jimmy

<h>(css: "font-size: 50px;")[(text-style:"smear")[They Are Always Watching]]</h> be careful where you go(link: "<ee><e>...</e></ee<")[, there is always someone watching. <script>audio.static.play();</script> [[<e>...</e>|you are jimmy]] ]

you are jimmy. this is corner of (text-style: "blurrier")[elizabeth] street and (text-style: "blurrier")[hay] street. you are hungry. [[...|still pretty hungry]]

you don't think you can face your children and explain to them why papa never visits, why papa didn't send a christmas card, why papa never has new clothes. (link: "...")[ you're still pretty hungry. that muesli bar from a few weeks ago still looks good though. [[> go for a walk]]]

a gentle stroll always seems to soothe you. it's real pretty with the autumn leaves flying in the breeze. shame you feel that //tingle// at the back of your neck. it never gets easier feeling the stares. you decide to get some basic supplies for the coming day. [[> enter corner store]]

the inside smells like herbal tea. you notice the shopkeep, an older lady wearing a dress of floral greens and pinks, idly watching a countertop tv. the baritone voice of brad garrett breezes through the store, the laugh track occassionally intermingled with static as the signal quality flickers. you notice the tea smell has a faint trace of citrus. the shopkeep notices you. you give a polite nod. [[...]] <script>audio.static.stop(); audio.raymond.play()</script>

its eyes find you amidst the garbage. it manages to hook a banana peel with its beak and it drops wetly to the floor. there are 3 more in trees and on the path. one gives off a hoarse retch, eyes tracking you even as its body lurches with the effort. (link:"...")[52 pairs of dirty, ragged eyes are watching you. [[...|gulls 2]] <script>audio.static.stop();</script> ]

you start off by grabbing a newspaper by the door. the headline reads <div class="newspaper">(css: "font-size: 80%;")[<newstitle>Us And Them: They Are Always Waiting Outside The Store</newstitle>] (css: "font-size: 70%;")[<newstext>This weeks update on local happenings; "They're always standing outside the store and once they steal from us they can never come back," says Agatha, local store owner and grandmother of two. ", nothing they say or do is ever good so someone should do something about them." This was interpretated by the council as a calls to action following the recent disconent over their increasesingly distruptive presence in visible public space over the years-</newstext>]</div> You are a little uncomfortable. Mass media sure likes to spin the situation. [[...|deodorant]]

you put down the newspaper. fear mongering can wait until later. brad garrett's voice follows you down the aisle of packaged goods. the shopkeeper seems to be listening attentively save for the one eye also following you through the store. (link: "...")[ that deodorant looks pretty cheap. nice. [[...|next]]]

as you grab the deodorant and move into the next isle the shopkeeper's attention fully turns to you. you keep browsing but your neck burns with the weight of her gaze. it //itches//. you keep looking at the products but the names and colours all blur together, the laugh track drowns out your thoughts and brad garret's voice melts into a dull throb. [[...|next2]]

you find yourself at the counter. the shopkeep gives you 18 different kinds of looks. you offer the deodorant and three dollars fifty. she looks at you. a few of her eyes slowly blink. you look away. the cash register opens with a (text-style: "emboss")[chick]. [[...|next3]]

you say nothing. neither does the shopkeeper. the cash register closes. brad garrett fills the silence. you take the deodorant. the shopkeeper's eyes follow you out of the store. your neck //burns//. [[> leave]]

your own reflection stares at you. you stare back. you're so tired of all the eyes. all the looks. all the distain. all day, all the time, every action and every thought scrutinised. everyone, everything, everywhere. all the fucking time. every fucking where. to what end? for what purpose? [[...|the end 2]]

you close your eyes. you pull the smooth fabric over your head. no more. tomorrow is a new day. tomorrow we do it all again. [[...|jimmy]]

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you step outside. it's empty. a light fog settled over the store while you were inside. no longer can you smell faint hints of citrus, instead you smell decaying leaves and taste ozone. the air feels damp. seems like it's going to rain. [[...|silent hill]] <script>audio.raymond.stop(); audio.static.play()</script>

a damp scrap of newspaper skitters across the ground. it stick to your leg <div class="newspaper">(css: "font-size: 80%;")[<newstitle>(text-style:"mirror")[Us And] Them: They (text-style:"mirror")[Are Always Waiting Outside The Store]</newstitle>] (css: "font-size: 70%;")[<newstext>(text-style:"mirror")[This weeks update on local happenings;] "They're (text-style:"mirror")[always standing outside the store and once] they (text-style:"mirror")[steal from us] they (text-style:"mirror")[can never come back," says Agatha, local store owner and grandmother of two. ", nothing] they (text-style:"mirror")[say or do is ever good so someone should do something about] them." (text-style:"mirror")[This was interpretated by the council as a calls to action following the recent disconent over] their (text-style:"mirror")[increasesingly distruptive presence in visible public space over the years-]</newstext>]</div> [[...|you're so tired]]

you are so tired. (link: "...")[you turn to leave. a gull, dirty and ragged, is poking at an open bin. [[...|gulls]] ]

they look at you. their eyes track your every breath. you are so very tired [[> you want to go home]]

your legs propel you forward. you cannot smell the leaves. you cannot feel the dampness. you will not feel their stares. [[...|home]]

you open your eyes. beneath your hands is your smooth bedroll. it smells like mildew. above, a rhythmic shudder echoes off the walls as a train thunders past. a single eye stares at you from your periphery. [[> pick up the mirror]]

based on a Huffington Post Article Schanes, C., 'Why Do We Discriminate Against Homeless People?', Huffington Post, no. 6 Spring, 2011, http://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/c.php?g=325241&p=2177430