Author: jesseteller

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One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small. And the one that Mother gives you won’t do anything at all. It’s Jefferson Airplane’s biggest hit and Shadow has been listening to it on repeat for six hours. Every hour Guardian shows up to take Katherine outside, walk her around the yard and…

Guardian’s War 13: A Lungful of Smoke

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Not asleep. Not awake. It’s after two in the morning. Bekah is asleep, and I crawl out of bed unable to fall into a solid rest. I get to the living room and I let Katherine out of her crate and the two of us sit on the couch. I am petting her. I lay…

Guardian’s War 12: Star

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We came into town and went straight to Mumble and Horrid’s house. I sent Bekah in to check on the girls, and I went to Uncle Ball’s house next door. I knocked. I let myself in. Walked around the house for a while, calling out his name. This was not usually a time of day…

Guardian’s War 11: Love in a Box

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There is a thing that happens when fate comes to you. Often it is not what you expected, or even desired. When I went out to visit Mumble at work that day, and I was talking to him about how I was failing my classes, he interrupted me to say, “Do you want a dog?”…

Guardian’s War 10: Roommate

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On a visit to Rose’s house, she said she had a movie she really wanted me to watch. In fact, she called me that week and asked me to come down specifically to see this movie with her. She sat me down in front of the TV and she showed me a Charles Dutton movie.…

Guardian’s War 9: The Journal

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Few house-cleaning maintenance facts to throw out about the creation of this series. My wife has started to see things. Usually in dreams. She sees my alters. They are constructed of shadows and wisps of things, but they are there. Last night she dreamt of a figure following me around trying to “get” me. When…

Guardian’s War 8: Packing Grasp

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Five months after I made that call, I was at Mumble and Horrid’s house walking to the kitchen when I saw Star coming out of the bathroom, shielding her eyes from the door to her right. I saw this look of emotional turmoil and stopped her with a hug. “Okay, my dear sister, what is…

Guardian’s War 7: Clean

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I was standing outside my house on Normal Street, waiting in the cold of an autumn night after a rain. The roads were still slick and hissing with the passing of cars when Clean pulled up in his Impala. He had called. Told me he needed a friend. When I got in the passenger side…

Guardian’s War 6: The Rosy

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Bekah woke me up with a smile and a laugh. I think she had food for me. She might have been returning something to me. I don’t remember why she came by. If I asked her right now, if I turned to the right in my chair and looked across the office to the chair…

Guardian’s War 5: Restless Impotence

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