From a Hypnagogic Journal:

Bethany, Part One

I’m drifting, falling – then coming to with a start, bouncing up from the car seat as I’ve fallen onto it from the sky. I have that weird feeling you get when you wake up in a strange place, and look around, wiping my mouth and trying to collect myself. I know where I am, the gravel turnabout in front of Pierce Tower, but that doesn’t mean that I have any idea of what I’m doing here. The driver’s familiar too – I’ve known Bethany since High School, and we’ve been intimate enough in our day, I can’t seem to remember why I’m with her, or even getting into her car in the first place.

She’s looking over at me, smiling indulgently. We’re here, she says.

I say. I can tell.

She sits there, still smiling, half turned but not moving, evidently waiting for me to get out.

She leans closer and there’s an expectant pause, the warm Ohio night silent except for the drone of the cicadas. Bethany and I haven’t seen each other for a while, but that’s never mattered, things have always gotten physical quickly between us, well not always, but always after a certain point, a point we reached a long time ago. I move to kiss her and she quickly cups the back of my head, pulling me closer, her tongue wriggling into my mouth.