. But that didn’t matter.

From where she was now, Lucy couldn’t see any reason to ever return to it.

And for this week...

Another bit that I wrote during the week.

Jordan held his breath. His fingers slowly curled around the windowsill as he pulled his head above it; his toes barely touched the dirty cement floor. Outside, the sky was dark. The front yard, however, was a different story altogether. The formerly manicured front yard was torn to pieces. What had been a neat row of suburban houses now gave the appearance of a smile with missing teeth, as some of the homes had been completely flattened. Bright lights with no apparent sources moved uniformly up the street while smaller light sources swept the front yards, glaring into windows and scanning bushes. Every now and then a door would apparently open itself as an invisible search party scoured the building for those few humans who had stayed behind.

Jordan lowered himself and turned. The two others that he’d been sharing the basement with, a boy and a girl, watched him expectantly. Jordan rubbed some dirt from his forearm and shook his head. When do we win?

Without saying anything the two quickly picked up their packs and heaved them onto their backs. Jordan was much less prepared than his new companions; he had only a half-full pack of cigarettes, a hypothetical map of the San Francisco tunnel system, and a few crumpled dollar bills that were currently buried somewhere in the back pocket of his mud-stained jeans.

The boy with the pack walked to the far corner of the basement, put a hand on either wall, and pushed. Nothing happened. Jordan shoved impatiently past him and heaved both hands against the walls with both hands. The corner split suddenly open and revealed a dark corridor.

For this week, a sample of writing that I produced.

Lucy sat in silence. Somewhere in the adjacent room a clocked ticked loudly. Lucy stared ahead at the nearly empty room, occupied only by a few wooden chairs strewn about in various positions and a fine layer of dust. The lone window in the room was covered with rotting boards, one of which was hanging at an awkward angle.

Tick, tock. With every tick Lucy felt the room grow colder. A floorboard creaked behind her, near the door. She closed her eyes for a moment. Here they come. The sound of footsteps trailed through the door and circled around the overstuffed wing chair in which she sat. She began to feel her heart beat quicken.

Across the room a rickety wooden chair was jerked violently around to face Lucy. She could see the boards beneath the chair depress as weight was loaded onto it.

A second set of footsteps was now apparent, following the same path as the first. A chair lifted from the floor and righted itself, being positioned right beside the other. Lucy could now hear more entities filing in, and all around the room chairs scraped into position loudly. For a few moments the room seemed almost alive with activity; the scant beams of sunlight that shone through the broken window lighted swirls of dust. Lucy closed her eyes and coughed.

The room was suddenly silent. Lucy peeked hesitantly through squinted eyes. Twelve chairs were now arranged in a perfect circle around her. Some of the chairs seemed to rock, as though their occupants were shifting impatiently. They were waiting. This is it.

Lucy sighed nervously. “Thanks for coming.”

Employment.

This week's subject: Work.

It's been eight months since I had a regular job. I'm now living in an apartment, and (for the time being) my roommates have been pretty content accepting what little I've been able to give them for rent. But with the beginning of another month and no work in sight, I'm starting to feel the pressure again.

As soon as the snow starts to fall I'll have some work at Beaver Mountain, but that won't probably be for at least a month, possibly two.

On the bright side, the economy is picking up and the majority of companies say that they plan to hire full-time employees within the next 12 months. Unfortunately, I really need employment sooner than that. And even once I start working at Beaver, it will only be a matter of time before the snow melts and I'm out of work again. I've even gotten desperate enough that I've sold my plasma a couple of times now.

Hopefully I'll be able to find something, and soon. I don't think the roommates will be too happy with my pitiful contributions for much longer.