Spacecity

The Spacecity Diaries
Pete decides he needs a car as reply to Been

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
Life felt much more boring once all the possibilities of those numbers had been exhausted. First it was the phone number possibility. Then the date. And then after that Pete kept trying to come up with other explanations with no success. Eventually though he accepted that it had just been...

Starbucks as reply to Ten digits

Drew
Spacecity
The thing that was different about the  Spacecity coffee Keith had told him once, was that it was brewed at a higher pressure. It wasn't the Italian style of 9 bar, it was higher, like 12. This still stuck with Pete, he always thought of this as a weird number....

Lives Better as reply to Ten digits

Drew
Spacecity
Part of him would miss Spacecity here and there. It snuck up on him. Different feelings. He remembered when you first get there you feel a bit trapped. Not immediately. Immediately you can't believe you're in space. You meet people everything is new and exciting, but then it fades, and...

The Spacecity Diaries
Ten digits as reply to Soon

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
The rain made him think of  Spacecity .

The feeling of being inside protected from some thing out there. Although in this case he could wear his rain jacket or take an umbrella. The same could've been said about Spacecity though. He could have taken a space suit and went outside...

Wasn’t Watching as reply to Pete remembers her name

Drew
Spacecity
She had noticed him. She had noticed him the first time too. He always had a sort of dopey look about him. Like a baby deer or something. And even with age and weight that hadn’t changed. 

She was surprised to see him. It was the first person she’d seen...

His Phone as reply to Pete remembers her name

Drew
Spacecity
She didn't react. Or it wasn't like he thought it would be. He imagined that she'd look around. That she make a face. But she didn't nothing. Even when she said it out loud she didn't change her demeanor. Just seemed like everyone else that works there. He didn't pay...

Didnt Usually as reply to Buying a college sweatshirt

Drew
Spacecity
They didn’t have  Spacecity sweatshirts he thought now city in his chair. Not that he would have gotten one, but that’s probably the closest thing he would have bought a sweatshirt for. He did t go to college, and his high schools wasn’t like that. Maybe the teachers had a...

Click Like as reply to Pete was naive

Drew
Spacecity
It was a function of parents who were too overbearing and a school system that praised him with gold stars. But when he left and when he was gone he thought that he was at the center of everyone’s thoughts. 

Part of  Spacecity was posting online, you had to post...

The Spacecity Diaries
Pete was naive as reply to Always Liked

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
For the first few months while Pete was in Space he still felt like he was making the progress he wanted. Each day he felt more confident that his ex girlfriend on earth would be jealous of him. That she ewould be attracted to him more once he finally returned...

Always Liked as reply to Their Reasons

Drew
Spacecity
He had his reasons that was for sure. It was before he had known that time changes things. Puts some things in perspective. Now big things back then seem little now now other things have occupied his mind. 

Back then it was mostly due to a girl or the lack...

The Spacecity Diaries
Their Reasons as reply to He Left

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
Decades later Pete would be sitting in a more mild version of a Goon Cave. Not the kind a goon would be embarrassed by. In fact most people wouldn't consider it a Goon Cave and instead a pedestrian Man Cave. It was dark and there were a few screens and...

The Spacecity Diaries
Pete wished as reply to To Move

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
The only place he didn't mind fluorescent lights was up in  Spacecity . Maybe it was because it was so dark up in space that he didn't mind the bright white lights. On earth with the bright light reflecting off the earth he didn't see why anyone would ever use...

The Spacecity Diaries
A rant on facebook as reply to Coffee

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
When he sat down he forgot about what he had come here to write. Instead he threw his notebook on the table and took out his phone to type up a rant about tipping.

Why did everyone want a tip these days? what was next... were landlords going to begin asking...

Lay it all Out as reply to What to do next...

Drew
Spacecity
He wished there was an app where could just write his thoughts and they’d turn to words. He wanted to write down everything about  Spacecity he wanted to go to the press. He wanted to expose everything. Then he wanted to leave. Pack up everything and go. 

He first was...

The Spacecity Diaries
Until he had to pee as reply to Stolen Something

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
The message had been written on the bathroom mirror in lipstick. Not the red kind women wore to fancy dinners but a mid purple hue that a teenage girl might wear when they wanted to wear lipstick for experimental reasons rather than traditional seduction.

"We know" it had said. It scared...

The Spacecity Diaries
The secret up there as reply to His Plate

Abraham Kim
social media Spacecity
Pete wondered how the other Spacecity people were dealing with talking about what it was they did up there. There was no NDA contract they signed. There were myths about what Spacecity was about and how they spied on people on earth. These myths were so big and so many...

The Spacecity Diaries
Lighting ilke a Lab as reply to His Phones

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
Spacecity had doctors. They probably could support a childbirth, but they didn't want to deal with the contracts. The mother would after all be still up in space for work and couldn't just leave. Or couldn't just take care of the baby up in the space station.

So far there had...

His Phones as reply to Dating is frowned upon

Drew
Spacecity
An uncontrollable feeling came over him, and he looked around the cafe. There wasn’t too many single people. A group of friends was off sort of in a different part. Lots of older couples. Had already passed through the gauntlet. He was the only guy he could tell. If there...

The Spacecity Diaries
Dating is frowned upon as reply to Were About

Abraham Kim
Spacecity dating
He liked baristas that winked at you. He knew there was nothing more behind the wink but it was still fun to imagine what deeper meaning there was.

The tea was now stone cold. Ryan wasn't reading his texts. Pete was worried something had happened to him. But he didn't want...

Were About as reply to Watching

Drew
Spacecity
They never had tea in  Spacecity he always drank coffee. Everyone drank coffee, not maybe because they wanted that was just all there was he guessed. 

He would have had either he thought. When his friend had invited him, Ryan. If he’d told him it was a coffee shop he’d...

The Spacecity Diaries
Watching as reply to Order

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
It was strange how the tea master or barista or whatever you should call them read his mind. It took him back to his days up in  Spacecity where he woudl watch thousands of hours of footage on some people and he would begin to understand them deeply enough that...

The Spacecity Diaries
Running Late as reply to He Thought

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
He stopped by a gas station along the way. Bought a charger. He knew it was a ripoff but his phone was dying and he wanted to let the other guy know he would be late. Also why not fill up the gas?

That was the good thing about communication. If...

The Spacecity Diaries
The Emailer as reply to Didn't Happen

Abraham Kim
Spacecity life
His time up in space had gotten him to imagine a sort of life down on earth impossible. It was a life made up of images. Things that didn't happen at a regular rate or even at all for people who were living life down here. He wondered whether he...

Didn't Happen as reply to The Cafeteria

Drew
Spacecity
Up in  Spacecity he was worried about coming home. He was worried, he try to do too much. Spend money, he always talked up there about mountain biking. Not that he did it on Earth before Spacecity, but he felt like he would after, he wanted to after. So much...

To do as reply to The Cafeteria

Drew
Spacecity
The microwave became his best friend or the  chef of his kitchen. The only thing he’d buy were microwaveable meals, mac and cheese and other pasta bakes. He trusted the Mac and cheese the most the others kind of freaked him out. He didn’t trust if people were refrigerating it...

The Spacecity Diaries
The Cafeteria as reply to Home

Abraham Kim
Spacecity cafeteria
One of the things I miss the most about  Spacecity is the cafeteria. When I was up there I didn't talk so much but I never ate alone. The schedule they had us on forced us to cram into the  cafeteria together in one of the two sessions for lunch...

Home as reply to a darker more serious reason

Drew
Spacecity
There was a bittersweet feeling in returning back to earth. Always bittersweet, that’s what kept him awake at night. He didn’t mind the journey, always the same. Most of it he slept, but just the whole change. Like his routine would change. 

“Yeah I went back once, had too. A...

Westcity
more than a few words as reply to Sleep

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
When he would return to earth he would probably go straight to his parents and stay at their place for at least a month. It had been ages since he'd stayed there that long. It was weird how after leaving home to go to college he would still return back...

Westcity
why not as reply to Himself

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
Watching someone play chess was often more fun. It wasn't as engaging and instead acted as background video. What a decent way to make money Pete thought. Could he do it for the rest of his life? Probably not. Nobody could retire in  Spacecity . They'd surely send you down...

Westcity
without windows as reply to More Solid

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
He wouldn't be given the option to head back to earth until six months later. Then he would sit in front of a panel and they would discuss whether Pete would stay for another 2 years or go back down. Pete thought he knew his decision already, but then why...

Impressed as reply to keith in the middle of the night

Drew
Spacecity
Everyone wore slippers in  Spacecity . If he was with his friends from back in the day they'd give him so much shit. He remembers when he told one of them he wore pajamas, and the guy just laughed at him. He felt bad, and never wore pajamas again. Even...

Westcity
keith in the middle of the night as reply to Surrounded

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
One night up in  Spacecity he had been too excited for the morning coffee that he couldn't wait. Pete left his bed and tip toed down the hall. Those hallways were so cold everything was so cold up there. He was walking so quiet because he expected nobody else to...

Surrounded as reply to get to the choppa

Drew
Spacecity
Pete didn't drink coffee anymore. Mostly diet soda, it was the cheapest to get in the house. With all the screens the energy usage was high. Just then his mind jumped to an old friend, then back to what he was watching. A video montage his wife made, although were...

He was Thinking as reply to get to the choppa

Drew
Spacecity
Up there he was just Pete. Sometimes Petey, sometimes cappuccino Pete. Although just to the barista. He was an older guy had left his job before working in  Spacecity and just wanted to do something different. He was always friendly. Pete liked that, you didn't always get that. he'd just...

To Sign as reply to RNDA

Drew
Spacecity Space Marine
The pen felt heavy in his hand. He trusted these people for some reason. In some ways he too shared a mistrust of the Blue corporation. It all seemed fucked up he said. He wasn't stupid, he had heard of the Blue groups use of Spacecity he knew about the ...

Westcity
cheer up, kid as reply to Presentation

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
Blue 3. That sound slick doesn't it?

Yes it does, my man.

The two were out for lunch. Long lunch. Good meeting that was. Beer and sun. Sunglasses. Well the older one had sunglasses on. The younger one was just squinting. They were under an umbrella but the umbrella didn't block all...

Crashing and Falling as reply to three men crammed into a hotel

Drew
Spacecity
"I need some air. Call me if you need anything."

Baka kissed his teeth. He lit a cigarette inside and smoked it out the window blocking Dave's view. 

Dave didn't make a fuss at all just moved a little back. He couldn't leave the phone un-attended.

Keith took the back staircase, liked...

Westcity
would keith get paid? as reply to In his eyes

Abraham Kim
Drake Spacecity Imogen Howe Seaside Rest
21 can you do something for me

BAKA NOT NICE was singing this line on repeat. He didn't know any of the other words. He just kept singing loud 

21 can you do something for me?
And then would go on to mumble the next lines. the right melody but the words...

Westcity
memory lapse as reply to Or Something

Abraham Kim
Drake Spacecity
Keith had definitely heard that name before.  Drake .

If he wasn't mistaken, Drake was quite a popular musician. Not that Keith had ever listened to his stuff, but he heard people on earth talking about Drake when he returned to earth.

This Drake was definitely not a local act at your...

Westcity
far away. up there. as reply to Said a Word

Abraham Kim
Imogen Howe Spacecity
When the robotic voice stopped speaking a warm voice came on. This second voice was too warm and cheery. It was obviously AI generated or pre-recorded.

Keith sat back down on the ground. He was used to sitting on the tiles now. They wouldn't be letting him go anytime soon. Actually...

Westcity
just might as reply to Yelled

Abraham Kim
Imogen Howe Spacecity
This is what the notebook of  Imogen Howe said.

I think it's strange. That what interests me most these days has nothing to do with anyone in my actual life. That the figure that pulls my strings most is a man named Keith. God I don't even know his last name....

Yelled as reply to Joes plan

Drew
Imogen Howe Spacecity McDonalds
"You've broken our trust Keith." A alien like voice spoke from no where in particular a bright light flashed down at Keith. He was tied to a metal chair sitting in a concrete room. Two electrodes were placed to his chest. He was sweating profusely.

"I haven't done anything. She's not...

Cold and Blinding as reply to keith learns a lesson

Drew
Spacecity
Keith lay now on the bathroom floor. Why was he here again? He didn't know, nothing made sense to him in this made-up world. For a long time he thought the world was fair. When he was young especially. Even after his mom moved away, and there was all the...

Westcity
asparagus as reply to Everyone Else

Abraham Kim
Imogen Howe Spacecity life time asparagus
After the diner Calvin went for a drive. Thought about what  Imogen Howe had told him. A man named Keith has been missing for three days. He lives in California. She's not sure if that's where he was born or lived his whole life though. But he has been up...

Westcity
keith learns a lesson as reply to Western Game

Abraham Kim
Spacecity electric vehicle ghost town
Keith, his mom, and his brother moved away from the  ghost town before Keith hit middle school. Thus Keith never really knew what it was like to grow up there. He thought you didn't really know what a place was unless you went to at least middle school there.

He did...

Western Game as reply to win win

Drew
Spacecity
The only other time Keith felt like this was when he was younger, before Spacecity even before highschool. He had just moved into a new house with his Mom and his brother. It was weird, different than where they were before. Where they used to live a lot of kids...

Westcity
win win as reply to To Be

Abraham Kim
Spacecity SPA wall street Bloomberg terminals
Up in  Spacecity Keith had worked more hours a week than he had ever done on earth. Yet it never felt like he was working. Each working day felt like he was just 'being'. Doing something he would normally do had he had the day off.

This was probably why he...

To Be as reply to where'd you go?

Drew
Spacecity
Keith’s head was hurting. The lights came on and he’d cover his eyes. A buzzer rang and a door opened and shut. But he didn’t move. Soon he could smell it emanating taking over the whole space. Chinese food. What the fuck he thought, but he went close to inspect...

Westcity
the british couple as reply to So Happy

Abraham Kim
McDonalds Spacecity British
They spoke in English accents.

There might be a bug he said.

They had to throw them off. Anyway they could.

At the  McDonalds they still spoke with the accents. Just in case the bug was in their phones. Or some other smaller thing on their clothes. Something they couldn't even see. They...

Westcity
she was passing out as reply to Keith Said

Abraham Kim
landline Spacecity plasma
"Dude I'm freaking the fuck out."

"Chill, man--"

"Your wife isn't the one who's missing!"

I don't even have a wife, Aaron thought. "Yeah yeah. Man. But it's been what. Few days now? She'll turn up."

"You keep repeating these affirming words. But they're not based on any evidence."

"Come on. I got evidence! You...

Westcity
want to make 60 bucks? as reply to A Finely Tuned Machine

Abraham Kim
McDonalds Spacecity Subaru Imogen Howe
They somehow ended up leaving the  McDonalds at the same time. They hadn't said much to each other. Only the comments about that particular McDonalds being oddly good compared to the rest. So it wasn't like they were having a conversation as they left. They walked in silence. Threw away...

Westcity
one day would be plenty as reply to Wanted

Abraham Kim
Westcity Spacecity car McDonalds McFlurry
Keith's apartment was the second story of a mixed commercial/residential brick building on a moderately busy part of town. The town wasn't big. The strip he lived on sat mostly empty past eight, unless there was some significant event taking place. Most of the foot traffic came during the day....

Westcity
before dozing off as reply to Wanted

Abraham Kim
McFlurry McDonalds Spacecity
He continued to lick his ice cream. He couldn't just move away. That would be awkward. But he gave no sign that he wanted to chat. He hoped she would get the message and sit someplace else on her own accord. But she stayed put. Kept glancing over. Keith tried...

Westcity
mcflurry as reply to An Ice Cream

Abraham Kim
Spacecity ice cream McDonalds McFlurry
The man drove without the radio. Years up in space will do that to ya. Or at least did to him. Enjoyed the silence. Not really silent since the car made noise. The engine's hum. The tires on the asphalt. But no music needed.

It was his day off. He liked...

Westcity
ages ago as reply to Waste

Abraham Kim
Imogen Howe gas Spacecity Jeannie Hammond Ivan Babikov Georgie Wilcox Subaru gas station
Imogen Howe was exiting the zone. For five hours she had driven nonstop. The same ten songs playing on repeat. She had felt like a machine the entire time. There was nothing that was going to stop her. She passed by each car smoothly. Hit no potholes. Hardly touched the...

To Space as reply to she needed a payphone

Drew
Spacecity
"Are you checking out mam?"

"No just, do you, weird question have a payphone by chance?"

"Uhh, no we, just have that." He pointed to an old phone hanging on the wall."

"Oh okay, thats okay, I'll just have a look around."

"Certainly, just don't forget checkout is at 11." He replied.

He radioed to...

Code Blue as reply to town felt so far

Drew
blue Spacecity Imogen Howe
The  blue Roof Hotel. Was a subsidiary of the Blue group, which was Blue Inc, but after the whole Spacecity fiasco had to rebrand. 

"Bigger bolder Blue" the CEO said at the time. 


The Blue Roof Hotel was nothing special. From the outside it looked cheap and dilapidated, but inside...

Westcity
town felt so far as reply to Her Notebook

Abraham Kim
Spacecity notebook Imogen Howe town
Because she coudln't find any info on  Spacecity , she wrote about it in her  notebook . Simple statements like "Spacecity... what is it. What do people do up there. Did people really live up in space for that long?"

That's what  Imogen Howe did when she couldn't find information to...

Her Notebook as reply to fear

Drew
blue Spacecity
The feeling didn’t leave her in the car. As the door shut she felt like she wasn’t alone. She checked the back seat nothing but her lone bag, had it been moved? She had her phone clutched near her chest, and backed out turning around towards the road. Her lights...

Westcity
fear as reply to To be Home

Abraham Kim
Spacecity Home Alone
She walked up to the door and was about to knock. But her hand didn't move. Instead she placed her ear against the wood and listened.

Nobody was home. There was light. And motion. But she could tell the motion was artificial. Like  Home Alone where the kid rigged up different...

Westcity
launch site for spacecity as reply to Exit Sign

Abraham Kim
credit cards Imogen Howe Spacecity
Alan could keep the cafe running while she was gone. He'd know how to run the place for at least a few weeks. So she didn't need to get back anytime soon.

But she would need to withdraw cash before alan locked the account. She didn't expect him to do that....

Westcity
get the writing out of the way as reply to Coffee Shop

Abraham Kim
Westcity Spacecity dog
At the coffee shop he hoped Mari would be there. Knew she wouldn't. She probably lived someplace further out. Probably didn't make as much as Jackie. Maybe Mari lived out in Queens or Long Island. The people in this coffee shop looked hip and rich. A world Joey didn't belong...

Into a line as reply to at the terminal, waiting to board

Drew
Spacecity
Joey through the whole story was trying to keep it together.

He was trying to figure out, if what she was saying was real.

He kept repeating himself.

"You met on Spacecity?"

"Yeah we met on Spacecity , and we were just friends, just like super close."

"And out of no where...

Working and Chilling as reply to darjeeling

Drew
Spacecity
Jackie didn't say much.  Even thought Keith knew there was more. She had always been private. There was once she let Keith into her internal world. They'd spent the night together, before Spacecity and all of that. It rained hard while they were walking home so they were cold, she...

Watching Him as reply to empire state building

Drew
Spacecity New York
The next day he called in sick again. No one batted an eye.

"Of course take as much time as you need" they told Keith.

I need about a week, Keith thought. That should be enough time to take it all in. Flights were cheaper than he thought, last minute deal....

Westcity
empire state building as reply to She thought

Abraham Kim
New York Spacecity Trump Empire State Building
Keith had never observed anyone who worked at the  Empire State Building .

Growing up,  New York felt like the center of the universe. And little Keith could not imagine a world where everybody in New York didn't work in the Empire State Building.

Of course he grew up and got over...

Westcity
tall black as reply to Back to Clean

Abraham Kim
newspaper cappuccino Bill Gates Spacecity
Starvation. That's what people on the other side of the world faced. Keith read about it everyday in the news. He read a physical newspaper everyday with a cappuccino . Somehow K Man the barista convinced him to order a tall black.

The news felt less enjoyable alongside this abomination of...

Something to say as reply to an image

Drew
Facebook LinkedIn Spacecity
She started watching Keith, like how she used to watch the others. First it started just searching for his name. Keith, then his last name Rawling. That didn't turn up much, some weird  Facebook profiles but nothing else. Then she looked on  LinkedIn there nothing. 

"Could he have changed his...

Westcity
an image as reply to In front of her school

Abraham Kim
fear Spacecity nonchalant
The world was falling apart.

It had been the whole time. "We didn't start the fire". When she first heard it in high school. Her civics teacher told her what it meant. And it felt so true.

Marianna was bold in expressing her opinions. That history had always been violent. She would...

Westcity
marianna at airport as reply to Float by

Abraham Kim
pumpkin spice latte Spacecity AC
The leaves were changing. Writing dates felt different now that the month featured two digits.

Marianna grabbed her pumpkin spice latte after the barista yelled out her name twice.

Airports were the only place she ordered coffee. She wouldn't feel guilty since she would be stuck there.

It reminded her of  Spacecity ....

His phone as reply to visiting sis

Drew
space Spacecity blue
"So what do do here?"

"Oh, uh me. I'm not working, just visiting."

"Yeah, Kurt I told you, its my brother he's visiting, from you know.... outer space ."

"Oh, yeah, fuck yeah man, the space boy. That's right, how was that." Kurt said not really looking directly at Cal, instead he...

Westcity
visiting sis as reply to In his time

Abraham Kim
Spacecity American Gas City
This was his first time at his sister's new place. It wasn't so new. She'd moved there two years ago. But he hadn't had time to visit. well that was a little unfair. He literally couldn't have come. He had been up in  Spacecity the past four years. Now he...

Westcity
appreciate slow coffee as reply to Something different about it

Abraham Kim
coffee cafe to-go cups Spacecity LinkedIn schedenfruede
The work wasn't chaos. In fact Keith liked it. There was some bitter that came with the new fruit. Nearly half his previous coworkers were laid off. And he was doing double the work as before. But he was barely doing anything before. So the doubling didn't affect him much....

He Thought as reply to a text from the big dog

Drew
Spacecity
Chewing through his bite, and his smile Keith's mind drifted a little. It felt like he was in  Spacecity again, he looked back, it was sunny outside, he could see the street and the cars. Even sun poked through the window, not like the diffuse light of the uv lamps...

Westcity
group b -> group a as reply to The Meeting

Abraham Kim
Baker Ave. cappuccino TV Spacecity hungover
Keith didn't mind the change. The change he'd just learned about from Ezekiel was beginning to sound even more optimal as he thought of it more.

He preferred doing the most difficult in the morning anyhow. From his observations, Group A did jack all in the afternoons so long as they...

Watched as reply to reminiscing

Drew
Spacecity espresso
Keith had gotten into a new rhythm in life. A new era. His new era could be described by his new drink of choice. A cappuccino, an espresso with foamed milk and then more foam. This café he moved next to did them nice. Well he didn’t really go any...

Westcity
reminiscing as reply to Ethiopian Place

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
Years later at a cafe, half a coffee on the table. His left thumb slid across the chin. Felt the stubble already comin in. Keith shaved every morning now. HIs coworkers from Spacecity might not recognize him if they saw him face on. The time that had past. The clean...

Max's as reply to cigarettes on a walk

Drew
Spacecity earth Max's
Chris could finally grow hair. Or it was the way he styled it now. What was it five years up in  Spacecity and now he can grow a decent beard. Not like Keith's he was thinking. Always he compared himself to Keith. A habit that started the day he arrived...

His Head as reply to max's

Drew
Spacecity
Keith paused a bit too long. His head was hurting, maybe because of the weather. Or the heat. Too many changes he thought. 

"There a bit far away, he he, ummm too far to drive. So I'll just stay around you know. "

Max understood a bit because he didn't catch...

Storm Out as reply to keith prepares

Drew
Spacecity
Keith put in his pocket an old pocket knife he had from his past. Its origins were unknown. Maybe his dad got it for him, maybe but that was so long ago. Regardless the weight of it made him feel a little safer. He put it on his right pocket...

It would last longer as reply to pbr and jim beam

Drew
routine Spacecity
When Keith woke up he felt still drunk. Or more hungover, maybe anxious he wasn't sure. But when got up at the edge of his bed it seemed like water slowly sloshed around in his head. That Max guy can drink. He was trying to remember the acronym, mouthing out...

Westcity
pbr and jim beam as reply to All alone

Abraham Kim
police credit card Spacecity beer Jim Beam PBR tallboy
In the alley of a no name city. No where you could get a direct flight to from a major city. There was a smell. In the heat of summer, it permeated quick and far. Someone reported it. The police arrived within an hour.

A tall blonde woman covered her nose....

All alone as reply to keith needs food

Drew
Spacecity
Keith scarfed down the first slice. Dipping it in ranch dressing. A staple sauce in the part of the country he was in. But never where he was from. He liked sauce. He bit into the Margherita hot. Piping hot, but it was good, the mixture of fats, and salts...

Westcity
keith needs food as reply to Nothing

Abraham Kim
Georgio's pizza Spacecity food fat
He found  Georgio's on the way to where he thought Max's was. He didn't want to get pulled over by the cops. So drove into the parking lot. He could hit the diner for breakfast the following day.

Right now he needed some meat, cheese, and bread to soak up the...

Nothing as reply to seven

Drew
Spacecity Georgio's
Keith hadn't heard about Max's place before. Outside of the bar it was still light, getting darker now, but a bit of light. To him right now it felt brighter than it should have been. He was still thirsty, probably needed like three waters. Some food would be good, he...

Westcity
seven as reply to Drank it anyway

Abraham Kim
IPA Spacecity
Did anyone like  IPA s anymore? Before they shot Keith up into  Spacecity they were still niche. During his enlistment they became the norm. And now people seemed to have been long fed up with them. Tired of pretending to like them. Pre Spacecity, Keith actually liked IPAs. The bitterness...

Westcity
old school as reply to By the Way

Abraham Kim
relationships Spacecity Gas City
In his time back on earth he hadn't made a single friend. He didn't work. Didn't have roommates. If he wanted to he could avoid people altogether besides for his run to the grocery store. But it became clear to Keith that without any routine commitments like work or school,...

Westcity
walking in the rain as reply to Umbrella

Abraham Kim
rain car Spacecity
The  rain pelted the asphalt and concrete. Keith tilted his head down, symbolically keeping himself dry. When the rain was lighter, tilting your head down could at least keep the rain out of your eyes and your face. Today it was meaningless.

Cars whizzed by. Sometimes they splashed water all over...

Umbrella as reply to it was time

Drew
Spacecity rain
He drank the coffee after his meal. It reminded him of the  Spacecity machine. Almost too perfect, like she knew how he liked it. The cappuccino he ordered was frothed and he dumped one sugar in.
Sipped it. Perfect.

He wanted to tell her, tell her how it made him...

Westcity
it was time as reply to In her hands

Abraham Kim
Spacecity earth
The ceramic felt warm against his palms. Warmed by the coffee. But his skin never touched the coffee. Instead the heat transferred through the burnt clay. Fire transformed. Forged something new.

That was why he couldn't feel any different up here in  Spacecity . The cold. It stagnated you. Through the...
Table tennis for three
Lol why do you feel like you're interrupting?

We both imagined how cool it might be to have a story that is built by more than two people.

This story goes way back. Some of the threads are broken because we didn't reply directly to a prior post.

The original post that started it all was this one: 
Passing Time Drew
 

There's also this other thread: 
The Blue Man returns Yours Truly
 

The best thing about writing together has been the different worlds and characters we've explored together. Like there's the story of Keith and Marianne living in space via 
Spacecity
 

There's been Denver and Blue driving across the country in a 
Hyundai
.

There's the man in the expensive suit.

The diner in 
Gas City
. Maxxx with his vanity license plates. The 
Vietnamese
restaurant. The 
school shooting
. etc etc etc

drewbaca_
and I joked how we would be doing this for decades. The story compounds in value over time becaues when you look back at it... it's not whether the writing was good or not that matters. But rather the fun and giggles and meaning had along the way.

PS this drew is different than the other drew 
drewb
 
Abraham Kim

She Waved as reply to years later

Drew
Gas City Spacecity
Cal had a hard time getting there. I mean he had his van, but he hadn't travelled further than ten miles from his house in awhile, like 5 years. So he was worried, not about the travel, but more about what he'd find, and if he was honest with himself...

Westcity
years later as reply to Felt like the Sea

Abraham Kim
Spacecity Gas City
She was nervous to meet him. She wasn't even supposed to be alive anymore.

Her mom was gone. Keith was gone. She hadn't even known Cal that well. Short time they spent in Spacecity .

But now that the time has passed. She saw that she hadn't made many friends after returning...
Felt like the Sea
She was nervous to meet him. She wasn't even supposed to be alive anymore.

Her mom was gone. Keith was gone. She hadn't even known Cal that well. Short time they spent in 
Spacecity
.

But now that the time has passed. She saw that she hadn't made many friends after returning to earth.

It was harder to make friends at this age.

So when an old spacemate reached out to her of course she was going to meet up.

She was still in 
Gas City
. She hadn't planned to be here. Did she ever have a plan? No. But she had a feeling she was going somewhere. And it all made so much sense even though she didn't know the details. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She thought.

They were meeting at the diner that once had the perfectly cooked eggs. The cooks had changed long ago. Changed many times over. And the eggs were never cooked as well. She still enjoyed going there though. Fond memories. She hoped they'd never close down.

Cal. Would he show up on time? In space there was no place to go. So tardiness wasn't a thing that distinguished people. On earth. It did.
Abraham Kim

Felt like the Sea as reply to excitement

Drew
earth Spacecity flat white
20 years from now Cal would be a different person. He would live on earth and he'd be happy. Different than he was now. Things he felt were so important to him he barely remembers, and things he now feels are important wouldn't have even crossed his mind back in ...

Find Out More as reply to rebel ass

Drew
Spacecity Starbucks
Breaking News.
 
Spacecity has come under scrutiny lately as multiple members of the organization have attempted to create a sort of union inside the floating space city, only to be met with SWATesque police force. A recent expose labels this semi-secret organization as an extension of the Blue Group....

Westcity
rebel ass as reply to Strange Timing

Abraham Kim
Spacecity guns
Johnny Strong got up earlier than usual. The usual was 4 AM and then a couple shots of espresso. Getting his ass out of bed and taking the day by the neck. Choking it out!

But today he had to get up even earlier. New mission. Strong and his team would...

Westcity
worse as reply to The Beans

Abraham Kim
Spacecity coffee
The HR guy had decided to re-bean the employee cafe. The decision was made after running the numbers. Seeing what the balance sheet would look like if Cal was to get on disability as well. The two of them. Cal and his friend Keith could begin causing a lot of...

The Beans as reply to wobble back

Drew
Spacecity
The coffee was bitter Cal thought, taking another sip. Yeah what the fuck. Spacecity cafe was busy as usual for breakfast, Cal was trying to eat again, but a little less so he could lose back the weight non-suspiciously. The place seemed if Cal closed his eyes just like a...

Westcity
life city as reply to To Question

Abraham Kim
blood The Sopranos health Spacecity
"I have dirty blood."

The doctor looked confused. Cal said it again. "My  blood . It's gone bad."

The doctor pushed his glasses up against the bridge of his nose. Then lied. "We'll do some tests. I'll get back to you."

It would've been Cal's third day off if the doctor gave him...

To Question as reply to cal considers retirement

Drew
Spacecity HR retirement
The HR guy of Spacecity knew they had a problem. His name was Danny, with Keith retired and still living here it was fine, they could support that. And he had, special circumstances, there was even a doctors note. But Danny while he sitting and pretending to work, thought up...

Westcity
cal considers retirement as reply to What he's got

Abraham Kim
Spacecity scifi
The next day Cal waited for Keith to come out of his room. Usually Keith was up late. He'd been getting up later and later since he was retired. This morning it was particularly late. Cal believed Keith was finally dead. He didn't know when it would be polite for...

Westcity
first retiree as reply to Together

Abraham Kim
winter Spacecity
winter arrived. Cal's first since leaving earth. Without the snow. It didn't feel like winter here in space. The only reason he even felt somewhat connected to winter was the calls from Marianna. She had moved to someplace where there was a lot of snow. She loved it. An ice...

Westcity
things he missed as reply to Still Nothing

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
He finally awoke. Realized that he had been dreaming. Dreamed that he was back on earth. The cold air of  Spacecity washed over his skin. Rainforest elevator music played softly in the common area that connected his room to three others'. He didn't have a contagious disease so he didn't...

Still Nothing as reply to open life in gas city

Drew
Spacecity earth Westcity
It didn't register that Keith was going to die. The doctors told him it was the perfect storm, his mother smoked, his dad drank, and he spent almost a decade in space. His body had tried to adapt to all these things and everything else Keith through at it, but...

Westcity
open life in gas city as reply to Debbie

Abraham Kim
Gas City diner Spacecity
"Welcome to the  Gas City   diner !"

No one replied. The face in the reflecting glass stared back. Marianna pretended she was the waitress at the diner. She liked talking to herself like that. Pretend that she was at the diner. She would say it over and over again. "Welcome to...

Cracks as reply to 20 drink vouchers

Drew
love Spacecity
Chris sat on the end of his bed. The simulated window shown the earth, and was supposed to make you feel awe. Looking at everyone you love , and everything you know in one place. But Chris was just mad, all this shit he said looking at the view.

Fake...

Westcity
20 drink vouchers as reply to Either Way

Abraham Kim
Spacecity life
"What's it to you? What makes you think you know so much about another man's life?"

The bastard Chris was right. Cal thought he was close to Keith. So much that he'd decided that he ought to get Keith kicked out of his home. This was Keith's home in fact. Space....

Westcity
imagination as reply to Just Call Her

Abraham Kim
Spacecity
The phone call ended up in Marianna hanging up on Keith.

It hurt him at first. But after a long coffee and a walk around the hallways he cooled down. She was right in some ways. That he was always making a big deal out of every little thing. That he'd...

What If? as reply to what are the chances?

Drew
Spacecity coffee coffeemachine cafe
Cal waited for another assignment. At first he thought about asking them immediately. Like Yo my guy disappeared can I have another. Then for some reason he didn't. He imagined Spacecity wouldn't care if he didn't have a guy. As long as he seemed to have a guy. He waited,...

Westcity
what are the chances? as reply to The Chances

Abraham Kim
ethereum bitcoin private key Blockchain Spacecity
The chances were slim. Considered impossible actually. To guess an  ethereum or  bitcoin address' private key. You could just guess numbers... because that's all a  private key was. And if you got the right one then the  Blockchain gave you access as though you were the rightful owner. Because to...

Overwhelmed as reply to warmth

Drew
Spacecity
Keith when he was younger did stupid shit, not that he was stupid, just all the things he did were. If you added them up, and told someone objectively, they would think that was a bad kid. There was the codeine, and then pot, then the selling of both. He...

Westcity
no data as reply to Didn't Notice

Abraham Kim
Spacecity eggs
Chris shaved for the first time in five days. On earth he shaved everyday. Clean shaven was the way. He didn't look good in a beard. His was patchy. Looked like pubes. Unlike Keith who could grow a majestic beard. Cal was clean shaven. But Chris didn't know whether that...

The Cook as reply to back

Drew
Spacecity
What you having? A middle aged woman asked Marianna. She said it slow and drawn out. Different than people in Spacecity who were trying to be efficient. 

Coffee I think, and uh. The flapjacks, and scrambled eggs. 

Marianna thought about tell the lady, from her name tag Suzie, about how...

Westcity
back as reply to Work

Abraham Kim
Spacecity Subaru
She heard the news from Sarah from HR.

"Your mom is ill."

She knew the facts. They couldn't get her down there. It was easy getting people up. Getting people back to earth. Harder. Sarah didn't need to spell it out. Marianna's mom would probably be dead before they could get her...

Work as reply to watching sopranos again

Drew
Spacecity
The guy Eric was tracking then just moved across the country. His streaming data went up now too, and the days connected were even greater. Everything nearly 100% increase. What the fuck he thought to himself, what made him switch. He was writing a report all morning. In it he...

The rest of the time as reply to need

Drew
Spacecity
With his kids safely with this other man. The other man enjoyed time consuming content. Reacting to different videos and other peoples reactions. He sent a smiled emoji to things he liked, then a angry face to things he didn't all the while the kids were away he just reacted...

Nothing New as reply to live for two things

Drew
Spacecity
Cal's childhood was different. His brother might have shined a bit brighter, tried a bit harder, but he was pretty quiet. When the family moved house his parent's very quickly got divorced. They stayed in the same town, but saw him a bit less. His parent's fought less so he...

Westcity
fake as reply to Croissant

Abraham Kim
coffee Spacecity
Cal understood not why Keith went to the machines. Why not enjoy the morning coffee at the cafe?

"I never enjoyed those on earth either."

"Cafes?"

"Right. Always thought they were. Fake."

Next time Cal went to the cafe in  Spacecity he wondered whether he himself thought it felt fake. It was obviously fake....

Croissant as reply to miami

Drew
earth Spacecity croissant
Cal was getting up. He slept well up here. Everything was made for it, optimized and focused. The most important thing. Or one of them, as they would tell them. There was a hierarchy here, like on earth but it was to help them do the best work. But, unlike...

Westcity
miami as reply to Dirty Dishes

Abraham Kim
Spacecity Miami sunsceen
They put us two to a room. Optimally they would give each person their own isolation space. But they said people went crazy being alone. So they gave us one other person to be with. My guy was from the middle of nowhere.

He kept mentioning how warm it was. Warmer...

The Clean Up Crew as reply to mess

Drew
Spacecity
Shawn was confused, or scared or something in between. The note told him to call a number, this number led to another department, and that department led him to a jet. This Jet would take him south from where he was.

In the plane there was constant noise was all...

Sand as reply to braking for deer

Drew
Spacecity
When Walter talked in front of people most other things melted away, it was there he was fully present. However, when talking to the team now he only could think of the Blue Man. Where did he go?

One of the questions they got was what colors to use for the...

Needed as reply to intervening

Drew
Spacecity earth
I told you you shouldn't have been doing that.

Marianna was anxious, and her heart beat she could feel picked up its pace. Last night Keith and her talked too late, and he told her all about what Cal and him did. How it seemed to really be making a...

A Slice as reply to do you want to talk about it

Drew
Westcity Spacecity Georgio's
Joey left the bar, a little sway in his walk. A bit sadder than when he started the night. Joey looked at his phone again no messages. There was some likes on a picture he posted. The first picture in awhile. When he was with Carianne she would tell him...

Westcity
there as reply to A friend

Abraham Kim
beer friends life Suburban Hyundai cigarette Spacecity
"I'd like a  beer as well."

Denver raised his hand. It took ten seconds. His voice wheezed through the air. He'd taken his oxygen mask  off. Marc Love had already gotten up but Denver swatted him away.

The waiter acknowledged the request. Gave the two younger men a look that asked 'is...

Westcity
tight as reply to The Theory

Abraham Kim
Spacecity beer weed Westcity electricity poop
electricity was free up here. They had solar panels facing straight out into the sun. And boy did the station eat up a lot of juice. So many computers and appliances everywhere. And the whole infrastructure that allows people to survive inside of  Spacecity . the mechanism that taks the...

Westcity
more than donating a kidney as reply to Vacuum Packed

Abraham Kim
teeth Spacecity kidney
"I'm really glad I got to meet you."

"Same." she smiled. Her teeth were a shade of cream. Not white like the toothpaste commercials. He thought they were perfect. They probably would've been blinding white years before. Before all this coffee up in Spacecity . Man didn't Cal wish he was...

Vacuum Packed as reply to resurfaced

Drew
Spacecity
Shawn could be heard from his office screaming. Fuck these Boomers! He smashed his keyboard agains the table and keys flew this way and that. On the national news was his mom. Talking about the Blue Man fucking murdering a girl. We had a plan. For so long they kept...

Dirty Dishes as reply to both sons gone

Drew
coffee Spacecity computer
Mom,


Made it. Not much to report right now. Warmer than I thought. The first night I had to sleep in isolation, so there now. Its fine so far, met some people on the ride up. The guy next to me was from Washington. The other guy from Miami. Though...

Westcity
both sons gone as reply to The Last Day

Abraham Kim
loneliness coffee phone computer Spacecity magazine
Susie drank a big cup of coffee. She didn't need it. It was already three. She usually didn't drink coffee after 1. Today felt different. Both her sons were out of the nest. One was way out west. Had been for awhile. The youngest was now in space. She was...

Coffee as reply to terms

Drew
Spacecity coffee
Before the arrival day Keith found it extra hard to sleep. He found his work book decorated in circles. He'd start day dreaming and just start drawing. When he was in school one of his teachers would call them grapes. He'd ask him how many grapes he harvested today. Oh...

Westcity
terms as reply to Thank You

Abraham Kim
ego Spacecity friends waiting
People signed on for different term lengths. This meant you never could be sure whether someone was leaving earlier or later than you. Especially if you arrived around the same time. Keith had arrived six months after Marianna. When she shared eagerly that she'd be here for five years, he...

The Last Day as reply to up there

Drew
Spacecity
Cal wondered what to wear his first day. He knew he'd had to change. The brochure said everyone dresses the same in  Spacecity . Helps people feel more together, united for the common good. Cal was sad about this. For the past almost three years he always wore blue socks....

Westcity
up there as reply to The views are pretty

Abraham Kim
Spacecity money space sky
On the third story of the infinity office, Shawn Samuels sat looking at the artificially maintained woods. When his friends saw his view, he self deprecated himself, saying that it was still a view of the inner part of the ring shaped office. The more senior people had views facing...

The views are pretty as reply to home by friday

Drew
TikTok Spacecity
Cal could tell the difference. His friends said he was crazy. They would say no man, the Blue Man didn't die. Its still him, but Cal could tell the difference. I don't know man there is something about his eyes. There just different now. Like CGI. Or something, even the...

Some Water as reply to cocoon

Drew
Instagram TikTok Westcity Spacecity
Keith was in the public space outside of Marianna's room. His other friend just left to bed, and left Keith to find his way back home. He stayed on the couch in the public space. Scrolling through the most recent new's on earth. Then to  Instagram then to  TikTok and...