First one here. Always the first. And almost the closest.
Three weeks ago they trusted me with a key. They wanted me to feel proud. As if it meant to me what it meant to them.
Saturday morning, October. Grey skies make it seem earlier than the already ungodly hour. Somehow the alarm went off, so they called me out to check the place, as if I even could. It all looked fine, or as fine as I thought it would ever look.
When the cops got here they managed to miss me sitting alone in my car and spent some time searching for the door, which looks just like a window.
The car rocks in the gust of wind. Around me are other units that look just like this one, but they are all empty or seem to be. Now that I look at it, this one could almost be empty too from this perspective.
The hard breeze sways me. I could be on a beach, alone, in the sun. I could be anywhere. I was once told I could be anything I wanted to be. And now I am this. Cause. Effect. y=f(x). Function. Total sum. Zero sum. 'You only get out what you put in'.. False memories. I sat through three years of trigonometry, two years of Latin and a year of a university course I hated so I could sit here, right now, doing this. Go forward. Be bright. Do well.
I decide to sit here longer and stare at the eyeless face that stares back at me, trying to see which of us will blink first.
A playlist for the album can be found here.
Titles conceived, composed, arranged and performed by Mike Dickson
(c) 2026, Black Cat Music Factory