Neville Park pt. V

'Leaving without saying goodbye? Not polite.'

The woman in the red hat strutted around my sprawled out form. She wasn't exactly inviting me to get up, but I sensed no threat of being thrown to the ground again. I stood up, checked to make sure the sewer exit was still there (yes) and slowly backed away from her.

'I can't understand why you keep running away. It's not doing you any good.'

This deep into it, I wanted to know more of the mystery, of the circumstances that brought me to this absurd place. So I stayed for a moment.

'I want to be free. I want to get back where I came from, get back home.'
'You are home.' She smiled.
'This isn't home. This isn't where I belong.'
'Home is a state of mind.'

During this exchange I'd been slowly backing towards the open grate. It was only a few metres away: a dozen more lines of dialogue and I'd be halfway down. I sensed the rush of all the tremendous monsters I'd encountered approaching the crescent, but even they wouldn't catch me in time.

'Why did you bring me here?'
'You brought yourself here.'
'Not buying it. I don't know what you are, but I intend to get out of here momentarily. Then once I'm back in my own bedroom, I'm gonna use this experience to write a best selling Fantasy Romance novel, which will sell millions of copies in drugstores. So yeah lady, anything else you wanna say before I escape?'

The rush of monsters had just entered the crescent but instead of lunging for me they formed a half circle around the open grate. I thought perhaps she was deliberating over a response was just to delay me so her beasts could strike, but instead they backed away in almost beautiful harmony.

'The sooner you accept that you're here, the sooner you'll enjoy it. Until then, we just keep playing this game.'

With a dismissing shout of 'Nonsense!' and a lewd gesture to finish, I scrambled down the shaft just as I heard the monsters clawing at the ladder. A bright red light overwhelmed my vision and then my sense of touch. I lost my grip on the ladder and fell fast into an endless nothing.

-----

'Dude! You okay? That was quite a drop! Anyone know this guy?'

I was dizzy from an apparently hard impact with the floor. My body was firm as ever though, and undamaged. I tried to wave off the concerned faces from above but one came down the ladder as I got to my feet. His concern was genuine, though familiar in some faint way.

'Sure you're all right, man? That was a serious misstep!'
'Yeah... just a bad tumble but... I think I'll be good.'
'Yeah yeah. Just in case though take a swig of this. It's pretty hazy up there, I was feeling something dizzy myself.'

The stranger handed me a flask, which I took a swig of. It was mostly full and as such I swallowed more than I intended. Bourbon probably. When it's in your nostrils it all tastes the same.

'Harris! Get back up here! We're rolling another one!'
'Yeah! I'll be right up! Hold on to this for me, will you?'

Before I could refuse the flask and hand it back, he'd disappeared back up onto the roof. It was getting late and I didn't much care to wait for a herbal episode to end itself. I went downstairs for my jacket and bag, and to find Gregory so to leave the flask with the birthday boy.
Halfway down the stairs I ran into Gregory's girlfriend and she immediately asked me how I liked the food. I smiled and nodded, ignored the giant green grain still stuck between my back teeth, and escaped before my stomach could growl harsh revenge upon her. In the kitchen was where I found Gregory, having an intense conversation with a girl too busy posing in a swimsuit to respond.

'Hey dude I'm off. Thanks for a great party.'
'Coates!eyahyou'vebeen thanksfor comingIreallyappreciate it you'regrwat! Great! That's all I'm saying. All I'm saying.'
'Yeah. Great.'

Gregory gave me a giant hug, one so strong he accidentally pulled me back into the fridge, knocking over the woman on the calendar he'd been so engaged with. A coupon for Star Burger also fell to the ground, which I claimed with as much sneakiness as a pickpocket robbing a nudist. There were also some chocolate raisins in a bowl, but I asked if I could have those. Honour amongst coupon thieves, you know.

'Takeimtakeim she doesn'tlikeim don'thave enoughfibrebutgawd damn everythingshemakes hasdamnfgrains I can't even finishamealwithoutfeelinglikeI'mmadeofstraw!'

Gregory leaned towards me, spilling some of his drink onto my shoes. By the smell I figured it was wine.

'Butyouwouldn'tdo that, Miss... November... Ibetyouhavealottarecipesthat are great anddelicious... hey... where'dmyTzarBurgercoupongo...'
'Have a good night dude!'

I made it to the front door, found my jacket and my sharp blue shoes and headed out. There was a porch out front with some smokers, perfect as I did not know this area well and needed directions to the nearest transit point. All of the smokers offered their help.

'There's a streetcar that runs nearby. Just follow the major street. Be careful around the lake.'
'Yeah be careful! Lots of weirdos out there.'
'It's chilly out, hope you brought your gloves!'
'Have a good night, guy!'
'Take er easy, dude! Streetcar is right there!'
'Peace.'
'Hey, you might need this.'

A girl in a green dress slipped something into my back jeans pocket and blew me a kiss farewell. I felt around in the pocket, finding a pack of gum, and figured that was her way of telling me my breath stunk. The main street was just around the corner. My hands were trembling, it was colder than I remembered.

There was a woman in a large red hat watching me from the shadow of a streetlamp. I glanced over at her and she smiled back. My stomach also was growling and I turned away. There had only been weird food at that party, everything had grains in it. Like, ultra aggressive green and red grains that were the size of nickels. And they were in everything, even the pasta. Hopefully there was a Star Burger on the way home.

Then seemingly by my command, the smell of barbeque lingered in the air.  I figured it would fade yet instead it grew stronger. By the next corner I spotted smoke in the air, leading down this new street. The wind was whispering and my hands were cold again. I looked up and the houses of this street veered high above me, many with stairwells or walkways scaling the mini-mountains where the summit was the front door. I went on for the smoke. It felt like years since I'd last eaten.