Julia Kemp

The Hostel & The Apartment

The Hostel Back when I was younger, I wanted the world to right itself again; I held tightly onto an unrelenting optimism that I only ever found in Reuban. But I’m sure that auspiciousness is what ruined Reuban eventually; it persistently gnawed at his criminalised body until he surrendered to The Scientists. When I watched The Cleaners obsessively mopping the shiny linoleum in his room that is when I changed too, I think. After moving into the new apartment complex last spring, I decided I wanted the world to keep smoking, hissing, and chugging like a well-designed steam train - no more unrealistic glimpses into the optimistic human mind.