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Dissonance Media, and

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Unlimited slows. Why

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do they wear clothes like that? We're

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watching someone walk on a red carpet

4:04

with oversized hips, gigantic shoulders and in

4:06

a shiny black material that made them

4:08

walk robotically. They look

4:11

unhappy for the whole affair, until the

4:13

flushers flush them, and then suddenly they

4:15

expose their super white teeth like they're

4:17

ready to bite. It's

4:19

so the flushers flush at them, I say,

4:22

excited and entranced. They

4:24

like it when people look at them. My

4:27

sister goes on about how crazy and dangerous it

4:29

is out there, and that's why we're better

4:31

off in here. My brother tells us not to

4:33

watch it at all. He says it's

4:35

risky just to look at it. The

4:37

portal might let something in, he says. But

4:40

I don't care. I think it looks

4:42

fun. I think it

4:44

looks like my future. The

4:46

day mother and father decided not to come home

4:48

was a Tuesday. They said

4:51

goodbye in a stern and upright manner, as they

4:53

usually did. After father left

4:55

with his bags, mother run back and kiss

4:57

me on the forehead for the first and

4:59

only time I remember. She

5:01

smiles in a way that makes me squint with

5:04

suspicion. She kisses me and says,

5:07

go and be happy son. I

5:09

look at her confused. I don't

5:11

know what the word son means at this point. I

5:14

think she's talking about the son in the picture

5:16

books, and I'm baffled why she wants me to

5:18

be a happy yellow circle with a big crisp

5:20

grin. So, I

5:22

grin and show my grey teeth because I think that it's

5:24

what I should be doing. Now

5:27

I know what a son is. Now

5:29

I know I wasn't a duug, as they

5:31

usually called me. My sister

5:33

wasn't a duag. My

5:35

parents definitely weren't my duugos. But

5:38

these days it makes for a killer story at the

5:40

parties everyone wants to be at. When

5:42

I recount the word for blood, people ooze

5:44

with intrigue. When I

5:46

shout foreign curse words, they howl with delight.

5:50

When I piss in the urinal and recap a

5:52

different word for each shade of yellow, they gawp

5:54

in disbelief. The day our

5:56

parents left, we checked the cupboards and found seven

5:59

days of... eggs and rice remaining.

6:05

My doodle, what I now call my brother,

6:08

was the one that panicked through his militant

6:10

commanding. He'd say things like

6:12

reserves and rations, while pointing so

6:14

hard his knuckles turned white. He'd

6:17

say things like 1800 hours and

6:19

T-30 minutes while I counted down

6:21

the days. I

6:24

was going to escape this dump and be a

6:26

happy son. On the

6:28

first night we're abandoned, my sister reminds us,

6:30

as always, to lay the stones of

6:32

protection. She acutely reminds

6:35

us that they're the only thing between us

6:37

and getting dragged back to hell for our

6:39

demonly sins. She could never

6:41

tell us what those demonly sins were. She

6:44

says, three stones perfectly placed in

6:46

front of our bedroom doors, and

6:48

then checks each one before we all stand ready to

6:50

say good night. But

6:52

this night she asks, what are we going

6:54

to do when we run out of food? My

6:57

brother says, we cannot leave

6:59

under any circumstance. We

7:01

get caught, and by we,

7:04

he means us demons, as

7:06

her parents like to call us. But

7:08

we need to eat doodle, my

7:10

doodle says. We're going

7:12

to starve if we can't get any more absolute and

7:14

a chucker. That's eggs and

7:17

rice to you and me. My

7:19

brother thinks and strains and sweats as he

7:21

rolls his fingers into fists and I busily

7:23

pick my ear. I'll

7:25

think of a plan. I'll look after

7:27

us, he says, and I yawn

7:30

and go to bed. I

7:32

had big plans of my own to think about. I

7:35

watched my brother and sister slip into predictable

7:37

panic over the next few days. They

7:40

became noisier, then quieter, and

7:43

then a bit of both. They thought

7:45

they knew what was coming. Mother

7:47

and father said demons aren't welcome here. We'd

7:50

be spotted straight away, father told us. If

7:52

we ever step outside or peer through the windows, blue

7:55

and red lights would hunt us down. We'd

7:58

be captured and tortured for the rest of our lives. our

8:00

eternal lives. The humans

8:02

wanted to keep all of their precious up salute and

8:04

a chucker to themselves. My

8:07

brother and sister waited for the inevitable, and

8:09

I was too busy planning my escape. I

8:12

studied the humans on TV while my brother and

8:14

sister fell apart. These

8:17

people looked important. I

8:19

watched something called a gala, and

8:21

was awestruck at how simultaneously spectacular

8:23

and ridiculous they looked. Hypnotized

8:26

by their silly, glittery costumes, I would

8:29

look down at my faded beige uniform

8:31

with resentment. There's someone

8:33

dressed as a cat. Someone

8:35

covered in gold. Another

8:37

damn cat. Another

8:39

diseased with crystals, and another concealed in

8:41

so many flowers they can't see or

8:44

walk properly. If

8:46

they can look as stupid as they want, then they

8:48

must be powerful. That's

8:50

going to be me, I'm thinking, as my

8:52

brother searches the house for more edible goods.

8:55

I'm going to wear clothes like that, I imagine, as

8:58

my sister digs through the cupboards. I'm

9:00

going to be a celebrity, I vow, as my

9:03

brother and sister hug each other in the kitchen

9:05

and cry. Celebrity

9:07

is tragic. It's trauma.

9:11

The bigger the catastrophe, the bigger the flashes.

9:14

But catastrophe gets shared. It's

9:16

like a commodity. Attention

9:18

is a limited resource. There's

9:21

only so many eyes to tempt. It's

9:23

like what's left of the up salute, I think,

9:25

as I'm watching the portal on our last day

9:27

of rations. We've got

9:29

one more each, my brother says, and I don't

9:32

want to share. I want

9:34

all the up salute. I'm

9:36

hungry. So I

9:38

hatch a plan as I'm stuffing the last piece into

9:40

my mouth. My brother flaps

9:42

his arms in panic, and my sister tries to

9:45

calm him by rubbing his back. We're

9:47

standing by our doors and lining up the

9:49

protection stones. One, two,

9:52

three. I arrange

9:54

mine faster than ever, as I think of

9:57

flowers and crystals and ostrich feathers. My

9:59

brother says,