As I caress the jagged edge of this once-loved neon nightmare my synapses are firing on self destruct and the air is filled with forgotten sweat, pulling my nose down its trail of obliteration. Muffled shouts give the skittish masses a focal point, to avoid other's stares and the cool, nervous shadows. An endless silver snake hisses the arrival of its gorged burden that shudders to a stop, retches out some spirit chasers, then melts into guilt and folds into the arms of strained moonlight softly filtered through vampiric clouds. It's all behind me now, pulled hypnotically down those infinity lines. A movement, I pounce! Needles hiss and snap at my face, I barely escape intact although my pride takes a knock. To feint indifference shows the cowering, bleeding shadows I am strong. But I can't help sticking my nose in once again. I must know what deformed evil this is. A flash of lightning fills the sticky air, the beast is revealed in all its misery. A somehow living pincushion, a putrid, flea ridden, pointy-nosed, four-toed lump of breathing flesh that is known in progressive scientific circles as a hedgehog. I return to my apartment for some snausages.
