I had lunch with Jane today. Sushi. She seems to be doing okay, not better, but not worse, and that's something. David looked really tired. It's got to be hard on him, watching his sister day in and day out. He still won't listen when I mention the Abode. It bothers me a little that he thinks it would be such a horrible thing for her, but I can't say I meet many relatives who love their family member enough to sacrifice so much. Sometimes you'll get someone who cares enough to visit Easter and Christmas, but usually they come in, dump off the poor sod's belongings and take off, thinking that auntie's memory is shot anyway, so what does it matter if she never sees her nephew again...

I shouldn't judge.

Jane can still order sushi fine, and she's eating well. Barbara thinks I get too involved with my patients, but for Christ's sake, we were in college together. Jane's not an ordinary case.

Part One of tentative's epic dream. tentative's only creation of this was in her sleep. She did no embellishing during the writing of this.

MARCH OF THE MONSTERS: THE PIPE MONSTER

The half pipe was cold and damp. The air didn't seem to move in this part of the world and even though the sky was a light gray color everything hung heavily. The three of us stood there, looking at each other. I was already dressed in my wet suit, its clinging blackness already shiny though no water had touched it. The Master looked at me. I nodded at his question and the three of us looked at the door.

We had spent the whole night getting here. It was the only way to save everything that we wanted to survive, everything that the people wanted. These half pipes were kilometers long, there were two of them, one on each side of the underground river. I had to get to the other side and the only way was by swimming upstream through the underground river to the door in the second half pipe. I felt the presence of the door behind me pressing in on me and I focused on my Master's face.

I had no idea why the blond was there, the Master's bitch never followed us anywhere but he had used his girls as bait before. He had all the heart of a killer but he was genuinely concerned for my safety. He took my wrist and secured a band around it. I shook my arm so it fell comfortably over the sleeve of my suit. It glowed at me in a friendly manner.

I walked up to the door and opened it. It wasn't locked, it barely held shut because the rust had turned it into nothing more than a thin sliver of metal. There was a hole where once a glass window had been. Behind the door was a dark concrete box with a rusted ladder that reached up and up into the darkness. The blond and the Master walked behind me and with an arm around the girl's shoulder he said goodbye to me.

'Good luck, kid.' I nodded solemnly; I didn't expect anything more from him. He had his own part to play in all this, but I had the band. I had the power. The blond looked as though she was about to cry even though I hadn't spoken a word to me. I frowned at her because I could afford to be mean. I closed the weak door on them and climbed up the ladder.

I reached the top of the ladder quickly and opened the hatch. It was surprisingly easy to open and I wondered why there were no locks. No light reached here from below and I crouched on the narrow ledge and stared into the inky blackness of the water. I hadn't realized the underground river would be totally dark. I held up my wrist and tried to use the pale light it emitted to light my way but that made the water seem like thick oil. I dipped a clad foot into the water and shivered though I couldn't feel the cold. I knew that I had to do this no matter what. Closing my eyes I slid in with a loud splash.

The top of the underground river was slimy concrete. My hair brushed it every time I surfaced for air. The river had been made by man and beast but these days the beast could think and man was not as good as he thought. I swam a few meters, testing the water and breathing in the mouldering air that hovered above it.

Images of a great kraken rising below me made me jump in fear in case my thoughts became true. The band gave nearly no light but my Master would not have given it to me if it was useless. Soon, soon I would need it, I was sure.

Water rippled around me even though I hadn't moved. Terrified I kicked out and made a dash for a point a few meters on. I trod water feeling helpless in the darkness. My weapons wouldn't help here in the water. I spun around once and then made myself face upstream. The water swayed past me at a comfortable speed and as my breaths slowed I began swimming again.

Something brushed my leg.

I didn't scream except in my head, I was too good for that but in wild hurry I swam and swam doing my best to flee the monster beneath the water.

The end of the tunnel didn't come quickly enough.

Fictional characters are so much a part of my life I forget I live in the real world. At the bank friends of mine are talking about the NCAA tournaments while I'm thinking about what my characters are doing. Nick asks me how I am. Following the conversational flow I mention that my brother is heading west to follow Marquette and the Badgers. Kyle from the sports store starts talking about players, ranking and scoring as we walk down the hall. A new computer sits at an unattended kiosk. If I worked there I would have a way to record the voices in my head.

Back at work my characters keep me company as I work on the schedule. My friend Nick is waiting for me up front before I'm finished. He's standing next to Kyle who is going to see Marquette play. Roundtrip airfare is currently $120 plus tax online. The schedule for the upcoming week is sitting off to my right. Both Kyle and Nick are standing in front of me now. I'm looking at Kyle but Nick's voice is the one I hear. "You know Jess, if you can get off you can come with us. You're in charge of the schedule. Aren't you?"