left 1

1. For 20 years, number 9 could not find love, until one night when he fell
89,87 3 5 asleep, a lucky number 7 appeared.
1. Three weeks after his attempted return to Naples,
the city from which he was expelled fifteen years ago,
the shepherd 2 3 Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio sat on a cold beach.
1. The song echoed down the halls of every school and played on every
hospital waiting room television for those with excuses for their long-awaited
olivia 1 1 October 4 national holiday.

right
1. For the first 18 months of Marcus Kondinsky’s life, his mushy body
and brain were acting on the Sympathetic Full-Throttle natural initiation period, which
kondinsky 3 2 allowed him to develop the energy and enthusiasm to explore.
1. A boy with an aquiline nose had a terrible dream the night before
steep dream 2 4 mall management would have fired him.
drac & nost 1 6 “This is the inter-spoken harmony between:”

2
1. He, number 9, was in his easy chair when she tapped on his shoulder.
1. At his back, thousands of artichokes
2. grazed on the salty Mediterranean soil.
1. It was Conception Day.

1. That was his one and only practice phase.

1. He worked as a messenger within the mall exchanging folders, files,
2. and other mall business paperwork.

3
 1. In the chair, he swung around and 7’s hand was stretched out to touch him.
1. At his feet, wrapped in his old wool coat were his paints, three large artichoke buds, wine, and a few letters.
1. Nine months before America’s Independence Day, created four years earlier to help combat the United States’ population deficit.

1. At age 2, his body and brain throttled down.

1. At night, the boy crossed the interstate after work and spent the evenings at his apartment studying and planning long vacations, alone.
Dracula

1. When 9 took her hand, it came off and 9 was left holding her 4 parts tight in his palm.

1. The once beloved Christian painter ignored the first sounds of the sheepdog barking in the distance.

1. Babies born on July 4 would be eligible for prizes.

1. His lungs reduced oxygen intake, his pupils constricted, his blood pressure and pulse decreased, and he learned to pee in a toilet, among other things.

1. His rooms were dark, and without a roommate, he could answer the telephone naked, but go days without uttering a word to anyone but himself.

“one sunny afternoon in the black

1. She was shrunk to less than half of what she was born with, but together with number 9, he equaled 13.

1. Caravaggio, down-and-out and without a pen, picked up his pack and walked down to the massive sea’s edge.

1. Olivia dragged her body across the mat and crawled up onto her feet in one motion.

1. At some point the left half of his brain took over the right half and eventually left the rest of his body and organs to suffer through backbreaking numericals and numbing solitude.

1. He rarely lay down and was sure to direct all mirrors away from his bed while he slept.

and burgundy hills of Romania,

 6

1. One lucky man.

1. He did not want to sit down again, he felt slowed already.

1. On small televisions, she was a small tissue cleaning up a mess.

1. Marcus heard the phone ring in the living room.

1. His bed sheets looked purple in the dimmest fluorescent light.

a sprout of golden wheat shot up from

7
1.
1. He stood and watched the sea.
1. She danced “to alleviate pressures of late fall and get 200 million people to get in the mood for love.”

1. The living room and kitchen were rooms in his apartment, but his bedroom was his home.
1. The night he had this dream, his body became paralyzed, his eyes locked on the buzzing metal fan, and his stomach sloshed and growled.
the backside of a dirty bank.

8
1. 7.
1. The dog arrived within his eyesight and then stepped onto the promontory where he stood.
1. Her gymnast uniform would cost millions after October 4, but until then it was her job to “dance like the human population depended on her performance.”

1. His last pencil mark before his first attempt at getting up from his desk was a number to signal to his client that he or she had to pay an amount, not to him, but to the government—to everyone.
1. The boy with the aquiline nose and bushy eyebrows got off work early and crossed the interstate at an irregular hour.
Four months later, it sprouted teeth

9
1. And 13 and 7 are 20.
 1. He offered the shepherd’s dog an artichoke.
1. Olivia’s proud senator took it seriously on camera, but she had spoken with him before and he wasn’t as cooperative or enthusiastic.

1. “Hello.” He sat down in one of the twenty chairs scattered around his apartment. He had trouble standing.
1. Underneath the noon sun, the flurry of automobiles reflected the sun’s brightness and not the mysterious glare of the streetlights, headlights, and brake lights the boy was accustomed to seeing at night.
and the tongue turned blue.”

10
1. They went through life foolishly 9 plus 7 back and forth.
1. The young woman watched the man and the dog from behind, a few steps in front of the tree-line.
1. The first lady of Nebraska is unable to conceive any more children.

1. “Okay…the office in the mall?”

1. The trucks were grayer and they moved faster.

11
1. 16.
1. The man looked poor, dirty, and lonesome, but she was impressed with the generosity shown to her pet.
1. As Olivia walked out of the spotlight at 7pm, she took out her cell phone and called a taxi.

1. “No, I don’t have anything to do tonight”

1. There were no faces in the windows, only glare.
-And-
12
1. Until one day when the two were bouncing off the walls together, did 9’s three friends, the Threes, burst into his room where 9 and 7 were together.
1. She took a step down onto the cliff, holding the top of her dark wool lapels to keep her chest warm and to not expose her chest to the sad stranger.
1. She thought about what she would do with the five hours she had left to burn on October 4.

1. “So what time do you suggest I leave?”

He poured some milk and turned the lamp on in his room.

13
1. The Threes were lucky and fond of 9 and only wanted to chill with 9, but the quantity of the room 16, when they touched, was too much to hold another three and three.
1. Her dog ran to her side and the famous painter turned to see the young woman walking to him on the cliff’s narrow path.

1. “Okay, sorry…thank you.”

1. He fell asleep without clothes.
Nostradamus

14

1. The room shook and 9 waited for his house to collapse.

1. “Don’t come any closer” were the famous painter’s first words to a Maltan since his exile.

1. Marcus hung up the phone and walked back to his bedroom.

1. The clock beeped at midnight, a short while into his slumber.

“500 years ago a magician

15

1. “Buona sera,” the young woman continued to walk out to the edge to the painter.

1. His huge body swayed down his blank narrow hallway.

1. This woke the boy up momentarily, so he popped the painted latch on his windowsill and leaned his head to the right, out the window at the interstate, before falling back asleep.
predicted his own death”

16

1. 16 and the Threes came thunderous 25 and the house shook and collapsed.

1. Caravaggio accidentally touched his hair and a wave of pitiful feelings crashed into the crags below.

1. He thought about opening the window, but saw the stacks of files hindering the opportunity at fresh air.

1. He with the aquiline nose and lean stature pulled on the door handle.

17
1. Because 16 and 9’s friends were fun and 9 forgot that his house fell down, they all decided to live on the beach together.
1. She sat down next to him without saying much.

1. Marcus then left.

1. It took most of his weight to open the heavy mall doors after hours.

18
 1. 8 years later, the 16 and the Threes aged enough so that the Threes became the Twos, 9 a never-ending 8, and 7 a frustrated 6.
1. Her legs flayed out in front of her, distinguishing herself as a poor girl whose artistic knowledge ended before her ability to recognize the creative hands of the man next to
her.

1. His car had been stuck to the side of the road on a hill with the parking brake in use for weeks.

The corridor was empty in front of him

Nostradamus, explaining to Dracula how Dracula will die and other future foretellings:

19

1. Because she had her old eyes on a 5 who was with 4 walking along the shoreline.
She slept alone, unmarried for the next 55 years, worked the same fields, and attended the same Catholic church, ( 1 9 . 5 ) which was barren of any of Caravaggio’s artistic
vulgarisms and contentious obscenities.

1. Marcus found his key under the bumper and squeezed himself in.

1. Quietly, he sat down and tied his shoes.

20

1. 7, now 6, was nervous and she waited 7 years before she mustered enough courage to speak with the 5, alone.

1. The old woman ignored the first sounds of her sheepdogs barking in the distance.

To a mechanic the car was in bad shape.

He glanced at the ceiling above him and listened.

1. “I’ll let you know later”

darkest
21

1. Together they were 11, they never had sex, for they loved each other’s voices too much.

1. She woke up and read the Bible, put it down, and then went outside where the dogs still barked.

1. To Marcus, the car was clean and silver.

1. He could hear birds.

1. “Wha! what the fuck. C’mon man, you can’t do-”

22

1. The 4, now alone crawled to 9.

1. She grabbed her dark lapels in the bitter cold. In a talk with her niece, she had learned the life of the famous painter.

1. He didn’t look at his apartment window as he drove away, but didn’t think to.

1. Then he took off, shot out of a cannon near the escalator he dashed 75 yards to one end of the mall, and sprinted again to the other side.

1. “alright, I’ll give you a clue.”

23

1. 9, remembering his dream took all of her and completed himself again.

1. “He died 40 years ago upon returning to his home in Naples," said the old woman's old niece.

1. He drove on the highway with no music.

 1. He took off again, pacing one large circle around the center court.

1. “what?”

24

1. 13, but she was foolishly zero, letting the man take her soul.
1. She walked back to the end of the cracked ledge with her dogs and took off her dark nun's dresscoat, revealing her tan, aged breasts and bright blue
undergarment.

1. He thought about the last time he was in a car, and thought about the last time he was driven in a car.

1. He stopped where he had begun and did some stretches.

1. “Stake.”

25

1. The next night, the three 2s held a party.

1. She held the thought of seeing Naples while she ran through the bristly artichoke field with her sheepdogs.

1. He remembered waiting in a car as a kid with his mother.

1. Smoke filled the boy’s room while he slept.

1. “Steak?”

26

1. 13 and 0 stayed in the corner and 13 spoke to her about astrology and she foolishly listened.
 1. He remembered the game he played when he was a young college student when he would take long drives alone.

1. A sweet-smelling aroma slipped down his throat, just at the point when catching his breath was most difficult.

1. “Stake.”

27

1. 7, now 6, and 5 were at home in the corner where the man spoke to her from below her knee.

1. He remembered figuring out gas mileage, estimated time of arrival, and his female friend from high school.

To regulate his respiration, the boy breathed in three heavy waves of air.

1. “Give me another hint.”

28

1. She wanted a 7, but she was a 6.

1. Marcus’s fingers slipped off the wheel and he inhaled a deep breath.

1. He released, but after each exhalation, the smell became stronger.

1. “Heart-”
29

1. The room held 30 and they had a joyous night, until 13 said something that wasn’t true and drank more.

1. Immediately his cheeks started to tingle, and the tingling moved to his temples and back to the base of his neck.

1. Even though the boy with the aquiline nose was out of breath, he followed his nose to the deepest end of the abandoned mall building.

1. “whaaat? Steak and Heart?”

30

1. The last gulp was all that he could take and he swelled and fourteened.

1. His armpits sweat and he became hot.

1. It was six or seven feet wide, and three feet in height.

1. “Stake (jabbing motions)…and Heart.”

31

1. The room of 30 evaporated into 17 and 6’s eyes blinked when she saw 13’s face go cold.

1. The radio stopped his heart, but not long enough to interrupt his drive.

1. The gaping hole in the wall was positioned two feet above the ground and a thick dark red wrought-iron grill fit over the unusual opening.
 1. “Oh. okay so I’ll be stabbed in the heart?”

32

1. She ran to 13, who used to be 9, and saw that he was dead.

1. An ice-cold droplet of sweat ran down his arm to his elbow.

1. Smoke billowed from within the large gap, which smelled like barbecue to he boy. The smell captivated him and without much energy he found a small white door around the corner.

1. “Yes”

33

1. Her eyes swelled with cold tears and she started to cry.

1. He turned up the music to its loudest degree.

1. The flames licked the boy’s empty walls and his pillow caught a spark.

1. “Thanks”
lighter

34

1. 6 grew to 7 and her tears warmed.

 1. Now gripping the wheel, Marcus Kondinsky sang over the music but didn’t hear the rumbling of his engine quickly falling apart.
1. The white door was unlocked, but dirty white stairs led him up a steep incline to where the ceiling was low and he could reach his hand up into the ceiling where a ceiling tile should have
been.

35

1. The room gained one in 18.

He passed Exit 38

1. There was no light, but the boy could feel the barbecue air blowing on him from above.

Dracula meets Nostradamus’ great-great granddaughter:

36

1. 0 became 4 again, but the sight of her husband in such an unflattering position caused her to vomit, which caused her right eyeball to fall out.

1. The engine gave out and Marcus slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the right side of the freeway.

1. There was no door and no window at the top of the stairs, so the boy with the aquiline nose, bushy eyebrows, lean stature, and strange posture leaped up into the ceiling tiles.

37

1. When 7 opened her eyes 12 stared at her and she could not see anything else, until she saw the eyeball roll across the ground and stop at her feet.
 1. Cars rushed past him as he sat in his car afraid to pull his huge frame out of his door.

1. The boy was crowded by flames.

1. “Oh oh it’s so good to meet you.”

darker

38

1. 7 stopped and picked up 3’s eye.

1. He didn’t think he was going as fast as the other cars that were speeding by him.

1. His eyes opened, but his nose and lungs closed shut.

1. “Oh ohhhhh, you too.”

39

1. 3 was overcome with emotion as all 3 of the three 2s bowed to her, now a heroic angel.

1. He waited to get out, but couldn’t think of what he would do once he did.

1. It was a maroon room that looked like any other, but to the boy’s left a large window let in white, opaque light onto the flat red walls.

1. “Yeah I couldn’t think of anywhere else to meet but this coffee shop”
40
1. 5 found another 6 to cuddle and talk with.

1. He was embarrassed.
1. The smell of burning food made the boy hurry.
1. “That’s alright. I can make do.”

41

1. 7 ( swallowed the 3’s eye and laid down with -9 (89) and together became -2 (87).

1. Marcus didn’t get out for hours.

1. The boy’s body burned for all its imprudent faults, immoral vices, and wicked habits.

1. (adjusts seat and picks folder out from under her seat). “Otherwise, I couldn’t have meeted you this weekend. Meeted? Meeted?”

42

1. He counted cars, ate lunch, listened to music, and thought about his job.

1. His nose guided him to where he was near the source of his agitation.
 1. “yaop…meeted.”

43

1. At two in the morning, he turned the key and heard a rumble coming from under his feet.

1. The smell overcame any thought that appeared in his mind.

1. “Yeah, well I–”

44

1. Marcus sat alone, waiting to merge.

1. The boy found another door on the opposite side of the way he came in.

1. “No! It’s “meet!”

45
 1. He asked himself if he was in the furnace, but then he heard a noise from the corner of the tiny room before entering the next.

1. “I’m sorry. Go right on and finish what you’d said, sweetie.

46

1. He looked, but it looked to be a heap of dying birds and a ratfink rolling across the floor.

1. “No, that’s okay. I think I–”

47

He crawled through the next door and his nose started to.

1. “What were we talking about?”

48
 1. Each room became smaller, prison cell-sized, and the floors of each were starting an incline.

1. “…Forgot what I was going to say.”

49

1. The further the boy proceeded, the ground became steeper, the walls became darker, the temperature became hotter, and the smell seemed more quenchable.

1. “I’m sorry.”
lighter

50

1. He moved faster through the next few rooms.

51

1. There were no other doors to go through, except for the room behind and the room ahead.

Nostradamus is trying to wake up from a dream of the future. Dracula is his aunt.

52

1. No other doors, no other hallways.

1. “Mmmmgh.”
darker

53
 1. In order to reach the end, to discover the smell at the end, the boy would have to go through each room.

1. “avaken–”

54

1. Every room smelled sweeter, but was dirtier, darker, steeper, and tighter than the red room before.

1. “Humfh…”

55

1. The boy took off his hat and his coat and continued to the next room.

1. “-Sleepyhead. Yeah I know, the future’s bright” (turns on lamp)

56
 1. The boy opened the door and crawled in like if he were playing on a playground.

1. “Eeegh. You have no idea even the slightest potential impact of my dreams, duya?”

57

1. The doors were getting heavier and the space to crawl through was getting smaller.

1. (deep breath) “Honey, they called the I.R.S. They’re here.”

58

1. The boy, unable to see, crawled to the far wall.

1. “Didn’t see that one coming!” (pulls blankets and pillows over his head)
lighter
59

1. He was ravenous and his face had aged many years.

60

1. His hair was gray, and his choleric personality showed on his unappeasable face.

Dracula is a porn actor with no sexual ambition:

61

1. The floor was sloped 45 degrees and he scratched his way to the door to the next room in front of him.
62

1. The door touched the inclined floor in front of him, but it rest two feet above the boy’s aquiline nose.

1. “I have to ask you this Mr. Laracula”

darker

63

1. The door was hard to unlock, but he wanted to taste the source of the smell that lured him through the mall, he was eight stories above the interstate. He pulled and twisted the handle while the young girl at the bottom of the incline below him a

1. “Drake Laraculaaaaa”

64
She looked like she had fallen from the door.

“Hmmhmm. That’s funny. Can you confirm these photos?”

65

1. The boy did not looked behind at her.

1. “How?”

66

1. The next room was the color of his bed, smelled like barbecue, and was black and lightless.

1. “Let me show you these (shows photos).”

67
 1. Saliva had been filling his mouth, drying on his teeth, and a continuous bead of spit dangled from his lip and chin.

1. “Yes?”
end

68. 1. By this time, he was dressed only in his shorts.

69. 1. Most of his hair had fallen out and his body was drenched in spit and sweat.
70. 1. A blast of hot air shot across the room and the boy with the aquiline nose slid down inclined floor of the room measured 10 feet by 8 feet.
71. 1. The girl pretended to be asleep and the boy could see that the room above him, from where the smell emanated was darker than the room, which he already inhabited.
72. 1. He came to his feet and tapped the body of the girl with his foot.
73. 1. He grabbed the side of the door up high on the wall and peeked up.
74. 1. His legs dangled below where the girl who had so eagerly awaited the source of the smell’s arrival ripped off the boy’s shorts and grabbed his waist.
75. 1. The boy, unafraid, dragged the girl’s body into the even steeper, smaller, hotter, rotten last room on the incline.
76. 1. The sun’s hot rays burn the carcasses of the rats and birds in search of the source of the aroma.
77. 1. They are left baked on the roof of a mall in New Mexico.
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87