Howl: Hey Girl!

"Damn, you're heavy," Eric groaned as held the girl  on his back. He'd managed to wrap her arms around his neck, but she still wobbled unsteadily on his arms. He was unnerved by her odd appearance. The black cloth, he'd discovered, was some kind of cloak that was way too long for her body, and draped off her like a heavy curtain. She wore some kind of black robe beneath that, which made her clothes seem to run together as one piece. Her hair was an odd purple shade, but it seemed to be growing naturally that way. Long ears poked out of the hair just a bit, and her mouth—which hung open by his face—was filled with a line of pearly white knives.

He'd stuck around for five or ten minutes, prodding her face and hoping that ice rain would wake her, but she was out like a light. At first he thought "Someone else will handle it" and went on his way, but at the end of the road he looked back and saw her slumped form in the street, bottom up like a small child. With a sigh he hurried back and hoisted her up.

It was his hope that she'd recover before he made it home, but she showed no sign of waking. He muttered a quiet thank you as he approached the house and saw no vehicles in the driveway. At least he would avoid some messy explanations. Many of which he was ill equipped to answer.

Careful not to drop her he wrestled with the front door. It popped open with a little convincing, and he stumbled into the home on shaking knees. Water pooled on the red kitchen tiles around them, and he waited a moment for them to drip sufficiently before he stepped into the carpeted living room. Still, it squashed beneath his feet, and he knew there'd be a marsh left behind. He just hoped it would dry out before Isaac got home.

The stairway stretched out before him. Even without added weight, they were a pain in the ass to climb up.

"Whatever moron decided the second floor had to be that far up is an asshole," he growled, biting hard on his teeth.

He tromped up the stairs. Suddenly, about halfway up, he felt himself getting lighter. His first thought was that he'd caught something akin to a runner's high. Free of his chains, he could make it up these stairs no problem. Once a treacherous mountain, now little more than a simple hiking trail. He grinned. Then there was a crash behind him.

The girl was heaped at the bottom of the stairs, her legs flipped over and folded by her head. Waves of panic washed over Eric, and he waited to see if she moved. She didn't.

"Oh no, no no, no, no! Be alive. Be alive." He flipped her right, stretched her out across the floor. Her skin was cold. He checked her wrist. No pulse. "Shitshitshitshitshit."

Hiff. Hew. Hiff. Hew.

"Huh?" He looked around. It was an odd noise. Quiet, and light. Oddly familiar.

Hiff. Hew. Hiff. Hew.

He looked down and breathed a sigh. She was snoring.

Howl: Come on, Freedom!

Darkness washed over them. Eric's neck tingled. Electricity jolted through his veins. Two words chanted through his mind on repeat with no shuffle: Early release. Early release. Early release. It was a chant that silently hopped from head to head in the cafeteria until it made a final leap from one boy's mouth and became a loud cheer accompanied by a steady pounding of tables and feet.

The lights flickered on, buzzing weakly. The enthusiastic chant became a choir of perturbed sighs. Eric slammed his face into the nest of his folded arms, muttering something about feces and apes. A math class nap (Leigh did not take that class with him, as he was below standard) seemed like the best solution. Then he'd have the energy to take on Balbadir when he got home. The fate of eighty-four star systems were in his hands, and he couldn't let them down. Especially not when it was Karmia's cleverly clothed bod that did the walking.

"What the hell?" Leigh shrugged her shoulders and flipped her palms up, tossing the twins a look that blamed them for the lights return. "Now I have to take a stupid exam in Psych."

"Wow. Sucks," Eric muttered through his denim cradle.

Leigh smacked him on the head, an affront he chose to ignore. The temporary short had distracted him enough to cool down, and he realized that griping about her abuse would only make things worse. After all, it was a bit of a delicate situation with Leigh. Knowing what he did, it seemed like a betrayal of any notion of decency to lash out at her.

"I wouldn't worry about Psych so much," Isaac added as he stirred a few bread crumbs onto his spoon. "It's a pretty easy class. At least, it was for me. I bet even Eric could pass it. Maybe even get an A."

"Well, we aren't all prodigies, Isaac. Just because you're a human encyclopedia doesn't mean everyone can store infinite knowledge." Leigh gave him a hard glance.

The conversation fell quiet after that. Eric wasn't sure if it had ended, or if he'd finally managed to shut them out. Frankly, he didn't care. All that mattered was the sweet silence of sleep. The warm embrace of the green clad goddess. The rush of ravenous rain. The crash of Thor's thundering hammer. The screams of a thousand fleeing teens. The—

"Eric! Eric, get up!" A rough shake snapped him awake. Isaac stood beside him, his hand clamped tightly on Eric's shoulder.

"Whasgoinon?" Eric looked with one eye barely open as his head bobbed up and down carelessly.

"The lights went off again. We're being dismissed early." Isaac grinned.

"Wheresleigh?" Eric slid off the table something like a slug, shakily rising to meet his brother.

"She took off after you started snoring. I told her to leave you be and she bitched me out for a bit before heading at the library. Are you thinking of catching up with her?"

"Nah, nah man." Eric nearly collapsed onto Isaac's shoulder. "I just want to go home. Home and sleep."

"Sounds like a plan." Isaac laughed and patted Eric on the back. Then he eased him away, making sure his brother could stand steadily on two feet. "But you're going to have to head home without me. I want to meet with a couple teachers for the homework. AP classes and all that. They might not count early dismissal as an excuse."

"What jerks." Eric hobbled to one side, and grabbed the table for support.

"Do you have your key?"

Eric fumbled with his pockets. First the one on his right, then his left. Then the two on his chest. Maybe the one inside, next to the zipper? His pants? Isaac was about to hand over his when a jingling chain emerged from Eric's butt pocket.

"Alright, good." Isaac let out a sigh of relief. "You really need to get this sleep thing straightened out, man. It's not doing you any favors."

"Yeah, yeah." Eric waved him off. "Just go get your homework, I'll get home okay."

"Glad to hear it. I'll hold ya to it." Isaac disappeared through a gaggle of giggling girls. They all turned to watch, whispering ratings in each other's ears. Most of them ranked above nine.

Eric toppled to one side and dragged himself across the dark cafeteria, using the tables as a rail. After a few fumbling moments the crust fell off his eyes and he began to hold himself uneasily, moving forward with some vagueness that irritated other hurrying students. By the time he reached the door the world had stopped swaying. Cold rain washed the fuzziness away as he strolled out into the storm and made his way across the parking lot, breezing by the "KEEP OFF" sign and tromping through muddy grass.

Storms always seemed to excite Eric. So much so that by the time he'd reached Second Street he no longer felt tired. He was toying with the idea of booting right into Star Savior and saving the sleep for later (even humoring himself with "fixing the problem"). A hot bowl of ramen would help that right along, he figured. Still, the green clad lady beckoned from a mental distance, and she reminded him just how comfy a pillow could be.

But that evaporated entirely as he rounded the corner onto Lake Street. Chills caught him by surprise, and he suddenly felt completely awake. The world seemed to operate in slow motion as his hairs stood on end. Preparing for the worst, he clenched his fists. When the bushes beside him started to dance, he had a suspicion that someone's dog was off its leash.

A blur dashed out of the hedge, bashing Eric's shoulder and pushing him back a step. His fists spread loose as he tried to balance himself, all too aware of the warm, black meat toppling into him. As soon as he found footing he danced away, counting his blessings that he remained tooth and claw free. His legs revved up a serious kick, but it never had the chance to peel. The black mass collapsed in the street, a tattered heap.

Torn strips of black fabric piled up like a blanket. At the head of it all, face down in a growing puddle, a girl's lips swallowed no air.

Howl: Tired Eyes

"Have you been paying attention to me at all?" Leigh snapped her fingers at the tip of Eric's nose. 

He gave her a disinterested sideways glance, more annoyed than anything else, and through his lips uttered: "Hm?"

"You haven't! I should have known." Leigh crossed her arms and stared, equally cross. "You know, it's pretty rude to just zone out like that. Some of us are interested in being friendly."

Eric sighed and pulled his chin off his palm. He turned slowly and faced her from across the table. Thin lines sagged beneath his eyes, and he fought the urge to drop his head. "Sorry, didn't get much sleep."

"Why do you stay up so late? What were you doing all night?" She squinted so tight her eyes disappeared behind a curtain of thick lashes. It was the face she made when forced to look at someone or something incredibly, insufferably stupid.

"Oh, y'know. Just insomnia and stuff," Eric muttered, giving in and letting his cheek rest on the lunch table.

"Insomnia sounded an awful lot like Star Savior." Isaac clapped down a tray, launching echoes through Eric's face. They were twins, and despite being identical, looked nothing alike. Isaac beamed as he chomped into his sub. He always ate with gusto, cramming and mashing food into his face as much and as quickly as possible. Eschewing common utensils aided his quest to hastily and thoroughly abolish any crumb that lived on his plate. Yet when he was done there was never any slivers or sauce to be found on his face or clothes, or the table, or the tray. His shirts, always blinding bleached white and pressed to a crisp, looked exactly as they did when he pulled them from the closet.

Eric, on the other hand, always seemed to be glaring, even when he smiled. Even though they were equally pale, Eric seemed sickly while Isaac was angelic. It always looked as though Eric was going to fall into coma at any second, like the entire world had dumped a diseased burden on his shoulders at birth. His body always ached, his joints were always heavy. And, worst of all, no matter how often he did his laundry, no matter how neatly he folded and pressed, his dark wardrobe always came out ratty and ruffled. Naturally, they also became stained throughout the day. It might take Eric an entire lunch period to finish a meatball sub, but every ounce of sauce in that sandwich would find its way to his sleeves or his collar, without a doubt.

"Zero sympathy for playing video games all night," Leigh snapped. She shoved a sliced peach down her throat. It bubbled as it slid away, eventually dropping into deeper organs and out of sight.

"I didn't ask for any." Eric closed his eyes. For a few moments it was silent, except for the murmur of the other hundred students in the room. Just when a lovely lady clad in green descended from glistening golden clouds to guide him gently to sleep, a sharp pain on his forehead sent her away. He swore as Leigh pulled her fingers away.

"No sleeping. You don't get to sleep."

"What? Why not?"

"You should have done that at night."

"I have insomnia!"

"No, you don't. If you'd just stay awake here, you'd be able to sleep later." Leigh cocked her eye. They were dashed with flecks of blue and green, but full of crazy. At least, that's what Eric always thought. "Crazy eyes" he'd call them, and most were quick to agree.

"Screw that, you're not my boss." Eric flipped his head down into folded arms, making certain to cover up any fleshy bits with hair or the peaks of his jacket sleeves. He felt a few pokes, which he assumed were probably flicks, but his hard head served him well. Until the textbook was brought into play.

"Augh, what the fuck!" He groaned and held his head. A storm of pins and needles stabbed his skull.

"Who's not your boss?" Leigh laughed loudly, tossing her head back and letting her face turn pink.

Isaac watched silently, stuffing down more sub. In the beginning he protected Eric from Leigh's abuse, but day after day he went back begging for more. He knew his brother hated it, but it became a routine he grew weary of fighting. The only reasonable option was to hope Eric eventually grew tired of it all.

It seemed that moment might have come. Eric leered from behind blond bangs. His lips twisted at the corners, showing more than a hint of tightly clenched teeth. A bit of dribble slipped away, and a low, short growl, more like a pant, rumbled out. All over his body began to tremble, and he grasped his head so hard Isaac could hear the nails digging through the scalp.

Leigh laughed on, oblivious to the festering rage just a foot away.

That was when thunder shot like a cannon. Mighty winds forced open the front doors, at the end of the cafeteria. Rain rushed in, drowning the lunches of a few unfortunate students. Then, just as quickly as it had happened, it stopped. The rain washed away, the thunder rumbled into silence. Then the lights went out.

Magnum Opus

Well, I've done it. I've created the greatest thing I will ever, in my entire future-history of living, will ever create. Let me tell you a little bit about just what that is.

Tonight I discovered something about Blogger's new updates: I discovered that if you keep scrolling down, you can load every single post from beginning to end on the same page. Granted, Chrome throws a huge hissy-fit when you do that, but who cares. Chrome handle it! Chrome's a man!

In any case, I got a little curious. I decided to see, just for shits and giggles, how many printer pages my blog occupied. But did I do the intelligent thing and use Chrome to do this? Of course not! I went to the very first word I ever published here on 2-Bit (back then it was called Gallery Lost), left my cursor behind it, jammed the shift key, and copied everything right up to Canteen Kate #2. And then I pasted it into OpenOffice. Which promptly had a seizure.

Something beautiful came of that seizure. I've done it, of course by mistake. But I have done it. I have, through the seizures of software, created the most beautiful piece of both literature and art the world has ever known. I can quit now, guys! I can quit! I'm done! My job as a writer is over! To hell with exclamation point rules! I'm retired! This masterpiece will leave me rich and wealthy well beyond my years!

It's the most beautiful fucking mess I've ever seen.

If you're some kind of software sadist, you can see it, too, because I made a PDF out of it.

Here ya go!

http://www.4shared.com/office/frNlntok/GLAMOUR.html

whileimhereithinkishouldapologizefordroppingtheballonhowlbecauseidroppedithardsorryguys

Howl: Hey Girl!

"Damn, you're heavy," Eric groaned as held the girl  on his back. He'd managed to wrap her arms around his neck, but she still wobbled unsteadily on his arms. He was unnerved by her odd appearance. The black cloth, he'd discovered, was some kind of cloak that was way too long for her body, and draped off her like a heavy curtain. She wore some kind of black robe beneath that, which made her clothes seem to run together as one piece. Her hair was an odd purple shade, but it seemed to be growing naturally that way. Long ears poked out of the hair just a bit, and her mouth—which hung open by his face—was filled with a line of pearly white knives.

He'd stuck around for five or ten minutes, prodding her face and hoping that ice rain would wake her, but she was out like a light. At first he thought "Someone else will handle it" and went on his way, but at the end of the road he looked back and saw her slumped form in the street, bottom up like a small child. With a sigh he hurried back and hoisted her up.

It was his hope that she'd recover before he made it home, but she showed no sign of waking. He muttered a quiet thank you as he approached the house and saw no vehicles in the driveway. At least he would avoid some messy explanations. Many of which he was ill equipped to answer.

Careful not to drop her he wrestled with the front door. It popped open with a little convincing, and he stumbled into the home on shaking knees. Water pooled on the red kitchen tiles around them, and he waited a moment for them to drip sufficiently before he stepped into the carpeted living room. Still, it squashed beneath his feet, and he knew there'd be a marsh left behind. He just hoped it would dry out before Isaac got home.

The stairway stretched out before him. Even without added weight, they were a pain in the ass to climb up.

"Whatever moron decided the second floor had to be that far up is an asshole," he growled, biting hard on his teeth.

He tromped up the stairs. Suddenly, about halfway up, he felt himself getting lighter. His first thought was that he'd caught something akin to a runner's high. Free of his chains, he could make it up these stairs no problem. Once a treacherous mountain, now little more than a simple hiking trail. He grinned. Then there was a crash behind him.

The girl was heaped at the bottom of the stairs, her legs flipped over and folded by her head. Waves of panic washed over Eric, and he waited to see if she moved. She didn't.

"Oh no, no no, no, no! Be alive. Be alive." He flipped her right, stretched her out across the floor. Her skin was cold. He checked her wrist. No pulse. "Shitshitshitshitshit."

Hiff. Hew. Hiff. Hew.

"Huh?" He looked around. It was an odd noise. Quiet, and light. Oddly familiar.

Hiff. Hew. Hiff. Hew.

He looked down and breathed a sigh. She was snoring.

Howl: Come on, Freedom!

Darkness washed over them. Eric's neck tingled. Electricity jolted through his veins. Two words chanted through his mind on repeat with no shuffle: Early release. Early release. Early release. It was a chant that silently hopped from head to head in the cafeteria until it made a final leap from one boy's mouth and became a loud cheer accompanied by a steady pounding of tables and feet.

The lights flickered on, buzzing weakly. The enthusiastic chant became a choir of perturbed sighs. Eric slammed his face into the nest of his folded arms, muttering something about feces and apes. A math class nap (Leigh did not take that class with him, as he was below standard) seemed like the best solution. Then he'd have the energy to take on Balbadir when he got home. The fate of eighty-four star systems were in his hands, and he couldn't let them down. Especially not when it was Karmia's cleverly clothed bod that did the walking.

"What the hell?" Leigh shrugged her shoulders and flipped her palms up, tossing the twins a look that blamed them for the lights return. "Now I have to take a stupid exam in Psych."

"Wow. Sucks," Eric muttered through his denim cradle.

Leigh smacked him on the head, an affront he chose to ignore. The temporary short had distracted him enough to cool down, and he realized that griping about her abuse would only make things worse. After all, it was a bit of a delicate situation with Leigh. Knowing what he did, it seemed like a betrayal of any notion of decency to lash out at her.

"I wouldn't worry about Psych so much," Isaac added as he stirred a few bread crumbs onto his spoon. "It's a pretty easy class. At least, it was for me. I bet even Eric could pass it. Maybe even get an A."

"Well, we aren't all prodigies, Isaac. Just because you're a human encyclopedia doesn't mean everyone can store infinite knowledge." Leigh gave him a hard glance.

The conversation fell quiet after that. Eric wasn't sure if it had ended, or if he'd finally managed to shut them out. Frankly, he didn't care. All that mattered was the sweet silence of sleep. The warm embrace of the green clad goddess. The rush of ravenous rain. The crash of Thor's thundering hammer. The screams of a thousand fleeing teens. The—

"Eric! Eric, get up!" A rough shake snapped him awake. Isaac stood beside him, his hand clamped tightly on Eric's shoulder.

"Whasgoinon?" Eric looked with one eye barely open as his head bobbed up and down carelessly.

"The lights went off again. We're being dismissed early." Isaac grinned.

"Wheresleigh?" Eric slid off the table something like a slug, shakily rising to meet his brother.

"She took off after you started snoring. I told her to leave you be and she bitched me out for a bit before heading at the library. Are you thinking of catching up with her?"

"Nah, nah man." Eric nearly collapsed onto Isaac's shoulder. "I just want to go home. Home and sleep."

"Sounds like a plan." Isaac laughed and patted Eric on the back. Then he eased him away, making sure his brother could stand steadily on two feet. "But you're going to have to head home without me. I want to meet with a couple teachers for the homework. AP classes and all that. They might not count early dismissal as an excuse."

"What jerks." Eric hobbled to one side, and grabbed the table for support.

"Do you have your key?"

Eric fumbled with his pockets. First the one on his right, then his left. Then the two on his chest. Maybe the one inside, next to the zipper? His pants? Isaac was about to hand over his when a jingling chain emerged from Eric's butt pocket.

"Alright, good." Isaac let out a sigh of relief. "You really need to get this sleep thing straightened out, man. It's not doing you any favors."

"Yeah, yeah." Eric waved him off. "Just go get your homework, I'll get home okay."

"Glad to hear it. I'll hold ya to it." Isaac disappeared through a gaggle of giggling girls. They all turned to watch, whispering ratings in each other's ears. Most of them ranked above nine.

Eric toppled to one side and dragged himself across the dark cafeteria, using the tables as a rail. After a few fumbling moments the crust fell off his eyes and he began to hold himself uneasily, moving forward with some vagueness that irritated other hurrying students. By the time he reached the door the world had stopped swaying. Cold rain washed the fuzziness away as he strolled out into the storm and made his way across the parking lot, breezing by the "KEEP OFF" sign and tromping through muddy grass.

Storms always seemed to excite Eric. So much so that by the time he'd reached Second Street he no longer felt tired. He was toying with the idea of booting right into Star Savior and saving the sleep for later (even humoring himself with "fixing the problem"). A hot bowl of ramen would help that right along, he figured. Still, the green clad lady beckoned from a mental distance, and she reminded him just how comfy a pillow could be.

But that evaporated entirely as he rounded the corner onto Lake Street. Chills caught him by surprise, and he suddenly felt completely awake. The world seemed to operate in slow motion as his hairs stood on end. Preparing for the worst, he clenched his fists. When the bushes beside him started to dance, he had a suspicion that someone's dog was off its leash.

A blur dashed out of the hedge, bashing Eric's shoulder and pushing him back a step. His fists spread loose as he tried to balance himself, all too aware of the warm, black meat toppling into him. As soon as he found footing he danced away, counting his blessings that he remained tooth and claw free. His legs revved up a serious kick, but it never had the chance to peel. The black mass collapsed in the street, a tattered heap.

Torn strips of black fabric piled up like a blanket. At the head of it all, face down in a growing puddle, a girl's lips swallowed no air.

Howl: Tired Eyes

"Have you been paying attention to me at all?" Leigh snapped her fingers at the tip of Eric's nose. 

He gave her a disinterested sideways glance, more annoyed than anything else, and through his lips uttered: "Hm?"

"You haven't! I should have known." Leigh crossed her arms and stared, equally cross. "You know, it's pretty rude to just zone out like that. Some of us are interested in being friendly."

Eric sighed and pulled his chin off his palm. He turned slowly and faced her from across the table. Thin lines sagged beneath his eyes, and he fought the urge to drop his head. "Sorry, didn't get much sleep."

"Why do you stay up so late? What were you doing all night?" She squinted so tight her eyes disappeared behind a curtain of thick lashes. It was the face she made when forced to look at someone or something incredibly, insufferably stupid.

"Oh, y'know. Just insomnia and stuff," Eric muttered, giving in and letting his cheek rest on the lunch table.

"Insomnia sounded an awful lot like Star Savior." Isaac clapped down a tray, launching echoes through Eric's face. They were twins, and despite being identical, looked nothing alike. Isaac beamed as he chomped into his sub. He always ate with gusto, cramming and mashing food into his face as much and as quickly as possible. Eschewing common utensils aided his quest to hastily and thoroughly abolish any crumb that lived on his plate. Yet when he was done there was never any slivers or sauce to be found on his face or clothes, or the table, or the tray. His shirts, always blinding bleached white and pressed to a crisp, looked exactly as they did when he pulled them from the closet.

Eric, on the other hand, always seemed to be glaring, even when he smiled. Even though they were equally pale, Eric seemed sickly while Isaac was angelic. It always looked as though Eric was going to fall into coma at any second, like the entire world had dumped a diseased burden on his shoulders at birth. His body always ached, his joints were always heavy. And, worst of all, no matter how often he did his laundry, no matter how neatly he folded and pressed, his dark wardrobe always came out ratty and ruffled. Naturally, they also became stained throughout the day. It might take Eric an entire lunch period to finish a meatball sub, but every ounce of sauce in that sandwich would find its way to his sleeves or his collar, without a doubt.

"Zero sympathy for playing video games all night," Leigh snapped. She shoved a sliced peach down her throat. It bubbled as it slid away, eventually dropping into deeper organs and out of sight.

"I didn't ask for any." Eric closed his eyes. For a few moments it was silent, except for the murmur of the other hundred students in the room. Just when a lovely lady clad in green descended from glistening golden clouds to guide him gently to sleep, a sharp pain on his forehead sent her away. He swore as Leigh pulled her fingers away.

"No sleeping. You don't get to sleep."

"What? Why not?"

"You should have done that at night."

"I have insomnia!"

"No, you don't. If you'd just stay awake here, you'd be able to sleep later." Leigh cocked her eye. They were dashed with flecks of blue and green, but full of crazy. At least, that's what Eric always thought. "Crazy eyes" he'd call them, and most were quick to agree.

"Screw that, you're not my boss." Eric flipped his head down into folded arms, making certain to cover up any fleshy bits with hair or the peaks of his jacket sleeves. He felt a few pokes, which he assumed were probably flicks, but his hard head served him well. Until the textbook was brought into play.

"Augh, what the fuck!" He groaned and held his head. A storm of pins and needles stabbed his skull.

"Who's not your boss?" Leigh laughed loudly, tossing her head back and letting her face turn pink.

Isaac watched silently, stuffing down more sub. In the beginning he protected Eric from Leigh's abuse, but day after day he went back begging for more. He knew his brother hated it, but it became a routine he grew weary of fighting. The only reasonable option was to hope Eric eventually grew tired of it all.

It seemed that moment might have come. Eric leered from behind blond bangs. His lips twisted at the corners, showing more than a hint of tightly clenched teeth. A bit of dribble slipped away, and a low, short growl, more like a pant, rumbled out. All over his body began to tremble, and he grasped his head so hard Isaac could hear the nails digging through the scalp.

Leigh laughed on, oblivious to the festering rage just a foot away.

That was when thunder shot like a cannon. Mighty winds forced open the front doors, at the end of the cafeteria. Rain rushed in, drowning the lunches of a few unfortunate students. Then, just as quickly as it had happened, it stopped. The rain washed away, the thunder rumbled into silence. Then the lights went out.