Future Progressive: The Speedfics and Drabbles of Present Perfect

by PresentPerfect

The Nether Apple

A night had passed without incident; then another; then a third. By the fourth muffin-free night, I was beginning to breathe easier, not to mention sleep through the night without waking up. I should have recognized the signs of letting down my guard, but foolishly, I thought, or at least hoped, that the danger had passed.

This was not to say that symptoms did not remain. I had trouble eating anything for a while and began losing weight. I avoided bakeries. I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder. One day, I saw a woman outside a coffee shop, handing out free samples. Bile rose in my throat as I realized just what the proffered confections were, and it took all my willpower not to scream in terror as I ran, tears blinding my sight.

This was no way to live.

I considered therapy, but feared the doctor would laugh in my face. Hope said that I would overcome the fears as time passed, but hope is a bastard.

If there was any silver lining to the trials I had endured, it was an improvement in my eating habits. That tends to happen when the sight of baked goods invokes primal fear. My guard was at its lowest as I purchased fruit at the supermarket. In the wax-coated sheen of a red apple, I saw my face reflected, twisted and unrecognizable.

Then a voice spoke in my head, a dark voice of unfathomable age that chilled the marrow in my bones.

What do you desire?

It was not the muffin, yet whatever it was brought back the memory of all those terrible nights at its mercy. I searched around vainly, despite knowing that, whatever the voice's source, I would not be able to find it.

I understand your desires.

My eyes grew wide. The apple in my hand stirred and I tried to drop it reflexively. Though my fingers opened, it remained affixed to my palm. Though I shook my hand, it stayed in place. Cold terror clenched my heart as four transparent, insectoid wings sprouted from it. A jagged line opened across its front, into a terrible toothed maw filled with the dark void of eternal nothingness. It spoke, but its voice was a thousand voices that spoke no language ever uttered by man. My sanity began to slip away, and I could do nothing but observe it happen. I screamed.

All at once, I found myself in my bed, awoken as if from a dream. I could not move, my limbs held rigid not by restraints but through the pure horror coursing through my body.

The apple sat upon my chest, its mouth opening and closing as that eldritch chatter assailed my ears, my brain tying itself in knots as it tried to make sense of the noise. It unfurled its wings, raising them over me as I prayed to anything that I could just wake up.

You are already awake, mortal.

The thing lifted slowly up, despite its motionless wings, and I could feel, though it had no eyes, that it was looking down upon me, savoring the moment, relishing what it was about to do.

That which you desire has already been granted. You wish to be free of my brother's dominion, yet you already are. But fear not... he shall trouble you no more.

My mouth opened to scream. Notagainnotagainnotagain. Nothing came forth, not even breath, as the apple divided into six neat slices and rushed for the opening.

You shall not want for his absence.

The apple pieces jammed themselves one by one into my mouth, tiny wings humming against my palate. I wanted to sneeze; I want to vomit. I could do nothing but gasp for air as I blacked out once more.

Comments

[Darian Stephens]

[Midnight herald]

fhjrtyfyrtdrtsdejfyhghlj;ouigyftrdeswawasartyhgklkloujgyhjkk,nbhgftyyuu.....

well, that happened.

[Admiral Biscuit]

This is what Applejack dreams every night.