Daron and Jeff were lounging in the grass, vegetating, when the woman with the large perm decided to walk by.

"Hello, boys," she said from across the street.

Daron sat up and laughed. His companion, waking from a small doze, sat up also and began to titter.

"What?" Daron said. "I can't hear anything past that beehive hair blossom!"

"Yeah, and watch that part of the sidewalk, it's gonna crack if you step on it!" Jeff yelled and laughed loudly.

"Oh!" the woman said, and kept walking. She reached a deteriorating piece of concrete and fell through.

"OooooOOP!" she said, and plunged down toward an unnamed depth, pieces of the torn walk falling after her.

Daron gaped.

The other boy strolled across the street, and peered over the side of the newly-formed sinkhole. He shook his head slowly. "Stupid," he said.

A faint "EEEE!" echoing and distant, rose from the hole.

"What the-?" Daron said.

"Happened?" Daron finished.

"Eeh," Jeff said, starting back across the street. Then, deciding otherwise, he proceeded up the street, casually glancing at the manicured lawns and hedges. "I told her to watch out."

Daron stood frozen at the mouth of the shaft.

"Damn," he finally said, more in wonder than anything else. "She wasn't that fat!"

"HA!" his friend yelled from up the street. "She was a pork! Come on!"

Daron, shaking his head one last time, followed his friend.

2

"I hate yuppies," Jeff said.

"Right, Jeff," Daron said. "You hate everything."

"No, I hate yuppies," Jeff said.

Daron gave Jeff a sarcastic smirk.

Jeff shrugged. "Alright, and everything else."

Then the two boys stopped abruptly, their gazes fixated on a suburban plot ahead. The house, garnered in a sort of twisted Victorian-New English style, was painted in multicolored pastel. The newly-mown lawn appeared complete with a lavender picket fence and pink flamingoes in suspended grace.

"Hoooooly sheez," Jeff said.

Daron was also gaping. "It's insane. It's Barbie in real life."

"Ayah-mama," Jeff said.

"I think my corneas are getting burned in from looking at that...that PIECE!"

"Oh," Jeff said, flinging his arms. "There goes the neighborhood and the surrounding suburbia, too!" He started up the street again, muttering about yuppies, superabundant money and ditsy housewives.

Then Daron had to laugh. "Hey, Jeff! You wouldn't believe who's in the window! I think it's Barbara Bush!"

Daron thought he heard Jeff mutter, "Oh, die off," and then he felt an irresistible urge to look back.

The house was white. The picket fence had somehow found its way out of the yard, and the flamingoes, amazingly, had flown off. He thought that he saw the woman in the window grab her neck and fall.

He was dimly aware of a sudden warming in the front of his underwear which continued down toward his right shoe.

"Come ON!" Jeff yelled. He was at the top of the street, near the bus stop.

Daron started up the street and then ran. Reaching the stop out of breath, he stood near Jeff, waiting.

Cars passed.

Jeff sniffed. "You smell something?"

Daron was quickly reminded of his leg, and he looked away. "No," he said, pretending to sniff the air.

"Hmmm," Jeff said, craning his neck to see where the approaching bus was. "I guess it's nothing."

Daron shrugged. "Yeah," he said.

He shifted position nervously, and then the wetness was gone. He looked at Jeff.

Jeff smiled shortly, and his eyes glowed infinite confidence.

Staring blankly at nothing across the street, Daron told his mind to fathom a logical explanation for the events of the past few minutes. His mind, after due consideration, promptly told him to go fish. But then a comforting wave crept over his consciou sness, and everything was fine again.

Daron smiled, and the bus came.

Jeff's house, school night. Jeff was seated on the lower bunk, pretending to do homework. After a minute, he blew air out in frustration, and threw his pencil at the far wall. The poster of Ice Cube glared at Jeff, reproachful of the unprovoked insult. Jeff stuck his tongue out at the poster.

Jeff sighed again, and stretched out on the bed. Grinning wildly, he thrust his foot into the top bunk's mattress.

"Putz!" Daron fairly yelled from his position on the top bunk.

Jeff giggled, and continued to boot Daron in the ass.

"Hey!" Daron yelled. "HAAAAY!"

Daron leaned over the side of the top railing, his long hair drooping toward the floor. "I'm trying to go to sleep, man, do you mind?"

"But I'm hyper and I hate homework," Jeff said.

"I don't care if you're Snoop Doggy Dogg and you want to smoke a whole twenty-sack," Daron said.

Jeff giggled, and started to rattle the bunkbed back and forth. "AAAAAAA!" He yelled.

"Jeff!" Daron yelled. His weight, coupled with the increasingly spastic motion, caused the bed to topple. They both yelled, and the bunkbed fell on its side. Daron rolled out of his blankets and across the room. Jeff fell onto the rug.

"You...you brainless spunk!" Daron yelled. "What in the name made you do that?!"

"Oh, shut up, you didn't die," Jeff said.

"Oh, you.. you. You're an asshole!"

They broke out in helpless laughter, rolling around on the floor, wrestling.

Jeff's mother, undoubtedly drawn to the scene by the ruckus, chose that moment to enter. "What is going on in here?" she said.

Daron and Jeff continued to wrestle. Jeff glared at his mother and froze her in mid-rant. "OUT," he spat.

Jeff's mother lifted off the carpet with a fair amount of speed and flew down the stairs backwards. She hit the wall on the ground floor and collapsed.

Jeff resumed laughing.

They rolled around on the floor a bit longer, and then they went downstairs.

"Jeff...," Daron said.

Jeff's mother was propped up against the wall. Around her head was a reddish-grey halo, and a pool of blood had collected around her buttocks. The light-red liquid rolled slowly through the cracks in the tile floor towards the kitchen. She was looking at the ceiling.

"Hm?" Jeff said.

Daron stared.

"Oh, it's nothing," Jeff said, and walked into the kitchen.

And she was gone. If she ever had been there.

Jeff got a Coke out of the refrigerator and popped it open, the refrigerator element temporarily lighting the moonlit kitchen. Daron walked in after a moment and removed another. The door closed. Daron opened his soda and took a large swig.

They stood for a minute, leaning on the counter. Daron belched, silent.

Jeff took a bag of tortilla chips from the pantry, and retrieved the small jar of salsa from the refrigerator. They munched in silence, except for the loud crunching and occasional belch.

Jeff seemed content to gather his own thoughts, and Daron was unable to voice his. So silence permeated the air. After a few moments, Jeff's voice broke the quiet ringing in their ears. "I'm horny," he said.

Daron raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Jeff said.

"Well, good luck around here," Daron said, taking a swig.

Jeff seemed to ponder a bit. Then he grinned, as if he had been searching for a lost thought and had at last found it.

The doorbell rang.

Jeff opened the door. Daron peeked around the corner trying to see the two visitors. They walked in.

They were completely naked. They approached.

"Ohmygod," Daron said.

"Mmmm-mmmm," Jeff said, choosing a visitor and escorting her toward the living room.

"Holy shit," Daron said.

The other woman stepped deliberately toward Daron, gyrating her hips and looking directly into his eyes. Daron had the biggest hard-on of his life. He looked toward the living room and saw that Jeff was half-undressed. Wet sounds and small vocal inflec tions could be heard from that general direction.

A hand on Daron's chin drew his attention back. He looked into her eyes, and they took him in. He succumbed.

Her hand was moving downward. Somehow, it got there and took hold of it.

She put his head between her breasts, and his hands stroked her buttocks.

"Mmmm," Daron said, and then a few seconds later, a muffled: "Oh my GOD!" issued from between the giant bubbles. He was so deep in ecstasy that he didn't even realize it had happened until he came.

And then it happened again.

Who knew?

It had not been a dream because Daron's crotch was cramped. He appeared to have slept on the living room couch naked. Opening his eyes slowly, he smelled bacon.

Daron looked up. Jeff was face down on the opposite loveseat, mooning him and snoring softly. Jeff's mom came in.

"Do you want sausage links or patties?" She didn't even flinch when Daron slapped a pillow on his midsection.

"Well?" she said.

"Uh," Daron said.

"Links," Jeff popped his head up.

"Daron?"

"He wants links," Jeff said. Daron could only nod.

Jeff's mom returned to the kitchen.

Jeff sighed, stretched and farted. He stood up and walked over to Daron. "Weren't they something?" He winked.

Daron's hormones agreed.

Jeff climbed the stairs to the second floor on all fours.

A half-minute later, Daron could hear rap music beginning to play. He sat up, rubbed his eyes and followed, the pillow still censoring the unmentionable.

"You're wondering," Jeff said, putting his socks on.

Daron almost said something.

"Two weeks ago, I threw my stereo out the window."

Daron raised his eyebrows and listened.

"My parents were down in the family room, of course." Jeff stood up, started pacing around the room. "I just stood there looking at my broken window and all the glass pieces on the porch." He paused, physically groping for the right words with his fist s, knowing that he could just give the story to Daron and he would know. But-

"I kept thinking, please don't let them hear, please don't-"

And Jeff stood before Daron, and their eyes met.

Daron recoiled as if he had been struck. Looking into his friend's eyes, he saw the menace, the power, and could feel the boy's self control losing to a new force within. For a second, Daron could hear a voice in his head, deafening and piercing.

"-USELESS FOOL WHY AM I WASTING MY TIME I SHOULD JUST-," and then Jeff looked away.

"Just watch your Twin Peaks and don't hear it and just shut up and they didn't. They just sat there." Jeff started wandering again. "I peeked out my door and they were just sitting there, laughing at something." He stopped again in front of Daron, and stared intensely at him. But this time Daron felt only fear.

"The neighbors heard it," Jeff said. "I saw the curtains open up in a window next door, and they saw the stereo in the grass. But my parents didn't twitch. Then, I thought that somehow this was all a dream and it had never happened, you know, I was day dreaming or something. I thought, this isn't real, my stereo is really on my shelf, not in the yard, and I looked over at my shelf, and my stereo was there again. Then, I looked at my window, and it was just..."

Jeff blinked, and seemed to collect himself. He stood and looked blankly out into the backyard.

"There again."

Jeff paced. "For the last two weeks, I have been refining my... skill. At first, I just moved things around my room, but then I realized that I could affect the living things around me. I played around, making my parents raise their arms and legs and ma king them crave a Coke or a bag of prunes or bang on the living room floor." He paused, smiled, cocked his head. "That was.. really cool. They really banged it. I thought my dad was going to have a heart attack or something."

Daron smiled.

"Then I went to the mall. I made this black guy start a food fight in the Chelsea Street Bar. Well, actually, it was a riot."

Daron nodded. It had been on the news. The ensuing incident had destroyed a large portion of the mall.

"Then I blew up the Discount Tire Store across the street. Damn, all those tires flew! They looked like burning fire cheerios. I went here and there, causing all sorts of stuff to blow up and collapse and move around. I went to this pawn shop and made tubas and guitars fly around. The owner wet his golf pants. His employee took off out the back door."

Jeff could sense Daron losing attention, no doubt a result of his influence. He knew that Daron would have panicked long ago had he not been comforting him constantly.

"All right. I'll get to the point," Jeff said. He crouched near. "I showed you. I can make you forget. I could make you jack off right now, or get you another bitch so you can fuck her. You liked that!"

Daron nodded.

Jeff eyes opened wide. "Do you doubt me? Do you think I can't do it?"

Daron just shivered.

Jeff took a deep breath and stood slowly. He walked over to his waterbed and sat.

"All right," Jeff said, his face a mask of superiority and malicious intent that he knew could only be stopped by his own will. He addressed Daron. "Regurgitate."

Daron flowed. "Can't do that it's not possible...not possible you can't do this this is just a dream i'm just asleep no no i can't feel it no you can't take me i am ME and i wont change no you can't be real it's all a big joke yeah that's it it has to be cause this is all my imagination it has to be how CAN YOU DO THIS YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME YOU NOT REAL JUST A PERSON YOURE NOT A PERSON YOURE AN ALIENANDYOUVECOMETOTAKEME

BACKANDYOUCANTJUSTLEAVEMEALONELEAVEMEALONE-"

"Stop."

Daron became stopped.

Jeff just looked. "Well, you are thinking after all," He said.

He stared at the carpet, moving his hands around, rubbing them. "Seems like you don't like it. A lot of people don't like it, you know. But the feeling of being involuntary is quite appealing to some people. To relinquish control, if only for a moment , and not think." He whispered. "To rest. To...rest."

Daron sat.

"Are you sure you don't want to be free?" Jeff said. "There's no worries if you're free. No effort. You don't need to think anymore if you're free. I will give you the choice 'cause you're my friend."

Jeff stood, looking down. "The universe can change for me and for all but you will be left in the aftermath. I could move this planet a couple hundred thousand miles and you would not follow. You would, of course, die simultaneously as the Earth became suddenly-"

Jeff grinned. "Elsewhere," he said, and Daron's world became black.

0 seconds.

Daron, floating.

The Earth, off center and backstage.

The stars, all around.

Daron, floating.

1 second.

Cold, instant freeze.

Hearbeat, murmur.

Breath, out.

Lungs, collapsed.

Eyes, dried out.

The stars, all around?

The Earth, somewhere.

Daron?

2 seconds.

What hap-?

Scream attempted.

Ice crystals form.

3 seconds.

Heart, stopped.

Lung, stopped.

The Earth, stopped.

The stars.

Daron, stopped.

4 seconds.

The Earth, in quiet orbit.

The stars, all around.

Daron, gone.

Second.

I think that was good enough.

Daron, here.

Jeff calmed Daron after a while. It took careful mental direction and guidance to return him to a more normal state, for if Jeff had just boxed him up again, Daron would likely go abruptly insane. Jeff, even in his current state, could see no reason for that. So he was patient, and Daron returned.

Jeff expended no personal energy accomplishing this. He did not become tired, did not become out of breath after moving a large celestial body out of its orbit. He did not know where the energy came from. It had to come from somewhere. This energy sou rce, he found, was impossible to locate, and when he tried to probe in that direction, he suddenly was repelled, and a layer of pain glided through him. Not an intense pain, but more akin to a warning. This feeling was so discomforting that he was conte nt to stay in his small mental "cubicle," as it were.

Jeff knew that there were more of these cubicles, possibly thousands more, each spanning a small portion of a galaxy, but he was only consciously aware of three or four of them. He assumed that these were his "neighbors."

Somewhere, a central unit existed, a unit which coordinated the cubicles and made certain they were run smoothly. Jeff was aware of these facts, but was not able to make much sense of them. He decided that when he had done something worth noting, he wou ld be awarded, and his questions would be answered.

Jeff did not know how he would become noticed, but he knew his goal: return the order of this cubicle to one which agreed with the central unit order, and one which also satisfied its needs. Jeff would do this; he was order in this cubicle.

The voices in his head had told him this. Jeff knew instinctively that he was dealing with a power structure that was beyond the imagination of most men. They had somehow found him worthy of this position, the most important position ever granted a huma n being. He was cubicle guide. He was Earth's guide. He had to succeed.

"So you want to go to the store or something?" Jeff said.

After a moment's pause, Daron smiled and answered. "Hell yeah," he said. "I wanna go buy that new Cypress Hill disc."

"Heck no, that guy sounds like something long and spiky is up his butt," Jeff said.

"Yeah, well," Daron said. "It's cool."

"Yep, that's it."

"Man, you're an idiot," Daron said.

Jeff grinned. "Let's go," he said.

Daron walked behind him.

The mall had a problem.

"Damn, check out that store," Daron said.

Jeff glanced at the storefront. Behind the chain-link barrier, the floor was cluttered with fallen displays, splintered shelves, and shattered glass.

"It's a wonder that the Musicland stayed in one piece."

"Yep," Jeff said. He had allowed some areas of the mall to function so that select stores could continue to operate. Of course, the stores that had been untouched were not standing as a result of the rioters' taste.

"You wanna get this?" Daron said.

"Tribe Called Quest? Naah, it's too much," Jeff said.

"Yeah," Daron said and walked on.

Jeff looked at the price again. $16.99 became $4.99.

"Hey, look!" Jeff called across the store. "This one's on sale!"

Daron walked back. "No way, that's a fuckup," he said.

Jeff gave him a "nudge," a small influence.

"Coolin'," he said. "Their screw-up, my gain."

"Let me check that again, this must be wrong," the checkout woman said, examining the longbox and biting her nail.

Jeff leaned against the counter. "No it isn't," he said. "It's right there."

Slight nudge.

"Anything else for you today?" she said pleasantly.

"That's it."

Daron paid for the disc.

Jeff did not like the muzak issuing from the speakers in the second level ceiling, so he turned them off. He sat, eating a 29 cent double cheeseburger. Daron looked around the mall, and having finished his equally improbably-priced lunch, belched loudly.

"Whass that guy doin'?" Daron asked. An elderly man was sitting directly across from them, smoking a cigar and swaying back and forth as if the muzak was still playing and he actually liked it.

"I dunno," Jeff said, taking another large bite.

"Mmmm-mmmm," the man said, and swayed back and forth with more pronounced movements.

"Whathahell?" Daron said, batting Jeff on the arm.

Jeff looked up.

The man gave one last swing and stood up. He took a large intake of breath and yelled.

"Nixon was a freaky baby!"

Heads turned.

"Carter was a stick!"

More heads turned.

"Reagan was a waxy mama!"

Elderly peoples' coffees and cocktails dropped.

"Man," Daron said. "This guy's gonna flip his cranium!"

Jeff giggled.

The man continued. "And Bush was a speckled prick!" The man stood as if the bench had given him a shock. He ran amongst the first floor benches and fake trees, letting a yell echo down the concourse.

Jeff snorted.

"?" Daron said.

"aaaaaaaaaaa-"

Jeff laughed.

And then the mall went insane.

There was a man hanging from the overhead lights, howling as best as humanly possible.

Three women were doing cartwheels along the walkway. One did a flip and landed in a giant potted plant.

Seven couples were having primal sex.

At least twenty people were enjoying a game of tag with a sledgehammer.

"YOU'RE IT!"

The sledgehammer swung, and a head flew towards the lower level. Three people discovered it and started playing tackle-football.

Chaos continued.

"Isn't this cool?" Jeff said to Daron.

Daron was partially elsewhere. "Mm," he said.

Jeff looked around appreciatively.

A head flew by.

"WATCHIT WATCHIT!!"

A particularly overweight man tackled a teenager who had the sorry luck of possessing the head at that moment. The teen was crushed into the side of the Baskin Robbins, adding a flavor or two.

The man looked around vacantly, then grinned and resumed play, charging at the nearest person, who spotted the man and ran for his life.

The teen tried to get up, realized that a piece of thick plate glass kept him from moving his torso, and lived just long enough to see an extensive red wet spot on the carpet and to ponder on how much the cleaning bill for that was going to be.

"Isn't it bad-ass?" Jeff said.

Daron nodded.

They left just before twelve police cars, three fire trucks and five ambulances arrived.

High time in Jeffdom. The bedroom was perfectly clean, and a bass-filled piece of music issued from the expensive stereo at mid-volume. Jeff stretched out on the waterbed, relaxed. At his side, conjured up for his personal wishes and moral support, a w oman fit for a king. She was stroking his bellybutton.

"Why do I bother?" Jeff sighed.

"Why do you?" she said softly.

"I don't know." Jeff sat up, frustrated. "Maybe I'm not ready. I mean, maybe I'm not world leader material."

She smiled. "But you aren't world leader. You are the world regulator."

"But I can't handle this now!" He frowned. "I wish they had given me confidence besides this damn power. I can't handle this."

She sighed. After a moment, she spoke again, in an almost inaudible whisper. "Then take your time."

He looked up, met her eyes.

"One way or the other, you will rule."

Jeff began to smile.

"After all, you are the first person to be chosen. No one had ever tolerated it as long. You are special." She straddled him. "Besides," she grinned. "You will know if you do something wrong. Just. Don't. Worry."

"YES!" Jeff yelled. He grinned and took her. "The world will be right again, won't it?"

"It has to be," she said.

A bit overpowering, isn't it?

Yes, well, hell, I don't know, shit. I need to-

Take a pause.

Yeah. I need...some reality here, something normal.

Good.

I'll...just be myself for a day, and then I'll be cool again.

Well,

I NEED A REST.

You can try.

"School," Jeff said out loud. "Normal school."

He slumped onto his bed.

"Sweet...school."

Yeah, right.

He slept.

Jeff walked to school.

It was nice to actually walk someplace without just being there. He liked the ground passing beneath him, his feet touching the sidewalk, feeling the uneven earth, the cracks, stepping down the curb and crossing the street, and feeling his muscles exert and grow fatigued.

It was a luxury to walk. He was putting aside the whole day for this, the whole world. The cubicles were growing tiresome, and that was dangerous, but he knew that he needed to feel this way just once, just once more.

The central units allowed Jeff this indulgence. They were always particularly careful at this stage of development. They had learned from experience that a human's brain is a nasty device to toy with. All that was required for development was a small a lteration of selected neurons, and the human suddenly knew what to do. It was surprisingly easy.

Yet the mind was also extremely volatile. Jeff's brain was not completely altered, and the change usually took a few days to set. A typical subject had to be monitored carefully and terminated if a negative indication had been noted. The neurons would grow, multiply, and eventually would require more space than the cranium allowed, requiring an extension. Not a spatial one, but possibly an expansion toward a non-visual level, to save appearance.

This would happen soon, but rushing development often presented some difficulties. Some misfires resulted in several accidents. One subject murdered an entire suburban neighborhood and started on another before being shot in the collarbone by a police s niper. Another resulted in a reverse-swelling of the brain that compacted the man's brain into a dense yogurt-like mass about two inches square that sat at the base of the skull, performing idiot-savant-like skills such as reciting the entire volume of T he Chronicles Of Narnia and acting out a Seaquest TV episode with perfect timing and clarity. It wasn't that there was no brain in this man's head. The neurons were simply inaccessable.

Females, for some reason, presented an irreparable problem when transformed, even at length. The chemistry just wasn't compatible. An altered female was operable for a while, but after a few days, she would become uncontrollable, throwing mental thought s and equations at random, deep knowledge of the Cubic. Most humans who received one of these telepathic packets would lose the detail after a few seconds, although the initial idea would remain for inspiration or confidence.

The central units felt responsible for the disorder of the cubicle, so they decided that attempted reform was preferable to termination of the affected cube. The units would restore order. Things would be made right again.

Jeff continued walking. "Hey, Mike!" he yelled across the street.

The boy waved.

Jeff crossed the street without looking both ways.

"Hey," Mike said.

Jeff forced back the urge to know what Mike was going to say, and instead, just found out.

"You know we got a history test today?" Mike said.

"Oh, shit," Jeff said, and for a second, he was worried.

But then it was gone, and

don't fool yourself

he continued to his first class.

Jeff walked into Language Arts and sat down at his desk. Daron was already seated. The bell rang.

"Open your books to page seventy-eight, please."

The teacher continued.

"Did anyone study? Jim?" she said, leaning casually on her podium. Jim shook his head.

"Jake? Benard? Kelly?" Three more shakes.

"Weeeeel, I guess this must be the perfect time for a pop quiz," she said, starting towards her desk. The class groaned.

"Bitch," Jeff said. Daron whipped his head around, eyebrows raised. The teacher stopped in mid-stride.

"WHO SAID THAT?" she fairly yelled. A tense, quiet student body answered. She walked over to Daron and Jeff's corner.

"WHO?"

Jeff looked up and grinned.

"You. You are getting a disciplinary notice and a trip to the office, mister!"

"Aaaah, fuck you," Jeff said.

She whipped around again. Her mouth worked for a few seconds, and then managed to blurt out another "YOU!"

"Yes?" Jeff said, casually slumping in his desk. The class was silent. All heads were turned.

"OUT!" she yelled, fuming loudly.

"SHUT UP!" Jeff screamed, standing and looking her in the eye. The teacher recoiled.

"You SLUT! Stick a sausage link up your ass and munch my DICK!"

The teacher fainted.

Her head impacted the corner of a woodgrain table and lolled to one side after her body collapsed onto the linoleum. A pool of blood was slowly forming.

"Omygod," Greg said.

"Aaaah, fuck you," Jeff said. He returned to his seat, bored. "Never mind her."

The class activated.

Small talk and girl troubles initiated.

Daron grinned. Jeff smiled. A hand pointed at the analog clock face. The minute hand moved, and the bell rang.

The class left.

"Well, coming?" Daron at the doorway.

"Yeah," Jeff shrugged.

Jeff left.

The teacher bled to death.

Jeff was not taking shit from everyone. Between classes, five people looked him in the eye. The least unfortunate dissolved slowly into the cheap tiled floor. No one seemed to notice his shrieking as he died gradually. It took two minutes to sink into the acid puddle, and several other people melted the rubber soles of their shoes stepping into the dearly departed.

Jeff was giving in.

He stood at the door.

"Jeff," the teacher said. "How're you doing?"

"Fuck," Jeff said.

The teacher's eyes sunk back into his brain and shot out the back of his skull, creating two perfect holes in the bare skin. His body sagged, fell on a 3-D lung model, and lay on the tabletop.

Jeff took his seat.

The general classroom was creating a constantly loud voice-cloud.

Jeff silenced them.

Mouths spoke silently and classmates responded silently. Daron glanced over at Jeff, unaffected.

Jeff stifled a thought that would have thrown Daron through the aluminum wall, but he remembered in time.

A part of him wanted to remember his life, but it was steadily losing ground to the inevitable. The compassion, the human qualities were wearing away.

"D...Daronnn," Jeff managed.

Daron nodded.

"I gotta go," Jeff said.

Daron cocked his head, frowning. "Why?" he said.

"Because I gotta go and-," he stood up, hands clenched, jaw almost totally shut with constant effort. "I'm gonna save you I GOTTA SAVE YOU-"

Jeff screamed. "BECAUSE YOU'RE MY FRIEND AND I GOTTA GO-"

The people's voices returned and joined him in the last rapture of mankind.

And then the world ended.

Daron tried to shy away from the dead people. All of their heads were gone while most bodies still sat upright in their chairs. Some had fallen on the floor, and a few still spouted blood. A bright quality hung in the air and a certain rosy mist hovere d near the floor.

Oh my god the air is, their HEADS! Daron thought. He stumbled out of the classroom, fell down three steps and vomited. He continued to dry-heave for a minute or so after.

After a moment, he felt that he could get up. He wandered toward the main hallway and looked in. The lights were out.

He opened the door, and a fresh wave of iron- tasting air hit him. Two people lay in the hall. One's foot was twitching as the nerve refused to die. Daron stood, looking in, unbelieving. Then, he ran.

Daron saw no-one on his way home. Fortunately, no one was there, either. He called a few numbers. No one answered. Then, as a last resort, he called a long-distance number. He didn't really hear when the flat, recorded voice said that all phone lines were down in that area.

"They're all dead," Daron said into the reciever.

He dropped the phone: the job was done. He wandered into the street, standing on the manhole cover. He looked up the street. He looked down the street.

No one.

A gurgle in his throat turned into a moan. The moan rose slowly into a scream. The scream rose. He kept screaming, and with every breath, there was another. They stopped when he fainted and returned when he awoke.

Daron went insane.