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The Good, The Bad and The Writing
The Good
1) Nikki Sixx "Just open your eyes, and see that life is beautiful." This is my theme song for the night! I heard it on the way home from the "write-in" tonight. And it is really how I am feeling right now. I have only felt this way after writing a couple times in the past. I wrote about 2200 words tonight. I was in Starbucks for about 3 hours and not once did I even think about Farmville or Twitter or Facebook. I am so psyched about it right now. I am going to start posting my writing again. It is going to take a few days to get caught up to where I am right now, but I don't want the blog to overwhelm any of you.
I was somewhat disappointed at first that no one seemed to show up for the "write-in" but I was able to focus on my story without interruptions. Except for a couple work emails, that I really didn't have to answer, but want to keep a good impression with the Client. I did meet a few college "kids" as I was packing up to leave. I noticed they all had laptops and were writing. So I gathered up the courage - amped on a great writing session and three cups of coffee - and introduced myself and inquired about their writing. I must admit I was only half listening. My mind on my story, and how it is going to continue tomorrow. But one of them read from her poetry. I must admit that half of it went over my head. Try concentrating on poetry when your head is swimming. It really makes a tough listen that much tougher. I was excited to meet a few like minded individuals though. Next "write-in" is Saturday morning at the Barnes & Noble in La Cantera. The next one I will be attending at least. I'll keep you posted. I'm sure you will be waiting with baited breath. Haha. i know I am.
2) Work was extremely productive today. I am so very happy about that as well. No downtime is a WONDERFUL thing. And this after getting up at 5ish to run in the gym this morning. I have another busy work day ahead of me tomorrow as well. A different Client this time. And I am going to try to get up for the gym again. Start the day off right again.
The Bad
In too good of a mood to dwell on anything tonight. Same complaint about San Antonio drivers and their lack of merging abilities that I have mentioned before.
The Writing
11pm
Let’s see if I can recap the day. Jessica was awesome today. She was pretty jumpy, but she understood that there were things that needed to be done. Our first order of business was to make the only door into the apartment as secure as humanly possible but we had to be able to open it in a hurry when necessary. This would not have been possible if I had listened to my ex-wife. “What do you need all those tools for? We live in an apartment, and judging by your prospects we are always going to live in apartments…”
Bitch! I hope your body building new boyfriend has half a brain in his head. You might make it through this. On second thought… Nevermind. I can’t think that way. Karma you know.
The three of you that actually read my blog know what my apartment layout is. Walk in the front door and stairs immediately up to the left. Essentially a hallway up to the second floor. This made it pretty easy to barricade the door to my liking. I made a little too much noise, but not as bad as it could have been. I basically tore my bed apart to make it, but that was the sturdiest source of wood I could find in here. I turned the shelf from my headboard into eight U-shaped pieces about six inches on each side. I was going to secure these to the door and the wall opposite the door, then realized the opposite wall wouldn’t be all that much support unless the key points on the door were exactly lined up with studs in the wall. A quick check with the stud finder told me that wasn’t the case. Ok, that meant I had to somehow reinforce the wall before attaching the “U’s”, or find a way to distribute any force on the door. After ten minutes of wandering the apartment, and I finally found something I could use. The sides off my spare computer. Yeah, they were only aluminum, but they were better than drywall, and with any luck I won’t need to find their failing point. And they are wide enough that I could attach them to the studs. After those were secured to the wall, I screwed the “U’s” to them. Two directly across from the doorknob about one third and two thirds up the height of the door. Two screwed into the metal door across from the computer case sides. The side with the hinges were easier as I was able to screw the “U’s” directly into the studs. I had to do all this by hand to make the least amount of noise possible. I looked out the peep-hole every once in a while and only when I was finished with the “U’s” did I see any of them out there.
There were two out there that seemed like they were trying to find the source of the noise. I don’t think I breathed for two minutes while I watched them. My neighbors front door is perpendicular to my own and they must have thought the sound was coming from their door. The creep outside my door, didn’t look like a zombie in the movies. He wasn’t decomposing, nor was he covered with any blood. He just looked extremely pale and emaciated. It’s like all the blood in him had just evaporated and his skin had sunken into the spaces voided by blood. Then he was joined by another. This one walked up to the large window next to the front door. This one was a woman in a nightgown. She put one hand up on the glass.
I turned from the peephole and grabbed the tape measure. I measured the distance between the “U’s” on the door and the “U’s” on the wall. I carefully walked up the stairs and when I got to the top. Jess was kneeling in front of the window peering through the blinds. I walked over to her and knelt down next to her and put one hand on her shoulder. She jumped and let out a little squeak. She whirled and faced me with her hands up ready to defend herself. I flinched and raised my hands as well to ward off the inevitable attack. It didn’t come. She let out a breath and turned back to the window.
“There are more of them out there,” she said in a matter of fact tone. I’ve only seen one car go by the whole time you’ve been working. It was hauling ass toward downtown. Why would anyone head in that direction? I’d be hauling ass out of town. Speaking of… why aren’t we trying to get the hell out of here?” She turned from the window again and looked at me.
“We don’t have a grasp on how bad things are yet. I don’t know if we are going to get a handle on it. I don’t like the idea of being trapped here any more than you do. I am not ready to face what is going on out there just yet though. I want to assess as best I can. See if we can gather any more info before venturing out. Do they seem the same as earlier? Any change?”
“No. They are still all just milling around out there. The gate out there hasn’t opened since I’ve been watching. So all the ones on the outside are still outside and the ones inside are still inside.” She turned toward me and her face hardened. “Do you own a gun?”
“No, I think I may be the only man in Texas who doesn’t own a gun.” I looked like a big baby while saying that, I’m sure. But the honesty of the situation was… well, honest. I obviously wish I was one of the gun toting rednecks that permeate from everywhere down here in South Central Texas. I wanted to yell in her face, I’m a liberal Californian who believes in gun control, don’t you feel like a stupid cunt for putting your faith in me now? Of course I couldn’t do that. I knew she wasn’t accusing me of anything. She was merely asking me a simple question. I decided to take her mind from that and back to defense. “Would you help me cut the braces? I’ve finished the mounting slots for them. It shouldn’t take long, and then we should be pretty secure in here. At least until…”
The front door handle jiggled. We both turned toward the stairs to the front door. It jiggled again. I moved for the 2X4’s that I have taken from the frame of my bed and grabbed the tape measure and measured out the length and started cutting. The hand saw cut through it painfully slow. I didn’t want to use power tools because of the noise they made. In the silence that had fallen over the world in the last twenty four hours any little sound seemed to reverberate. The hand saw was excruciatingly loud in my ears. I could only hope that the insulation in this apartment would keep it from reaching their ears. But with safety being the issue, I couldn’t afford not to chance it. I made pretty quick work of the board, though it seemed to take forever. When the saw broke through the last few slivers of wood and fell to the floor, I grabbed the measured piece of wood and rushed as quietly as I could to and down the stairs. When I go to the bottom, the door handle was again being jiggled.
I slid the board down into the “U’s” on the handle side of the door two thirds of the way up. For once, I was not disappointed with my measuring and carpentry skills. I had to stifle a laugh as the though, “You can suck it Samantha,” ran through my head. Samantha being my ex of course. I hurried back up stairs and was greeted at the top by Jessica with a length of board that had been cut on one end. It looked about right. I didn’t ask, I only walked back down the stairs and placed it in the lower section on the hinge side of the door. Then climbed the stairs again to see Jessica cutting a third piece of my bed into a door brace. Damn she’s HOT! I’m just sayin. She turned with the board extended. I took it and headed back down the stairs. Another perfect fit and then back up the stairs for the fourth and final piece.
“Thank you for your help Jess. I really appreciate it.” My arms are on fire from having to do all that without power tools. Can I get you some water? I need a short break before we get back to work.”
To my surprise she sat on the couch next to me and took one of my hands. “Steven, thank you for coming to get me last night. I don’t think I would be alive today if you hadn’t. I don’t know why it was worse at my place than here, but I will be here to help you in any way I can until this thing is over. Whenever that may be. Just tell me what you want me to do. I am indebted to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” And she kissed my hand. And then my cheek.
Well, since my life isn’t a porno – come to think of it, my life is now a horror movie – I didn’t score. I didn’t even think of sex or anything similar as repayment for saving her. I really was only thinking about staying alive. How lame am I? Oh well. It doesn’t look like we are leaving here for awhile. Maybe tomorrow.
The rest of the day was spent inventorying my food supplies. Then I actually decided to clean my toilettes and bathtubs (I have two of each). I explained to Jess that if the power goes out we are eventually going to lose running water. In which case, I wanted to have the tubs and toilettes full of clean water when that happens. She understood and cleaned one of the bathrooms. After rinsing the basins thoroughly, we filled them completely with fresh water.
By this time the sun was going down and it was time to call it a day. I don’t want to have the lights on after dark. I don’t know much about them yet. Maybe that is what I will do tomorrow. Begin my research. The more I know about them, the better our chances of survival right? So, now the daylight is about gone, so I am going to log off and shut the computer down. I hope the power is still on tomorrow. I am printing this account just in case. Good night all, I think I may be sleeping beside a hot bartender again tonight.
More tomorrow.
Stay scared my friends,
My Little Demon
myltldmn@gmail.com
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