“Come on, we have something so good to show you!”
My neighbours, Chloe and Daniel, beckoned me upstairs. The way their brows were mischievously downturned was enough alone to convince me to follow. We scrambled wonkily up the stairs. Our limbs were not yet confident of the limits of their span, and were encased still in a protective layer of infant plumpness. We were mindful of the spikes in the crook of each step;
The vision I received was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen, worse than any nightmare or mundane crime. Our earthly floor was cracked, and inside the cracking was redness, almost looking like fire and lava, but a much deeper tint. The ground was a dark stone, and buildings that were once cities were nothing but dark and ashy and torn away. Shackled feet dragged across the ground, leading misery to its labour.
I couldn’t wait to be alive: so here i am. my self-starter heartbeat is an alarm clock, it tells me when i go off, it warns me to be patient. neuropeptides, ACT and hormones do the gruntwork, the throbbing behind my eyes rides on their successes: the supreme failure. there will be time enough to laugh all this off,
Dear ones, how ominous it is to be sitting here with you
on this imploded Thursday, our destiny bent to the new conditions,
our destiny folded into fourths, stored in the pocket of the man,
his breath hot upon our necks.
The program has gone awry, we can’t savor our selections any longer,
the slaves are getting restless,
there are citizens on the hill
who have traveled all night to escape the tyranny.