I have a rage inside me. A never ending anger. A flowing fountain of fury that never ceases. I feel trapped. Isolated. Completely alone. Lost, wandering through an invisible maze. An existential prison. There is no escape. Everyday is the same, like I am Bill Murray in Groundhogs day, but no matter how much I try to improve myself or my condition. Nothing gets better. Nothing gets easier. Slowly... slowly my soul is being eroded. Chipped away by the constant fuckery of life. I wake up. I drink tea. I poop. I have breakfast. I have lunch. I have dinner. And then I sleep. Sometimes I go for a walk, or go to the shops. But that's it. Just a never ending cycle of sameness. I am in a society wide jail cell. No escape... no fucking escape. I feel like... smashing things. Destroying things. I just want to express this pain inside of me. Get it out before I go mad and kill someone. Many people... Every fucking one! FUCK!!! I'm trying to be positive. I am a positive person, but I flop from positivity to depression, anxiety, and such rage I cannot control every few days... like I'm bipolar. But I am not bipolar. I am at my heart a positive, friendly person. This world is eroding me. Taking my soul. Straining me and draining me. It's inescapable. Everything is fucked. I know its not just me. Things are getting crazier and crazier out there. I just know we are on the verge of a collapse. I can't go on like this, things cannot go on like this. Everything is fucking fucked! It's the end of the world..."
Frank threw the pen against the wall. It feebly smacked against a framed picture of a cat and fell to the floor. Writing journal entries was not helping him. He closed his journal, picked up the gun in front of him, and stood up from the table. He wanted to shoot himself, just to feel something... anything. The noise of some people heading up the the second floor disturbed his disturbing thoughts. He turned around to look out the window to see what looked like a man in military fatigues and a woman in a Nazi uniform heading upstairs. It was a curious sight...
"So are you going to invite us in Alan?" Kyle asked Alan, who was engrossed at the sight of Kyle's Nazi uniform companion.
Kyle tapped his foot repetitively against the invisible boundaries of the entrance to the door, waiting for the invite.
"Oh! Sorry... eh please come in" Alan said, almost drooling at the mouth at the busty babe in Nazi uniform.
He collected himself as he moved to let them in. Kyle dropped the two large duffel bags he was holding on top of the kitchen counter.
"Hi Anne!" he said with a devil's smile.
Anne gave him a glare, as if to say What's the deal with this Nazi babe?
"This is Eva"
Anne scolded "I'm sorry, but it's 2020. Don't you think that outfit is a bit..."
"Oh this? Kyle is taking me to a comic con, I guess I dressed up a bit too early; sorry if it seems out of place" she said as she removed her jacket and shirt, exposing her buxom breasts which her silk bra barely kept in.
"Sorry, about her Anne, you know how Europeans are! Would you happen to have anything she could borrow?"
Anne sighed, and gave a reprimanding look towards Alan who was gazing at Eva "Yeah, just hold on a minute."
As Anne went to the bedroom, Kyle approached Alan and whispered "So you got that thing I left you?"
"What?" Alan didn't know what he was talking about.
"The pendant with the red jewel, don't you remember?"
Flashbacks of the dream from last night struck Alan. Was the pendant a memory of something he forgot?
"It's in your pocket"
Alan was confused, but checked his pocket... and there it was. The pendant he had picked up in his dream. Kyle reached his hand out, and Alan reluctantly handed it over. He was still stoned over from last night. Had he forgotten holding on to it all this time?
"Thanks! You are a star! Up for a morning drink?" Kyle said as he took a bottle of whiskey from one of the duffel bags.
"Yeah for sure! Steve, Mark, and MJ should be around shortly for a sesh" Alan smiled.
"That's great! It will be nice to have the band back together" Kyle laughed.
Eva put on a blouse that Anne gave her. The four drank whiskey, wine, and rum, chatted, and laughed. They caught up on what had been going on in their lives. Kyle told them wild story after wild story about how he met Eva, where he had been, and what he was up to. He had met her through a cult on his uncle's side. The sudden abandonment of the band BEJAZOOT happened because he had to board a plane immediately to make it to some black moon ceremony. It was his only chance to see Eva again. She didn't have a phone number or any modern contact means. The cult sounded like an absolute piss up. Alan and Anne laughed, admiring Kyle and his wild ride of a life.
"You look a bit pale" Anne mentioned to Kyle.
"I've been more of a night person these days" he said laughing.
Eva was also pale, like the moon, but that may have been her natural complexion for all Anne knew.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Alan opened the door. It was Steve, MJ, and some man.
"Look who we found lurking outside!" MJ said, her arm draped around some man, pulling him into the apartment.
"Hi, I'm Frank, I live downstairs, hope you don't mind me joining" Frank nervously said.
"No problem at all! The more the merrier. I'm Alan" he introduced before turning to Steve and MJ "Guess who's here?"
"Kyle!" Steve and MJ shouted.
"BEJZAOOT!"
Hugs, introductions, and pleasantries were made, followed by consumption of alcohol. Steve tried to get Kyle to play his Saxophone "Deathwish". He promised to later on when the night was dark and the mood was right.
"You smoke?" MJ asked pointing at Eva and Frank as she took out a blunt from her purse.
Frank felt out of place. Alone in the crowd. Like he didn't belong. But slowly he began to get out of his shell. He laughed. He felt joy.
Was this real life? he wondered? Is this what I've been missing?
Frank had been so sure that the world was ending. That the world was full of misery and doom, but here he was laughing and having a great time with people who looked happy, positive, as if they had a future, as if all the fuckery outside wasn't real. This was real.
"So where is Mark at?" Kyle asked.
"He was here last night, but must have left early in the morning" Anne said.
"I'll give him a call" Steve coolly said.
As the phone rang and rang, there was no answer.
"Sssh! Do you hear that?" Alan interrupted everyone.
Something was vibrating from in the spare room.
"Don't tell me he's hiding under the bed!" Kyle devilishly laughed.
Steve continued calling as he investigated the spare room. He found Mark's phone down the side of the bed.
"He must have dropped it before leaving" Steve explained.
They continued with their festivities. Frank couldn't help but notice that MJ kept eyeing him up. She was wearing a red leather skirt, thigh-high stockings, and a short sleeved shirt. Occasionally she would rub up against him and stroke his unkempt stubble. Eventually she sat on his lap.
"Why is she so interested in me? What is her game?" he wondered.
Frank couldn't understand why such a beautiful woman would drag him in from off the street into this party scene.
"Is that clock right?" a stupoured Steve, steeped in alcohol and weed asked.
"Yeah" Alan answered.
It was just after three in the afternoon
"Then why is it so dark outside?"
They all looked outside. It was dark. Suspiciously dark for this time. Perhaps darker than night. Alan turned off the music that was playing in the background.
"Do you hear that?" he asked.
It was the sound of crackling, as if coming from the sky outside.
"It's probably just a storm" Anne dismissed it.
The sound of explosions drummed in the distance like the spattering of rain against a tin roof
"What the fuck?" MJ got up off Frank's lap.
They turned the television on to the local news channel. Traffic was stopped at the tunnels and motorway. A build up of traffic or something... was stopping anyone from exiting the city. There were reports of an eclipse, and explosions from the disruptions... possibly a terror attack. Nothing was confirmed. Fires raged across the city. Explosions could be heard in the distance, some nearer than others. Reports of people disappearing... Anne gripped Alan for comfort. The newscaster told everyone to stay indoors. Nothing made sense.
"Oh my god!" The newscaster screamed in such horror.
A transparent black figure moved from behind the camera as the transmission was cut. The gang remained silent, as Alan flicked through the other channels. Nothing was working.
Kyle took charge "Okay everyone! Something bad is happening. We need to keep calm. If things start to get dangerous here, I know a safe place nearby."
"I'm not going anywhere" Anne said shaking her head.
Frank looked outside at the blackest of skies. Fire rained down on the city.
It was the end of the world...
TBC...
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
@RiskDebonair
Irish Writer, Poet, & Lover