#390 words

[asheewrites]

Kitsuneva 3

When I woke up, I was alone. ... I was not sure if I had imagined the whole thing, really. When I checked, the fox was in its cage as well. The lock in place, the food eaten. It slept in the hut in the back of the cage, a little under the foliage, but clearly visible, rolled up and breathing. When I called over "Morning, Eva!," the little heap did move and made a yip-alike noise at me. I checked the lock and shook my head. Must have been my imagination.

The one good thing was: I didn't need to come to the location today. We would wrap up the filming for the next three weeks... and then I'd go onto the next assignment. One Steve would think more... appropriate. And I would forget all about naked ladies and escaping foxes. It was - again - a lot of fun. I could easily go around in a robe all day. Also: Learning how to get out of handcuffs was fun. Next up would be card tricks. This series was so, so silly. But hey, we got the murderer that had gotten handcuffed to the ceiling during the murder-time. Of course, Eva had gotten the fleeing culprit like the good fox she was. She was a wonderful little one. Wonderful. And that's what I told her, too. It was true what they said about foxes - that they are cats working with dog-hardware. At least it felt like it when she slunk around my legs. And made... motor-noises. I laughed, but it did sound adorable. Then it was cage-time again.

It would be... three weeks until I'd see them all again. It was a shame. I wished them all good bye, shook hands, took one last ice cream and then took a taxi home. Steve would be there and tell me all about the next theatre production. When I opened the door, Steve did indeed greet me. The words were somewhat surprising, though: "Allan, you may be a star, but you can't just take movie animals home with you. They are trained. Please bring her back when we're done talking" I stared at the table my guest was sitting on. And tried to find the sense in an animal I personally locked in just before I left the set. What.

[ask-stevecarlsberg]

Arrows and Lines

The lines in the sky only tell lies and do not exist. Steve knew that. His mother told him that after Sheriff's Secret Police visited them for the third time in a single week when he was ten. She told him that after his first reeducation at twelve. She repeated that angrily when the family lost the privilege of closing the windows in the house when he was fifteen. She told him that every day, whenever he glanced up or said something without thinking first if it was permitted to have that opinion.

And he believed her. She was his mother and he understood her. She wanted what was best for them. She was scared. She had him to take care of and his father, and things weren't always easy in a place like Night Vale. He believed his mother and trusted her more than the things he saw shining bright above his head. By sixteen he kept his eyes level and almost never looked up. Except for sometimes at night, to amuse himself, but he never believed it, not really. Sometimes he would tell someone about what he saw in the sky, yeah, but he always made sure to clarify he believed none of what he's seen.

So he didn't believe the sky when the arrows pointed out he would soon be left alone. His parents wouldn't abandon him, he was still a kid, he needed them and they loved him, he was sure of that. He made his best to keep his stupid mouth shut and surely they would recognize his effort. They wouldn't  abandon him, he thought.

Until he came back from school on his 18th birthday to find the house deserted, with nothing among the bare walls except a note scratched on one of them.

“You're an adult and no longer our responsibility. Good luck, Steve.”

He sat and stared at the note for a while. When he left the house it was dark already and the stars were bright – but not as bright as the arrows and dotted lines.

He should have been scared but he wasn't. The sky told him this would happen and now it was pointing out where he should go next. So he followed the lines, without a shadow of doubt about their bright message clouding his mind ever again.

[rvwix]

Nekominations, a death sentence for the stupid?

Recently it has become apparent that Facebook has been flooded with videos of ‘nekominations’, a new drinking game craze where a participant downs a pint of alcohol. Harmless fun right? Wrong! People have begun taking this game to a new level, such as the boy who did a nekominations using his own sh*t.

  So since this craze began, my Facebook news feed has been bombarded with people I know downing pints of god awful concoctions. Why though? Honestly, what are you getting out of doing it? (Except for a load of guy friends commenting LAD every two seconds, ugh).  

  In the past few weeks that this game became introduced to social media sites, the UK has already seen up to five deaths due to people overdoing it. Isn’t it ridiculous that people have actually died because they’ve tried to outdo everyone else?!  Yeah, bet you look real cool now.

  I witnessed a friend participate in one of these nominations, and it actually made me feel physically sick. Using a pint glass, he added vodka, wine, beer, tequila, tea, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and cream cheese. The look on his face when he was drinking it told the whole story, he hated it. So why do it? We had to suffer the aftermath of this nomination when my friend passed out mid-dance in the middle of a club, resulting in the local wardens escorting him home. Safe to say he didn’t feel great in the morning.

  The thing I want to know is why can’t you just down a pint of beer? Something that maybe won’t be as lethal? Why do people feel the need to go above and beyond, just for 20 likes on your video? It’s not worth it really is it? I mean, surely these people realise downing a bottle of vodka is going to have bad consequences, right?

  As a university student, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy drinking as much vodka mixers as possible, but that’s just the student culture. I know my limits and I know when to stop. I definitely wouldn’t think of adding anything else to my drink, especially a dead mouse (as one nominee did). Thankfully the videos are slowly dying out, and the nekominations will just become a stupid phase. Let’s hope everyone has come to their senses. 

390 words, 24/02/2014