Summer Of Anthology

Newt R. Randall

Dedicated to Delaney, my beloved, who inspired this whole thing

i didn't miss the cold weather i just missed you
- glass beach

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constructive criticism for summer camps and babies

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The fact that summer camps had no wifi was a grave injustice, in Parker’s opinion. He reloaded his messages, reloaded his messages, reloaded his messages. Nothing. He was holding out for Riley to have somehow found a signal all the way down at Lake Soeka. Whatever. He was pretty sure the Buck Scouts took their phones anyway. 

Parker hated having a summer birthday. Yeah school was out or whatever, but what did that really do? Let you have a weekday birthday party? What was the point of even having a party without your best friend there anyways. Parker didn’t even want one that bad so who cares. Summer was stupid and it was too hot and Riley was busy learning how to tie knots or something. Whatever. Who cares. Parker didn’t. 

He should try to send Riley a message. In case he had wifi. And had his phone. Parker pocketed his phone and went over to his computer, opening his and Riley’s chat. He preferred using the computer’s braille keyboard over voice to text. 

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parker: hey
parker: i know u probably arent seeing these but like
parker: im bored
parker: so im just gonna spam u so ur phone goes crazy once u have wifi
parker: thats what u get for going to camp on my birthday
parker: pretty cringe of u tbh
parker: once its ur birthday im gonna invent winter camp and go there
parker: gonna live in the snow for 2 months to spite u
parker: ha

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This was stupid. He should just go to bed. Parker spun around in his chair and flopped forward onto his mattress. He hated everything right now. He hated that he decided to be born in summer. How was baby Parker supposed to know that his best friend would be a stupid ourdoorsman who thinks it’s fun to spend 2 months in the woods getting bitten by bugs. He thought baby Parker should have been informed about this before he decided to exit the womb. But whatever. He didn’t care.

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parker: hey
parker: i know u probably arent seeing these but like
parker: im bored
parker: so im just gonna spam u so ur phone goes crazy once u have wifi
parker: thats what u get for going to camp on my birthday
parker: pretty cringe of u tbh
parker: once its ur birthday im gonna invent winter camp and go there
parker: gonna live in the snow for 2 months to spite u
parker: ha

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This was stupid. He should just go to bed. Parker spun around in his chair and flopped forward onto his mattress. He hated everything right now. He hated that he decided to be born in summer. How was baby Parker supposed to know that his best friend would be a stupid ourdoorsman who thinks it’s fun to spend 2 months in the woods getting bitten by bugs. He thought baby Parker should have been informed about this before he decided to exit the womb. But whatever. He didn’t care.

cold weather by glass beach

I want to think you did that because you feel the same, but I
know deep down that you didn’t
I have all these hints for you to miss
and I want to feel your hand in mine, the
emptiness there leaves me cold
even with the summer weather
and I can’t sleep because I
stay up late to scroll through our conversations and just
think about all the moments that we missed
I need you

content warning: drug use

smoke

I want to think you did that because you feel the same, but I
know deep down that you didn’t
I have all these hints for you to miss
and I want to feel your hand in mine, the
emptiness there leaves me cold
even with the summer weather
and I can’t sleep because I
stay up late to scroll through our conversations and just
think about all the moments that we missed
I need you

clattering on the kitchen floor
of broken, shattered glass
his family, his Brother,
his Brother, gone
he’s in shock, he can’t think
he falls to the floor 

and the smoke fills his lungs

no point going home if no one’s there
so he walks through the streets
the streets that seem so empty now
and finds himself in the town square
where those who’ve lost are gathered
and beg each other for answers
but there can’t be answers
not for this

and the smoke fills his lungs

he used to be an artist
when the world felt safe
now his only creations
are the things he rolls
that don’t make him feel better
he stifles a sob

and the smoke fills his lungs

It had been 3 weeks since everyone froze in time. Everyone except the teenagers. Sunny was surprised by how few people had died so far. She could take some credit for that, she supposed. Charlie and Bennet had stepped up as the mayors, and they had asked Sunny to be the town's doctor, since she took some first aid courses when she was a camp counselor. She couldn’t have said no, she was technically the most qualified, but that wasn’t saying much. She knew how to do CPR and bandage cuts properly, not set broken bones. She’d been trying to keep track of which kids were on medication, but it proved to be difficult. Plus she was the one called on when groups of kids hurt themselves doing the stupid shit that would get them in trouble if their parents were there. It seemed like these kids wanted to get themselves killed sometimes. Though she supposed some of them probably did. The reality of their situation was dawning on them. 

She was on a drug raid today. Going from house to house to find any meds they didn’t want in the hands of unsupervised kids. This house was painfully stagnant. It had truly frozen in place. The TV was on, playing static. A minefield of legos was strewn across the living room floor. As Sunny entered the kitchen, she was hit by the overwhelming stench of rotting food. There were plates of moldy chicken on the counter, having festered for 3 weeks. Sunny plugged her nose and scoured the cabinets for pill bottles. Advil and children’s liquid tylenol. She pocketed them. 

She crossed back through the living room, stepping on a lego as she passed. Sunny cursed under her breath, and picked up the little plastic toy. It was a lego shark. She stared into its stupid lego face. Fury boiled inside of her. With a snarl, Sunny threw the shark across the room. Collapsing to her knees, a sob escaped her lips. What was she doing here? She was a kid, in a stranger's house, stealing medicine to stop other kids from trying to overdose on it. She was a kid who was supposed to be able to play with fucking legos and not have to worry about every other asshole in the goddamn world. She was a kid who needed to grow up in 3 weeks to be everyone’s doctor and caretaker and keep them all safe. 

She picked up the little lego shark, opened the door, and staggered out into the street.

children's liquid tylenol

content warning: references to substance abuse

She crossed back through the living room, stepping on a lego as she passed. Sunny cursed under her breath, and picked up the little plastic toy. It was a lego shark. She stared into its stupid lego face. Fury boiled inside of her. With a snarl, Sunny threw the shark across the room. Collapsing to her knees, a sob escaped her lips. What was she doing here? She was a kid, in a stranger's house, stealing medicine to stop other kids from trying to overdose on it. She was a kid who was supposed to be able to play with fucking legos and not have to worry about every other asshole in the goddamn world. She was a kid who needed to grow up in 3 weeks to be everyone’s doctor and caretaker and keep them all safe. 

She picked up the little lego shark, opened the door, and staggered out into the street.

marshall lokke

He had such pretty eyes. It was such a generic thing to notice, but He had such pretty eyes. They were soft and almond shaped, and green. Green like forests and moss and lime candies and glass. he wouldn’t mind if everything was green if it was green like Marshall’s eyes. 

he gazed across the classroom at Him. Marshall used to be seated next to him, but the teacher had rearranged the desks a couple days ago. Now they were separated, placed at opposite ends of the room. It was like the teacher knew that instead of simplifying fractions he would be watching Marshall out of the corner of his eye, hoping to glimpse ebony hair peeking out from under His hat. Hoping for His reassuring smile. Hoping for world consuming green. 

he wondered if Marshall ever gazed back at him. He didn’t. he knew He didn’t. Not the way he wanted. he wasn’t mad. It did hurt though. Marshall already had someone to gaze at. Charlie.

Charlie who was a genius and was beautiful and was a little infuriating in the sense that he couldn’t really be upset about her because she was a genuinely lovely person to be around. Her desk was next to his now, which felt like cosmic irony to him. Marshall was laughing softly about something she had said, and she was grinning. She was wearing a green sweater. It was too yellow. Not vibrant enough. Not His green. he didn’t know why that meant something. 

Marshall noticed him staring. He smiled, such a genuine smile, and waved to him from his desk that felt a million miles away. And in that moment he felt ok with it all. he didn’t want anything. he didn’t need to be anything. All he needed was green.