{"id":1279,"date":"2023-09-04T05:35:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T09:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/?p=1279"},"modified":"2024-07-04T21:31:45","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T01:31:45","slug":"dry-dock-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/dry-dock-three\/","title":{"rendered":"dry dock – three"},"content":{"rendered":"

the ghost and the one way<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Is it just me, or does this entire place taste like ash?”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is quiet for a while before the small voice returns, glazed with guilt.<\/p>\n

“Listen, I owe you an apology. For all I know, you’re just as oblivious as I am. Or maybe you know something but can’t say. Or won’t. I don’t know. The point is, I was a jerk back there. I’m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

On and on.<\/p>\n

“Can you… um. Understand me?”<\/p>\n

A look.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOh\u2026 kay. But you don\u2019t speak, so, um.\u201d<\/p>\n

The small voice pauses, assessing something.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen,\u201d he says, \u201cI can\u2019t carry a conversation. I can\u2019t even safely lift one, not by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another pause; expectant, maybe.<\/p>\n

\u201cUm,\u201d he continues, collecting himself, \u201canyway, you\u2019ll have to forgive me but if no one talks here, I think I might go insane. Um. Do you have any idea where we are? Or where we\u2019re going? Or um. Anything?\u201d<\/p>\n

serene, this place, it seems to the ghost<\/em><\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

apart from the tic in his tiny pathet tones<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess that\u2019s a no?\u201d<\/p>\n

an unwalled hall with no trace of echo<\/em><\/p>\n

A look.<\/p>\n

a little ash never hurt anyone<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHey,\u201d he exclaims, \u201cthat\u2019s great! Um.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rethinks and explains:<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat that we\u2019re communicating, I mean. Not that we\u2019re, like, clueless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harried little eyes search the haunted ones beside.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, this is weird to ask, but I\u2019ve been wondering ever since that\u2026 thing, back there\u2026 said \u2018good morning\u2019 to me, and um. You know, the ghost<\/em> beside me\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The small voice braces.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I dead?\u201d<\/p>\n

Unafraid, he guesses, of death.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

Fearful, for sure, of dying.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh. Um. Are\u2026 you dead?\u201d<\/p>\n

A look.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d he says quietly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Feeling small, indeed, this morning.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to talk about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The ghost slows, slightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cS-sorry,” he stammers, “b-bad joke. Not good. I\u2019m sorry, that was stupid. I, um.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shame seeps in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to make you laugh but now I realize you probably don\u2019t do that. I have a bad habit of making bad jokes at bad times. It\u2019s actually been\u2026 um\u2026 wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some hint of something else<\/em> flits past —<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was… I remembered something.\u201d<\/p>\n

— a moment, reaching, but —<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s gone now.\u201d<\/p>\n

— lost once more, along the only one way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the ghost and the one way<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-phanton","post_format-post-format-image","content-columns-1"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on.png",2400,1350,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-300x169.png",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-768x432.png",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-1024x576.png",904,509,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-1536x864.png",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-2048x1152.png",2048,1152,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on.png",711,400,false],"post-thumbnail-mobile":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on.png",480,270,false],"post-thumbnail-full":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on.png",904,509,false],"origami-slider":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on.png",889,500,false],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-272x182.png",272,182,true],"sow-blog-portfolio":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-375x375.png",375,375,true],"sow-blog-grid":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-720x480.png",720,480,true],"sow-blog-alternate":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/on-and-on-950x630.png",950,630,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"boy","author_link":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/author\/theboy\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"the ghost and the one way","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1279"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}