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Dawn hid a yawn behind her hand, watching the mass of children clustered in the cafeteria. It was the last day of school before Christmas break. The kids were going nuts.

Connie, Dawn’s fellow fourth-grade teacher, slid next to her. “You don’t look like you’re in the Christmas spirit,” she said.

“Barb had trouble sleeping,” Dawn said.

“Married life. If one of you can’t sleep, neither can,” Connie nodded.

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“For better or worse, and all that,” Dawn replied. No need to go into any more detail than that.

Barb had spent the night at the kitchen table, pouring over notes and newspaper clippings. “Those red gloves they found in the lifeguard station,” she’d muttered. “Why would someone have winter gloves at the pool?”

The first bell rang, and the kids spilled out into the halls. Dawn and Connie followed.

“Better not let these little monsters see you yawn,” Connie said. “If they sense weakness it’s all over.”

“Ugh. The only thing getting me through today is knowing there’s a two-week vacation and a bottle of wine on the other side.”

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Connie laughed. She opened her classroom door. Sitting on her desk was a brightly wrapped gift.

“Who’s that from?” Dawn asked.

“Dunno,” Connie said.

Dawn’s students were grouping at her door. She left Connie to open her gift.

“Let’s put our things away and find our seats,” Dawn called.

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If she was honest she was glad to be at school, with bright faces and paper snowmen. Anything to get her mind off Barb sitting at the kitchen table, scribbling like she was trying to solve the damned case by herself. But what else could she do? The bomb had taken Barb’s kid brother. It wasn’t something easily gotten over.

Something in the hallway caught Dawn’s eye. It was Connie, leaving her classroom. Some of her students were standing at the doorway, whispering.

Dawn went to the door. “What’s up?” she asked.

The girl shrugged. “Ms. Holland just walked out of the room.”

“There she is!” a student cried.

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Dawn’s classroom windows looked out over the front of the school. Busses were still arriving. She spotted Connie walking out the front door, right into the road. She stepped off the curb in front of a bus.

The bus hit her. Dawn clapped a hand over her mouth. The students screamed. The bus squealed to a halt. Connie was laying in the middle of the road, not moving.

Dawn closed the windows before any more of the kids could see. “We’re going to go across the hall and sit with the other class,” she said. “Come on, right now. Stay away from the windows.”

“What happened?” a student asked.

“No questions right now,” Dawn said. Her hands were shaking. She saw the red package on the desk. It was laying on its side, contents spilling out. Inside was a note that said, thinking of you, in handwriting that Dawn recognized. The note was resting on top of a pair of red gloves.

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Thinking of you, with the same loopy scrawls that usually made out Grab milk on your way home, love you.

Dawn grabbed the note and crumpled it in her hand.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Jennifer Weigel

    December 18, 2020 at 8:58 am

    I like the evolution and discovery in this, and how intertwined everyone’s lives are. Very haunting.

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Original Creations

Simple Pleasures, a story about getting away by Jennifer Weigel

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-Mountains-

A serene mountain landscape yawns; monumental evergreen trees fingering a brilliant azure sky stroked with wispy clouds.  The air is crisper and fresher here, wafting its piney fragrance along the meandering deer path that bends and swerves down the gradual slope…

-Reset-

-City-

A bustling urban environment beckons, its diverse, brightly-clothed denizens laughing with one another, casually parting as you stroll through their midst.   Sunlight dances through the crowd, reflecting off of towering buildings, cars, and bicycles.  Sounds swell together as though breathing life into all interconnected within this rich tapestry of time and space.  The street is a cacophony of alluring smells, and the savory scent of kosher all-beef hot dogs…

-Vegetarian-

Fragrant cumin zing of vegetable samosas…

-European-

Perfume of freshly baked baguettes embraces you in a warm hug as you sit at a small metal café table, savoring an espresso…

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-Caffeine Free-

Lavender cremosa…

-Non-Carbonated-

Limonade…

-Reset-

-Beach-

The warm sand squishes between your bare toes as the soft ocean waves lap at your feet, beckoning you to wade further into the cool water…

-No Swimming-

The woven rope hammock stretched between two perfectly-spaced palm trees sways slowly as you lounge in its cradle, sipping a Mai Tai…

-Non-Alcoholic-

Iced lemonade in a highball glass through a red plastic straw…

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-Eco-Conscientious-

Paper straw, the citrusy elixir providing respite from the steamy…

-Less Hot-

Warm breezy summer…

-Spring-

Spring air, children…

-Nature-

Birds…

-Silence-

You close your eyes, hammock gently rocking you to slumber.

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We here at My Universe wish to thank you again for choosing our services.  We know that there are many post-cataclysmic alternative realities available, and we appreciate your business.  Please enjoy your respite from the societal collapse, and remember us next time you need to unwind.

Pineapple getting away from it all
Pineapple getting away from it all

And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website. And if you really feel like getting away and helping clean up the beach a bit, check out this relaxing video from Dylan Clark titled Seagrass. Or maybe that wasn’t so relaxing after all… 😉

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.

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Original Creations

The Scent of Blood: Comic Book Art by Jennifer Weigel

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Somehow I came across an older Midnight Panther comic book, Feudal Fantasy #2 from the late 1990s to be precise, and I thought I’d reappropriate it into a new story as a collage. Anyway, this is what evolved. Honestly there wasn’t a lot of content to work with, but that isn’t surprising seeing as how that wasn’t really the point of the original… And sorry, I saved the erotic bits for another project, though even that was pretty tame in this one – just a bunch of boobies.

The Scent of Blood comic book art
The Scent of Blood comic book art

Images: Black and white line drawings of wide-eyed anime women and men in various states of undress, looking cute, being coyly pensive, and hack ‘n slashing.

Text reads: I like… men who are dying. We ought to just kill everyone involved. The scent of blood!! I never see his face, he always wears a mask. What a waste of time. I don’t like this. The horny bastard. What a pig!! -Slash- Sounds like it could be fun.

Ferryman comic book art

Images: More black and white line drawings of wide-eyed anime women and men kissing and hack ‘n slashing.

Text reads: Mercenaries of glorious Edo, if you can make the flowers that bloom along the rivers during spring drop their petals, then do so. I’m the Ferryman of the River Styx. Whssh.

OK, OK – here are some boobies since you stuck with this so long. And here’s a link to some more of my comic book collages, in case you are interested.

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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

Bonus Black Friday story: Zombie Apocalypse by Jennifer Weigel

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Black Friday.

You can’t beat the deals.  So many of us.  Waiting.  Readying.  Checking the time.  Counting down the seconds.  You better believe I earned my place at the start of the line.  I’ve been camping out here since late Wednesday.  Yeah, yeah, the holiday was yesterday.  Whatever, I had my family’s full endorsement.

Because that new high-definition television beckons.  The best in zoning out technology.  All channel access.  Cutting edge entertainment.  Bleeding edge.  That blade is sharp, baby.  Like a razor.

But this kind of escapism is costly.  A reality check says it’s not in my family’s budget.  We don’t make that kind of money, and so here I am.  Among all the others vying for the same prize.

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Only one will get there first.  Only one available.  Must have TV.  Must have T.V.  Must.  Have.  T.  V.

An employee approaches the door.  Nobody noteworthy.  A soon-to-be-casualty.  No more.  No less.

We rise and lurch into place.  Ready…

On your mark.

Get set.

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Go!

Black Friday Dealz... Must Have TV... Zombie Apocalypse
Black Friday Dealz… Must Have TV… Zombie Apocalypse

Original images generated with Nightcafe AI art generator.

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. Or if you just want more zombies, might I recommend either Elvis or the Fashionistas?

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