{"id":1286,"date":"2023-09-04T05:56:28","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T09:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/?p=1286"},"modified":"2024-07-04T21:31:45","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T01:31:45","slug":"dry-dock-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/dry-dock-four\/","title":{"rendered":"dry dock – four"},"content":{"rendered":"

the ghost and the unlocked dock
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

\u201cYou know, I\u2019d be willing to bet that when we get to the other end \u2013 if there even is one \u2013 that thing will be there waiting, to tell us to go back to the other-<\/em>other end. I\u2019m pretty sure it was trying<\/em> to make me angry, so I would want to get away. And like it said, there was only one way I could go\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

A moment.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t know, maybe I\u2019m being paranoid. Do you think there\u2019s an other end? Maybe we took a wrong turn, right? Or um. Maybe we\u2019re going the right direction, the wrong way? What is…\u201d<\/p>\n

Stalactic in the static along the long left side of the only one way\u2026<\/p>\n

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

\u201c\u2026that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026with nothing at all, for a frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI um. I don\u2019t think this is the other end. What\u2019s that sound?\u201d<\/p>\n

The small voice listens. The ghost gazes long.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cListen to me, ghost,\u201d the small voice says with sudden nerve, \u201cI meant what I said back there. I will be your friend. Your very best friend. Okay? And as your best friend, I\u2019m asking you – begging you – please do not go in there. There is no chance in a frozen hell that I\u2019m going near that, and if you go then I\u2026 \u201c<\/p>\n

what is<\/strong> that sound?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026please don\u2019t leave me alone here.\u201d<\/p>\n

A look.<\/p>\n

A moment.<\/p>\n

And on.<\/p>\n

“Oh, thank God<\/em>,\u201d the small voice sighs, \u201cI mean, thank you<\/em>! Dude, what the hell was that<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Something, and its frame, shrink behind to a simple line.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, that would have been a great time for you to speak up. Something like \u2018hell no\u2019 would have been perfect. Maybe that’s just how you are all the time, unfazed by… what, anything?”<\/p>\n

The air falters.<\/p>\n

\u201cUm. Is it just me, or did it just get colder?”<\/p>\n

A look.<\/p>\n

“That’s weird, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is fucking weird. Maybe that door was letting in a draft?\u201d<\/p>\n

A shiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d the small voice says quietly, \u201cI don\u2019t like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the ghost and the unlocked dock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-phanton","content-columns-1"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft.png",1884,1350,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-300x215.png",300,215,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-768x550.png",768,550,true],"large":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-1024x734.png",904,648,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-1536x1101.png",1536,1101,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft.png",1884,1350,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft.png",558,400,false],"post-thumbnail-mobile":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft.png",480,344,false],"post-thumbnail-full":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft.png",904,648,false],"origami-slider":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft.png",698,500,false],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-272x182.png",272,182,true],"sow-blog-portfolio":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-375x375.png",375,375,true],"sow-blog-grid":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-720x480.png",720,480,true],"sow-blog-alternate":["https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/on-and-upon-ft-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 unlocked dock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286","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=1286"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1409,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions\/1409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briefbloom.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}