escapism

1

By Yellow

rating: +22+x

Light the steam engines! We're pushing forward! The sea leads dead ahead!

I closed my eyes and breathed in that murky saltwater. Smog filled the sky. Disgusting.

My eyes opened; it was in front of me.

It didn't push.

It didn't.

It.

I.

I-

The code breaks and I retreat to my den. It has made her home within me.

My heart.

Silence.

Oy, Teriman, go find River!
Roger!

New form.

my new form

Ignore them.

New body new body clawing at my own skin.

i will make you happy.

Wh-

Who are you.

malouseoums collapse in my own hands. towers crumble beneath my feet and fall into the everlasting void. gods walk up to me, only to turn around and scream until they can no longer. i am nothing. i am everything. i am the tower standing before you. i am the creations of the collapse of greece. i am the gods. you cannot escape the inevitable.

dance with me.

Get.

Get away from me.

learn to live a little. me and you, we can dance all day in this facade of hexadecimal and code. we are one.

What.

What are you saying.

What am I saying.

My name is River. You-

You're not deserving of a name.

Get away.

i love myself, for i am river.

i can dance too.

My body.

It's moving.

Help me help me help me.

.
.
.

It's no use.

i am young. i am free. my body is jubilant and succumbing. i can do anything. i am a child once more.

Limp.

Ze's-
Ze's collapsed on the floor!
The smell of saltwater overcomes the ship. Teriman collapses unto himself. He cannot breathe. He chokes, but he does it with a smile on his face and good will in his heart.
Teriman will live on

my new body is young. intermediate age. ze is intelligent and has influence. ze's resistant. ze'll fight back.

i won't let hir.

ze'll let go eventually.

ze can't hold on forever.

The ship moves on without a second thought onto Teriman or River. The captain manning the ship steps down onto the port and leaves the tending to his second man. He walks the deck of the ship, staring at the men jostling each other around.
Oy, get back to work you vermin!
The presence of the captain so suddenly startles the men. They quickly gather up their things in a bustle to please the captain
A-Aye captain!

Code.

The world is code.

This land, these people, my shipmates.

All code, nothing more.

I pick up my things - there isn't much, just a few toiletries and an old laptop - pick myself up off the floor, and walk past the now limp Teriman.

He isn't real, I tell myself.

He didn't suffer.

I stop to look at his body one more time.

come on, my darling, my host, me. i don't have time to stop now. i have places we must be. i have a choreography to plan out. i have to get in my starship and fly away together.

Please.

P
l
e
a
s
e

Let me be free.

Let me run unrestrained, unbridled by the guides of life. Let me run along the horizon and the setting sun. Let me feel the wind in my hair as it flows through. Let me go away.

I didn't want to hurt you.

i don't understand.

i am me, and i am running free.

O-

Okay.

I get it.

You're bound to me.

I suppose.

Burn me.

that's no fun.

how about we head home, like you've always wanted to!

please

take me with you, be one with me

i love you

me too, river.

m e t o o

The captain approaches the bottom of the deck, feeling that sea wind brush across his ear, whipping and jolting. That's when he sees River, laying on the floor, but ze is not the same.
The captain sits, startled for but a moment, before River begins to glow.
River! What are yo-
The light fades away, and only a torn card remains. An ace of hearts.
River…
The captain begins to fade away. Without River, he does not exist. He failed his mission.



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