September 23, 2025

I had to pay cash for some tea flavored edibles but the transaction took so long that by the time I stepped out of the store it was already dark. I had a feeling that I was too tired to make it back home in one piece.

I woke up in my room but the lamp next to my bed wasn’t working. My eyes were so sore and my head heavy. It didn’t take long before I pinched my nose as a reality check and felt relieved.

–

My mom asked me what gave old photos their distinctive look. The one she was pointing at had rather soft lighting and a slightly ethereal look. I told her it was probably shot on an overcast day. “Did you know it’s the best [kind of lighting] for photography?” I asked.

–

A cousin had posted in the group chat how their family had recently acquired a taste for horse meat. In fact most of their recent posts were about preparing horse in a variety of ways.

I was walking in a large loop on a campus that seemed to resemble an airport terminal. The campus was the shape of a long oval with access points at each of the four cardinal directions intersected with a cross. In the middle was a central garden area.

I had reached the southern end when I overheard a familiar voice talking about Cyberpunk 2077. However I only realized I had mistaken someone for a friend after I had already gotten their attention. Awkwardly they had recognized me, telling me that a mutual friend had mentioned me before. “You look like the nice, scheming type” they said. “Oh no, I just like hanging around” I replied.

When I got the western side of the ring I decided to take a step into the gardens. I realized that through all of my years here I had never entered this area before. I sat down on the edge of one of the raised beds when I noticed a group of small shark-like creatures flopping around in the stream. I felt a sense of unease when I realized that they were the “tralalero tralala” from the brainrot videos.

Before I knew it, one of them had jumped up and bit into my right heel. It didn’t exactly hurt but my leg immediately went stiff as its jaws clamped down. I started screaming for help as I tried to pry it off to no avail. Eventually I dug out its eyes with my thumbs and started peeling off its bones from its face like you would with a cooked fish but its minuscule teeth were still firmly lodged into my heel.