===== Abigail Murdoch ===== So. Hm? Things are…? Yeah? … //Oh, yeah,// I mean…they’re fine. Have fun? Yeah. //The most noxious of spectres. What lies silent in the wastelands beyond the walls. Word-hermits and rucksacks, looking for the place where common hearths burn.// Get a chance to, uh…? … //Yeah//, get a chance to…say goodbye to Nellie? Sure. That’s good. //Friendly liars. Sugary oblivions. Accessible palates.// Me too. Hm? //Oh//, just…I found time to say goodbye, too. Mm. … Hey, look. Mm? Your parents ever take you this way anymore? //What//, you mean th- Yeah. The scenic route? //Yeah.// Bit long, don’t you think? Yeah. //And yet, the metal coffin betrays their curiosity. The wheel turns. An aching pit where the road ends. A void beyond the rhythmic slap of rubber on asphalt hide. Something fragile. Topographic, imploding globe at the fringes of the world. Helios on glass-like chariot. Off-brand knick-knack to replace what the gods had lost.// //Radiance, pouring as molten gold.// Uh… Hm? … Did you…? … Oh. Sorry. … Just…looked like you were going to say- Mm. …something. Sorry. Oh, no, don’t-…It’s okay. Okay. … Uh… Mm? Do we need to…? //Hm?// … Felicity, i…look, I’m //fine.// Are you sure? … You don’t //look// fine, Abby. … Listen, ah-…I think we should pull over the ca- Why? Wh-…Because I //care// about you! Because you’ve been like this since //what//, the- … Is this about that party? At the start of the- No. Are you //sure?// Yes. …Okay, well-…you said you’d started a thing with Ike, too, ah… No. ‘No’? … Hey. Hm? What’s wrong with you? Nothing’s //wrong// with me. No, I think there is. I think there is… So, how about even just…when you walked away from Genima, I mean, what was all //that//, then? Look, I told you I was working things out. //Yeah//, b-…but that doesn’t mean you don’t ever get to //talk// to me anymore, I’m your //friend// for God’s sake! …I know. …Is it something I sa- No. And you’re //certain// about tha- **YES.** Then why’re you crying? … //She seals the crypt, manufactured thud a gong of finality. A past that lived, once. And then…// //And then what?// //Upwards, to the celestial skin-specks, the ever-shifting canvas without a master?// //Along the horizon line blurred into an indecipherable abyss, as the tussled blades of grass whisper their wayward litanies across the black, empty plains?// //To the stammered pleas of the esoteric, mind-mazed hobbyist? The **dithering unenlightened**, who preaches and wails and blathers about fatal, venom-pouncing impasses and words better left said and please, Abby, just help me to understand what’s going on and why you’re like this and what I did to hurt you and why you never told me anything at all and how we’re ever supposed to do all the fun things we used to if you can’t ever be **normal** around me again and-// //…// //And then you hold up the magic mirror, tell her that life happens. That just as the dunes and the tides things just **change.**// //The far-off iron horses whinny as a droning chorus, giving you time to process whether she’s taken the hint. But she doesn’t give you a sign. The gaze beyond the thick-rimmed glasses is lukewarm, nonplussed.// //Another game of poker.// //And it becomes clear, then, that your reverence for the Grand Totality can only ever be one of the most sacred of gifts.// //Instead, the stop at McLeon’s before branching off down the last stretch of road is the final communion. You take a moment to use the restroom, marveling with sickened awe in the cloying scent of gummy hand soap and the lingering taste of your Fillet O’Fish-Finger and fries. Products, execution. Their hackneyed take on purity.// //By the time you get her bags situated and she’s pacing up to the front porch (not without a goodbye you know will be the terminal point), you stare through the windows, ensuring she’ll have a home before you take off with yours. And so, you do, your pickup fading, in perfect, sable order, with the other dying lights.// //Written by Dakota//