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“Wherever You Go, There You Are” by Kelli Allen

Wherever you go, there you are

-“Where I lay my head is home.” –L. Ulrich and J. Hetfield

He allowed the slick glass bottle to slip inside, felt the gin burn his tongue, and swallowed.

“Such a good boy,” she cooed.

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C licked an arch blooming sweat under his nose, “What’s happening?”

The creature coiled inward against the pillow of her spine. Miss G silently gave the quieting mass within her a small blessing, a meant purr pushing past her lips through the final six syllables.

“Ssshhhh,” she exhaled. “Take another pull, C. Just like that.”

He tried to memorize the fire blooming his throat raw—keep track of how long it took to lick his lips clean around.

Miss G walked two long fingers from his nipple to the steer-head brass buckle posting guard above a zipper that strained, teeth nearly leaving an imprint in the salty air.

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“We don’t wait long and this night has been long enough, too long. It’s time to begin.” She hummed as nail tips skirted cotton.

A third set of eyes began to blink in the wet dark. Their lashes extended outward to tickle Miss G’s lungs, retracted again, and the unwinding started slow.

“I have known you through every life I have lived,” Miss G said, her mouth moving fast, her hand paused beneath the belt now undone.

C caught her wrist in his own warm palm and felt the room open wide. He watched her tongue  dart around her teeth. He heard the other sounds past his breathing, past her words. He heard the first crashing waves against his skimmer when he was a boy. He tasted brine and ash and raw meat.

Miss G focused her expression, twisted the thin wrist free, and spit brackish foam in a thin line into the space between her own open jaw and C’s memory-dazed face. The slick formed first a bridge, and then a roping necklace connecting her neck to his.

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***

Through any much distance, they looked like drunk lovers, arms guarding the other’s waist, heads tilted close with temples touching as they stumbled in an uneven pace from the dune’s peak and down toward the darkening water.

From far away, anyone might guess that Miss G was suddenly overcome with lust, with urgent need to be held, pressed rough into the millions of crushed shells under their feet. She slipped C’s encircling arm and pulled him with her into the kelp dotting the cool evening sand. From a passing glance, they were locked in a kiss, tongues certainly hard at work in convincing the bodies to go further, take more.

Miss G’s skin lay in a deflated mound near the shore’s crocked edge.

The creature eases the soft spiral into its new home. First, lowering its tail into C’s expanding throat, it unwinds down past the pliable chest to fill C’s belly, two pincers extending toward the round ball joints of his shoulder. A nice fit, a comfortable fit.

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Soon, the tide will lap its long tongue over this shell, this beast with too many hearts.

Kelli Allen’s work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies in the US and internationally. She has served as Poetry Editor for The Lindenwood Review and she directs River Styx’s Hungry Young Poets Series. She is currently a visiting professor of English Literature at Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China. She is the recipient of the 2018 Magpie Award for Poetry. Her chapbook, Some Animals, won the 2016 Etchings Press Prize. Her chapbook, How We Disappear, won the 2016 Damfino Press award. Her full-length poetry collection, Otherwise, Soft White Ash, arrived from John Gosslee Books (2012) and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her collection, Imagine Not Drowning, was released by C&R Press in January 2017. Allen’s new collection, Banjo’s Inside Coyote, arrived from C&R Press March, 2019. www.kelli-allen.com

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Original Creations

Religious Icons Revisited for the Second Second Coming

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Those religious icons really get around. This time it’s a journey to visit the Deep Ones. And Dracula’s Castle. Because everyone has to be a tourist now and then, and what’s the point if you don’t pick up a souvenir or two?

New religious icons - Jesus Christ visits Cthulhu and the Deep Ones
New religious icons – Jesus Christ visits Cthulhu and the Deep Ones

This was a gift for a friend for their sea life monster theme bathroom. It started as one of those old school wood plaques where the picture is waxed on. And the eyes were originally that creepy – all I did was add the tentacles. So don’t blame the overall weirdness on me, it wasn’t all my doing.

Bloody Mary goes to Transylvania
Bloody Mary goes to Transylvania

Oh, and apparently Mary wanted in on the action, so she’s gone to Dracula’s Castle for a bite. She even brought back her own religious icons souvenirs…

Repainted faux wood plate by Jennifer Weigel

So this one isn’t as old, nor is it real wood. But it still totally goes with Mary’s journey. And it’s also a little blacklight reactive with the flowers.

Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.
Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.

And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.

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Original Creations

Repaint Porcelain Figs Plus by Jennifer Weigel

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So I just keep on going… Here are some more repaint porcelain figurines and other madcap painting. OK maybe some of them aren’t porcelain, but still totally redone.

Pennywise It Clown repaint by Jennifer Weigel
Pennywise It Clown repaint by Jennifer Weigel

This Pennywise clown started as some plastic figurine from Italy. I was drawn to this because of the pretty marble base. It’s a nice touch, don’t you think? I’ve seen others in this series and honestly they’re all kind of creepy to start with, so they really lend themselves towards repaint prospects. Perhaps I’ll pick up more to redo in similar ways later on… Oh, and the eyes are blacklight sensitive, in case he wasn’t creepy enough already.

Lydia the Beetlejuice Bride repaint by Jennifer Weigel
Lydia the Beetlejuice Bride repaint by Jennifer Weigel

With all of the new movie hype, I couldn’t resist a throwback to the classic Beetlejuice, and this little bride figurine and teddy bear were just too perfect. Featuring more blacklight sensitive accents, like her veil flowers. And I don’t know why she only has one glove, I blame it on the 1980s… Or maybe she was just that drunk (you’d have to be for that wedding)…

Zombie Apocalypse Prepper repaint by Jennifer Weigel
Zombie Apocalypse Prepper repaint by Jennifer Weigel

So yeah, all those preppers ready for the zombie apocalypse – you know some of them are gonna get bitten. It’s in the script, what can I say? More blacklight eyes, cause why not?

Abigail vampire ballerina repaint by Jennifer Weigel
Abigail, vampire ballerina repaint by Jennifer Weigel

I admit I haven’t seen this film, but it sure looks fun. Mathilda, eat your heart out. Literally.

Sexy Sadie by Jennifer Weigel
Sexy Sadie by Jennifer Weigel

OK so this isn’t a repaint. Nor is it porcelain. What is it even doing here? Well, she’s cool and ready for a party and kinda reminded me of Abigail, so she sort of just tagged along. Sexy Sadie started as an Avon perfume bottle with a fragrance I didn’t care for (I think it was called Head Over Heels). Because honestly the bottle topper was all that mattered. And now she has her own disco dancing platform. What more could a vampish vixen want?

Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.
Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.

And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.

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Original Creations

Beyond the Veil: Video Script by Jennifer Weigel

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I wrote this script for Beyond the Veil awhile back, exploring the bond between two twin sisters, Edith and Edna, who had lived their lives together. There was a terrible car crash and someone didn’t make it.  The other is trying to contact them beyond the veil…

Spirit Witch altered doll sculpture by Jennifer Weigel
Spirit Witch altered doll sculpture by Jennifer Weigel

Beyond the Veil Setting:

Two women reach out to one another individually in a séance setting.

One sits on one side of a dining table.  The other sits at the other side.  Each studies a candle just beyond her reach; there is darkness between the two candles.  The long table is barely hinted at in the interstice between the two but it is clearly present.

The camera is stationary showing both in profile staring through each other.

The women are both portrayed by the same actress who is also the voice of the narrator, who is unseen.  All three voices are identical so that it is impossible to tell which of the two women the narrator is supposed to represent.

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Both women are spliced into the same scene.  They are together but apart.  The two candles remain for the duration of filming so that the two halves of the film can either be overlapped (so that both women appear incorporeal) or cut and sandwiched in the middle between the candles (so both women appear physically present).  It is possible to set the scene thusly using both methods in different parts of the story, with both women seemingly flickering in and out of being, both individually and apart.

Script:

I. Black, audio only.

Narrator:

I was riding with my twin sister.

We were in a terrible car crash.

The car drove over the median and rolled.

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It spun off the road where it caught fire.

There was smoke everywhere.

My sister didn’t make it.

II. Fade in to the long table with two lit candles; flames flickering.

Two women are just sitting at either end.

They stare blankly through each other.

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Call and Response

                        Edith: Now I’m trying to contact her…

                        Edna: …beyond the veil.

Simultaneous:

                        Edith: Edna, do you hear me?

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                        Edna: Edith, do you hear me?

Together (In Unison):

                        If you hear me, knock three times.

Narrator:

Knock.

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Knock.

Knock.

Call and Response:

                        Edith: I miss you terribly.

                        Edna: I miss you so much.

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                        Edith: Do you remember…

                        Edna: … the car crash?

                        Edith: We rolled…

                        Edna: … over the median.

                        Edith: There was fire.

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                        Edna: There was smoke.

                        Edith: I could hear the sirens.

                        Edna: They were coming…

                        Edith: … to rescue us.

                        Edna: But they were so far away.

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                        Edith: So far…

                        Edna: … away….

Simultaneous:

                        Edith: Are you okay?

                        Edna: Are you hurt?

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Together (In Unison):

                        Knock three times for yes.  Knock once for no.

Narrator:

Knock

– pause –

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Knock

  – pause –

 Together (Syncopated):

                        What’s it like, on the other side?

– long pause –

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   Simultaneous:

                        Edith: I miss you, Edna.

                        Edna: I miss you, Edith.

  Together (Syncopated):

                        It’s so lonely here.

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 Call and Response:

                        Edith: There’s no one here.

                        Edna: I’m all alone.

                        Edith: Without you…

                        Edna: …the spark of life…

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                        Edith: …is gone…

                        Edna: … so far away.

                        – pause –

Together (Entirely Out of Sync):

                        It’s so dark.

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III. Fade out to black

Narrator:

I was riding with my twin sister.

We were in a terrible car crash.

The car drove over the median and rolled.

It spun off the road where it caught fire.

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There was smoke everywhere.

I didn’t make it.

Close up of sculpture
Close Up of sculpture

I had planned to actually turn this into the video for which it was written, but quickly discovered that my plans for recording required a space that was too drastically different from my new house (and new large gaming table) and that my vision for filming could not be well-fully executed or realized. So now it exists as a script only.

Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.
Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.

And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.

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