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Out front I look around for my car, then realize I don't have a car.

How the fuck did I get here?

Shit, where do I live?

I really don't have a clue. Where the hell do I live? I'm sitting there making fun of Jonathan about being out of his head and now I can't even remember where I live.

I light a cigarette and walk down towards the water. I want to be away from the party, I don't want someone seeing me roaming around aimlessly like a stoned-out kook.

K, let's think. I lived at Ma's, then I moved in with Jim in Renton. I can't live in either place, I don't have a car. Wait.

I check my pockets and find no car keys.

I either got a ride, taxi'd, or walked.

None of this helps me out.

"Ah ha!" I say out loud and get my wallet out.

I don't have a wallet. Or, my wallet is gone. Why am I not dressed up? Wasn't it a Halloween party?

Shit, people are coming.

What the fuck? Those aren't people. What the fuck is that?

Two black shapes are approaching me. There's like these glowing orbs above and to the right of each of them. They look human, but are all black, like as in no features, just black bodies with outlines around limbs and heads.

I can't fucking move. I sit down, hard onto a chair



Part Four: Heaven



And I'm on Mars.

I don't live on Earth anymore. I'm up in space, on Mars.

The Walmarts, invasion, and games of Solitaire come back to me like the ecstasy rush that may or may not have brought me here.

The black apparitions were for real and are standing in front of me. I realize I'm used to them now.

They're around eight feet tall. Close up, there is still no definition to them, they're just human in form only, the rest is void. They're like black holes personified. Their orbs are now alternating between green and red to the right of each of them.

They could be guarding me.

I'm in a perfectly white room. There's no definition to the room, much like the sentinels but white. I couldn't tell if the room is only a few feet or a few hundred miles.

I cast no shadow.

Surprisingly, I'm wearing the bellbottoms from Earth, and not the purple jumpsuit from Dynacorp.

"Do you talk?" That's the most I can manage and the sound that comes out of me barely forms words.

The Sentinels don't reply. Instead, the orbs glow brighter and turn yellow, then fade to black.

I stare at a landscape made up of two uniform colors now. The orbs don't appear to be spinning, like they did when they had color.

Abruptly, they light up again in red and voices come out of the orbs in unison, as if broadcast through some shitty HAM radio "You have been found."