Azazel:Deadwater:9/15/2025
Job hunting in this economic dead zone is… well I’m a demon, I get whatever I want, now don’t I?
Of course I do.
So I’m a reporter for the Deadwater Chronicle now. Should be useful. I start tomorrow and have conjured up a reporter’s wardrobe full of black denim and threadbare Oxfords. It is horrific, but we do what we must for the cause. And our rewards will be delicious.
I met one of our neighbors today. Cramped up old thing about seventy.
“Dreadlocks? The shadow of the cathedral falls upon these corridors, you ought to be ashamed.” She was holding a chihuahua under one arm and her keys in her other hand, so she waggled her head at me instead. Cute little puff ball of grey.
“And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting this morning, m’lady?”
“Fake manners will get you nowhere. I can tell you don’t genuinely want to know.”
“Oh, but I do. Dreadlocks or not, my mother always taught me to get acquainted with my neighbors.”
“Well, at least your mother sounds decent. I’m Imelda, and this is Spanky.” She waggled the puffball at Spanky this time.
“I’m Az, short for Azure, my mother’s favorite color. She always said her love for me was as big as the sky.” Did I ever have a mother? Probably… but who can remember an eternity ago?
“Well that’s unusual. What a sweet story.” She set the dog down, it wandered around her ankles, a dark brown little thing with a white spot around the base of its tail.
“Not nearly as sweet as my new neighbor Imelda. What is that, Spanish?”
She nodded, “My parents were Guatemalan, but I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“Guatemala don’t know what it’s missing,” I winked and opened my door. “Lovely to have met you, Imelda. And I mean it.”
“Oh, you rascal,” she all but giggled.
Some say I have a silver tongue….
Miriam:Deadwater:2025
Did you know you have to go to college to be a librarian? You can’t just like books, it’s a whole thing. I know every inch of that stupid library. I’ve even slept there on several occasions when home was bad. But I can’t WORK there without SOME CREDENTIALS.
I bet I know the dewey decimal system better than old Witheredgreen.
So I got a job Fried Freddies since it’s just across the street. Az says he can get me a job at the library, but I don’t want to get things I shouldn’t have using someone else’s power.
I don’t even eat meat so this is probably going to suck. The new manager there, the old one had a heart attack and died with his head on the grill, is named Dave, which was also the old manager’s name. So very Deadwater. I guess it has a haunted bread oven. If someone sees you sitting in front of it, you’re going to die. But if you quit, you can save your life. Anyway Dave said I can work the drive thru or manage the buns if I don’t want to touch meat. I guess the drive thru also has a ghost but it lives in the headset. They can’t get a new headset because the ghost won’t let them.
Basically, this is going to be really weird and I might die.
I hope I get to work the drive thru. Talking to a ghost all day sounds ok.
I start tomorrow. I have dread.
August:Heaven:A Cell
I was arraigned today. I stood before a judge in all white with a pointy beard and a ring of eyes around his or her head (frankly it was unclear despite the beard). A choir of angels sat in pews to my right and there were shadow guards everywhere.
My charges were read to me… it was a long list. I may have yawned. My lawyer informed me that pleading ‘not guilty’ is standard at this point. I argued that I was guilty and was trying to get out of this place. And that’s where I was, once again, shattered upon jagged rocks.
One is not sent to Hell for violating the rules in Heaven.
One is conscripted into the Heavenly Chorus. I looked over the shoulder of my lawyer to the choir… they were… pale as a sheep’s intestines with unblinking eyes and mouths gaping open, a sickly light emanated from somewhere deep inside and an unearthly hum bubbled up from within. Tears streamed down their faces and soaked their soft robes.
I pled not guilty.
Evelyn’s face was not among the choir, so at least she’s not lost her battle yet.
Oh eternal folly!
