Cheap + Instant

The skyline was on fire. Shae lay on the roof of a highrise with her back resting against the concrete expanse. The rooftop was adorned with damp freckles from the day's wavering showers. Shae's short, acid-yellow hair unfurled a miniature tidal wave of glow-in-the-dark limeade around her head, the flurry of rain diluting some of the neon dye. It had been swirling from the rooftop onto the corroded gutters, until it too could careen to the downspout located 30 elevator stops below. Carefully unzipping her generously gashed-up bag, the perennial black orchid eventually barfed out a few sets of rather resilient matches. Some of the matchbook covers from Las Vegas had scribbled numbers still sloppily glittering in pink ink, while the others hinted at being either stolen or simply given out for free at Redlette's local drug store. Shae plucked a faded, fizzed-out Vegas casino matchbook from the pile. Within a few seconds, she had raced the last, tiny matchstick against the well-scraped striking surface in a brilliant half-circle — a cheap and instant solace. Shae smiled, comforted by the familiar scratch and hiss. The plump flame atop the matchstick was steady in her hand as she held it in front of the sun, closing one eye for a better view of the rising eclipse. “Some friends and I started a writing project today, where we each write something and then give the notebook to the next person, etc. I was the first one to go, this being my first paragraph, although I edited it so much it has absolutely nothing to do with the story now. And there's an eclipse tonight! Which I found out after the fact.” December 21st, 2010