dystopia, dark skies, lightning and chemical clouds, always dark, I’m staying with SG in a sprawling metropolis- I go to visit Mykhiel, who lives in the bottom half of a tiny, peaked house with dark, papered-over windows- the bottom half and basement, on the inside, are a chaotic, teeming labyrinth of strange, industrial apartments winding concrete staircases and cold, damp show spaces. People are everywhere. I wander the house looking for Mykhiel, becoming lost in the art and production studios of nerdy boys with wild, tangled hair. I finally find Mykhiel. They live in a series of concrete rooms lit with Christmas lights and mostly bare. Mykhiel’s kids Z and M are there, as well as three dogs, two cats, and a giant lizard I do not recognize. Mykhiel is a visual artist, works all night at a light table in a dark, empty room. Ten year-old Z makes me cupcakes. They are the ugliest cupcakes I have ever seen, but they taste amazing. Z and I eat cupcakes and have philosophical conversations. The night gets late. SG is texting me, she doesn’t know where I am, but I can’t find my phone. I can’t get out of the building, I’m lost. I end up on the rooftop with Mykhiel, looking at the clouded chemical sky. We try to have sex, but we can’t decide who’s the top and who’s the bottom, and we can’t stop laughing, so we give up. SG shows up and we all sleep together in one tiny, rumpled bed.