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Disappearance | Story


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I can make myself disappear, said the chair, and beneath the chair lied planks which became the almost tan deck, almost tan because of the still rising sun, which seemed to melt the chair's plastic into the floor, but in fact was just casting a shadow.

The lake water spoke.

"I too can disappear," but the sun interrupted the water.

"You only disappear because of me," said the sun to the water.

"And as for the likes of you," said the sun to the chair.

"You only disappear because of him."

The him the sun referred to was me, the man who sits on the chair, on the deck, above the water, beneath the sun.

I hear the unliving speak because I long to be unliving.

In turn, the unliving listen to me and respond.

"We can make this happen," said the collective sum of unliving.

"Yes," added the chair as if speaker of the sum.

"We can manifest all matters of material things.

We can make you disappear."

And my hand was filled with the forming of another hand, but in fact the other hand was just a handle, and the handle formed perfectly to the form of my hand, extending itself at the head into a cold dog snout.

But in fact the dog snout was just a muzzle of a gun, and the muzzle of the gun was not just a muzzle, but was in fact an entire matte metallic colt, and the colt spoke.

"I am among the few unliving things that cannot disappear, but in exchange I can make the living disappear."

My first thought was perhaps the thought of any disappearance.

Will I return?

When will I return?

How long will I not return?

Or at least, what does it mean to disappear?

This time it was the deck who spoke.

You ask these questions as if you can understand, but to understand is definite, as definite as disappearance.

And you might consider any definite thing as disappearance itself, existing in only one state, but for as long as you try to understand you prove two states exist, pre-understanding and understanding, which makes a thing indefinite and no longer the thing.

We ask, definitely, do you want to disappear?

And the sun said, "I will evaporate your body."

And the chair said, "I will hold your body for the sun."

And the deck said, "I will prop the chair above the water."

And the water said, "I will drown the bullet and the blood."

And by the time the cult spoke—



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QNTNs.com PodcastBy Poems, Writings, Essays, and Lessons by QNTN