My friends and I are in an on-again/off-again writing club where the rules are simple. Every two weeks you have to submit three short stories that it took you 20 minutes or less to write. These are the results.

 

Too Free

 

It was the power of alcohol that had us sitting on skateboards and ramming one another into the office walls, and it was the power of alcohol that made me step out on that balcony to talk to you. We’d been spying on you from the safety of the men’s bathroom across the alley, watching you dance by yourself after your night out. Contact had to be made.

 

I stepped out, acting like I just happened to need some fresh air like you, then I said hi. We chatted about nothing until my smarter partner in crime came out and asked if you wanted to join us for a drink. You said sure, and you showed up with weed and an apple for a pipe as your contribution to the party.

 

We explored the building together, climbing forbidden ladders and ducking under beams in attic while you told me how you met a guy on hippie hill, trading him a shower duet and carefree sex for the marijuana we were smoking. By 4 in the morning, we were all partied out and suggesting that you leave. But you countered with the offer to bring pillows and blankets over, for a full on office sleep over. How could we say no to that?

 

As the rest of us drifted off, you played a DVD – some movie about evil puppets, then told us about your out of body experiences and how you were visited often by two ghosts, an old man and a little girl. Sometimes you would have sex with the ghosts.

 

When we woke up, you were gone. The only thing denoting your presence was the warmth of your blankets and a small note on the door that said ‘later guys.’

 

We talked all day about the experience of your presence, recounting the events to one another simply because we couldn’t believe it really happened. We really made contact with you.

 

In the late afternoon, you silently slinked into our office and started gathering up the blankets we had folded for you. If it wasn’t for us saying hello, I don’t know if you would have said a word to us. You were just as spacey and mysterious to me as you were 12 hours ago.

 

Now you’re gone, and I don’t know if you’ll ever be back. I hope you won’t be because honestly, you frighten me. You’re just too free.