wanderings by AJ Frentz
June 8, 2026
The cul-de-sac at dusk. The lights coming on in all those identical houses. The sound of nothing. You'd think silence would be peaceful, but this was different. This was the quiet before something. I never knew what. I still don't.
But I sat on the curb anyway. Every night. Watching the sky turn from blue to purple to black. Waiting for something that never came. That's the 80s, I think. A decade of waiting.
June 1, 2026
Bilbo didn't want to leave his hobbit hole. I understand that now. The quiet end of the world is hard to leave, even when adventure calls. Especially when adventure calls.
I read it first in the den, on that bunk bed, with seven other people making noise around me. It was the first time I learned to be alone without being lonely.
May 25, 2026
The mall had a food court by then. My mother cried in the car on the way home. I didn't understand why. Now I do.
The suburbs were supposed to be paradise. Instead, they were just... places. Places where people went to hide from whatever they were running from. Including us.