Dr. Mendall

Christopher Jay Mendall was an exceptional student. Throughout high school he was at the top of his class, always with honors and straight As. Everyone thought so highly of him.

His college years were no different. Professors loved him as their most favorite student, and his grades were always at the top of his class. He made his way through his years at college and was on his way to being a doctor.

But financial issues pegged him, as his scholarships dried up. Instead of going to the top medical school like he wanted, he was forced into a school that was barely eligible to give him a degree. They began teaching him strange techniques. Showed him how to kill patients without anyone knowing. How to operate with nothing but a box knife. How to use every day tools to fix up a patient.

They taught him old techniques that weren't used any more: leeches, cutting off the skull to let demons out, or taking someone out of their misery by putting a nail through their nose and hitting their brain.

But it wasn't until he met Dr. Frankenstein that things changed for the worse.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, Dr. Frankenstein. It seems illogical for a body to come to life after the parts have been dead. The blood can't circulate, it's been coagulated and-"

"Nonsense, Christopher. I just need to do everything just right. We can and will create a human from this."

He watched as Frankenstein assembled a body, slowly helping him stitch each part together. Every vein, artery and nerve ending- carefully placed to connect to one another. To finally piece together a human with no organs.

"Now we have to be quick about this, Christopher. I have a body coming- a fresh one- and we must quickly place all the organs in before they become useless."

"But doctor, you need a heart and if the heart has stopped beating-"

"It's why I built a mechanical heart, Mr. Mendall."

"But the blood-"

"Do you want to graduate, Mr. Mendall? Do as I say. Your research project must come to a completion and I have to sign off on it for you to graduate. Do not question my authority, or all that hard work you've done will have been useless."

He did just as Dr. Frankenstein told him after that. He waited for the fresh body to come in, brought by a shady ambulance. He brought the body in- a young adult male as he recalled, and placed it on a slab next to the creature. He reluctantly helped put the new organs in, and watched as they came to life inside the new body.

But as the last organ was put in, nothing was working.

"I told you it was impossible."

"Nothing is impossible, I just need one more element. I will return in a moment, I must crunch some numbers. My assistant will bring out the brain. You must insert it into this being."

Christopher thought it was strange that an assistant he had never heard of was there in the lab, and wondered to himself why he was there if the doctor had an assistant in the first place. But it was too soon that a small man, only around four feet tall, wheeled a cart out with a human brain on it.

Christopher did just as he was told. He put the brain into the creature. But again, nothing happened. He decided to sew the creature up and wait for something to happen. There was a pulse, indicated by machines. The stats were fine. The monitors beat with a melodic rhythm.

The lights flickered, just as Christopher was falling asleep waiting for Dr. Frankenstein to come back. To his surprise, as he opened his eyes again- the creature was sitting up on the slab. It took a deep breath, and blinked heavily. He watched as it closed and opened it's eyes numerous times.

"Hello?"

The creature looked at Christopher, but was blinded by the lights in the room like a newborn child. He watched as the monster stumbled to its feet, unable to figure out what was going on. It fell on the floor, not too hard, but hard enough for a man that was over six feet tall.

But as though its brain kicked in, the creature was on its feet and moving around blindly. It ran into machines, it knocked over the organ donor body, and made its way to a glass door to the outside that it broke through. Christopher watched as it ran off into the nearby woods.

"Dr. Frankenstein! It worked but the monster escaped!" He ran to his office, only to find a signed piece of paper that allowed Christopher to graduate. He had put in enough clinical work and was now finally a true doctor.

But Frankenstein was no where to be found and they had set loose a monster. Christopher needed to fix what it was he started. He felt the need to fix whatever it was that made this monster run off.

He chased after it, roaming the woods, obsessed with fixing what he had done. Obsessed with finding the creature.

"I must fix this. Have to fix everything." He would mumble to himself.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. He grew tired and weary, feeding and living in the wild. It was only after months of search that he gave up, and stumbled into a small town. They told him they had heard of such a monster, and that people had found him and killed him soon after he was first spotted.

"You're a doctor?" a man in white asked him.

"Yes. Right before I went into the wilderness I officially became one. Dr. Mendall."

"My name is Dr. Moreau. I have a job for you if you would like it, Mr. Mendall."

"Of course, of course. I would be very welcome to living here in this small town."

"We would not live here. I am simply visiting for the moment. But I have an island I work on, and you might be of some expertise of mine."

"What am I fixing?"

"Fixing? You'll be working on turning a man into a leopard."

"He wants to be a leopard?"

Dr. Moreau paused. "Yes, yes he does. A human half-breed."

"I will help him then. I can fix him." Dr. Mendall rocked back and forth in a chair, his grizzly beard a reminder of what he had done for months.

He was flown to this strange island and began working with this man. For years he did research, experimentation on his body, and eventually created this half-man half-leopard.

"You have done well, doctor. Might I interested you in doing some more work?"

"I have fixed this man. I have to fix the world and I cannot do so here. There are people who are sick out there and that's why I came to be a doctor. People who are sick and needing me."

"Very well, I have a place I can send you to then. It's a nice city, plenty of people who can come to you for a fix up."

Dr. Mendall was flown to a city he had never heard of in a place he could never recognize. Towers loomed above, and people claimed to see people who were human-bats. He set up a shop in the cheapest place he could find, and before he even opened up shop- a customer walked in.

"Can I help you?"

"I need fixing." The man said, his hand over his mouth, "A man-bat attacked me and my mouth is in so much pain. Can you fix me, doc?"

Dr. Mendall looked at the man, his hair crazy, his mouth bleeding, and his skin so pale it looked like white make-up. His outfit screamed he was a butler of some kind, with purple and green that no sane man would wear.

"Sure, I can help you." He told the man. "Everyone needs fixing."

He put the man in a chair, and let him uncover his mouth. His mouth had been slit on both sides, and had bled a lot.

"You got black eyes from this guy too?"

"No, I was going for a raccoon look," the man said laughing and making his mouth bleed. "I'm sorry- I'm a bit of a joker."

Dr. Mendall carefully began work on the man, but without knocking him unconscious he screamed in agony making the cuts bigger. It was only until the man had fell unconscious that he could attempt to sew his mouth up. But by then it was too late. The slits had gotten too big to fix. He could not be fixed.

His first patient a failure, he left his unopened office and began walking the streets mumbling to himself that he must fix everyone. Every person he looked at had a problem. Every person that walked by could be fixed.

"Fix everything." He mumbled over and over again. "Fix everything...fix everything..."

He collapsed in a pile of garbage hours later, exhausted and unable to move. When he awoke, he found himself in a small town. He began walking around, finding himself face to face with a man who kept coughing.

"I could fix you," he said to the man.

"You a doctor?"

"Dr. Mendall. I fix everything."

"Sorry, I can't go to a doctor. I have no insurance."

"It's free. I'll fix you for free. I must fix everything."

"You got yourself a deal, doc. Where's your office?"

"In this alley here..."

He took the man down the small alley behind a shopping center. There he found steps he told the man to sit on.

"Your office is a some steps?"

"For now. I should have a tent. I should have a tent to fix everything. I must fix that problem."

Dr. Mendall bent down and told the man to open his mouth. He peered in and saw his throat was red from being sore. "I know how to fix this," he said.

"What are you going to prescribe? I think it's just a cold."

"Close your eyes, this might hurt a little."

The man did as he was told. Dr. Mendall reached in his pocket and pulled a box cutter out. With it he cut the man's throat, blood going everywhere. He continued to cut through the throat, trying to cut out the area that was sore. As he did so, he saw the man had died and threw part of the throat in the trash. Looking at the man, he realized his own clothing was inappropriate. It was dirty. He took the man's white shirt and jeans, now stained with blood, and put it on himself. The naked man, his throat cut wide open, was dead. He took the man and threw him in the same nearby dumpster, walking away and down the street.

"I fixed him. He has no problems now because he's dead." He mumbled to himself. "Must fix everything. Must set up a tent. Must fix patients."

He walked into the night, looking for more people to fix- his box cutter in hand.

A Sudden Pit Stop

The all-night diner, famous for it's apple pie made with "real" apples and a favorite for truckers, was quiet at 3 in the morning. Only a few people, your stereotypical older blonde waitress, your slightly overweight greased up cook always with a toothpick in his mouth, and Ted- the only customer in the place who had just sat down by himself.

"Hey honey, what can I get ya?"

"Oh um, coffee. Black," he rubbed his forehead, tired and stressed out. "And um, I don't know- a cheeseburger. Nothing on it."

"You want fries with that?"

"Sure. You guys take credit cards?"

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, fries is good."

"You just come from a wedding or something? You're too old to be coming from a high school dance, and ain't nobody 'round here comes dressed all nice like that."

"Um, yeah. Wedding. Yeah."

The waitress nervously watched him, saw how stressed out he was. She walked behind the counter, over to the coffee- still using an old drip machine with glass pitchers. Grabbing the brown topped one, she began to walk back to stop at the order window.

"Hey John," she yelled to the cook, "We got an order for a naked cow with cheese and tater fingers."

John quickly walked over to her.

"That's all? Usually I get a much bigger order than that."

"This guy ain't a trucker. Look at 'im. He's got a suit jacket sittin' next to him. Drove up in a nice car."

"Probably just came from a wedding. I think they got that place down the road for weddin's."

"True. I asked him about it, must be somethin' to do with a weddin'. He's so uneasy, though."

"Give him some coffee, I'm sure he'll wake up a little bit."

She walked back over to the table, Ted now holding his head in his two hands, eyes closed, breathing steadily. Julie picked up the coffee mug, waking Ted from whatever he was in.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You didn't want decaf, did you?"

"Oh uh, no. No. Thank you."

"You need sugar or anything?"

"No thank you."

"Is everything OK, honey? You seem stressed."

"Am I that obvious?"

"If you were any more you'd be an ox in heat."

"Long day," Ted nodded, "That's all."

"All that dancin' at the weddin' huh? Who was it that got married?"

Ted swallowed hard. "My uh..." he struggled to answer, "My friend."

"Best friend? College roommate?"

"Best friend. Definitely."

"Well, you must've been the best man then- no wonder you're so tired."

"I wasn't." Ted sipped his coffee.

"Oh, that's strange. Why wouldn't you be the best man? You think he'd pick you."

"She didn't really have a choice."

It was like a light bulb clicked in her head. She knew exactly what happened. He couldn't look at her, and just sipped his coffee. The only noise the sizzling of the burger in the kitchen.

"Listen kid," she said breaking the silence, "There's plenty of fish in the sea."

"No. Just don't. Please don't."

"You'll find a girl and be happy-"

"Miss, I don't know you. But you're not helping me any."

"Honey if she didn't feel that way towards you-"

"She does. Well, she did." Ted swallowed hard, "I fucked it up. Years ago. And now we're just friends. But there's never been a girl like her since. I thought I could find someone, but I never did."

"You will."

"No. Because she was the one. I know it sounds crazy, but...when I was younger I had this dream. I was about five years old and I had this recurring dream. It was this girl, beautiful girl, and she was running through a field. This girl was about ten years old, and I had this dream so many times when I was five. Just her running through this field, telling me to come on. Come on, Ted."

He could see the ten year old girl again, looking back at him. The images flashed in his head, her beckoning him to run with her.

"I thought at five years old, this girl is beautiful. I didn't even know what beautiful was, I just knew. I had this dream for months, and then just stopped. I had a few more times after that. Then one day I met Aysha. I was ten. I felt like I had met her so many times before, but I couldn't figure it out."

He sipped his coffee, still remembering the pictures.

"We were best friends and I just remember going to her grandparents house. They had this really big field, and she want to run through it- but I was afraid. My mom told me to be careful, you never know what's out in the country. But she loved it. And she beckoned me. Come on, Ted. Come on. And I realized that I had been dreaming about her. And I ran through that field with her."

His eyes stared straight ahead. He could see his past flash before him.

"She was my first kiss when we were twelve. She was my first date to the dance. She was my first girlfriend. Hell, she was...my first everything. Before her I was a shy little kid, afraid of the world. With her, I wasn't afraid of anything."

Julie stood there, waiting for more. Silence.

"So what happened?" she asked, too eager to wait for Ted to snap out of his gaze.

"We um, graduated. Stayed together during college, but were at different colleges. So it was hard. But I could never give her up. I never wanted to. But I went one time and I saw how hard it was for her. It was killing her to be away from me, more than it was me from her. And I thought, maybe if I let her go she'll be a little better. She won't stress out as much, she'll focus on her classes and then when we're out of college we can be together again."

"She found another guy..."

"Nicolas. Yeah."

"And she fell in love with him."

"Yeah. I mean, I gave her space. But I never wanted anyone but her. My buddies tried really hard, but I always thought I'd be with her again. Then she got a boyfriend, and I thought it was just to try to move on. Then the next thing I know, she's marrying some jackass who couldn't care about her like I do."

"How old are you, honey?"

"I'm 26. They got engaged two years ago. And tonight they finally got married. For the last two years, I've lived through hell. And tonight, I told her I still loved her. And she said she loved me too, but we weren't meant to be. Because she found Nicolas and loves him too."

"You've got a nice car, I'm assuming you must have a nice job then."

"Actually, that car is a rental. Bad economy has actually left me jobless. Got laid off."

"You've got family. Your brothers, sisters, cousins-"

"My parents aren't so understanding. My mom made me fear everything as a child, and my father is an alcoholic who likes to disappear to the bars most the time."

"Friends are-"

"No. Aysha is the only friend I have left. My college buddies made some choice remarks about her after we broke up, and I went off on them. They came to conclusion it was my fault, and don't speak to me now."

"Order up!"

"I'll be back with your order."

Ted was silent as Julie walked over and grabbed the hot plate.

"Is there anything else I can get you, honey?"

Ted thought for a second. "No." He paused. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. And it's on the house."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

Julie walked to the back kitchen, stressed out from the conversation.

"So what's his case? Is he psycho?"

"Another lovestruck kid."

"Let me guess, best friend was his girlfriend he knew since he was ten and she married some douchebag. Now he's jobless and alone."

"Bingo."

"You give him food on the house?"

"Always do."

"You ever think people are gonna wander back here wondering where this place is again?"

"Wouldn't be the first time. Let's just hope his burger suits him well enough. I'm just surprised no one wonders why they're always the only one in here."

"You'd think they'd find Angel's Diner to be somewhat of an ironic name?"

"John, you know they don't read the signs. Otherwise you'd think someone would have us figured out by now."

"As long as they aren't killing themselves, I don't care if they figure us out any."

John and Julie smiled at each other, looking over at Ted. He took a bite of his burger and smiled, thinking everything was going to be OK again.

Please Give Me an Awesome Job: Prove It! Announcing Super Smash Bros. Board!

About a month ago I uploaded a video asking for an awesome job, just to see what I could get from that. People loved it, said it was hilarious. And after 86 views...I never heard from anyone wanting to give me an awesome job that I spoke of.

So I decided I was going to prove myself. And that's what I did, by spending the last month of my time creating the board game Super Smash Bros. Board! It was a grueling month, filled with having to see how much I could actually spend on the project and attempting to find ways to reduce costs. Luckily, with a freelance project helping me pay for this, I was able to complete it. Check it out a little bit below in the video.



Interested in purchasing? Want to mass produce it? Email us and let us know: asimpleletterwriting@gmail.com

What I Did


There was a lot of work to do in order to make this come to life. First thing I did was figure out how the game plays, and how I could relate the video game into a board game. It turned out to be incredibly easier than I thought.

The whole idea of fighting is to get your opponent to the edge based on the roll of a die. With your 4 special moves, you move back and forth in a battle of who moves where. Once you make it to the last tile (the 5th one) you get a safety roll and try to save yourself. Otherwise you just lost the battle. It gets more complicated when you start adding in items, which force players to use them strategically if at all.

With that in place, I had to research materials and how to make the game. I found some tutorials on building your own game, spoke with a few shop owners, and admittedly even attempted to work with some companies that never got back to me (and I didn't really think they would). In the end I used the entirety of a Monopoly game (minus cards, money and the metal figures), a lot of printing at Kinko's, an oversized poster for the board, and tons of cutting. I spent more than I am willing to admit on this project, just to make it see the light of day. And the light of day it sees for you all to now take on the challenge of making it better than I can.

Smash to the Core

The game is Smash Bros. at it's core. It is fun, crazy, zany and can change in the blink of an eye. It also crams more Nintendo history than the games ever have. I use references to pop culture and memes- as well as jokes Nintendo fans know about. This is the kind of stuff Nintendo fans love, but Nintendo is afraid to use usually (exception: Super Paper Mario).

It's also meant to be more fun with more people. The player cap is at 4, only because of materials needed. If you really wanted you could probably have all 12 players on the field at once. Think of how crazy that would be.

100% Customizable

One thing fans of Super Smash love arguing about more than what should be legal in tournaments (or how tournament players are ruining the game) is easy: characters. But the best thing about this game? You can add anyone, and anything. And it's easy to keep balance, because everyone has the exact same stats.

Brings you to the Core of Playing

Sure, you can change it so this game is more strategic and much less about chance. But what this is meant to do is get rid of a lot of the worries some fans have- and instead just focus on fun. There's no need for tier systems, hacking, or watching videos of your dice roll (I really hope no one does that). This is board gaming at it's finest: fun, easy, and pisses a lot of people off at some point. And honestly, that's what the original Smash was all about.

My Inspiration

The entirety of this actually came from a Kotaku Photoshop Contest. I had won the week before for a video entry, and was going to take it to the next level the next week- as the challenge was to photoshop a board game based on a video game. This made me think of how Smash Bros. would work- and a month later, we have Board!

If you look at our photos on Facebook you should see inspiration from a lot of places for design. The back of Item cards is based on the menu from the original Smash, as the back of Challenger! cards throw it to the Melee Challenger Approaches screens. Even the back of the Character cards you should recognize from Melee.

The player pieces are the original 12, in their original art form, colored in with colored pencil. This design is meant to bring more of the puppet-like feel the original game gave off- compared to the trophies in the later versions.

And you'll see a ton of the Smash logo, the circle with the lines through it. It's all over the box, manual, and is the design of the battle coins.

If you look at the board, you'll also notice something. Each of the background pieces as it is going around are big moments in Nintendo's history- in chronological order. You actually are traveling through Nintendo History.

You should also look right behind the tiles. Notice something? It's Final Destination. And if you look at it right, you'll notice that the 5th tile is off the stage, so you would fall just like in the game.

I think my favorite thing about design has to be the "Only for" on the front- harking back to the days when Nintendo put that on all of their boxes (it's designed after the Gamecube of course...I hope that doesn't mean this game will fail for some reason...)

My Only Warning

I have one warning and really it's this: don't spend too much money on this. I spent a buttload more than I would had Nintendo actually made this- and it still isn't as beautiful. I think it looks fantastic, as I am in no way an artist of this kind, but you do not want to spend the kind of money I have for this if you do plan to make it.

Oh, also- if you go to Kinko's realize that they shrink a lot of file sizes when they print. I'm not sure why, my guess is the fact I was working with an 8.5X11 photo and they have cut offs automatically. It did change some things because the proportions were off, but it still looked good.

And Yes, I am for Hire

Just remember Nintendo/Hasbro/Any Other Impressed Company I am Likely Willing to Work for, I am available for your awesome job. So don't hesitate to email me. I'd love to come make some more board games or video games.

Or if you need someone to be your official fan spokesperson, Nintendo. I could totally do that.

Check out the Project SSBB (double S, double B) tab to download, and find pictures galore.

New business aims to help missing people searches

by James Gabbard

Every month, there are 67 million online searches for lost family members. From FBI estimates, 2,300 people are reported missing every day. It's as simple as family being split up and losing contact from moving that can separate a loved one.

“My brother can't hear or talk, he is turning 30 years old on October 29 of this year, and I really need to see him. It's been about two years since I've heard from him, I wonder every day if he is doing well,” writes Marlene Moran on a post on Answers.com. Moran is looking for her brother Doug.

Nikki posts on Yahoo, asking for advice on how to find her sister she knows nothing about. She pleads for someone to help her, being that she's only 14 and her mother won't tell her anything.

John made a Facebook page to look for his mother and brother. He lost contact with them in Sri Lanka, and has since been unable find them. He continuously posts their names and date of birth, hoping someone will find them.

“I just want my daddy, is that too much to ask?” posts nikki080610 on 43Things.com. She's been looking for her father since her parents split up before her birth.

“Wherever you are now dad, I wish you were here. It's the 16^th year I celebrated Father's Day without you here. I love you.” posts user Chen Cruz, also looking for her father since birth.

Many of these people have to take the same tactics of background checks and online forums in order to find someone. They hire private investigators, which charge based on how much information is already obtained. With just a first name, birthday and a picture- the range of services go from $100-1500 just to find someone.

“I can't help you with a first name,” said one agency.

The founders of Video Suspects have a solution for these people. They have plans to launch a website, in which users can post images and videos with the information they have for missing people, crime suspects, and more and offer cash rewards for other users to find them.

“Most people have pictures that can be 20, 30, and 40 and even 50 years old and still be identifiable by them,” Founder Ed Burns said.

Video Suspects hasn't fully launched yet, searching for investors to get involved before launching their marketing campaign and full website's functions and tools. The founders say they want people to get closure on the answer of why they weren't in a loved one's life, as millions want to know why. Burns is one of those people, who had in the past searched for his father.

“Why? Why wasn't I included his life? And always the question 'why?'” Burns said. “People always want to be the fly on the wall to understand why.”

Video Suspects also hopes to help police and businesses stop shoplifting, a $14.5 billion loss each year for America. The corporation is currently looking to find an equity investor to work with their current skilled team of over 50 years experience, before launching the site nationally. Plans are to launch the site in 90 days after funding.

Once launched the site will be easier and more affordable to use than current methods or platforms. Users pay a monthly fee to post the information they have, while other users can join for free to report and identify people. For each person successfully found, a cash reward will be offered.

According to Burns, Video Suspects can assist law enforcement by centralizing data and having more than just one person looking for someone. The use of reward incentives will also help draw millions of people more than online forums.

The new company is currently planning to stay in the beta stages until it has found equity investors to fully launch, but users can still sign up during the beta period.

His Death

I always had a ritual when someone died. I'd pop in a CD I had made, and hit repeat on number ten- and just sing along. Track ten was always I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. I'd just listen to it over and over again.

I hated gearing up for the funeral. This one in particular. I wasn't sure if I should even go, but I made my own choice. I put my suit on, all black with a little white. I combed my short hair. Put my sunglasses on that I had always put on. My nicer shoes I had gotten to wear for interviews.

I drove to the cemetery, the middle of fall there were leaves everywhere. The sun shone bright above the graves. A line of cars marked the drive, as chairs sat in front of a podium and a casket. It was like something out of a movie.

I sat in my car, watching. I was late, never could be on time for anything he put on. I saw people who wanted nothing to do with me, crying. I saw people I hadn't spoken to in months. Everything changes in the blink of an eye.

I got out and walked across the lawn, crunching leaves. I quickly took a seat behind a few I still spoke with. I couldn't listen to the man preaching something about God as I sat there. I could only play the song over and over in my head.

"At this time we ask friends and family to come forth to say a few things about Vincent."

I listened to his family and friends remembering the good times. Saying he would be missed. One saying they wished his death could've been avoided.

"Does anyone else want to speak at this time?"

"I would," I said loudly- the song still playing in my head. The man nodded and gave me the podium.

I walked up slowly, everyone's eyes on me. My sunglasses covering my eyes, and how I truly felt. As I got closer I could see his lifeless body for the first time in the casket. Nothing seemed real.

"Hello everyone. Some of you may not know me. I was Vincent's friend during college. To many of you, I was a friend too. I was told I shouldn't come here today, because people would think I was dancing on his grave due to our falling out. That's not why I'm here.

"I'm here because life is fickle. One day you're eight years old and carefree. The next you're thirteen and wondering what's going on with your body. And the next thing you know, you're married with your own eight year old. People change, and we all change with them.

"For Vince and me, life was fickle. We had our ups and downs. We grew apart. And we had a bad falling out. But I changed just as he did. I'm a forgiving man, now. That's why I'm here. Not to just forgive, but to forget those downs. I'll forget the disagreements, him and I acting like assholes to each other. I'll forget the hate, because life is too fickle to remember that.

"Instead I'll remember him as a friend," I nodded. "I'll remember him as someone who was willing to help someone who was dealing with more issues than anyone could know. I'll remember him for bringing together the friends we had, instead of separating us. I'll remember every laugh, and every smile. Because that's all that matters.

"I have a ritual when someone in my life dies. I'll play this song over and over again. I Will Follow You into the Dark. So, Vince- despite all the bad we had at the end, if there's no one beside you- I'll follow you into the dark. I'll follow you into the dark."

I stepped down. I couldn't tell what people were doing. I didn't care. All I could hear was the song playing in my head. The man stood there, preaching his last words. I watched as the casket was closed and the coffin lowered into the ground.

Everyone else went to throw a bit of dirt on top, as I disappeared to the back of the cemetery. I breathed in the new fall air. I watched and listened to the birds and saw squirrels playing on the graves.

No one said anything to me as I stood there. No one said hello or goodbye to me. The cars slowly left. I looked back at the scene and nodded.

"I hope the dark isn't too bad, old friend."

The wind picked up like a movie. I got into my car and turned it on. The radio turned on, track ten still on repeat. I drove off, listening to the song one more time.