stripeywriter
'There's no salvation in that,' he said, watching me take another large sip.
'How do you know?'
'I've tried it. It doesn't work.'
'What do you suggest I do, then?'
They carried him out on a stretcher. This wouldn't have been unusual in normal circumstances, but these weren't normal. I have no idea where they found a stretcher, or why they got to use it on him, but they did.
The railroad was not as straight as I'd been led to believe. They said it would be an easy journey; that the train would go in more or less a straight line across all eight states throughout the journey. It didn't.
The harness did not feel secure. Nope, not in any way, shape or form. And it didn't matter how much they all told me it would be fine, the Fear from the previous time was still with me. It had taken this long, after all, to get back this far, it should have been no surprise that I should feel this way now.
The top seeds all expected to see their name on the list, but I didn't. I was the surprise; the shock entry. I had no idea until a few days before that I was even going, let alone be included in this list. It was an honour, to be sure.
I wasn't that keen. I really wasn't. I felt bad because I knew they'd tried really hard to match it to the sort of person they thought I was, but it showed how little they really knew about me. It was going to be a tough conversation.
The framework was all wrong. I knew it from the start and I wasn't the only one who did. But it made not difference at the top: it's what we'd be following and there was nothing we could do about it. It was going to be like building a house with a child's drawing as an architect's plan.
'It's a straw hat.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yes of course I'm sure! What else could it be?'
We'd been playing Pictionary for four hours by this point and it's fair to say tempers were a little frayed.
'He doesn't look like a reporter,' I said.
'No, but he is.'
'Are you sure?'
'How long are we going to have this conversation for? Yes, I'm sure!'
'Okay I believe you. He just doesn't look like a reporter, is all.'
'So you said. But what exactly do you think a reporter should look like, then?'
I told them to transform me.
'Are you sure?' they said.
'Of course...why wouldn't I be?'
'Oh no reason...just...no reason.'
Whatever it was they didn't say, there clearly was a reason. But it would be a long time before I found out what that was. I still disagree with them, though, even now.
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writing since 2012 · 47 entries · 47 days shown up
each square is a day—lit means zebra showed up.
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the words zebra reaches for
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