How bizarre that so many places exist which nobody cares about. In a world that is so busy you cannot pause to think, pockets of silence are everywhere. You can find them even in the biggest of cities. Scrubby bits of land near car washes and closed down warehouses. Places where the ivy fights with the paving stones, and a broken traffic cone is never far away.
If you do not need to go there, you will never go there. And there will never be a reason to go there.
Not unless you are looking for something.
This is not dumpster diving, or searching old skips for half decent furniture. I do not care about flipping broken antiques. Instead, I seek the more unusual treasures. The unique finds.
I like to think the Universe vomits them up. Crushed drinks cans with unknown branding. Ripped posters for bands with no online presence. Plastic toys linked to franchises or cartoon series you cannot find. Curio stuff.
You get your eye in for the spots that might be bountiful. Gloves are important, and you have to be mindful that sometimes hours rooting through the broken glass and needles result in nothing of value. But keep working, and rewards will be appear.
Today's find was close to something available in a shop. The mask was featureless, and apart from the eyeholes designed to smother your whole face. A pink sheen suggested it was made of something like oyster shell, but in one piece. A small crack ran up from the chin.
This was by miles my best discovery. I kept most of the stuff in an old trunk, but the mask was going straight on the wall.
But first, I had to try it on. Find out what the world looked like from behind those eyeholes.
That was a few hours ago. My face is cold, like meat in the snow. The mask is on the kitchen table, next to my gloves.
Now I understand everything. The shapes in the air, the sparkles floating by the window. Tunnels where tunnels cannot exist. Voices without a throat. No obvious off switch exists.
The bit of old scrubland had glowed almost entirely green. I can see why you would leave places like that alone.
Line: I like to think the Universe vomits them up.
