Mass Meeting Chronicles, Part 3

Oh no! You just stepped on the slippery ice outside your apartment during a Michigan snowstorm, and you’re losing your balance and potentially slipping down the stairs. If you land on your back, you will die. What do you do? 

If you decide to stay in, you might miss your best friend’s birthday party. You and her go a long way back. In elementary school, she saved your pet turtle by swooping in and picking up Gilbert when HE slipped on ice. Maybe she could save you, too. You call her on the phone. She tells you to grow a pair.

“If you fall, just get back up. If your pants get wet, you can borrow some from me.”

That was… oddly inspirational. I step forward again, slowly putting one foot in front of the other, until I make it to my friend’s house. Her blue walls were a lighthouse in the storm. But as soon as I reach the front door, my foot slips and I feel myself beginning to fall, butt first. 

Oh shit, I think, if I keep going like this, my back will hit the ground, and I’ll die!! Fortunately, my arm flails out, and I manage to hit my friend’s doorbell right before I hit the ground… 

But wouldn’t it be nice if I hit the ground so I could get insurance money to help with my best friend’s rent, and we would be well off…? We are in America, I realized. The insurance company doesn’t do anything.  I screamed and woke up from this nightmare. 

*Mass Meeting Chronicles is a series of short stories written collaboratively by Gayly members at our Winter 2026 Mass Meeting. We followed an initial prompt and each tried to continue the story crafted by the member before, effectively creating the chaos you see before you now. Enjoy!