Waiting for
the men to all come back to the
pub, I sat and watched the
world go by, staring out the window. It was my
birthday, and I wanted little more than to go to the
arcade, have a few games, enjoy myself with friends.
When everyone returned, they did so with additional guests. Of all the people I didn’t want to see on this day,
Shadow was there, with his arms around
Adam, and
Aun. Probably telling them
some horrible thing about me, no doubt.
I went to the arcade alone, taking a
token from Adam before I left. When I got there, the first thing I noticed was the lack of
arcade games. The second was the
dancing semi-nude Asian girls. The third was the
quarterjockey-cum-
pimp.
I left, followed by a throng of
dancing girls, asking me if I wanted a
date.
...
On
Rideau Street, where all those that slip through the cracks of
Ottawa’s
social programs, and
welfare services end up, things had changed. The clouds never left, casting their dull grey influence on the sidewalks and buildings. No one ever smiled, and every
streetlight flickered.
Things had been this way for quite some time, but
I don’t think anyone noticed but me.
I also don’t think anyone else noticed the fact that a city block had turned into
forbidding forestland, and started to
glow red, either.
Or the naked
demons roaming the streets, screaming for their
dark master.
...
Corey,
Adam and I were in a mall, finding somewhere to buy
gelato. We ran into some old
raver friends of ours, and started to
dance.
We looked at Adam, and saw that he wasn’t really
dancing,
per se... He was just kinda
vibrating his legs so fast that he
floated all over the place.