I thrust my hands in my pockets and let the booze in my gut and the smoke from my cigarette warm me up against the cold. My roommates didn’t smoke cigarettes, so I was out in the cold Wisconsin fall with the guy we buy weed from, Endrew Lingensen. We were standing out front of our local bar, Brogley's, in a dirt lot right next to a U-Haul store.

“Hey, man, you  just gotta quit your job, man. Hey, you could work for me. We’re hirin’.” Endrew managed the Xtreme Air and was notorious for hitting on employees. Like, all of his employees. I had been complaining about my boss, who had just called me to ask if I could open tomorrow. I told him no, and he threatened my job, so I told him yes.

“Thank man, I’ll, uh, think about it.” I said absently. My attention was drawn to the hole that had opened up behind Endrew’s head. It had unfurled slowly, like a whirlpool in reality, revealing a glowing purple light.

“Mmmhmmm…” Endrew said and nodded slowly, brushing his ratty goatee with his finger and his thumb. His John Lennon glasses were fogging in the cold.

I scrubbed my face, hands clammy from my pockets. The hole was still there, slowly growing.

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“Hey, uh, Evan,” Endrew said, “you good?”

“You see that?” I said, pointing behind him.

“Huh?” He said and turned his head, “whoa!” He turned around and backed away, standing next to me.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Looks like a hole.” He said.

We watched it grow in silence for a short while.

“You wanna touch it?” He asked.

“You touch it.” I said.

“Fuck that, I’m not touching it.” He said and stomped out his cigarette, “I’m fuckin’ cold.”

He turned to head back inside as I stared at him incredulously. I looked back at the hole. It was the size of my fist now. I watched it grow until I finished my cigarette, and then flicked the butt into the hole. Instead of going in, it bounced off of the hole if it were solid, landing softly into the asphalt below.

“What the fuck…” I muttered to myself, leaning closer to the hole, now the size of a softball, and gently prodded the hole with my finger. I flew finger-first into the hole, my body stretching into spaghetti to fit through the opening. It hurt like shit, dude.