Dale breaks

Dale touched his stomach, fearing feeling something subtle. small vibrations, telling him this was really happening. He prayed there was nothing underneath, that it was all just himself, who's bulged up. And for the longest time, it seemed to be the case.

Until, finally, there was a kick!

"Oh my god!" Dale's whole body flinched, he paced from side to side. This couldn't be happening! How was this even possible!

"Maybe you should sit down?" Cindy, who was now a bald large man, sat close by on a plastic chair in front of a half-broken trailer. She looked smug and ugly to Dale, like she was somehow contend and okay with what had happened with them.

"How can you just sit there like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're okay with this."

Cindy actually popped a beer. What was wrong with her? "I'm not. I just realized, we've changed so much so far. Why should it stop now?"

She had a point. Who's to say this is permanent? Maybe the next form would be better? Maybe worse? "We don't know what the next thing might be. This randomness, it's...I can't take it! I hate it. It gives me anxiety. I feel like everything is slipping from me. I'm losing complete control! I liked my life before, you know. I did!"

"I know. But why can't you just see this as an oppurtunity to try new things. Maybe even better things."

How could she see it so simple. "Because...because I don't like where it is heading. I...I'm afraid of losing you, Cindy."

Cindy paused. "Why would you be losing me? I just had some fun with some strangers is all. Nothing personal."

"Not that. But before. All you talked about was Fred this and Fred that."

"He's hot! What can I say?"

"I know...I know. And nothing wrong wit that. But, he sort of felt like a symptom. Or like a metaphor. Like, he was everything you could have, if you weren't with me."

"Dale." Cindy stood up. "That's not true. I just...I wanted to try new things. See what else I could be. Explore my potential."

"But I liked what you were already. I liked what we were."

"I know. So did I. I just...I feel like I haven't done anything. Like, if I don't leave town, and everyone in it, I'm never gonna. And I would hate myself."

"You hate me?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"So why are you leaving me, Cindy? What did I do wrong?" Tears were starting to pour out Dale's eyes. His voice trembling. He didn't know if it was his new hormones or if these were tears he had been suppressing for some time now.

Cindy closed the gap between them, took Dale's shoulders. "Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. You just...you're a part of the town. Of the old me. And I need to at least take a break from that. I can't...I would never forgive myself if I didn't try."

Dale looked up at Cindy with tears swelling down. "Does that mean you have to leave me."

CIndy took a deep breath, pulled away. "Yeah..."

The words hit like a kick in the stomach.

"...at least for some time. Like I said. You're part of the old me. I want to see what else is me. And keeping you attached would kind of defeat that purpose. Sorry..."

Dale crumbled. Fell to his knees. His world was shaking. Or was that just his knees? What could he do? She didn't want him in her life anymore. The race was lost. The fight over. Fight? Something deep inside Dale stirred. Something he rarely pulled from, but after the club, it had been allowed to surface a bit more. The will not to give in so easily. "I love you."

"What?"

"I love you." Dale stood up, dried his tears, still fresh.

"Why are you saying that?"

"Because it's true. I love you, Cindy. Have for a while."

"No you don't. We're just best friends."

"Yeah. But its more than that. I love you. I actually do."

"Well, stop saying it then!"

"Never. I love you Cindy Graham, and I have for a while now. And its okay if you don't love me back, but it won't change how I feel! Even if you leave, I'll just follow you. Because-"

"You love me, I've heard you, why the fuck have waited this long to tell me!?" She seemed actually pissed. Or was that frustration?

"Cause I was a coward. I would sulk and leer back whenever I felt jealous. I guess it took two boobs for me to stop being that. And for the record, I will break Fred's legs if that's the guy you hook up with instead of me!"

Cindy let out a snorting laugh. "You're an idiot. And you look ridiculous!"

Dale laughed. "I know." He stood firmer now, even if the tears were still coming.

Cindy shrugged, looking around. "So, now what?"

Dale took a deep breathe. "I have no idea. I guess we wait for the next shift?" Dale suddenly felt a heavy kick in his stomach. "Oh god, hopefully sooner, rather than later!"

But the kicking feeling hadn't come from Dale's stomach, as Cindy felt it too. No, if came from the world, which had started rumbling and shaking. Suddenly the trailer behind them was pulled violently into the ground, disappearing into void. So after, the ground around Dale and Cindy started doing the same, and the pair was left drawing closer into the middle of it all, to stay safe.

More and more ground disappeared in loud explosions, as they disappeared into void, which would soon come for both Cindy and Dale. When all hopes looked lost, the pair turned to each other, screamed after the other, held onto each other tight, and faced it together, eyes closed, as they too, was swallowed by the ground into the void.

OUTSIDE THE STORY:

Steve closed the book.

What a strange read.

And what a strange ending. The two characters was just eaten by the ground? How unclimatic! Did they end up together? Or did they go each their own way?

Steve would never know, as there was no more book after this. It was over. It had been fun, filling in the blanks, forming the story into what he wanted it to be. But it also felt a little eerie. Like the story had also read him. At first all he could think about was the hot ladies he missed at the beach. The that train of thought had made him even hornier and he let himself be swept away into fantasies about big bimbo women.

But then the story had taken a turn for the worse. Steve had been pulled out of his fantasy and he was reminded of his childhood. Growing up in a poor trailer park with his parents who couldn't even afford clean clothing, much less an stable house. Steve did not have fund memories of his childhood.

He looked down at the clothes he was wearing. At least it was clean. In light of that, maybe Steve didn't have it so bad. Maybe he was okay as he was, and maybe, just maybe, things could turn around for him too.

Steve put the book back on the shelf. The bullies must have given up on chasing him now, so he could exit without worries. But when he turned around, he almost stumbled over something large on the floor. Something that then gave him a shock and a jump. He had thought he was alone. But there, on the floor, lay two **** people.