he
knew this was one way death crept
as
surely as he knew that light diminishing to a pinpoint in his eyes meant hed
faint and lose consciousness
death
however inverted the process
its
light would grow larger and larger until it enveloped the whole of his
sight
then it would steal his
consciousness his unconsciousness
every bit of anything he was
abruptly he
pushed himself to sit up in the lavender-scented bathtub
his
head was heavy
weighed
down by deaths encroach
as
its white blaze grew in this eyes he unstopped the bathtub roused himself stood
shakily and picked his way out of the emptying tub
the drain gurgled louder than he thought it could but
his eyes were closed and it made perfect sense his other senses would be heightened
he saw in his eyes deaths oval split
startled he opened them but it remained and obscured his vision
he
shut his eyes again and the oval seemed invigorated inspired by his
blindness
assuredly he grabbed a towel from a hook at his right and with it in both hands he rubbed his face
he
obstinately pressed his eyes with it and inside them the black background went
red
the
split oval undiminished continued to throbbed
he
knew better no physical action he made
could diminish it
when
he worried briefly it might infected his eyes
he
also knew better
he
calmed himself talked himself down
deaths parts were going to run their course
it
was game he played before
patiently
he had to fight it again
going
to open his eyes he craned his neck
when
he opened them appleseed briefly scurried in her web
again his
vision was interrupted penetrated
yet
the subtle volley of candlelight light extraneous to it helped him gain a
foothold helped him begin to besiege it
closing
his eyes it briefly took back what the candlelight stole
though
looking directly into it now he saw the split resembled the outline of Africa
violently
it flopped in his eyes seeming
to sense he wasnt going to allow it to escape
the
tip that might be South Africa flipped up and the whole continent followed
the
broken bit resembling a swollen Madagascar did too
it
was as if the equator was a wire and Africa a bead impaled on it
it agitated him but not so much to throw him from his purpose
he
reeled
his eyes refused to open again
he
felt his face pulling at itself willing
itself
its
underlying muscles pulled hard as they tried force his eyelids apart as
he forced consciousnesses outside of himself in
he
stood in front of the mirror over the sink
a
forelock of hair fell over his left eye as it always does when he needs
a haircut
above
him to his left appleseed bounced in her web in the corner agitated
birds
outside from their roosts cry
their
voices entered through the screened window
the
flopped Africa metastasised still groping for something hed taken from it
he
was still having trouble opening his eyes completely
they caught as if they were stitched
they caught as if they were stitched
then
his eyelids fluttered
broke
open they stared into the mirror
he
didnt recognise himself
Africas residual remained in his eyes
he
shook his head rapidly
blinked his eyes
he
gasped then growled in his throat like an wild animal
death still crept
then Africa trembled and began to shrink
becoming
smaller and smaller its original boneyellow colouring returned
a
taunt he believed
then
dissipating an oily hue a black shadow
then
that miserable excrement was extinguished and subsumed
he stood for a long time reconfiguring
himself in the mirror
he made sure his parts aligned
and were mirrorimages not some vague cancerous
affectation left behind by death some
toehold or edge to be grappled by
in these moments death was more
like a disease than a finality
it was a dance
death trying to take the lead
2300, Sunday,
25 9. 16
1603,
Monday, 26 9. 16
