garden

a compilation of random things i've written! there's not a lot here, i think i've been using
'college = busy' as an excuse but i wrote like 7k words of fanfiction in that time so. not
a good excuse

december 2024

first, the count

helllo send send enter input deliver send en`\
a

hello

`1234567890-=

[ The dust atop a keyboard is disturbed by chance after a long rest.
With no guarantee of response, the first word chosen is a hello. ]

<10>

is someone there

<9>

who are you

where are you

<8>

[ It's difficult to recall. ]

thats ok

i suppose theres not much use for names these days

have you seen a cat

[ There is no entrance or exit for any mammal. Only walls. ]

<7>

[ A mahogany desk sits next to a two-foot stool sits next to a thick wall of impenetrable steel. Wrapping around to the next wall is just enough space for half of a fold-out table, the sort made for barbeques with guests in the backyard, a cloth sprawled over it. However, there is no cloth. Or guests. A multilayered shelf made of nailed together plywood sits on top. The bottom layers hold powertools and the topmost are filled with plastic containers filled with items not typically categorized together, yet they rest decidedly placed.

A sip is taken from a small tin can. Inside, it expands outward, out and out, a great vat, or a bowl, whatever is more reasonable for you to imagine. Half a gallon of lukewarm black coffee pools and reaches halfway up towards the top. Lines of residue mark each height at which the liquid once idled.

On the outside, it's still just a can, grasped in a palm. ]

<6>

so then its just you over there

[ Without need for a name, there is likewise not much need company either. ]
[ You said you are looking for a cat? ]

yes
shes white with a lot of black spots

her name is pepper

[There is no entrance or exit for any mammal. Only walls. ]

then how did you get in there
you can just say no by the way

<5>

what are the numbers counting

[ Atop the ceiling, there are layers of sediment, dirt, and miscellaneous elements of the Earth, but contained and dug in between is a singular, thin tunnel the size of one person. It shoots all the way up to the surface. There, it is capped, and further up, the river you rest above flows. One computer counts next to where you stand. ]

<4>

[ There are a collection of wires, pipes, triggers and things entangled with one another that sprawl from the room beneath the Earth to the computer above the river, talking. Whatever they say is lost to you, frequencies undecipherable, yet the hair on your neck prickles. Something will happen, yes. They are surely talking about it. ]

<3>

<2>

[ Are you still there? ]

<1>
.
.
.
.
< at first there is the lapping of water as it rushes and swerves through stones and dirt. then the chorus of a dozen windchimes. >
< a hatch clicks.
for the first time, a door is opened. >

october 2024

interview

You and [] worked together as research partners, correct?

Only ever us.

What is your profession?

Plant biologist.

Tell me about this other world you were looking for.

Observation of photosynthesis in dying cells, discovering the energy flow the dead matter would slip into, uh, the implication of a second place existing … I mean, you’ve probably already read about it. Our question was, where is it?

What led you to follow along with her… peculiar theories?

Do you mean if she dragged me into it? (Laughs) She couldn't.

…Of course. You were coworkers, after all. How did you two first meet?

[…] and she was one of the interns there with me. I think they weren't happy with me getting all up in the research without jurisdiction, so I was let off. But I remember, it was raining … I had just walked out. She chased me down ... held her umbrella while I got all soaked and told me to come to her address tomorrow. Mind you, she hadn't said a single word the whole time I'd seen her around, and then she's sprinting down the street at me …

And that was the start of you two researching together. What was your working relationship like over that decade?

Right, I suppose… well, she was always on edge about something or other … hard to get a hold of. We weren't close, but it's not like we talked much with other people.

You shared a mutual interest in the work, but not in each other.

What an odd way to comment on the lives of two women just doing their jobs.

Why was she so desperate to bring you with her?

Desperate? Where did you get that?

Investigators reported it was written in a research log. I'm surprised you haven't heard. She wanted to bring you with her.

Bring me? Anyone wouldve done. These questions are getting ridiculously speculative. I think we're done here.

september 2024

pool

the endless which ways hurt has embedded itself into the wrinkles of palms and filtered retinas
how eyes squeeze shut long enough and the stars still fizz in familiar imprinted patterns
were years of microcosms just blips of the imaginative memory?
now when i speak to you i am a person
and you are a staying care i once only understood in lives that were not ours
so what is left to be done with the infinitesimal array of dancing colors?
if not to only watch that with open eyes, they eventually fade
that when i loosen my tight cradling of the blame
the one i held for you so very long, until it became my own
it folds itself into next shaft of light