into crowds

On a whim, Amy had driven down to the Church in Denver for Halloween. She knew that Anna would not have come back to Denver simply to go to the huge bash--even though she and Amy had gone each year during high school--ever since the Church ceased being a catholic cathedral and started being a nighclub. Amy told herself she was merely following tradition as she plunged into the crowds. She would have a good time for both of them.

But they still had not heard from Anna, and all Amy had to do was look at her mother to see the worry in the family.

If Anna had come to Colorado at all, she'd be at the Church tonight. The bright and flashing lights made a jumbled, swift kaliedoscope of the faces on all of the dance floors as people rocked and jumped to ear thrumming music, brushing crepe paper bats and witches hats to the floor with careless abandon.

Anna scrutinized every made-up face, every jerking body on the dance floor. She followed a girl with long black hair and thin contained body until they went to the restroom. Then she stalked the stalls, waiting for the girl to come out without her mask. When she did not see her sister's face, she roamed the floors for another girl to stalk.

She searched until four a.m. when there was no one left to stalk. Only when she left did she realize she had forgotten to dance.

empty atoms / thicken / into crowds / too trifling / to be constrained / sufficient / for shadows / under the sun

the word is / the sound / of water / dripping from/ ancient symbols / tiny particles / of merging / realities


Follow us all: Amy/Anna, Sophie/Yuki, Kit/Richard, minor characters or sift through water leavings and river journeys.