last night...

we were at my old house, moving out the last bit of furniture and boxes. suddenly there was this roaring sound and smoke began to filter through the cracks in the door. i opened the door and flames shot out, fueled by the fresh oxygen. i shut the door quickly and ran to get out of the window. something was gnawing at the back of my mind, i was forgetting something. i looked back and saw the exposed gas line. quickly i grabbed what i could and covered it, running into the bathroom, i grabbed a stuffed animal and soaked it in water. i placed it over the valve to the gas line and then went out of the window, hoping that i had bought more time than i'd spent. everyone had made it out and they were waiting for me on the lawn. i got there and realized all the dogs were still inside. i looked back and all three of them were running toward us from the burning house. i grabbed them and put leashes on them to keep them safe with us. the house didn't explode...and the fire died down. though the fire was out, there was still the danger of the gas igniting and the whole house exploding. we carefully worked around the house, trying to do something. someone decided to put up a big, plastic grid just a few inches off the ground. it was hooked up to the gas line and if it was pulled hard enough, it would break the line and the gas would escape...causing an explosion. we tripped over the plastic several times and each time, everyone caught their breath and we all knew that we could die at any minute.
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i was with him and some other guy. they were walking ahead of me. they didnt want me following, but i did anyway. the other guy turned off but i still kept following him. we came to a wooden bridge that hung over a deep ditch and he suddenly turned around and yelled at me. he was so angry because i was following him. i stood there, stunned and on the verge of tears. he whirled around and continued off. i sat down on the bridge to wait for him to come back. he'd told me to go away, so i would wait for him. ahead, i could see him entering the swamp. he met two guys there who were using this very strange contraption to sort of "fish." they weren't getting anywhere with it, so i went over there, despite my strong desire to just wait, and tried to see if i could help them. i took the boat-thing and drifted off into the swamp..."fishing" i suppose, when behind me, i heard one of the guys scream. he was yelling "get it off me, it's on my foot!" i figured they could take care of themselves so i continued to quietly float around the swamp. the guy continued to yell despite the feeble attempts at help, so i turned around and we used the net on the boat-thing to catch the small alligator that had decided to attack him. it was about four feet in length, but it's tail had been chewed halfway off (though it had healed). we proceeded to get the alligator out of the net and hold his mouth shut so he couldnt bite us. on the way back to the house, we ended up catching two more, both much larger than the first.
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they were part of a crowd that liked to pretend time had stopped. a time when they thought things were better, places were more opulent, women held a quiet kind of class, and the men smelled of cigars, expensive alcohol, and heavy, woolen suits. they liked to pretend.

the two women hated each other, though they were forced, for appearances, to use the same hotel suite to dress that night. their relationship had passed as friendship in their circles for most of the time they had known each other, but there was always a bitter jealousy behind their eyes and clenched between their teeth when they smiled at each other. anger burned between them as they tied their dresses on and hung their heavy diamonds around their too slender necks. their husbands were already at the bar, pretending with the others. the women tried to ignore each other more venomously with each layer of pretense they placed on their bodies. the anger in their eyes shone with more fire than the glassy stones strung around their necks and dangling from their ears.

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