Hello, Hermits, and welcome to the fifth ritual of Hermit Rites! February was a month, eh? It was not quite as stressful for me as January, although it did suck a little bit mid-month when my roommate became my former roommate. This does mean louder music now, so there are some plus sides to being a crazy cat dad living alone. I just have no idea who misses her more, me or Oscar.
February brought changes to how I write in a specific way: the app I was using on my laptop needs to be registered to use (Atlantis) and I have not registered it yet. So I had to switch back to a word processor I like less (AbiWord), but still with no AI functions. In fact, the one I switched back to isn’t even supported anymore. It’s pretty awesome. The amount I wrote was also pretty okay. I always wish for more but that’s because of how many stories I feel inside of me trying to get out. I’m working on a cold horror/cryptid and I started and finished a disgusting little splatterpunk. I think being forced to change part of my writing process in this small way has helped to change my creativity.
Music was almost always in my ears in February, but honestly not as much as January. There were many hours spent without music playing, which was weird as hell but also refreshing. New bands or albums were not explored nearly as much either, instead focusing on the shit that I already knew and loved. Some might spot what part of the month I started writing the aforementioned disgusting splatterpunk (hint: 51). I also listened to a bunch of Darkthrone, who are still I think my favourite band ever, and My Dying Bride, who are in contention for that crown. If I allowed myself to, I could probably write many paragraphs on those two bands and more. Perhaps I should allow myself to?
In comparison to last year, I for sure did not “crush” my reading goals this month, but I did exceed them by reading two one-and-a-half books, the fantastic Welcome to Meadowbrook by Cassandra L. Thompson and most of Finders Keepers by Stephen King. Thompson’s prose makes me wish I wasn’t on a book buying ban because I want everything she’s ever written now. And well, it’s Uncle Steve. I’m sadly quite behind in both buying and reading his books, which is why I’m reading so many of his (hopefully) this year.
When it comes to watching movies, I don’t do it very often. I used to literally watch a movie a night at one point in my life (early 20’s). This month I watched The Substance and I think it’s one of my favourite movies. Like, ever.
At the end of this ritual is the short story “Entrance” that I wrote back in 2021. It, like “The Transfer” last month, is raw and un-edited. There are things about it, reading over it again to include it here, that I might expand upon if the idea seeds germinate. As a funny (to me) aside, I realized that a much more recent piece I was working on could actually become a sequel to “Entrance”, with just the right amount of tweaks.
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February’s Music and Reviews
This month I kind of wanted to keep things closer to what I already knew. January was a tonne of musical exploration, this month is the opposite for the most part. This is because I wanted to listen to a specific Darkthrone CD, and couldn’t find it, but I did find a bunch of other CDs I wanted to listen to that I had not in awhile. This also means that in my last move I lost a lot of CDs. So now I need to replace them, probably via Bandcamp and Revolver.
Some of what I’ve listened to I’ve also reviewed, and the reviews are, handily, below. The formats I listen to are Bandcamp [BC], Cassette [CS], Compact Disc [CD]. If you see a release title with “Quotation Marks” around it, it’s literally just a song, not a full release. February is the first time I’m using years and genre, it might not continue, so please let me know what you think of that info. Also, the titles in Italics are bands from Canada.
1. Fornicus – Storming Heaven [2014] [BC] [Blackened Death] 2. Fornicus – Feast for Rats EP [2015] [BC] [Blackened Death] 3. Solothus – Summoned from the Void [2013] [BC] [Death Doom] 4. Face Rot – Ritual of Death [2014] [BC] [Black Metal] 5. Sisyphean – Illusions of Eternity [2017] [BC] [Black Metal] 6. Horrendous – Anareta [2015] [CS] [Death Metal] 7. Dead Jesus – More Funerals [2007] [CD] [Death Metal] 8. Protosequence – Biophagous [2017] [BC] [Technical Deathcore]
9. Darkthrone/Mayhem – The True Legends in Black (x2) [CD] [Death Metal/Black Metal]
Once upon a time I saw this in a Super Tunes in Edmonton. At the time, I was kind of just getting deeper into black metal, and had already been a huge fan of Darkthrone. Naturally it follows that I bought it, a sealed(?) copy of Darkthrone and Mayhem together on one Compact Disc for one low-ass price of like $15 or some shit? Years later I found out it’s a total bootleg to boot! I had no idea it was not an official release at the time nor could I check as cellular telephones were not smart yet. Had I known when I bought it that it was a bootleg, I’d have paid $20. That was like seventeen, eighteen years ago, so most of those facts don’t matter anymore. What does matter, however, is that the first three tracks are Darkthrone’s Thulcandra demo, and the rest are Mayhem’s Deathcrush demo, showing just what Norwegian death metal and black metal sounded like back in 1987. And it sounded like shit! If, like me, you’re already a fan of old black and death metal—and punk too, really—you’ll know this is actually a compliment. There’s no incredible displays of technicality, there’s no fancy production techniques, the only bells and whistles are drums and feedback, respectively. And none of these tracks actually have bells, so my analogy there is really fuckin flimsy. It’s the auditory equivalent of eating raw and anemic steak with no sides. I’ll take a second plate please, thanks for holding the parsley garnish.
10. Ihsahn – angL [2008] [CD] [Progressive Metal] 11. Jenn Taiga – Plight [2024] [BC] [Kosmische Musik] 12. Lust Hag/Reaping Fields – Prayers Unanswered (Split) [2024] [BC] [Black Metal/Eleanorcore] 13. Anachronist – The Fall of Opulence [2024] [BC] [Black Metal] 14. Horrendous – The Chills [2012] [CS] [Death Metal] 15. Darkthrone – Soulside Journey (x2) [1990] [CD] [Death Metal] 16. Cattle Decapitation – Monolith of Inhumanity [2012] [BC] [Technical Deathgrind] 17. Darkthrone – A Blaze in the Northern Sky [1992] [CD] [Black Metal] 18. Darkthrone – Under a Funeral Moon [1993] [CD] [Black Metal] 19. Norilsk – The Idea of North [2016] [CS] [Funeral Doom] 20. Ruin – Spread Plague Hell [2015] [CS] [Death Metal] 21. Walden – Imbolc [2025] [BC] [Folk] 22. Mnajdra – The Lady of Verdala [2025] [BC] [Blackened Sludge] 23. Judas Priest – British Steel [1980] [CS] [Heavy Metal] 24. Zeal and Ardor – Devil is Fine [2017] [BC] [Black Metal] 25. Mahpiya Luta – Wowahwala [2023] [BC] [Black Metal] 26. Sylfvr – A Nice Evening Stroll/Soul Vapour [2024] [BC] [Fantasy Synth/Sylfvrcore] 27. Dawn Treader – Bloom & Decay [2024] [BC] [Black Metal] 28. Type O Negative – October Rust [1996] [CD] [Gothic Doom] 29. Dimmu Borgir – Death Cult Armageddon [2003] [CD] [Symphonic Black Metal] 30. Katatonia – Brave Murder Day [1996] [BC] [Death Doom] 31. Hell Hounds – Paint the World EP (x2) [2017] [BC] [Symphonic Metal/Melodeath] 32. My Dying Bride – The Manuscript EP (x2) [2013] [BC] [Death Doom] 33. Impaled – The Last Gasp [2008] [CD] [Death Metal/Punk] 34. My Dying Bride – Feel the Misery (x2) [2015] [BC] [Death Doom] 35. Vile Insignia – Bestial Invocation [2015] [BC] [Blackened Death] 37. Lifelover – Konkurs [2010] [BC] [Black Metal/DSBM] 37. Pig Destroyer – Head Cage [2018] [BC] [Grindcore] 38. Morke – Sleepy Eye [2016] [BC] [Black Metal] 39. Weald and Woe – For the Good of the Realm (x3) [2023] [BC] [Castle Metal] 40. Dimmu Borgir – For All Tid ‘97 Re-release [1994] [CD] [Symphonic Black Metal] 41. Junius – Blood is Bright (Remastered) [2006] [BC] [Post Rock] 42. Hircine – Old Kings Fall [2022] [BC] [Fantasy Synth/Dungeon Synth] 43. Hircine – Luna and the Light [2023] [BC] [Fantasy Synth/Dungeon Synth] 44. Darkthrone – Panzerfaust [1995] [BC] [Black Metal] 45. Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger [1994] [BC] [Black Metal] 46. Darkthrone – Goatlord [1996] [BC] [Black Metal] 47. Ocean of Ghosts – I Am Awake And My Body Is On Fire (x2) [2022] [BC] [Doom Metal] 48. Bloom Dream – It Didn’t Have To Be This Way [2024] [BC] [Screamo] 49. Alkilith – Hidden Beneath The Veil of Stars (x2) [2022] [BC] [Medieval Fantasy Synth/Dungeon Synth]
50. My Dying Bride – A Line of Deathless Kings (x4) [2006] [BC] [Gothic Doom]
When I first heard the opening track “To Remain Tombless” on KnuckleTracks 100 it blew my fucking wig off. When I saw the CD in HMV I had to buy it, and since then it has been probably my favourite album of all time. Aaron’s vocals are so sorrowful, and there’s not a single death growl until the last like ten seconds of the album. The riffs are punishingly heavy; it’s like having a stone around your neck. There is a quality to this album that I cannot explain. It just transcends everything, which is why I don’t listen to it often. When I do it takes over my life for a couple weeks to a month, as it’s doing this month. It is not just this album this time, though, it’s a good bunch of their work. I love My Dying Bride—the stone is welcome, it’s punishment is beautiful.
51. Cannibal Corpse – Eaten Back to Life [1990] [CD] [Death Metal] 52. Cannibal Corpse – Butchered at Birth [1992] [CD] [Death Metal] 53. Cannibal Corpse – The Bleeding [1993] [CD] [Death Metal] 54. Junius – Forcing Out the Silence (Remastered) (x2) [2004] [BC] [Post Punk/Post Rock] 55. Lust Hag – Demo II/Promo 2023 [2023] [BC] [Black Metal/Eleanorcore] 56. Cherry Cordial – Cherry Cordial [2022] [BC] [Cozy Synth] 57. Griftegard – Solemn. Sacred. Severe. [2009] [BC] [Doom Metal] 58. Cara Neir – Portals to a Better, Dead World [2013] [BC] [Blackened Crust] 59. Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst [1999] [CD] [Death Metal] 60. Dark Cascadian Forests - The Gate [2024] [BC] [Forest Synth/Frothcore] 61. Vanagandr - Felled Yew [2024] [BC] [Black Metal] 62. Howling Fjord - Utgarde Keep (x3) [2025] [BC] [Fantasy Synth/Sylfvrcore] 63. Doris Melton - Reflected Perspective (x3) [2023] [BC] [Progressive Rock/Dance Rock] 64. Dead Neanderthals - Other Worlds [2024] [BC] [Krautrock?] 65. Dark Tranquillity - Fiction [2007] [BC] [Melodeath] 66. The Dandy Warhols - Summer of Hate (Single) [2024] [BC] [Indie Rock] 67. The Dandy Warhols - This Machine [2012] [CD] [Indie Rock] 68. VENUS-426 - Deche-Charge Brain Rot Go Brrr [2024] [BC] [Noisecore/Wendycore] 69. My Dying Bride - Macabre Cabaret (x2) [2020] [BC] [Doom Metal] 70. Katatonia - Viva Emptiness [2003] [BC] [Dark Metal] 71. My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding (x2) [2024] [BC] [Doom Metal] 72. Ancient VVisdom - Deathlike [2013] [BC] [Rock] 73. Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated [1992] [CD] [Death Metal] 74. Fogweaver - Vedurnan (x2) [2020] [BC] [Fantasy Synth/Evergreencore] 75. Meridian - The Seventh Sun [2002] [CD] [Black Metal] 76. Cannibal Corpse - Gallery of Suicide [1998] [CD] [Death Metal] 77. Wintersleep - Wintersleep [2008] [BC] [Indie Rock] 78. Das Kazchen - Daz Kazchen [2024] [BC] [Blackened Crust] 79. Starer - Wind, Breeze or Breath [2023] [BC] [Black Metal/Snow Wolf-core] 80. Afsky - Sorg [2018] [BC] [Black Metal] 81. Afsky - Ofte jeg drømmer mig død [2020] [BC] [Black Metal] 82. AIAA 7 - Sueños eternos [2023] [BC] [Black Metal] 83. Ahna - Crimson Dawn [2020] [BC] [Crust] 84. Boréalys - Là où les eaux se séparent [2020] [BC] [Black Metal] 85. Anguish - Doomkvädet [2021] [BC] [Doom Metal] 86. Aruspex - Hawthorne & Henbane [2024] [BC] [Crust] 87. Matthew Good - Avalanche [2002] [CD] [Rock] 88. Old Man’s Child - Slaves of the World [2009] [CD] [Black Metal] 89. Lust Hag - Lascivious Nocturnality [2023] [BC] [Black Metal/Eleanorecore] 90. Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos [1989] [BC] [Death Metal] 91. Bolt Thrower - Cenotaph [1991] [BC] [Death Metal] 92. Fire and Sword - Glory [2024] [BC] [Heavy Metal] 93. Finger Eleven - Tip (x2) [1998] [CD] [Alternative Rock] 94. Rammstein - Herzeleid [1996] [CD] [Industrial Metal] 94. Rammstein - Sehnsucht [1998] [CD] [Industrial Metal] 95. Dark Cascadian Forests - Cloaked in Darkness, Cloaked in Rain [2023] [BC] [Forest Synth/Frothcore] 96. Robes of Snow - The Wooden Wheel: Spring and Shadow [2024] [BC] [Dark Folk] 97. The Jesus and Mary Chain - 21 Singles 1984-1998 [2002] [CD] [Post Punk] 98. Rammstein - Mutter [2001] [CD] [Industrial Metal] 99. Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain [2014] [CD] [Death Metal] 100. Weald and Woe - The Fate of Kings and Men [2020] [BC] [Castle Metal] 101. An Autumn for Crippled Children - Try Not To Love Everything You Destroy EP [2014] [BC] [Post Black Metal] 102. Ancient VVisdom - Sacrificial [2014] [BC] [Occult Rock] 103. southern shores - the great lake huron [2025] [BC] [Winter Synth/Timcore] 104. Alehoof/Black Axe - Split [2024] [BC] [Crust/Dungeon Synth] 105. Onionville/Gorgons Alter - The Sorrow, The King and the Onion Horde (Split) [2024] [BC] [Dungeon Synth] 106. Warlocks of Morgul - Caliginous Fortress of Woe [2025] [BC] [Black Metal] 107. Unholy Altar - Veil of Death! Shroud of Nite [2025] [BC] [Black Metal] 108. Delonix Regia - Purnama [2024] [BC][Comfy Synth] 109. Dungavenhooter - Fucked Into Nonexistence [2025] [BC] [Death Metal] 110. Dodsferd - Suicide and the Rest of Your Kind Will Follow [2009] [CD] [Black Metal] 111. Dodsferd - Wrath [2024] [BC] [Black Metal] 112. Apollyon - False Light [2018] [BC] [Blackened Death] 113. Iravu - A Fate Worse Than Home [2023] [BC] [Blackened Death] 114. Darkthrone - F.O.A.D. [2007] [CD] [Heavy Metal] 115. My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World [1999] [BC] [Doom Metal] 116. Nightshade - Belladonna [2023] [BC] [Synth] 117. Auspicium - For the World That Was and That Is to Come [2022] [BC] [Black Metal] 118. Ancient VVisdom - A Godlike Inferno [2012] [BC] [Occult Rock]
Cassandra L. Thompson’s Welcome to Meadowbrook. Photo by Dustin Ekman.
In 2024 Cassandra L Thompson released Welcome to Meadowbrook, a gothic horror novel that spans decades. The main character of the novel is Meadowbrook herself, a building in the middle of nowhere made of stone, faded burgundy carpets, marble, and gold. She been a hotel for the rich, a psychiatric facility, a casino, and more. We meet Olivia, Randall, Helen, Michael, and of course Harold through the decades and come to care about them and their situation within the very spooky building. The humans in the story move the many plot threads forward, but the Meadowbrook sometimes moves them backwards as well…
There are so many going on that I don’t want to give too much away; it’s all so beautifully woven together. The imagery that Cassandra conjures and her word choices to do so are “…deliciously historical…” to quote a part of this book I read and re-read, and even took a photo of with my phone when I read it. I loved Welcome to Meadowbrook. I think the Meadowbrook and I are going to be acquainted again before the end of the year.
Stephen King’s Finders Keepers. Photo by Dustin Ekman.
Continuing off from Mr Mercedes this novel does not. I expected it would, but didn’t know how exactly, and so I have begun to write this while about to start page 127 of 434. What this story so far is, is a back and forth between the 1970’s and 2000’s. A famous author is murdered, his money and Moleskines stolen and buried in a trunk. The killer gets caught for something else, and heaved into prison for life. A family is struggling financially with the parents on the verge of possible divorce, and the young son finds a fallen tree with a trunk buried under it. He digs it up, finds it is full of money and notebooks, and quietly gets it home. The story starts progressing faster and faster at about the middle, when a certain writer’s killer is released from prison and wants the money and notebooks back. Naturally this is written in the same tone as most Stephen King novels, and the way he writes and the way my brain works makes it so I’m right there. I see, hear, and smell the heads exploding under tires, I watch hungover men puke in jail cells, I’m a fly on the wall when big brothers worry about their little sisters. Unfortunately, since I’ve been in a weird head-space this month, I have not finished reading Finder’s Keepers, so this is as far as the review goes. I’ll have the rest of my thoughts ready next month.
I have started writing this review on the night of the fourth of February, 2025. I’ve just come from my neighbour’s house after watching The Substance, one of them new talkies I’ve wanted to watch for awhile now. The following contains some spoilers. At it’s most surface appearance, The Substance is a body horror movie that is—in just that genre—amazing. The effects are like 99% practical, and Coralie Fargeat, the director, took part not just in designing the effects and prosthetics, but in their use. Some of it is quite gross (complimentary), and possibly triggering for some. It’s not just the visuals either, but the sounds too, including the squish and squelch of sewing flesh back together, and the music. In some scenes everything comes together to become extremely claustrophobic and uncomfortable, which, I mean, is one of the reasons some of us watch horror, eh? Shout out to the elevator/finger nail scene for being particularly effective. It’s once you get barely under the surface, only about as deep as a needle goes to find a vein, that is when The Substance becomes so much more than just a body horror movie that does what it says on the tin. Because this isn’t a movie. The Substance is a fucking film. Demi Moore stars as an aging actress named Elisabeth Sparkle who is fired from her aerobics show on her fiftieth birthday. She then gets into a car accident on the way home, is uninjured somehow, and at the hospital is surreptitiously given a flash drive by the nurse. Curiosity overcomes her, and she plugs it into her TV. A video plays, offering her the ability to become her younger, better self again, with a few catches. She calls the number on the flash drive, goes to the sketchy alley to get the black market drug that gives the movie it’s name, The Substance, and goes home. In her bathroom she’s checking herself out and decides to pull the trigger. Well, push the plunger, and then out of her back she gives birth to Sue. Sue, played by Margaret Qualley, then sees the ad the network placed to find a replacement for Elisabeth, and goes in. And gets the job. Elisabeth’s show is renamed Pump It Up, and Sue becomes the biggest name in television. Now here is where the catches in the use of The Substance begin to wear at the tenuous relationship of Elisabeth and Sue, shall we say, with some serious shit hitting some pretty big fans. As the film progresses, the horrors progress, and the cinematography, music, costumes, and prosthetics progress along with them to lead to an incredible crescendo of violence that brings one of the most beautifully gory endings that will sit right alongside classics like Carrie and The Fly and Requiem for a Dream. Thematically, The Substance talks about beauty standards for women and the male gaze throughout. It tackles topics like aging, misogyny, the power that men in male-dominated fields hold and the hypocrisy they spew. The whole thing is a giant fuck you to everything that Hollywood is, was, and forever shall be, and will go down as a goddamn classic as a result. Nominations for the film are plentiful, with a few wins, and every single one is deserved. Huge note for the cinematography and sound design of The Substance, I would give this film awards just in the first like twenty minutes alone. I remember when Demi Moore was on the cover of everything in the 90’s. And if she wasn’t on the cover, her name was because she was inside. To see her tackle being an aging star so head on like this is fantastic. Margaret Qualley I’ve never seen nor heard of before seeing The Substance, but holy shit she’s good. Her descent into madness is intense, especially with the hyperrealistic camera work and colours used by Coralie Fargeat giving it such a visceral feeling. Also, a special note on Dennis Quaid, who plays the executive who fires Elisabeth and hires Sue. Ray Liotta was originally cast for the role, but sadly died. I would love to have seen his take on the character (Ray Liotta is fantastic), but Dennis Quaid plays every stereotype of a shitty fake executive ever and he’s so damn good at it, going so far as to Denethor several pounds of shrimp in one scene and then immediately running over and glad (shrimp) handing some other old guy who means nothing to no one to avoid answering Elisabeth’s questions.
Entrance
The three teenagers huddled behind the fence in the alley, beside a garbage can that reeked of diapers and Chef Boyardee. Dim light was provided by a bare bulb shining above a garage door a few houses down. Each youth was wearing the same band’s hoodie with the hoods up and balaclavas over their green face masks. If their family saw them this way they wouldn’t be able to tell who was who, but each of the kids knew the others just as they knew themselves.
Gareth’s grey eyes shone with excitement. “Downstairs,” he whispered. “They have video games and booze.” His back was to the fence and his round boyish face was lit up by the garage light. The balaclava was terrible at obscuring the wearer; Gareth’s different eye colour alone singled him out in this town as a point of ridicule, and his size did not help either.
“What’s upstairs?” Sean’s eyes were completely in shadow. The barest suggestion of angular features was discernible in the gloom of his hood. His hands opened and closed in his flapping way in the single pocket.
“Nothing we want to fuck with.”
Sean nodded. “Sounds good.”
As per their usual, Corey didn’t say a word. They hated talking. Confirming a go signal with a right thumb up, Corey stood up and under their careful hand, the gate into the backyard of the Henderson’s was opened soundlessly. The WD-40 they sprayed on the hinges probably helped as well.
The light from above the unknown garage door did not follow the trio into the Hendersons’s yard. The darkness was thicker there. It pressed down onto the shoulders of the kids and squeezed their chests. All three felt their hearts speed up and reality sharpen with adrenaline.
Corey reached behind themself to grab Gareth’s hand. Gareth reached behind him to grab Sean. A three link chain of teenagers made its way from the gate to the side of the shed in the corner. With their finger over their lips, gesturing for Gareth and Sean to stay quiet and get low, Corey made their way to the side of the house.
“The hell are they doing?” Gareth whispered.
“Fucked if I know, mate.” Sean’s enthusiasm for this endeavour was beginning to dissipate already. “They’re a bit of a nutter,” he said matter-of-fact.
Corey stopped, stooped, and after a moment of fiddling with something, they gestured for the others to come. They had opened the window to the basement, an unexpected and more than welcome development, if Gareth could fit through. If not, they would go with Plan A, breaking in through the back door.
“Well fuck Corey, do you think?” Gareth was skeptical, but Corey popped up their thumb again, then turned it to three quarters. “That’s what I was thinking. I’ll give it a go.”
Sean, the smallest of the group, went down first. He lit his lighter, guiding Corey to follow. The point of ingress was above the washer and dryer. Getting in and out would be easier this way, but there was a risk of noise. The two agreed that Gareth would probably fit, then helped him down into the laundry room of the Henderson’s.
The room was barely big enough for the washer, dryer, and two piles of clothes without the door open. Housing three teenagers made it a cramped and hot affair, but the door stayed closed until all three were fully inside and ready. Corey opened the door like they opened the gate, slowly and carefully. The laundry room opened up to a three-way hall. On the right was a rumpus room, directly ahead was stairs leading up with a storage room door to the left of that, and at the end of the hall was probably a bedroom. Gareth and Sean immediately began investigating the rumpus room while Corey stayed behind and looked into the storage room under the stairs.
Sean pulled out a small torch from his pocket, lighting up the rumpus room. It was a simple rectangle, almost a square, and instead of a door it boasted a simple opening. The television sat on a corner stand, with a pair of green and beat up looking leather chesterfields along the opposing walls. A landscape painting hung above each, one probably a David Lidbetter and the other maybe a Gregory Hardy or someone similar. Sean took his eyes off the walls and empty backpacks were filled. Connected to the ancient Sony television was some classic vintage gaming systems, and each boasted a modest but clearly well curated collection of games.
“Why were you using your lighter if you have a flashlight?” Gareth’s whisper would crumble under the weight of a butterfly, which still surprised Sean after knowing him since they were wee.
“Less light to filter out of the room, less light to cause attention.” Sean narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
“Just wondering.”
The last of the booty was stored in the backpacks and the two boys stood up, ready to make their escape. Corey was not in sight.
“Core?” Sean was glad no one could see his face. He knew his eyes were bugging out, he knew his mouth was hanging open, and he could do nothing about it. “Core where the fuck?” The torch lit up the short hall just as Corey backed out of the storage room and closed the door. They looked over at Sean, their eyes squinting into the light, raising a middle finger.
“Sorry, mate.” Sean lowered the torch and the trio filed back into the laundry room. They exited out the window, Sean going first while Corey passed the backpacks out. Corey clambered out and then helped Sean get Gareth out. Slowly they reformed a chain and picked their path away from the Henderson property, carrying away Henderson property.
Fifteen minutes later, Gareth broke the silence first. “Hey Corey, besides the booze, what all was in that room?” Corey’s only response was to shake their head.
(Dustin Ekman, June 16, 2021)
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