TOGETHER ALONE

vlad moves to america on his 6th birthday. the day before the big move, he is visited by shadow-spirits: the same ones that haunted his mother when she was a little girl.

in america, vlad is abused by an alcoholic step-father.

paranoid and strange ("voted most likely to grow up to be a serial killer"), vlad is bullied by classmates.

one day, vlad brings his step-father's 9mm gun to school in order to rattle one of his bullies. during a bus ride home, the gun discharges. a 4th grade boy is killed.

vlad prays to a higher power: "LET ME WAKE UP FROM THIS." someone answers, or something, answers. it reveals itself to be one of the "smokestack spirits" from estonia.

"let's make a deal," the shadow-spirit says.

vlad wakes up. it is as if the incident with the gun never happened. now vlad begins to notice inconsistencies. "characters" in a waking world populated by humans. these people have scripted behaviors. they say the same things. do the same things. over and over again.

vlad sells paintings at the local artists' hang-out, a rusty water tower. in art, he finds solace.

after high-school, vlad joins the Army. he kills people. his mental health declines. he returns to america and goes on weeks-long amphetamine binges.

unable to lead a successful life, vlad moves back to huntsville, AL to be with Natalie/zhenya: a girl who astral-projected into his dreams while he lived in tennessee. together, they adopt 20 cats. shoot meth into each other's veins. make love and war. they are two fucked-up kids from the soviet block. vlad is HOME... until zhenya leaves.

cats talk. cicadas sing about hidden doors in familiar places. a friend from the past harnesses souls and uses them to fuel the world's first-ever "magick machine."

love comes and goes. life comes and goes.

finally, vlad must make a choice: the shadow-world or the human world.