!! SPOILER WARNING !!

It starts out simply: a farm girl is bought and enslaved into a kingdom for a centuries-old prince. Chalk it up to Memoirs of a Geisha in a fantasy world, she breaks out and becomes the savior of the entire kingdom. And that’s only halfway through the book. I found myself – as would anyone – wondering just what was going to happen next.

// END SPOILERS

Through the many adventures we follow her on throughout the rest of the book, there is a strong tone of sexuality, of violence and lust, throughout the book. I often chuckled at the pages, wondering if all the women in this world were lesbians, and just how that would come about. Maybe it was the Avatar craze coupled with a ‘cat-like woman’ in this book, but I found myself noticing and rooting for cross-breed romances, at least in fiction, and wondered at that. Was it a purpose of Lake’s to spark the mind with humans and animal-beings romancing or was it simply writer’s curiosity?

Asking questions or wondering about those things aloud seems presumptuous to me, but I do wonder. I wonder what it might be like if we humans had other races around us. Would we adopt them as equal beings, to be wined and dined, or would it be the age-old race conflict? I guess I’d like to think that with the proliferation of science-fiction into the mainstream and stories and ideas like Avatar’s romantic storyline becoming widely accepted – at least as fiction – that just maybe it’d bleed over into reality someday. If we were ever confronted with that reality. Who knows? Maybe there’s some cat-species or monkey-breed out there on the brink of discovering safe spaceflight technologies. What would you do?

In large part, this book is about just that: the coexistence of different species, gods and spirits, humans and other humanoids. Not to mention the various magical and mystical beings. While not delving much into the social issues, they are certainly present, and more than a few times surface as Green makes her way through the hardships of freed slave life.

Green herself is an easily-lovable character. She’s full of spunk and fight, angst and attitude. She’s calculating and hard, but can be soft and gentle, sensual. But we’re always brought back to the heart of the tale: revenge. Revenge and violence permeate the book as if they were the meat and the rest side dishes. She struggles simply to survive in a world rife with fear and control, power struggles and flawed, perfectly believable creatures.

Full of insights into hard life, adolescence, the mind-games of rulers and academics and lovers alike, Green is an entertaining read for fantasy fans looking for something different.

Total: 4/5 stars

Catheryne M Valente sets her writing pattern right away. Using simple typography, she sets apart the real world and the other, but the writing style is what makes the real difference. It’s almost as if two people wrote the two worlds of this book. There is such a sense of depth and realism – surrealism – in each, likely so noticeable because of the stark contrast, that you can’t help noticing just how real the real parts are, and just how surreal the surreal parts are.

She plays knowingly with descriptions in both worlds, and lets your mind race and wander, varying the pace. Always, though, we return to the two worlds, the two mindsets, of the core characters. She paints a solid portrait of desperation and loss and trying to interpret and process grief by the end of the book. It’s supremely easy to get lost in the words and the images as she hurdles through the dream and real worlds of human need and desperation.

Nearing the end pages, my mind was fixed on finishing. I wanted it done so I could call it done, so I could move on, so I could understand. Having finished it, I’m not sure I fully understand, but I think what this book does best is it transcends the boundaries of logic and understanding and gets to be a book about feelings. I’m not talking chick-flick feelings; I mean what each world makes the characters, and by extension the readers, feel that communicates what each world means and why it’s so important. Despairing in the dizzying drain that is loss and uncertainty, these characters find some feeling they need in order to survive – to thrive – and their need for it becomes pure and painful. Somehow these people were lost in reality and found Palimpsest, and that belonging makes them whole.

A few days after finishing the book and setting it on a shelf, I feel twinges of nostalgia; I miss the world a little bit. As if it were a dream I wish I’d have again, I find myself thinking fondly of the city, the characters, as if I yearned to go back to Palimpsest myself.

Total: 3.5/5 stars
Addendum: I’ll probably re-read this later in life and love it, I’m sure.

NOTE: I’m also splitting them up now, so you’ll get a brief intro for the story and then just click on the “Read More” link at the bottom of this post and you’ll see the whole thing, just so it doesn’t take up my entire main blog page. Otherwise, keep reading!

Lizzy stood there in the hot dry desert, dumbfounded. Alex was waiting for a sign.

“How did we not notice the sand from the doorway?” Lizzy was walking back to the back door now, curious at how she could have managed to miss the fact that they were in a desert, but still in the same house. “It’s like the whole house just got up and-”

The house had, indeed, moved. It was still attached to its backyard. The fence and the little storage shed were back there, the grass still green, though paling to yellow as the sun beat down upon its drying blades. The cement stairway down to the door was still there, the house itself was still there. But the little annoying dog that had inhabited it before was very silent. Either dead or gone, Lizzy thought. Either way, she was satisfied.

“What’s going on Lizzy?” Alex came round the bend and realized what was, in fact, going on. “How…?”
“How do you think?”
“I don’t know,” Alex was worried a real answer, a helpful answer, had been expected of her. But she merely shrugged and crouched down to the ground, feeling the cool but stiffening grass between her fingers. Lizzy looked down and snorted. She walked back into the house, leaving the back door open behind her.

Alex sat at the top of the cement steps, the skirt she’d put on pulling up to reveal, very plainly, the borrowed boxer shorts she’d put on the night before. Lizzy couldn’t help but laugh in her head. Alex just sat there, watching Lizzy as she stood at the counter, staring at the cupboard. Alex was simply waiting for Lizzy’s advice on what to do next. But she wasn’t giving any. Alex wandered down into the kitchen, looking in the fridge, in the cupboards, at the little stacks of microwaveable food on the shelves, the plain white dishes provided by the landlord, the cheesy (and crusty) old microwave, the burnt-out light in the ceiling.

“Why isn’t there any of that green stuff in this room?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know what the green stuff is.” Alex cowered a little into the fridge. “I’m a little more worried about the fact that we’re in the middle of the fucking desert right now!” Alex whimpered a little and went to sit on the couch. And mope.

“Oh come on. I don’t see you coming up with any solutions.”
“Well I don’t know either, what am I supposed to do, solve the world’s problems?”
“Jesus Christ…” Lizzy walked back into her own room, forgetting the place was destroyed. She looked wistfully at her bed, then turned around, and, after grabbing her bags and pushing Alex to grab hers, then pulling her by the arm, she marched them both on out the door.

“Where are we going?”
“Do you think I know?”
“Well you’re moving so quickly, I thought maybe you had an idea or something.”
“Nope. Absolutely no clue. But we’re not getting anywhere by staying here, so I say fuck it. We’re just going. You know what – I want you to say it.” Alex paused, her eyes searching. “Go ahead, say it. Come on, I want you to say it.”
“Say what?” Alex shifted her eyes to the ground, slowly intertwined her fingers.
“Oh man, fuck it. Just say… fuck it!” Alex still stared at the ground, twisting her fingers and biting her tongue.

“Come on! Nobody’s watching you except me! Nobody’s going to care, you little boyfriend isn’t going to get mad, your little friends aren’t going to gasp – ‘Oh my! Let’s not be her friend anymore, she said the naughty, naughty, naughty word! God scorns her, and so do we! Away, Alex, away!” Lizzy drops all her bags and puts up her fingers in a mock cross, shunning Alex and forcing her face away. Alex lets a tear fall to the ground. She turned her head up to Lizzy as another formed on her eyelid, and it slid down her cheek too. Lizzy looked, for a moment her eyes saddened, but only for a brief moment. Then she grinned and furrowed her brow, “Come on, Alex, go ahead, just let go, let it all go and say-”
“FUCK YOU!” Alex had screamed it in such a high pitched screech that Lizzy, who’d been sidling up closer to her, had to shake her ears clear of the ringing before smiling brightly in Alex’s face.

“See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it? And guess what, nobody’s shaming you, nobody’s shunning or ex-ing or crucifying you for anything. Ready?” She pops in an kisses Alex on the cheek, “let’s go!” She grabs her own bags and heads off in the direction of the nearest dune. The sun’s its highest in the sky for the day, and both of them are swelteringly hot, devoid of sunscreen and completely completely burdened with bags of food, clothing and water, but Lizzy’s getting out of reach, so Alex grabs her bags as well and fumbles along through the sand, quietly letting her last tear fall and her face dry in the face of the piercing sun.

That night, there was a tiny fire going, consisting mainly of very small ripped pieces of cloth, a few twigs, and now the scraps of paper from a tortilla chip bag – their tastefully budgeted dinner. They each lay on opposite sides of the fire, tried to feel its warmth in the forty-degree desert night, nakedly wrapped in what few clothes they’d packed, and neither comfortably awaited a night’s sleep among the night creatures of the sand.

Alex looked over at Lizzy, her eyes glittering dimly in the firelight. “Lizzy?”

Lizzy groaned in response, opening her eyes. The fire danced devilishly over the bright, wet globes in her sockets, appearing black but where the fire’s reflection glowed orange.

“Why were you in Vancouver? Were you going to school?”
“What? You want to make small talk now?”
“Well… I just thought, well since we’re out here… there’s nothing else to do-”
“How about sleep? I like that idea, I’m tired after the entire day of walking through the fucken sand. I don’t know about you but that, for one thing, is not the reason I came to Vancouver. Or went to Vancouver… who knows where the fuck we are now.” She shook her head, closed her eyes, and turned away from Alex, the fire played dark and taunting games of shadow puppets across her back. Alex sighed, alone.
“I’m not that used to sleeping alone. I haven’t done it in a long time. Since I started dating Dave, actually. That was so nice-”
“You slept with him the night you guys met?”
“Yea, it was so romantic.” Lizzy snorted but Alex pretended not to notice. She went on, “I worked in a coffee shop and he was a regular guy. He was so adorable, we all had a crush on him-all the girls in the store I mean. Anyway, so one day he came in and I just happened to mention that it was my birthday and I’d be taking the day off, and if he wanted to he could take a walk with me or take me out to dinner or something, you know, politely of course-”

“Of course,” Lizzy was trying not to let her annoyance show, nor her inability to keep herself from giggling sarcastically to herself. Alex seemed not to notice. If she does, she probably thinks I’m agreeing with her. Romantic sex on the first date my ass, Lizzy thought to herself, and Alex just kept going on and on…

“…so we met that afternoon for a walk around the piers, he showed me where he’d done a few photography trips with friends, he wanted to show me this cliff for some reason-”

Maybe he wanted to push you off of it.

“-but we couldn’t make it up there, it was closed off or something, I can’t remember… Anyway, so then we walked some more around the amusement park – I just love that amusement park down there, it was so much fun when I was a little kid, but everything looks so much smaller now, I don’t think I could do it again. I’ve grown up since then, hahah!”

Oh, I’m sure. What with your first-date-sex and whatnot, yea, I can see that.

“So then finally it was dinner time and we went to this cute little restaurant by the side of the ocean, and he payed for everything-”

Oh, that’s why the sex on the first night. I get it.

“-he’s such a romantic guy. We walked around by the edge of the ocean, and you know what, you know what he told me, he said my eyes were deeper than the ocean and bluer than the sky! Oh I could have died-”

Lizzy quietly turned onto her back and whispered to herself, “So could I.”

Alex paused, then sat up, “Well if you don’t want to hear my fucking story then I’ll leave you alone, but you’re not going to die and you’re certainly not going to push me off a cliff!” She fell back down straight into her bedding area, fast asleep.

Lizzy lay in her bed, eyes wide open, completely still, a tear forming on her eyelid and rolling down her cheek. Her eyes glinted white in the firelight, and her chest stopped rising and falling.

The sand caved in below her and swallowed her up whole, reaching its arms up around her waist, pulling her hips first into itself, as if it were a long-deprived male spirit, yearning for completion in the lonely and cold desert night, under the nearly black sky, riddled with tiny white spots of light upon which Lizzy looked and felt her body fill with a feeling of despair and hatred, the stars appeared to be dying before her eyes, massive explosions only glimmers of light from such a far off world. And just as the very last star disappeared into the blackness, it occurred to her that she might not even be on Earth anymore, and when she thought about it, there was no moon out tonight, and then the sand swallowed her, and everything was still and silent, and Alex lay resting, at peace, until the sand leaped up out of its hiding place in the sand and reached out for her at which point-

Lizzy woke up, sweating and hot in the sun, barely above the horizon but already was scorching her skin. She looked over at Alex’s bed, where she was still sleeping, tiny beads of sweat having formed on her top lip and her nose, shivering when she breathed. Lizzy jumped up and looked at the sand around her, and around Alex. She looked up in the sky and saw the moon, with something of a ring around it, or maybe it was a hole inside the moon, or just a shadow, she couldn’t tell.

“Oh man, it’s this hot out already?” Alex sat up and wiped her face with her shirt, leaving little stains of sand and dirt and grime on it. She whimpered at the ruined piece of clothing. Lizzy turned her head toward the sky.
“What’s that look like to you?” She pointed to the moon.
“The moon.”
“Well yea but what else? There’s some weird looking halo or some shit around it, it looks weird but I can’t tell if it’s just a shadow or a bunch of stars or something from the sun…”

“Umm…” Alex twisted her tongue around in her mouth and bit at the tip of it. She shifted her eyes between Lizzy and the moon, the sun and the water jug on the ground. Lizzy looked back at her, “It looks kind of like… a halo. Yup, that’s what it is, I think.” Lizzy shook her head and began rolling up her clothes she’d used for her bed. “But Lizzy… why would the moon have its own halo?”

“I don’t know, Alex, you tell me.”

A strange grin formed across Alex’s face, “Maybe it’s because it feels bad for not being here last night to light up the scene, or maybe it thinks it missed a scene…”

Lizzy looked up at her, “What?” Alex was crawling up to her now, “Alex what are you talking about?”

“Let’s give it the show it thinks it missed. God knows nothing happened, but apparently it doesn’t, and I missed those tentacles when they were at the house, they left before I had the time to do anything…”

“What the fuck? What are you-”

Alex put a finger to Lizzy’s lips, “Shh, don’t talk, Elizabeth.” Lizzy whipped up and smacked Alex across the face as hard as she could.

“Don’t you ever fucking call me Elizabeth!” Alex flew across the fire, which still had some embers in it, and one fell underneath her leg. She lifted it up, surprised at first, then smiled and pressed it against her tongue, her mouth now oozing blood. She threw the now-doused ember back into the fire pit and launched herself at Lizzy, forcing her down to the ground, and kissing her maniacally. Lizzy protested, pushing at her hands and face, shoving against Alex’s body, but with every shove, she felt herself only pulled deeper and deeper into the sand, as if it were swallowing her – again. She pushed and pushed, suffocated by Alex’s nonstop kisses, and realized that in order to simply breathe, she was going to have to play along. She kissed back. She grabbed Alex’s head and pulled it closer to hers, their jaws jutting into each others, Alex’s blood dripping onto Lizzy’s face, sliding down her cheeks. Alex licked up the side of Lizzy’s face, leaving a long charcoal mark along her cheek. Lizzy went for the neck, as did Alex, and both of them reeled back in ecstasy.

“You told me you weren’t a lesbian, Lizzy. I guess you lied.”

“Yea well, nobody’s perfect.” She launched herself up and onto Alex, the two of them sat in the middle of the fire pit, rolling around in the embers, sparks flying and blood dripping, the charcoal painting their bodies and their tongues providing the salve by which it turned to paint. They ripped the clothes from their bodies, peeling away from the salty sweat-stained skin the cloth they’d once thought so important in keeping them decent. Alex, having rolled Lizzy over onto her back, slowly slipped herself down to her feet, then, kneeling at Lizzy’s feet, she let her arms spread outward as the sand leaped up out of the ground and wrapped its arms around her, pulling her toward it as if it were that insatiable old man again, trapped in the lonely desert forever.

Alex didn’t even flinch, but Lizzy did, and it woke her up. She opened her eyes again to the blinding light of the sun, and after sitting up and rubbing them enough to get them used to darkness again, she opened them slowly and saw Alex sitting in front of her, just as she had been before, only clothed.

“Good morning.”
“Uhh… hi.”
“So what do you want for breakfast?”

“Umm…” Lizzy looked around, noticed she was still naked after her dream, and somehow covered in charcoal and – was it? – blood. “What the hell happened to me?”

“I was going to ask that myself. I woke up and you were in the fire pit, wriggling around and giggling, so I pulled you out and put you back here, but you didn’t have any clothes on. I don’t know why.” Lizzy just looked around, thoroughly confused. “I’ll tell ya, it’s probably the weirdest wake-up alarm I’ve ever had!”

“I’ll bet…” Lizzy crawled to her bag to grab some clothes, she put them on, but hesitated. “When did I fall asleep last night? What were we talking about?”
“Talking? Oh, we didn’t talk…”
“What?”
“I’m not really surprised you don’t remember, you drank enough to knock out a cow, but we didn’t talk. You started trying to show me the moon and the stars, but you kept falling down, and mumbling, oh you were so adorable.”

“What? You mean we-”
“Made love? Well… I wouldn’t exactly call it that, but it was wonderful. I’ve never felt so liberated!”
“God damn. I think I liked you better in my dreams.”
“What? What dreams? What do you mean? I just have such a thing for drunk people I guess, I don’t know, I just can’t resist sometimes.”

“Yea, definitely better in my dreams.” To Alex’s credit, Lizzy’s head really did hurt. A lot. But she couldn’t remember anything else. Somehow she felt happier though, than the day before, knowing that her dream had been partly real. Still, she couldn’t help thinking, I didn’t mean really fuck me… it’s just an expression… dammit. Now she’s going to be even more fucking annoying until we find Dave. If she even wants him once we find him again. Oh God… She turned around, but saw nothing. She turned around and still saw nothing. Alex, and the camp, were nowhere to be seen. “Alex?” She looked again, the moon was in the sky, her body was covered in charcoal, and the sand seemed to move down by where the camp had been. She ran and sure enough, a hand popped out of the sand a bit, then sunk back in.

“Alex!” She reached in and grabbed the hand, but pulling as hard as she could only proved she was strong enough to dislodge a hand. She reached in again and pulled again, but this time it was an arm. She reached in as far as possible, her own face pushing against the quicksand, but this time, she pulled up something covered in hair. She moved the hair out of the way and Alex’s head stared at her from behind the crusty mask of wet sand. It looked lifeless, but then its eyes opened. “Hi, cutie. Wanna cuddle?”

And then Lizzy woke up. Really. She pinched and punched and bit herself just to make sure. She was definitely awake. The only problem now was, when she’d punched and punched and bit herself, something had come off on her mouth, and on her fist, and on her fingers. It was black. It was–charcoal!

“Oh, fuck.”

Alex sat up from her bed, wiping her groggy eyes. “What? What’s going on?”

“What’s all this? What was the last thing you remember from last night?”

“Umm… I was talking about Dave and me and you started snoring.”
“Good. So then what the fuck is all this?”

Alex crawled over to look at the black stuff all over Lizzy’s skin. “Take your shirt off.”
“What?” Lizzy jerked her head around to face Alex.

“Take your shirt off, it looks like a design or something, but your shirt’s covering it. I can’t see it all.”

“Oh, alright…” Lizzy took her shirt off, sliding out of it and being glad to do so, the warm sun beat at her body but the air was fresh enough to give it clean breaths. She liked the freedom she felt.

“Uhh… Lizzy?”
“What?”
“It looks like a… like a guy covered in sand… sort of. I don’t know, it’s weird. It’s creepy though. Hey, this one looks like me, and you, and – oh my…”

“What? What’s ‘oh my’?”
“Umm, well, we’re in the fire pit and-”
“Shit. Grab your shit.” Lizzy threw her shirt back on and rolled up her bed, shoving it back into her bag and closing it up. Alex moved over to her stuff.
“What are we doing? What’s going on?”
“Just get your shit. We’re leaving.”

And they did.

1. The blog underwent a few large changes in the last two days.  I changed the theme yesterday and posted.  Then I posted today again, and while rewriting the About page became so dissatisfied with the layout I had at the time, I changed it again within a matter of seconds after the About page was completed.  That being said…

2. The About page is brand new and updated with all kinds of new little goodies of information and links, so go check that out!

3. I’ve become much more active on DeviantArt recently, my profile page being here, mainly with the posting of my short story series, trying to get a bit of attention for it, and talking to a friend I didn’t really know back home before I moved out here (funny how that works, isn’t it?)  So go check that out too, you’re interested.  I’ve also added a bunch of things to my wishlist there as well as my favorites list.

4. Speaking of website I’ve become more active on… I discovered a number of books I would love to read someday… so I listed them not only as Wanted ads on Facebook but on my Goodreads account in my to-read shelf.  Go ahead and check out my profile there as well.  I’ve also begun posting my short story series on there as well, to reach more of an audience and it has a nice format for organizing work as well, so I liked that about it.

5. Lastly, (in case you hadn’t noticed), I also updated this blog about 4-5 times in the last week, which is a big change from normal, as I’m sure you know if you’re a regular reader here at all.  It’s not very regular most of the time.  Well, there’s no big ambitious announcement to try to change that, I’m just pointing out that I posted a bunch recently… so when school starts for me next week and there are no posts for a long time, you’ll know why, and you’ll be nicely tided over until I get back (hint).  Enjoy!

6. I’ve also been working slowly at building up a wishlist on Amazon, so you can check that out too if you’re interested and would like to maybe get me something for my Birthday in August or Christmas… or even for no occasion at all!  (Note: there are 3 different wishlists for me, a “Big” one, a “Movies” one and a “Books” one.  All three are fair game.)  Another good gift-finding location would be my Goodreads profile in the “to-read” section, if they’re not already on the Amazon wishlist.  Hah, and here I am going on and on as if you cared about where to buy me presents from…

Thanks for reading, checking in, and I hope things are going well in your neck of the woods.  Oh, last note, I’ve also become more active on iLike… but I’m tired of copying and pasting links for the moment, so go check that new About page you were going to check out anyway, right?  Yea… it’s on there, just read through and you’ll find it ;).  Enjoy the changes and additions.

WARNING: There is a bit of cursing and adult themes in here. Only proceed if you’re sure you can handle it. ;)

Fun in the Sun

Lizzy got up, wiping her face of sleep and grime, the residue from the tendrils and their ooze now having dried to a crisp, dry crust, clinging as if glued to her skin. She walked to her own door, saw the room just as they’d left it, broken and full of holes. She looked in Dave’s room, he was gone, and his room looked just like hers. Alex stood behind her, half-crying, holding her hands up by her face, trembling with worry.

Lizzy turned around, seeing Alex, and walked past her into the kitchen. Alex followed.

“What do you want for breakfast?”
“What? Breakfast?” Alex asked, shaking her head slightly.
“Well yea. We can’t chase this thing on empty stomachs. Besides, I’m hungry.”

Alex stared for a moment, then walked slowly to the little table, sitting down and trembling. Lizzy walked to her room, and came out with a jacket. It had a hole or two in it, but was in good shape compared to the rest of the room. She laid it over Alex’s shoulders, then knelt down beside her.

“Look. You get warm and fed, we’ll look for this thing, and Dave. But crying won’t solve anything. I understand, but I’ve been single for over a year now, and it’s grating. I’m just gonna say it straight, so there it is. We’ll look, but you gotta pull together and be strong on the way, alright?”

Alex hardly moved.
“Ever seen Lord of the Rings, the third one?”
Alex nodded.
“Alright, well Sam’s right, but I’m not as strong as him, I probably can’t carry you. Not for long, anyway. We gotta both be like him. Alright?”

Alex nodded again. Lizzy stood, but Alex grabbed her wrist. She turned, and Alex pulled at her arm. Lizzy bent down as Alex embraced her, a stray tear sliding down her grime-dirtied cheek. Lizzy put her arm around Alex’s neck for a moment, then pulled away, flushed white. Alex sighed, and Lizzy walked to the stove, then said quietly, “You’ll be alright.”

Lizzy put a pan of eggs straight on the table, the heat sizzling the plastic covering, curling it around the base of the pan. It glued itself to the pan, and as she ripped it off, the covering came with it. “Shit!” Lizzy held it there for a moment, then flopped it back down on the table. “Well, it’s done now. I guess we can’t really fuck this place over any worse than hose bedrooms.” She sits down and hands Alex a fork. “Dig in.”

Alex takes a bite, then puts down her fork. She gets up and walks to the fridge, opening it up and looking in. The light’s not on, but she doesn’t notice.
“What, the burnt eggs not good enough?”

Alex grabs a bottle of juice from the fridge. And a beer, as a second thought. She opens the cupboard across the way, looks at the glasses, then at Lizzy. She shuts the door and plops the beer down on the counter. Then she grabs the juice bottle, screws off the top and takes a swig from the bottle. She sits down and hands it to Lizzy, who half-grins and swigs too.

“Glasses mean more dishes to wash. Smart thinking.”
“We’re washing dishes?”
“What do you think?”
And for the first time since Dave’s disappearance, Alex manages a small smile. She finishes off the eggs, and Lizzy offers her the first sip of the beer she’d already opened with her teeth. Alex takes the bottle and drinks a few sips, then hands it back.
“You can finish it. I need to get some things packed.”
“Right.” Then, after a pause and Alex’s almost out of earshot, “Thanks.”
Alex pauses in Dave’s doorway in acknowledgement, then continues into the room.

Lizzy downs the rest of the bottle in one breath. She slams the bottle down, cracking the base, giggling at herself and then throwing everything in the sink, filling it with water, but the faucet dies on her. “Aw, fuck it,” and she walks into her own room. She grabs her shoulder bag and some clothes, a sketchbook, reading book and her digital camera. She grabs the chargers without thinking, thinks better of it, but throws them in just the same. She grabs her change too, and wallet, “In case we need to buy supplies or something.”

Alex, just coming out of Dave’s room with her bag packed, looks up, “What?”
“Nothing.” She looks at Alex and her bag of clothes. “Grab some food too, we’re going to want to take as much as we can carry. Judging by seeing you two together, we’re probably not coming back until he’s with us, and even then I don’t know about facing the landlord after this damage to the place.”

Alex walks to the kitchen. Lizzy picks up her bag, throws it over her shoulder and straps it across her waist. She grabs another bag, a duffel from the closet, and slides her belt through the straps. She brings it out and loads some food into it. She zips it up and throws it over her shoulder too, fastening the belt around her shoulders in a half-assed carrying strap. She looks at Alex, also ready with a bag of food and clothes on her back. They look at each other and sigh.

“Alright, let’s go.” Lizzy heads to the door, looking out, it’s too bright to make anything out. Alex follows her. They step out into the grass-laiden yard with the concrete step entrance to the basement suite, but when they round the corner, Alex gasps and drops to her knees.

For as far as the eye can see, and even farther, for that matter, it’s pure desert. No more city, no more people, no more anything. Yellow-orange sand engulfs the house, now somewhat lopsided in the sand, as if it had landed there after a windstorm and the girls had just failed to notice the house was flying through the sky while they slept.

Dunes and caverns, hills and canyons of sand rose and fell for miles and miles (or kilometers, but they’re not technically in Canada anymore, as far as we know). The sun pierced the sky, a pure blue with an orangish haze to it, the sun itself burning the sand on which it shown. It felt like fire, only intangible. It felt like the pot on the plastic table cover, only this time it was pure light on skin, and there was no way to stop it. No way but to layer clothing, and in the heat of the day, that wasn’t an intriguing idea. They stared out at the sand for some time, until finally Lizzy swallowed.

“Well fuck me… no, seriously… go right ahead.”