***
I left the realm of snow and ice
the second time,
returned to the forest around Brisbane
and followed Dr. Mizto
by the odor of brimstone
to a stucco building
that just said “clinic,”
clearly
a cover
for an experiment house
since this was demon-run.
But it seemed,
upon inspection,
that rioters went there
after a day of rioting
and answered
questionnaires.
But yes, they were still rioting
if the smoke from the city
meant anything.
I think
my few days in the snow and ice
equated to a couple weeks here–
though some skyscrapers
in the distance
still stood
so maybe
less time had passed.
Regardless, I was here
to speak to Mizto
and didn’t want rioters on my case
inside their clinic
so I disguised myself
as one of ’em
with coal on my cloak
and blood on my fists
(I doubted
the rioters used
blood earned from protesting
to dye their fists
but all the ones
around Dr. Mizto’s torture house
wore it
like united wounds,
or maybe just as a
coppery deterrent
to the brimstone fumes),
but unfortunately,
in order to see the doctor
I had to fill in the questionnaire.
And I could’ve
busted my way through
the front desk
and office doors
and demanded an audience
but I didn’t feel like it
and looking back
I think that was a spell
Dr. Mizto put in the walls
to keep the rioters calm
so oops
I let it affect me too.
So I sat
on a hardback chair
writing with a pencil
on a clipboard
(so old fashioned, this immortal demon)
held in fish-blood stained hands
and answered
sixty-nine
questions
about my opinions–
but with subsets
to most questions
I filled in
a hundred two bubbles
and wrote
seventeen
short responses
but
the walls held no truth charm
(Dr. Mizto could’ve made one
but most demons
don’t like them
for obvious reasons)
so I wrote
utter
nonsense.
“How would you describe your reasons for joining?
a) displeasure with the current ruling class
b) chaos is fun, baby
c) all my friends are doing it
d) I deserve better pay and better rights”
C, please. And I didn’t realize
we were calling this riot a vague term like “joining.”
I fake-answered a lot of questions
about why I was rioting
and where
and what did it involve, exactly,
but the oddest one
went like this:
“What would you like to do to the current ruler? Write a short response.”
Like, okay Dr. Mizto,
I didn’t know
you were asking the people
what they wanted to do to me.
So I wrote
a bunch of words
that started with B
like bruise and bar and baboon baby
and waited my turn for the doctor to see me.
***
check out my new book at this link (lol remember 2 days ago when I said the print version wouldn’t be available for over a week? Haha the universe is funny sometimes.)
Jordyn Saelor 