The way from his house to  McDonalds was short, about ten min. It was enough time for about two good songs, or one good song repeated. He liked  Eminem there was a time when he'd try to listen to other artists, but Eminem always capture best how he felt. Angry,...

Imogen Howe didn't drive right away. She waited. She would have rather followed on foot, but it was hard to know how far they'd go or if they'd go anywhere interesting. 

People always liked to be sure. So she assumed first they would go to check somewhere, then they'd go...

Keith had been silent now for 6 hours. They were in Oregon now, and he still had his headphones on. 

"You think he can hear us? With dem tings on his head."

"The headphones, probably, I don't think they are that nice of noise cancelling."

"Fuck him. Hate that guy."

Dave felt weird...

It was too bright inside Holmes Hall . As soon as they entered the lobby Blayne felt an urge to head back into the darkness. They needed to get to their room as quick as possible. Once inside they could lock the door and pretend to be asleep. There was...

After the fight at McDonalds the bigger picture disappeared. Blayne kept Danny and the other guy moving as fast as they could while looking casual on the night streets. They had to walk to the corner, and then south across the bridge, and then east on the woods' trail. The...

"So they really got your guy?"

Blayne nodded. Although he didn't know who the guy was. The guy was just a guest. But Danny wouldn't help unless he thought it was someone close to Blayne.

Danny took out a cigarette and lit it, his hands covering the flame from the sea side...

"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...

She was excited. She put on make-up and her perfume, and a everything all for the flight. Although she knew Keith didn't care, they traveled all around sleeping in a van somehow it felt different. Like when she was kid and her parents let her stay up late and watch...

"The Sea Side Rest. The place that you know best."

"Its been abouuttt a month now." Keith said. 

"Shut up. No it has not." Imogen Replied.

They were at a  McDonalds he got the usual two McChickens and a coke. She just got a large fry and frosty. The one they were...

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...

She first pretended to be alright, but now she was nervous. 

"If its who I think it is, they have a bug in the car, so when we go back we just have to act like a couple."

She didn't know how to reply just nodded. 

"Hmmhm."

Now she was wondering is...

He didn't take her home for some reason. Thats what a normal person would do, he was worried that how that would come across. They left her car at the beach, worried she might pass out at the wheel. Instead he took her to the lab lounge. It was past...

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...

"Its weird it took so long." She said. 

The guy pretended not to notice, but maybe he did. 

"Its weird it took so long, like with your  McFlurry were the only people here." She laughed a little. 

He turned to face her, unsure.

"Yeah, I mean I guess they have drive...

Senior year was a blur. Looking back at least. In the moment she felt like so many things were happening. Time felt incredibly long. Practices. Parties. Sleepovers. Exams. Games. Dances. Looking back as an adult all of those things kind of blurred into a simple image. the same vibration.

She had...

She found it strange. To want to sleep by the ocean. She'd be unconscious for most of it. So why did it matter where she slept. Maybe there was an argument for how nice it felt leading up to finally drifting off.

Getting into her pajamas. Slipping into bed. Turning the...

She stayed another cheap motel by road that led to the highway. There was another  McDonalds there, but not much else. She wanted to spend the night next to the ocean, but then she'd have to get more cash out, and it was expensive. She didn't know how much more...

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....

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...

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...

She was thinking about Chip from the gas station. He was an older man. Not death bed old, but old enough to be... well older than her dad. He had a walking stick. She didn't see him stand up and walk, but she could imagine him walking with a limp.

She...

She closed her car door, and was immediately plunged into silence. There the thought resurfaced about the payphone. She looked around, nothing.

There was the machine for air.

"All tires for 1 quarter." The sign read.

She wondered if it was true.

She left there, guided back to the road...

The next day Keith was up earlier than usual. Got dressed chewed on a piece of bread as he walked out the door. Down the steps he tried to be quiet, he lived next to his landlord, and while she said she couldn't hear him he didn't want to wake...

Although he drove all night, Dave was no where near falling asleep. The dark , being unable to see the details of the terrain, brought his mind to a corner of his past. Memories he had forgotten. One vivid memory was of how he had met a man named Peter.

Dave...

He was a dumb kid. That's what everyone said. Rocks for brains. And they were probably right. He'd given up on school by the time he was ten years old when his  report card started coming home with Ds and Cs rather than just Cs.

Not all of them, but several...

The company had a policy around employees smoking weed . It was allowed so long as nobody proved that they were smoking it on the job. The company didn't find that it inhibited their employees at all given that their tasks were so simple. Plus it made hiring easier. Word...

The new guy never did anything. Well, never anything that helped the team. Instead he would ask questions to busy team members, questions that sounded smart and important upon first listen, but it was only after the conversation was over and you had wasted twenty minutes of your time in...

A screen booted on, just as the first coffee was coursing through his veins. Smooth jazz played in the back. It was like most mornings. The bosses check your mouse movements so you gotta get up in time, at least in time just to start everything and make it look...

Chris now has a kid I don't remember her name, but when we were in school together no one thought he could do that. Its not he was voted least likely to have a kid, or anyone said that specifically but just he wasn't destined for greatness or fatherhood or...

I think during that time they didn't know what they were doing.  They were just trying to make each other laugh. Her laugh big and boisterous was easy and often. Following jokes, and sometimes louder on missed ones. With awkwardness triggering something too. His though was something to strive for...

One winter afternoon he got on the wrong bus on the way home from the field trip downtown. At first he thought he was in big trouble, but the teachers didn't notice. And to his surprise he enjoyed talking with the kid in front of him who had his head...