Table of Contents

• Home
• Introduction
• Where Goths Come From - Neef
• The Watcher - Hobbes
• The Resurrection Shuffle - Barbarella
• Cassandra - Cosey Mo
• Drunken Old Bastard - Sandro
• Alcohol - Trayce
• Shadows - Entrippy
• Entropy - Kage-Ryu
• Is There A Point - Trajik
• Whispers - Kitsune
• Confessional - Sandro
• Garden - Entrippy
• Radio - Cam
• Cold Spell - Nikolai
• Slices - Neef
• A Bottle of Something Strong - Jraff
• The Light Fades - Tim
• Rain - Tim
• Self Help - Gothic Gallae
• Cato - Trajik
• Addiction/Fragment - Trayce
• Heal Thyself - Nikolai
• Shattered - Hobbes
• Travelling Song - Solitaire
• Distance - Stranger
• Legacy - Stranger

Self Help

I thanked her for her time and hung up. Then I popped into the deli and bought a newspaper I didn't really want. It was best to have an alibi just in case. Fiona was busy in the kitchen when I returned to the duplex. I didn't need to worry after all.

Time passed very slowly at work the next day. I was constantly thinking about what the group and the meeting might be like. I'd told Fiona that I'd be late home, that I was going to do some window shopping for her birthday present, and she had accepted this. Thursday was late night shopping night in the Suburbs, so it was a good cover. The truth was, I still hadn't bought anything for a present. Fiona liked surprises, and I would have to find time to buy something between now and next Tuesday.

Six o'clock came and I knocked off work. I work in a warehouse just north of the city. It's handy because it's close to Northbridge and the train station. I stopped at a food hall and had a kebab and a coffee. My mind was not on my food. Then I caught the Fremantle train to Grant street Station.

The woman had said that the WANT premises were along Railway street not far from the station, next to a primary school, and that I couldn't miss it. It was a cold and wet night, and the street looked gloomy as I walked away from the station. Ahead loomed a sign: "W.A.N.T. Inc -- premises 50m up driveway". Leading away from the street, a dimly lit driveway snaked past some parkland and led to two buildings in the distance. A row of trees and shrubs obscured these from the street, but from where I was, I could see that the lights were on in the smaller of the buildings.

Taking a deep breath, I proceeded to walk up the driveway. As I got closer I could see that there were several cars parked outside. Most were empty, though one seemed to have an occupant who was just sitting there, waiting. I skirted around this car, and made my way down a pathway to the smaller building. On the nearest door was a cardboard sign that said "Transformers Meeting in Progress. $4 / 1st time free". This was the place all right. I opened the door and went in.

I was at the end of a corridor. To my right was an open door to a dark and apparently empty room; to my left was a closed door (the light was on in the room behind it) with another sign that read "Changing Room". Down the end of the corridor was another room. This one was also lit, and I could see through the open doorway the figure of a man sitting next to a table. He cracked a big toothy grin and I walked down the corridor and into the room.

The man was one of the hairiest I'd seen. He also appeared to be much too large for his clothes (though he himself was quite short) and it seemed a miracle that he didn't burst out of them. Next to him on the table was a mug of coffee and a tray of biscuits.

"Evening" he said with another grin, and in a voice that could saw wood.

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