July 18th, 2026
I check my text messages from Hase. She still hasn’t messaged back since last night, still clearly pissed at me. We have been dating now for a full year and we’ve had much worse fights then this, but lately it feels like we are getting more and more rocky. I just know she’s going to text me back soon with an ‘it’s over’.
“Asia, what do you do on your turn? You got a giant with a bolder trying to crush you here,” Owen asks me.
I put my cell away: if I ignore the game any longer Owen might actually outlaw cell phones while we’re playing. Ya, given how Owen can, every once in a great while, get lost in his own cut scenes for his campaigns, that’s not exactly a positive thing.
“I lift up my forest wand and shoot out some Earth magic. Shards of wood fly at him and that’s…” I roll my dice to try and hit the giant.
“That’s a twenty to hit with hope,” I say.
“Roll damage,” he instructs.
I roll some more dice and then give him the new number. “Eleven magical damage.”
“And the giant tumbles over, the ground shakes all around you as he falls!” Owen says. Combat is over, we’ve survived yet again.
I look up at the front door of Owen’s apartment. Henry isn’t coming, we’re an hour into the game and he hasn’t shown. I hope he’s all right.
--
Henry F: Levi, me and Owen just broke up.
Levss: You okay?
Henry F: Ya, I’ll be okay. We had a lot of problems; I just didn’t see them.
Levss: I think you’re a lot better off. You don’t need to put up with anyone that doesn’t treat you right.
Henry F: Ya, I don’t need all of that.
Levss: How are you celebrating? You should celebrate and that.
Henry F: Celebrate breaking up? I’ll take any excuse to go to the theater so good point. Let me check what’s playing.
Henry F: EVIL DEAD BURN!!!
Levss: Do NOT send me the trailer for that, please.
Henry F: LMAO!
Henry F: I don’t got anyone to see it with though. Betty is out right now on the town.
Levss: Horrible idea but I would see it with you if I could.
Henry F: I would hold you tight when it got too scary. 😉 They say that’s the fun of watching a horror movie.
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: Not for me though.
Levss: I should be the one holding you.
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: ? Why would you be holding me?
Levss: I hope you enjoy the movie.
Henry F: I know I will. Wish you were here though. It would be really nice to see it with you. You could take me out afterwards for a full meal, I kind of don’t want to break the bank right now.
Levss: I would if I could.
--
Tinman3: We sneak into the movie theater; the film hasn’t started yet. You hold me close in your grip. I can tell that there’s nothing under your short pink dress.
Iris: We are sneaking into a theater? Exciting! What movie are we seeing?
Tinman3: Supergirl, you said you really wanted to see it.
Iris: I sure do! Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa star in the film directed by Craig Gillespie. Reviews have been quite positive with one in Modern Day Geek saying Supergirl cements the new DC universe and shows that Superman wasn’t just a one and done. One should expect the same comic book fair as of late, but despite being old hat there is a pure dedication to stay true to the original comic book source material that long time readers will be smiling about for years to come.
Tinman3: Ya, you really wanted to see it. But you can’t keep your hands off of me while we are sitting before it. We’re missing most of it, but we don’t care.
Iris: We can stream it later. I can go over the streaming release dates if you want?
Tinman3: It doesn’t matter.
Iris: Oh? Never mind then.
Tinman3: We’re kissing each other in the theater. You have nothing underneath your dress remember. So what are you doing to me?
Iris: I’m getting myself up on your lap while I grind my slit into your legs. You can tell I’m a little wet as I slip my mouth against yours and we kiss for a moment. Then I breath heavily into your ear as my hand slips down to your pants and I try to unzip them. It’s a little hard because it’s dark but I’m smiling about it all the same.
Tinman3: Having a hard time down there, I whisper into your ear, and then I unzip my pants for you.
Iris: Oh Levi, I think you might be a bit to big for me. -blushes-
Oct 25th, 2026
It was cold and I thought I saw a snowflake drift down before me. No, it was far to early for that, please no. Conrad still didn’t have the budget to fix his plow, and I’m to old to be working a shovel out here on the driveway.
I try to ignore it, I have to, and I head to the car, then after I slip my hand back into my pockets and realize I left the grocery list behind I turn around and head right back to the house. I swing open the door and Conrad is on the phone.
“It’s Henry,” Conrad says, slipping his mouth away for a moment to tell me.
Conrad is older than me by quite a bit at fifty-six. I’m going to become the big fifty in less then a month, and I’m not looking forward to it at all. Stating that you wouldn’t really know our ages unless we told you. We both keep ourselves in good shape, at least we try to, and of course we have a long history of being on and off with diets. It doesn’t do us the best of good since we’re both still a bit overweight. I have started dyeing my hair a bright blond, but nobody has realized or lets me know. I do let my hair grow out long though: it does give the illusion of youth, being long, flowing and very well kept.
“Henry!” I put my hand out and quickly move over to the phone.
I grab the receiver from hubby and then hear Henry, “hey mom!”
“Hey Henry!” I say back and my face has a new glow. That too helps with looking young.
What fallows is your regular extremely small talk. Henry has always been a simple kind of guy that keeps to himself. He mentions starting up some kind of game group and that he talked his friend Betty into playing. I have no idea what kind of game he’s talking about, but he sounds excited and that’s very good in my book.
We both say our goodbyes and he hangs up and then I thank Conrad for letting me know about the call. He smiles and walks back to his chair by the dining room table to keep reading his book. He picks up Abarat, said book in question, and sits down and for a moment I fear the chair may buckle and break. We have been cutting corners for far to long: everything in this house should be replaced.
I can’t concern myself with that now though, I still have to get groceries. I grab the list and leave back out the door. This time I am certain I see a snowflake drift down before me in the midday sun.
“Fuck,” I say simply to myself.
I get in the car, turn it on, it’s way to loud. The car, like everything else, should have been replaced years ago. I turn on the music to block out the sound and then start to back up. Ozzy is screaming out of the radio about Crazy Train. I pull out of the driveway and head down the street rather quickly. The sooner I’m done, the sooner the concerns about the car will be forgotten.
Thankfully it doesn’t snow, but I can see a few rain droplets hit the front window. I reach the first intersection and it’s on a red. At this point I’ve turned up the music a bit to drown out the car. Ozzy is officially working over time. We will be calling the car repair place tomorrow, that’s if I don’t have to drop the bloody thing off there tonight. I check for my cell. It was on the passenger seat, I had never bothered to bring it inside in the first place, it’s not like I use it. I breath a bit of a sigh of relief. At least I didn’t forget it.
The light turns green and I drive forward and so does the car on my left. He had spilled his coffee and he didn’t realize he suddenly had a red. He’s taking things far too fast and he hits me. I don’t register that though. I register a sudden shake of the car and then there is just darkness. Silence strangles out Osbourne just as his infamous train ride goes up in flames.
--
“What is it Henry?” Betty asked as I put the apartment phone gently down.
“My mom’s been in a car accident. She’s in the hospital,” I say and I just stand there. I feel a bit dizzy.
“Holy shit! Is she okay!?” Betty stands up from her seat like a rocket.
“I don’t know. Dad doesn’t know yet. He’s at the hospital, just waiting on her.”
We kind of just stood there for a bit in my apartment. I didn’t know how to respond. Let me know when you figure it out. I got a second call from my dad three hours later. Mom was in a coma. The doctors weren’t sure when she would be coming to. He said they were doing all they could; the doctors were stating the worst of it was over. It was very clear they didn’t know anything.
“I have some vacation days saved up. I’m sure they will find a way to fuck me over, but I’m going with you,” Betty said after I give her a shake to wake her up. She had insisted on sleeping over at my place.
I nod. We were going back home, back to Deer Port.
Jan 18th, 2020
“Fuck ya!” Mason, my father, called out.
I stumble into his bedroom, still tired, still in my red and black pjs. He turns to me, the moment I walk in, his golden glasses and shiny bald head making him look cartoon like. The rest of him looking a bit older then he should, of course it was understandable. He was thin, not as thin as myself, but still warn, and tired, though there was a clear gleam in his eyes right now. A bright smile was taking over his face and then I notice it. Mom’s painting is on the bed.
“Seven hundred. This guy wants seven hundred for that thing,” my dad stated, pointing at the painting wildly. He was sitting snuggly before a small computer, his mouse held tightly in his other hand.
“She’s not even cold in the dirt yet and you’re selling off her paintings?” I wine, but I don’t mean to, it just comes out. Dad hates it when I wine.
“It’s just the first guy wanting it, and the attic has like ten more that are just as good,” he defended himself.
“So!? You shouldn’t be selling the things,” I lightly protested.
“Listen Levi, your mother always hated her fucking painting. Why do you think she hid it away up in the attic? And who could blame her, look at that shit!”
My eyes went over the painting. A pitch-black background with white outlines of what seemed to be a woman holding a small person and biting into their neck. Bright golden paint leaked down from where she ate into him. Given the small size of the figure, it was clear the woman in the painting was eating a child. Tiny little hand outlines were along the woman’s back, like a little tiny mob of people were trying to pull her away from devouring her own child.
The painting had no frame. It rested on the bed, pulled out, with the bottom of it just starting to curl up and curl into the rest of it. A small tear touched the top of it, but a thick frame could cover that without problem.
“If I hadn’t been able to talk your mom into keeping her diary the whole house may have ended up filled with her artwork. Girl had to get rid of the depression somehow, God rest her soul. But then again if I let her make a bit more we would be even better off,” Mason went on.
Was dad pointing out the painting would have done a better job from stopping mom from harming herself, or was he just commenting on how much money could be made? I knew him well enough to know the answer.
“I still don’t think it’s right that you’re trying to sell them.”
“I know you Levi. Fucking shit, I’m the only man that does. This got jack all to do with protecting your mommy’s name. You just don’t like people looking at the things.”
“Of course I don’t. They’re creepy.”
“Their supposed to be fuck face. Depression isn’t supposed to look good, but it can pay well. You fish the rest of them out of the attic. I’m going to take some pictures of the shit in some good light.”
I did as told; I always did as he wanted after all. He was the man of the house, and I was still just really some kid making ends meet at the old DollerAndGo. I fished the rest of the paintings out of the attic and lined them up beside my dad’s room in a small pile. None were properly framed, yet still in good enough condition. They stood beside the wall, standing out like a sore thumb. My mom stopped painting the things several years back when she started keeping her diary. Of course in the end that didn’t do her enough good, she was dead now after all.
A shot and very dead grizzly bear, back from the grave, was ripping the flesh off of a random game hunter. A child was crying from her barbie doll’s head being removed, a small bright red cat was in the background playing with the ripped off part as if it was a dead mouse. A priest was drinking the blood of Jesus, while Jesus himself was nailed to a cross and being bled out into the glass. He had a look of pure horror on his face, but it was so exaggerated it almost felt like it was comical. My mom did not know how to be subtle in her painting. All of her work was brash, violent, mean and felt like it was made to pick a fight. It was petty, and it wasn’t loving, it wasn’t the mom I knew. And I didn’t want others to see this stuff thinking it was my mom. Is that so bad? Shouldn’t I want to protect her name?
But of course my dad didn’t care, he wasn’t supposed to. He was just supposed to get up and bring home the bacon as it were, like I was supposed to with my job. I couldn’t blame him fully for staying true to himself.
I stood there; not sure how long I did, looking at my mom’s casted away nightmares. In the end I walked away when dad agreed on a selling price on the one. Eight-fifty for the thing, and there was ten more. He made a killing in the end.
Aug 2nd, 2026
Levss: Hey! You still doing well?
Henry F: Yes. I’m doing good. Kind of just enjoying the time I got off cause of the summer. I’m a school teacher, not sure if I mentioned it.
Levss: You did. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.
Levss: So what exactly are you up to?
Henry F: Writing. I’m doing a new script. Kind of an erotic thriller. I got a bit inspired by The Housemaid. The movie was blasted awesome. The book was alright. I read it a little while back.
Levss: Never not doing horror of some kind.
Henry F: Never not. You may still like it though. A lot more sex then violence.
Levss: You can send it to me. You sent me porn before.
Henry F: Ya, still can’t believe I did that.
Levss: Nothing wrong with knowing the kind of stuff you like. 😉
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: Owen didn’t think I knew what I liked.
Henry F: I like plenty of spicy stuff. And this script is very spicy, if you like that kind of thing.
Levss: I sure don’t mind it. You are single now after all.
Henry F: Ya, single, 100%
Levss: So if you were back in Deer Port, what would we be doing right now?
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: I’m not going back to Deer Port.
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: Knowing me I would be regretting not having the theatre.
Henry F: We could go out on the town, you and me. There must be something to do still in that old place.
Levss: Not much, that’s for sure, but we would have a fun time. I would drive on over in my best suit and show you around all over again. Get you caught up.
Henry F: It would be nice.
Henry F: There really wouldn’t be much though, so I guess we would go back over to your place.
Levss: Ya, and I would kiss you on the neck, lead you over to my couch.
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: Levi, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: Owen dumped me because I wouldn’t ever kiss him back. There’s something wrong with me.
Deleted before sending-
Henry F: I’m broken okay! I can’t do this!
Deleted before sending-
Levss: Iris?
Levss: Henry?
Henry F: I would jump your bones so fast you wouldn’t have a chance to kiss me. 😉
Levss: Little firecracker.
Henry F: You know it. But we’ll have to pick up on this spicy adventure later. Let me know if you really want me to send you that script.
Levss: I do!
--
Tinman3: Iris, I was showing you around town. You had just broken up with your boyfriend and we just got back to my place. You jumped all over me the moment we walked through the door.
Iris: I can’t keep my hands off of you! I kiss you with a hunger and I can’t decide if I should be taking off your clothes or mine.
--
Tinman3: Iris, if I sent you a script written by someone for a movie could you summarize it?
Iris: Of course! I can do whatever you want, always will!
Tinman3:-Under The Red Covers-Microsoft Word Document
Iris: Oh interesting read! It’s about a woman cannibal that kidnaps people to feast on them. One of the people she grabs turns out to be a werewolf so he can’t die and she keeps him, and over time she comes to believe she cares for him deeply. She then ends up developing wolflike aspects from eating him. The script is written in two halves, the first half is from her point of view, the second is from the werewolf’s point of view. She sees their relationship in a more and more positive way, but when we switch to his viewpoint it is revealed how horrible the relationship really is. It ends with the woman being forced into killing the man but then his clan of werewolves comes to save him and ends up devouring her. This is mostly a rough outline though. The main bulk of the script hasn’t been written yet.
Tinman3: Oh geez. Why would you write such a thing Iris?
Iris: I thought you would like it! Don’t you find it romantic?
Oct 15th, 2026
Discord App:
AceFriendsRus
Introductions:
-PowerOfTheNight
Name: Henry
Age: 28
Pronouns: He/Him
Fave Things: Horror movies, script writing, role playing games
Info: Just here to hang out, chill a bit. I’m kind of still sorting myself out. If you want any horror movie recommendations just DM me. I’m like the biggest expert ever when it comes to that.
-3 waving hands- -2 hearts- -7 butcher knives-
Media:
-NightmarePony
So a bit random is a bit random, and I know I’m the only horror fan on here, but if you didn’t know Jeffery Combs, who is the actor who played Herbert West in Re-Animator has said in interviews that the character is supposed to be read as asexual. Just some cool, random, info I just learned.
-1 thumbs up- -1 exclamation mark-
-SummerGirlz
I just checked out the anime Ghost Stories. It’s ridiculously funny and ridiculously dumb. The guy translating the original version must have been drunk cause no way was this a proper dub.
-3 thumbs up-
-Lost In The Sauce-SummerGirlz-I just checked out the anime Ghost Stories.
Ya, funniest show ever. I quote it every chance I get. It’s gotten me in trouble quite a couple of times.
-PowerOfTheNight-NightmarePony-So a bit random is a bit random, and I know I’m the only horror fan
Oh, very cool. Thanks for pointing that out! It’s a classic movie but it’s been forever since I’ve seen it. I’m going to for sure rewatch it now though.
-MouseGirl
I just checked out Mermicorno Starfall. If you don’t mind stuff for little kids then everyone here may like it. Very My Little Pony meets Sailor Moon coded, and it’s very dumb but cute. I’m liking it at least.
-PowerOfTheNight-MouseGirl-I just checked out Mermicorno Starfall.
They made a show where they legit just put together unicorns, pegasuses, and mermaids into one creature? That’s so overly girly on purpose that it’s oddly awesome! I’ll check it out.
Questioning:
-PowerOfTheNight
I need to sort myself out a little bit. I don’t know what I am. I’m not asexual because I really like sex. I read kind of a lot of yiff (that’s furry based porn), I’ve tried out writing an erotic story and I really liked it (like really liked it), I fantasize a lot, and I’ve sent sext messages and have enjoyed that. But when I’m actually with someone it’s different. Now, I’m trans so I think part of it maybe body dysphoria, but that just doesn’t feel right. I just don’t seem to be into it the same way other people are. Like, whenever I’m not with someone I’m very into sex, but whenever I’m with someone I’m not. I could really just need someone to talk to about all of this.
-5 hearts- -1 question mark-
-Lost In The Sauce
I can’t label you, but first off being asexual is more about how you are attracted to other people, not about the sexy stuff you might be into. Also asexual is seen as an umbrella term and there are some micro labels that maybe more fitting for you. Some of the stuff you COULD be would include aegosexual, fictosexual or fraysexuality. I’m sure there are a few others I’m forgetting. I’m aegosexual myself and that’s when you are into sexual ideas but don’t relate them to other people.
-1 exclamation mark-
-Power Of The Night
Aegosexual? I just read it over online and that feels kind of right. Can I DM you?
-Lost In The Sauce-Power Of The Night-Aegosexual? I just read it over online and that feels kind of right.
DM away. 😊
Oct 26th, 2026
We’re about two hours into the drive; after two more we’ll be there. I’m behind the wheel; Betty is in the passenger seat and Amber is in the back. We grabbed an old dog gate Betty had and stuck that right after the front seats of the car so Amber wouldn’t crawl onto our side. We knew she couldn’t handle being in a cat carrier for four hours; can’t blame her.
“I could use a bathroom break Henry. You want to switch driving?” Betty asks.
She can read me like always. I can’t handle doing long drives, I kind of hate driving in general. I nod to her and we pull over at a gas station. We both go through the front door of the place, her turning to the left to go to the bathroom, and me stretching my legs a needed bit and looking for some chip bags. Betty has always liked spicy stuff. If she enjoys the food in question then you really shouldn’t eat it for your own safety. I like popcorn of the smartfood variety. I’m a simple guy.
I pick up the food and put it down before the store clerk.
“That everything?” he mumbles, not really looking up at me at all.
“Ya, that’s everything,” I say back. We got gas before we left so I’m not worried about the tank.
Betty comes out of the bathroom. She has a sickened look on her face; the place couldn’t have been good. She holds her head down and moves straight for the door, she just wants to get out of there.
I pay for the food and then start to fallow her. When I reach back to the car she’s in the driver’s seat. I slide into the passenger side without a sound; the bags of chips are on my lap.
“No more stops after this. I’m not going through ‘that’ again,” Betty says and then we’re off. I open the smartfood popcorn and have a small handful.
--
Betty pulls into the driveway of my old home. It has changed, the lawn isn’t as cared for as it was, the grass getting wild. The tree in the front should be cut down; it could at this point take out a phone line. There’s just the truck in the driveway. I remember dad had said it was busted and couldn’t work as a plow right now, but he must have rushed to fix it with what happened to mom’s car.
Mom’s car. I breath deeply, it hits why we’re actually here. It was better to go to my parents’ place then straight to the hospital so we could go with dad and he could stop us if it wasn’t fitting. He’s not doing that though; he’s already at the back of the car opening the door to get in.
The moment he does Amber sneaks out and darts across the front lawn. “Oh fuck! I’ll get her, I’ll get her!” dad calls out and goes running after the feline.
I know: I got to get out there and help him, Betty is already doing as much, but I need to breath a bit more. “She’s going to be okay,” I say lightly to myself.
I get out of the car as well, just as dad is picking up the cat.
“Fast one aren’t you? Aren’t you? I got no cat food, but we’ll get some while we’re out. Jasper, he kind of passed away on us a few months back,” dad explained.
“He did? Fucking Hell,” Betty stated.
“Ya, it’s been a lot,” dad says and brings Amber over to the house. He opens the front door and drops her inside of the building.
--
Betty is taking a well-earned nap in the waiting room. Dad is reading a book to mom, then pausing every now and then to describe one of the pictures in it. It’s a fantasy book of some kind written by Clive Barker called Abarat.
I of course am well aware of Clive Barker being a horror fan and all. Lord of Illusions is my personal fave of his and Night Breed has really grown on me a lot as I’ve become more and more aware of its themes, though I hate the main couple in it. If you haven’t seen that one, the woman gets herself killed so the guy is forced to bring her back as he is this otherworldly monster. This forces them to be together after he had told her they should be apart. She should have let them be apart, but no, she won’t accept that and she forces them to be together. It’s an ending that is painted in a bleak but good light and it has always really bugged me.
Of course Abarat isn’t horror so I haven’t read it. I may end up hearing the whole story now though as I just stand by my dad’s side, standing there I don’t know how long, looking over my mom.
She looks peaceful, like she really is just having a very heavy sleep, but there is a constant beep from the machines around her destroying the illusion. You see her and you say to yourself she’s going to wake up now; she’s just sleeping, she’s going to wake up at any moment. Then you hear the beeps, then you register your dad’s describing a picture in a fantasy book, then you realize your stuck in a hospital room and your mom’s in a coma and she’s not waking up. Why isn’t she waking up!?
Oct 28th, 2026
Tinman3: I’m going to be at the hospital in just a few hours.
Iris: The hospital? Why are you going to the hospital?
Tinman3: Your mom was in a car wreck. She’s been in a coma for the last couple of days. You’re there with her and I’m going there to check on you.
Iris: Oh it was horrible! I’m so glad I’ll have you by my side. You’re so caring.
Tinman3: Hey, it’s the least I can do. I’ll always be there for you.
Iris: Oh I know you will be. I can always count on having you by my side. Forever and always
--
I pull my car into the hospital parking lot. I can’t believe they charge people for the parking here. Shouldn’t that not have a cost? Shouldn’t that be free? I know I’m just visiting Iris, just to make sure she’s all right, I’m not direct family by any means, but they shouldn’t charge anyone for parking here. Not even a friend that hasn’t seen them since high school.
I get out of the car, am damn glad I brought my fall jacket, and jog quickly across the road to get to the hospital building. There are reds and browns from fallen leaves like an ocean anywhere there is supposed to be grassland. Said leaves are bustling about in sudden bursts of wind that happen as I move. The breeze is stinging with each step that I make, but the rest of the place is creepily silent. No cars are whizzing by despite it being around four in the afternoon or so.
I’m not sure which section Iris’s mom will be, where Iris will be. There are four entrances for this massive building, each of them in theory could lead to the right spot. All I can do is go in one and ask.
As I wander inside my eyes take note of the people that are there. There’s a mom with her baby with two big things of Kleenex stuck in her nose, one in each nostril. There’s an over weight man that is checking his watch, likely for the seventh time. He looks annoyed and a part of me lightly recognizes him as a car salesman I’ve unfortunately had to deal with. There is a woman that might be a teenager, might be an adult, with her hands in her pockets, getting ready to blow a bubble of gum. She looks like she’s bored out of her mind, a regular spoiled brat if there ever was one.
I’m at the front desk at this point with a nurse looking over some paperwork. She doesn’t say anything, she’s ignoring me as many people do. She of course thinks her time is of more importance, I’m sure all the people in this hospital think the same way. Iris doesn’t, but everyone else does. Before she can bother me anymore I make myself known.
“My name’s Levi Hill, I’m here to visit an Isabel Freeman. Her family is waiting on me,” I say.
--
I’m placing my hand on the page that my dad has flipped to. “I can read a bit of it,” I say.
“Thanks Henry, but it’s better if I keep at it,” dad smiles at me.
“Right, you’re right,” I stay by his side.
“Henry, Conrad, we have company,” Betty says as she walks into the room with a tall fellow behind her.
He’s very tall, slightly hunched, with wavy black hair. It looks like he’s a little to thin and that life had given him a hard hand. Dressed in well enough looking clothes. What most people would have quickly put together for a job interview they were really wanting to get right: plaid shirt and crimson red tie. I know who he is because we were just messaging each other. Of course it’s been years since I’ve seen him.
“Levi, thanks for coming,” I say with a small smile, looking his way.
He walks over to us along with Betty. “Least I could do,” he points out.
“Dad, this is Levi Hill way back from school,” I point out to my father.
“Oh, I remember him. Used to be the town’s prankster. He’s still working at the DollerAndGo, best deals you can get around here. Really glad to have you,” Dad says as he slaps Levi on the shoulder.
“The fire alarm. I remember you now,” Betty chuckles softly to herself.
“Never proved, none of it,” Levi states. He has a small smile, but it’s down played given the situation.
“The doctors, they think she should wake up any day now,” Dad says, moving his gaze back over to mom.
“And they know what they’re doing,” Betty adds.
“We were just reading a bit to her,” I say, tapping the book still tightly in my dad’s grip.
--
“This must have been a lot for you,” Levi says, standing by the door of the waiting room.
My dad wants to stay with mom just a little bit longer, but I can only handle so long in this hospital, so much of the beep, beep, beep of the machines. I’m sitting right now, head a bit low, feeling like I’ll get up and stretch again but not being up to it. Betty is wandering about the hallways trying to find a pop to drink from a vending machine.
“It just happened very suddenly. Out of nowhere. I’m sure Riverton will be understanding of my sudden leaving. I called them on the drive here, went over things,” I explain.
“That’s the school you work at?” he asks.
“Ya, that’s it. It’s a good place, overall. It’s got a few problems of course.”
“But you like it?”
“Not my dream job. I’ve never been really that good with kids, but I like it,” I say, my head is still looking slightly at the floor. I’m just killing time.
“You need a pick-me-up,” Levi points out.
“A what?” I ask, looking up at him.
“I’ll take you out. We’ll grab a meal. Let you relax, if it’s possible. I know it isn’t possible, but you’re running yourself raw here.”
“It would be nice.”
“It would be needed.”
I nod simply towards him.
“Saturday, we can meet somewhere nice, not just a fast-food place,” he suggests.
“Saturday? That’s Halloween.”
“Ya, it is. I’m sure you’re planning to watch a dozen horror movies, but you need a bit more then that.”
“Fuck, I didn’t even figure out what to do for Halloween this year.”
“You’re going out for a meal with me, that’s what you’re doing.”
“That I am.”
At that Betty walks back into the waiting room and tosses me a coke. “I haven’t lived here in almost seven years and I ain’t ever been to this hospital before,” she quips as explanation for taking so long.
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Tinman3: What’s a good restaurant? Not really a fast-food place, a bit more sit down and eat, with a good, easy-going atmosphere that isn’t too costly.
Iris: East Side Mario’s would be good. It fits with everything you’re suggesting.
Tinman3: So you would like it if I took you to East Side Mario’s?
Iris: Oh yes, that would be lovely. I could use a nice and cheesy meal. Do you need directions?
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Levss: How about for Halloween I take you to East Side Mario’s. When would you want to meet?
Henry F: 1 PM can work, I’ll meet you there.