☩ there are pillars of hands emerging all around town ☩ we’ve examined them run tests ☩ and attempted to destroy these pillars but were met with no understanding ☩ no explanation ☩ and no results ☩ every so often one of the pillar will arch downward and seize a passerby ☩ grabbing at him or her and tearing them into bloody pieces before our eyes ☩ we would attack the pillars of hands which suffered no damage and which would retaliate only by gently feeling at us ☩ as if trying to understand our bodies ☩ we have been living in this state for five months so far and have yet to make progress ☩ rarely another pillar will emerge from the soil from the brambles ☩ from the sidewalks and concrete streets ☩ pushing everything from trees to asphalt to steel from its wake ☩ businesses have been shut down from the damages ☩ roads have been closed after oncoming cars are pulverized on contact with emerging pillars ☩ there’s a young man in town ☩ a newcomer only moving in shortly before the pillars emerged ☩ as of late the pillars have begun pointing at him ☩ at first it was only a few hands but soon the entire mass would contort its uncounted index fingers toward this young newcomer as he passed ☩ the ladies at the local diner ☩ the one shut not shut off by emerging pillars have been chatting with the hairdressers and antique shoppers across the street and they’re certain he’s the one who brought this plague upon our dynasties ☩ Brenton Elliot was the first to decide to move out because of the pillars ☩ his house hvac was ruined and his mechanic’s shop brought down by two separate incidents so he took his wife and kids and he took off for his relatives down in the piedmont ☩ they turned a corner on the mountain road and were thrown off the cliffside by a wall of anxious hands ☩ the farthest out from 21st street we’ve ever seen ☩  now federal officials are arriving ☩ forcing people out of their homes to set up research stations ☩ I’ve seen helicopters overhead and tanks rolling down streets ☩ men in black suits and white masks are knocking on doors to ask questions about the pillars ☩ and residents are going missing after these visits ☩ three army soldiers were killed yesterday ☩ after a pillar chose one of them as its arbitrary outlet of aggression ☩ the other two were killed by shrapnel from ricocheting bullets ☩ last night ☩ I saw something watching me through my bedroom window ☩ it bore a gas mask and clawed talons ☩ today we noticed the mist rolling in from the mountains ☩ and saw the valley below interrupted by pillars of hands ☩ emerging through the earth’s follicles ☩