peckenpaugh | THE UPPER LEVELS

up into the balconies

you climb The breathing boughs of that nightmare tree crowd into the upper balconies of the ruined auditorium. You have to duck and bend to get by them in places, sometimes through spaces that seem to grow smaller as you press through. These branches are warm to the touch, some of them uncomfortably so, pulsing with something that isn't quite life.

You've climbed these stairs more than once in your time here; to take your place after your sorting, to watch new students find their House, or perhaps just for an assembly. This building always seemed so sturdy, so safe. It was a place to go for shows, for celebrations, and hell, to just get out of class. Now, the floorboards creek precariously, split and splintering where vines have crept through. Benches are broken, overturned and tossed aside to make room for the auditorium's new king: the malignant maple. Up here, the glowing blue seeds hanging from branches are close enough to pluck. Those that have ripened litter the floor and railings, filling the balconies with an eerie blue twinkle.

The air is muggy, clogged by falling ash. It stinks of coal and sulfer. But you keep moving, anyway. Keep opening portals and pushing on. Just a little bit higher, and then maybe you'll be able to plunge into the depths.

and you fight By now there's a plan, and with it, a slowly growing brigade of people, of beings, of bugs, who are gathering to push back against inevitability.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Imogen winces -- no one saw that, surely -- but her stance is one of readiness, prepared to lunge forward or back at the slightest provocation.

Swinging the bat a little in her fingers, she juts her chin at the dark spot.

"What about um, that?"

"...Can we take that, though?"

That's a stalling technique, because he doesn't want to be the one to touch it. But that's stupid. Nothing's jumped out at them yet. He takes a deep breath, checking behind him to make sure she's still looking. "If I go, make them retroactively make me prom king." He intones, and then leans forward to scratch off that patch of darkness, fully anticipating going up in flames right then.

Edited 2020-06-10 00:23 (UTC)

"Guess my dance moves can't be reined in," Percy jokes and elbows Lionel in the side. Lionel jerks, snapping to attention like someone who's been far, far away. On the little muggle radio, Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me" starts to play.

"Here." Percy offers Lionel his brush. "We'll cover it up with something better."

"Yeah? What're you thinking?"

"I dunno. Maybe a sign. Or a Bigfoot." Percy shrugs. "Maybe 'Lionel Qualls for Homecoming King' in huge letters." Lionel laughs.

"Yeah, yeah, okay." He takes the brush from Percy's outstretched hand. "But just wait 'til you see what your campaign did to the Quidditch pitch."

Just behind Percy and Lionel, in the upside down V of a metal ladder, a curtain appears. It hangs loose, swinging lazily in the wind, ready to whisk away the interlopers whenever they are.

THE UPPER LEVELS

MEMORY: Prom King

MEMORY: Prom King

MEMORY: Prom King