A Plague of Angels

I heard the cries of “Attack! Attack!” You could feel the ground shake. “Oh shit!” someone said. “This is it.” The whole area was bright. I was feeling that boom till the morning. Now everyone is running after gold. Some dumb girl is running through the woods naked screaming. She’s the reason this is about to happen to you.

*

They arrived at night. We said hello and shook hands with them. I wasn’t thinking of anything. I just did it. I didn’t realize until later that many of them were criminally insane. Hence the bad weather, the hunger, the kids dying in the countryside. Every time we thought we had shut the siren off, the siren sounded again. We were all in shock and those who could lie on the floor did so. The rest sat outside and drank tea by the fire each morning and each evening. I wouldn’t have turned down wild dragon blood if it were offered. Shadows may suffice for the real thing.

*

They find mass graves. They witness executions. I mean that's warfare — it's clear and simple, and it's in HDTV. There’s also a darkness. Sometimes it’s accidents, too. The headless torsos usually have this Elvis stance. It’s just a family of everybody. I have explained this time and time again, but you won’t listen. And now that room is on fire. I don’t feel like I’m leaving the place. I feel the place is leaving me. But it's a world I can’t escape! It’s a little bit like the Americans in Vietnam. If I turn there, it's there — it's everywhere.