Alien Personality

February 24, 2018July 23, 2018 ~ Piece, of the Sky

the future is now

Third night. Waves rolling in from outside the bay. Alli ran down the steps. Her trainers hit the sand. And she was off, in the direction of Mallo’s Mini-Mart.

The wind shook the palm trees. A gale was moving out on the water, further down the coast. Alli pulled her jean jacket in closer. The leaves flapped, battering each other in the breeze. The full moon lit up the beach; shadows lengthening in the sharp contrast. Rocks and crabs stood out, claws clicking in the night.

She walked past Mallo’s quickly. The clubs were quieter tonight, as if hunkering down for the incoming tempest. A few rockers hung about, holding Blue Moons. Solo cups littered the sidewalk outside the store. A Camaro sat in the parking lot, swarmed by punks and bikers.

The night ambience resumed, swallowing up Mallo’s in its wake. Alli kicked a cigarette butt on the ground.

Scorched logs from yesterday’s fire lay abandoned. Alli nudged one with her foot, watching it collapse into ash. Gusts whipped the eddies into tiny maelstroms, swirling without purpose.

The cliffs loomed in Alli’s line of sight, silhouettes against the cold, navy sky. Alli could see one of the tunnels, hollowed out by centuries of erosion, from here. It was low tide, Alli reminded herself – but still, her pulse began to drum in her ears.

The beach grew thinner. The jungle trees fell away to shrubbery and then to grass, and before Alli knew it, she was walking between the white cliffs and the sea. The surf menaced from its turf. Alli reminded herself that she could swim; swim parallel to the rip tide, not directly back to shore, headfirst into the wrathful waves.

She walked with her hand against the stone, but even the rock walls opened into the caves Ran had mentioned – various natural hallways and corridors running to the other side of the cliff, holes in which she could see the sea.

The water was close now, churning a few feet from her ankles. The lip of the islet hung a right, reaching out to the sandbars in the bay. She was through the caves and the cliffs now.

Back out in the moonlight, Alli squinted and looked around at the open water, the crashing waves, the rolling grass reaching back toward the cliffs. The sand stretched out into the sea, pining for some remote, lost land. A sand bridge to nowhere. Even the fields fell away and there was only water and sand, a primeval landscape, reversing the ancient walk uphill, upstream.

The ghost ship floated into view, metal mast winking in the night, rigging long lost and rotted. There were no ghosts, Alli thought to herself as she plodded on, through the damp sand.

She reached it – the black wreckage spread out like a spiderweb. The ocean had pounded a hole in the hull, through which, there was only darkness. Alli picked her way closer, through the seaweed carpeting the ground, making the rocks slippery. She peered into the ruin and let her eyes adjust.

Inside, shafts of moonlight illuminated dull pools of water, shrunken or swollen on the ocean’s whim. Beams had caved in. Broken wooden boxes lay discarded or smashed. Alli accidentally stepped in a puddle and soaked her foot to the skin.

“Well, are you going to go in?” a voice asked.

Alli nearly choked. She was still breathing heavily when she turned to see Ran behind her.

“You can’t – do something like that-!” Alli gasped.

“It was worth it for the look on your face,” Ran grinned, crossing her arms – which were tan and wiry, covered in fine, feathery red hair.

Alli’s heart slowed. She sat down on a beam at the threshold. She thought of her warm cabana and wondered what she was doing out here.

Ran came and sat down beside her, “Listen, I am sorry I scared you.”

Alli sighed, endorphins flooding her brain, post-scare. She stared out into the ocean. Sky and water met in an endless circle. Without the other, neither was complete.

Ran put an arm around Alli’s shoulder. That’s when Alli noticed the smaller boat, “You rowed here?”

“Yes,” Ran grinned, “I am surprised you actually came out.”

Alli shook her head, “You’re awful.”

“Come on, let me take you home,” Ran said.

Ran got up and offered Alli her hand. Alli gave her an incredulous look but put her hand in Ran’s. In the boat, Alli sat in the front, watching as Ran unhooked the oars.

They cast out into the sea, two figures on that unending horizon. The moon sunk silently, surrounded by clouds rushing southward, ahead of the storm.

urban spelunking

Songs:

“I Heard You Say” – Vivian Girls

“I Took Your Name” – R.E.M.

“Dreams” – The Cranberries

Butterflies and Snakes

February 10, 2018February 15, 2018 ~ Piece, of the Sky

1980s cell phone

Dolphins cut through the water. Parasailers hovered in the air. The sand sparkled in the sun. Palm trees swayed in the surfeit of ocean breezes. Hot dogs and burgers roasted on the grill. The surfers were out. The sun reflected off the high-rise resorts. The casinos and the ballrooms were full. Ranpan, the teen sensation idol, wowed the crowds from the summer stage. Couples walked up and down the length of the boardwalk. Red convertibles raced down the speedway that cut through the mountains. Sea spray perfumed and permeated the resort town. Every night, there were tiki torches and bonfires on the beach.

Alli sat in her open-air dojo, in a cotton, summer gi, watching the teal waves roll in. Sea gulls coasted the white caps. Already the first fires lit the beach. The wind blew in from the sea, chasing the night, jostling the braided ropes tied to the ceiling rafters. Sitting in a lotus position, Alli wiped a trickle of sweat from her forehead.

A couple dozen miles away, Kaan was rocketing around the mountains in an old, rickety coupe, rounding corners and holding curves. Alli did not look up when the gravel crunched, and Kaan pulled in. Kaan breathlessly ascended the steps to the white floor of the octagon. “You have got to help me!” she gasped.

Alli opened her eyes and stood up, meditation over, “What is it?”

“Dallas is back! And she has Aspen!” Kaan yelled.

The two friends shared a look, “But what do you want me to do about it?” Alli asked, at length.

Kaan was lathered up, “You have to get Aspen back! You must help me! You’re the only one who can take on Dallas!”

Alli exuded calm, trying to reach Kaan, to ensconce her friend in a cocoon of positive energy, “But can’t you see that fighting her won’t solve anything?”

Kaan wouldn’t give up that easily, “Sometimes, there’s nothing left to do but to fight! She left you, which was bad enough, but she didn’t have to take my Aspen too!”

Alli leveled her eyes at Kaan, “You know once we go into this nightclub, there is no going back, right?”

Kaan met Alli’s eyes; there were tears in Kaan’s eyes. Alli nodded.

Alli put on a black buttoned-up shirt and jeans and got in Kaan’s busted coupe. Kaan rounded the hills again, tossing Alli along and hugging the winding road that connected the beachfront to Downtown.

Kaan parked outside of Cad’s. The couples were ambling about: flashy dresses, silk shirts, and white shoes. Kaan and Alli glanced at each other, before walking into the cavernous opening, framed by velvet rope.

Inside metallic light grazed their faces. Female and male servers walked around, proffering neon-colored shots in test tube glasses. The bartenders served up Day-Glo martinis, under the glare of the black light.

The crowd of shadows shifted back and forth under the strobes spinning in the darkness. Kaan and Alli walked through the gloom, the smoke machine going at full blast, speakers under the dance floor reverberating with every beat.

In the lounge, at a table of Dallas’s artist friends, sat Dallas and Aspen, surrounded by clinking glasses and writhing dancers. Kaan and Alli stood at a distance. Party-goers were crushed together, holding shots of tequila aloft, gripping bottles of beer, shouting to hear one another, over the thunderous rhythm.

Dallas caught their glance and put down her mimosa. Aspen, also saw them and froze. Dallas met their gaze and stood up, slinking toward them in a sheer, sequined dress. She arrived in front of them, heels clicking on the dance floor, “Want to take this outside?”

Kaan and Alli nodded. Dallas motioned to her entourage, and Aspen, who stood up, with hesitation. The group moved to the parking lot outside, feet shifting in the loose gravel.

Dallas snapped to a towering body guard, who tossed her two katanas. Dallas flung one at Alli, who deftly caught it.

Both drew their swords and dropped the scabbards. They rushed at each other. Steel met steel. The two disengaged, struck and parried. Dallas moved in one smooth motion, a liquid snake. Alli parried and parried again. Riposte.

Dallas parried the strike and shot back out, as fast as a cobra. She swung past Alli, arm held up like a hook, hand craning down, like a biting adder. The blade slashed through the back of Alli’s left hamstring, bringing her tumbling to the ground.

Kaan bellowed and ran forward, but Dallas quickly dispatched her with a hilt jab to the pressure point on the clavicle. Kaan folded. Dallas walked away, “You’re lucky I didn’t kill you.”

The guard took back the swords and the jeering crowd dispersed from around the two prone figures, and reformed, wandering back into the club.

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