mazeways

you carry your groceries down a narrow sidewalk. pairs of people in their long, puffy jackets push past. the orange glow of a cigarette rests on the lips of a middle aged chinese man leaning against the wall of an alcove. a man carries an oversized cardboard box down the sidewalk. you walk to the meeting place.

it's a chain restaurant. every surface in here is covered in gold paint or tacky, reflective sheets of golden shelf liner. you can see your reflection. apparently, this is the only one of these restaurants like this. no one can tell you why they made it this way. you make faces at your reflection in the table.

inside, you meet others like you. ones who want to believe in the city. one by one over an hour, more of them trickle in until nine or ten are assembled. you speak with a new friend, they show you a zine they wrote. flipping through it you can tell this is great work, even despite the noise enveloping you from a raucous card game. it's called "say no to suicide."

you speak with your friend and show off the tea you managed to find at the store. you chat cheerfully, but inside, you're worried about whether Muzzle will like your gift.

your ride home is queasy. the bus shakes and clatters down the street more violently than the red line cars do on the subway tracks, and it feels as though your brain clatters with it. ka-chunk, ka-chunk. the feeling doesn't subside when you arrive home. you catch up with Acorn, your roommate, and sit down to try and get your wits about you.

Candle, the leader and primary organizer of the group, doesn't believe that strongly in the city. it bothers you. you told her that you do, that you think something important is here. the longer you're here, the more you feel that way. she wants to get others together who believe in it with the goal of having the largest chatroom in Boston.

ostensibly, you're aligned. but you have something up your sleeve, don't you? something potent. something powerful.

message your best friend
message your girlfriend
call out to a higher power (progress)
do the next thing (progress)

{ quit mazeway }