We really shouldn't go naming our Spirit. My grandpa said that giving them names is part of what makes them act up. Who are we to be giving the Spirits names? We can barely speak their language. It's no wonder it makes them uptight when you give them names because next thing they know you're ordering 'em around like they're some kind of genie. And that don't end well.

Grandpa said spirits ain't pets. Or domesticated in any way. It's more like just making space for the stray cats in your neighborhood. Or the skunks, or the Owl, or the crows. Maybe put a bit of food out for them now and then but it's more like you just have an understanding. You ain't the boss of them.

So far Charlie and his Euclid have burned down Old Man Ferdy's barn, the abandoned playground, the bio-fuel recycling center, and the rest stop on the interstate just south of town.

How is the Euclid able to track our Spirit when we can't even do it? But if the Euclid is so great, why can't it catch our Spirit?

And why don't we have a cool code name for our Spirit?

In response to the carnage at the Rosy Acres Tri-Cities Industrial Warehouse complex, the (official) Spirit Team has decided to release our Spirit, codename EUCLID, to deal with the incursion.

This is why it was never a good idea for the school to allow for unsanctioned entrants in the Spirit Building Challenge. Building Spirit is a serious business, and with luck the Happy Eye Convenience Services company has adequate insurance and can get back to refilling snack machines across the Tri-Cities as soon as possible. Hopes & prayers!

While this will be EUCLID's first public release, we have no doubt that it will easily track the abomination set loose by the amateur Spirit builders on campus, and quickly melt it down with its heat vision. This will help us fine tune the Spirit before the actual upcoming awards ceremony.

Fan and I have been very careful not to create any spirit. But it's getting harder and harder to hold it back.

My roommate (Mallory) came back from break so Fan had to go back to her own room, and the first thing my roommate said was WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IN HERE and turned and ran screaming down the hall. She went right to the spiritual guidance counselor so of course right away I got a call to come in.

I guess Mallory complained about the spiritual void we had created. The spiritual guidance counselor--Ms. Emmery--is a ghost, but she's really understanding and was interested in what Fan and I were trying to do, in terms of the Spirit Building Challenge.

"You're right about people making spirit," she said. "We infuse a little bit of spirit into everything we do. It's like a natural part of the atmosphere."

I wasn't sure if it was for effect, but part of Ms. Emmery kind of floated up into the HVAC right then.

"So when you and Fan concentrated so hard on not making any spirit, cooped up in your room over break, you really changed the atmosphere in there. Mallory had never experienced anything like that, so she had a small existential break."

Ms. Emmery just said we shouldn't do it in enclosed spaces. And that we'd need to let Mallory build up some spirit in the room herself.

I guess that's fair. Fan and I are figuring out how to work around it.

I think it's clear from the security cam footage that it was our Spirit that was responsible for the destruction at the warehouse complex outside of town. If you freeze it at the 9 minute 37 second mark, you can clearly see it's still got the three big googly eyes we added, and has the same kind of lurching gate. Later in the video--when it's climbing on the security company's car--you can also see it's the right height.

The fact that the warehouse was full of snacks and chips for vending machines does work in our favor in terms of "motive," since our Spirit has no interest in Funyuns, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, or Ruffles, and that after the fence and the south wall were destroyed the entire facility was ransacked by the People of the Woods. But sooner or later, somebody is going to put two and two together. And what happens when our Spirit runs into a shopping mall? Or a hospital?

I know everybody just wants to "lay low," but the longer we don't come forward, the bigger the trouble will be. Unless we really can catch it on our own.

Thoughts?

We've caught a lot of spirits in @Jeremiah T's spirit traps. A skinny one, a big headed one, one with three arms and one made out of sparks. None of them are our Spirit that got loose. Who knew there were so many wild spirits wandering around? @Theo_917 says ours must be replicating bad copies of itself and we should warn people but wouldn't that just create a bunch of bad energy?

My grandpa said what you do in a situation like this is build a spirit trap.

One, it's got to be a trap the spirit finds irresistible. And second, it's got to be a trap the spirit can get in and out of easily. Because if you make it a trap the spirit can't get out of, then it's never going to go in there in the first place. Because spirits are smarter than that.

So I took that old rocking chair from psychic home economics and put it inside a big refrigerator box. Then I made sure it had lots of comfy pillows and was stuffed with straw, and hung tapestries around inside and some christmas lights. Then I tucked it back by the dumpsters behind the cafeteria and now we just have to be patient. Or move it to other places you think the lost spirit might frequent but suppose it was the night the spirit was going to come to the place you already had it and then you moved it someplace else? You can't out-think a spirit.

Our Spirit has escaped. If anyone sees an 8 foot tall, rather lurching biped roaming campus, please do not approach, but contact one of intramural Spirit Team members immediately. It is mostly made of sticks, has a limp, and is covered in moss and a few handfuls of bird feathers, mostly blue jay and crow. It may or may not still have three large googly eyes on its head. It is very fragile, so be careful not to surprise or scare it.

To all intramural Spirit Team members--this is why we keep the door to the workshop locked. I know there's a lot of fingerpointing going on but let's just just learn from this, move forward, and concentrating on locating our lost Spirit.

Well I can't tell if our experiment is working or not.

For the holiday break, Fan Tompkins and I are staying in my room, because my roommate left, and we have been trying our hardest not to invoke any Spirit at all. Every one of our movements is careful and considered and we are very careful not to get excited or unduly metaphysical about anything.

We get up in the morning and make tea, and some english muffins in the toaster oven and jelly. We get the cups and knives and plates out like it's a tea ceremony. And then we clean it up like it's a tea ceremony.

Then we tidy up like the whole room is some kind of zen mousetrap. We carefully read our books. Fan knits and I scroll. Going outside is ritualized and mindful.

So far we are not rousing up any Spirit. But the whole world seems taut like a balloon filled with energy and it's just about ready to burst.

I can barely hold it together. Fan is doing better than me. Maybe I should learn to knit.

Even though our Spirit is kind of smushed and leaning over, I just know we are on the right track. The googly eyes that @Theo_917 added really brought it to life. And I know this because of the way they follow you around the workshop. And I've been in the workshop for four days straight and haven't slept and all I have had to eat and drink are Lunchlys and Prime.