#five talks

I wake to find myself in a desert, walking across the dunes. And then I feel it. It begins as an itch in my throat, then it spreads down my chest and into it stomach. It trickles into my veins. I'm thirsty. My tongue and throat get so dry I feel like they're going to turn into dust. I've never known such thirst, how can this feeling exist? I have to get out of there. I scream for help, for someone to wake me up, then a terrible fear crosses my mind, what if I cant wake up? As I keep walking the thirst grows stronger with ever step. I believe I have reached the peak of human torment, only to step further and learn a greater torment. The suffering devolves me to a creature who is only desire is for water. But there is no water, only sand as far as the eye can see.

I walk for what feels like centuries, time no longer exists. The misery drives me insane. Within my thirst I feel the weight of human suffering. In these moments I could write poetry that would force its reader to suicide. If I look someone in the eye, their heart would stop. If I whisper in their ear their brain would hemorrhage. The suffering turns me into suffering. I am, in these moments, the embodiment of pain. Vultures circle in the sky, but as I look at them for the first time, I realize for the first time they were not vultures. They were just shapes, blurry and out of focus. They look like mint green circles. Suddenly the circles merge in the sky forming one much larger circle, the size of a doorway, emblazoned by a familiar logo.

This portal forms in front me, opening to reveal a hole into darkness as the sound of footsteps approach from within. "Hey bud!" "Hi honey," my mothers say as they now stand over me. "How ya doin'?" "I-I'm so thirsty..." I manage to gasp out, my voice creaking like a rusty gate. "That's not good, you got to stay hydrated pal!" "Here you go sweetheart, have a drink!" at this moment I would give anything for a drink. I raise the glass and bring it to my lips. but as I stair into the water I see a storm. The water in my glass is an ocean, and I see thousands of people drowning inside. I realize that the water means death, but in the moment I don't care. I have to drink. "Go on..." "Drink it buddy!" I stare out at my parents and see that their eyes glisten yellow with red pupils. "It's okay sweetie..." "Drink..." But as the water touches my lips, I feel a presence. "Someone is here." She seems to rise right from the sand. "You aren't welcome-" My parents voices are stolen by the wind, they try to scream but there is only silence as the woman approaches. I try to squint and see her face, but the swirling storm of sand obscured her from where I sit on my knees.

"The fly in your water, why does it kick?" I look in my glass and see there is a fly struggling to stay afloat. "Because it does not wish to die. We all fight to live." "Who are you?" The woman smiles. "I am the apple." Then she vanishes before my eyes. I stare back at my parents imposters. They began to mutate. "Michael!" The skin from their face melted down to the ground. "Listen to your mommies!" Their necks spring outwards looking like long, fur covered trunks. "Now drink your fucking water!" and then I remember fathers warning, what the long Furby represents. "Fuck you." I take the water and I dump it into the sand. Water pours from the glass like a tidal wave, the Furby monsters are washed away, and the flood turns the desert into an ocean. As I stand at the bottom of the sea, my feet heavy like concrete. I cant swim, my breath running out as I sink into the sand. Looking up all I can see above me is the silhouette of an apple floating up on the surface of the water. and then I wake up.