iarpo

In The Closet

We’re chasing the bus through East Morton, a small village I used to live in. The kids are there waiting for us. As we’re running there’s piles of processed meat in the road, like piles of horse muck. As we’re chasing the bus it runs over a few piles, meat exploding out and as we stamp on them the same happens. Mechanically reclaimed meat is splattered all over the road, graphic and in maximum high definition detail.

[fragment missing]

It’s the early 90’s in Leeds, we’re moving out of our house, boxes are piled everywhere. I only see one of the rooms, a sparse bedroom, brown textured wallpaper that probably started life cream hangs onto the wall. There’s a single bed, tall and worn, next to a glass front cabinet filled with shelves, maybe six feet tall.

A new guy’s moving in, his hair black and floppy, wearing a striped knitted jumper - quite emo. He emerges from the adjoining room, conspicuous in it’s mystery, the door seeming more real than real. He’s not coming out with us, deciding instead to hide from someone. However he chooses to hide in the cabinet. The glass fronted cabinet, with small shelves. He presses himself in trying to close the door. Somehow he manages, the glass warping around his features. We stand looking at him, ridiculous. He ushers us on so as not to give him away - idiot. Though he did lend me a book on Gothic films.

As we leave, another housemate says hello to me, inconspicuous and throwaway. But it’s laden with emotion, with unrequited love for me. It took all her confidence to say hi to me, that one word filled longing. I know this and make a mental note to talk to her next time I see her and check out is she’s hot. That’s for another time though, right now we have to leave.

We step outside, the door to the bedroom leading immediately onto the street. The air’s heavy with imminent rain and electricity. It’s early 90’s, and as we walk to college the camera swoops high, taking in the vista of the city, everything subtly tinted sepia. It swoops here and there in impressive aerial shots before sweeping back down at the college, where we’re just arriving. We study advertising and one of my tutors is Jeff Goldblum.