Shot Glass

sorry this story really needed that duck in the middle. Cute little b*****d.

I had this shot glass.

Well, not a shot glass.

Most people would have called it a water glass.

One of those cheap glasses you get in a box with six others. Just like it.

The others had broke. When I was drunk.

I drank alone. No one ever questioned my idea of a shot glass.

I was ashamed of it.

Never washed it. Wasn’t empty long enough.

I used to think if no one else knew, it would make it true. That it was just a glass.

Like my brain could somehow warp reality. Bend the seams of the universe.

I was a God. Sent to the Earth to deceive people into recognizing that my giant glass was used to get fucked up every night.

That glass was like a shrine. The first thing I came home to. Sat in front of. Made offerings to.

I filled it up. It filled me up.

Kept the blinds tight. Kept anyone from seeing.

I always said no one cared, but I quaked in fear. Fear that someone who cared would knock on the door. Tell me my life was ridiculous. Throw out the glass. Open the blinds.

Pick my blankets off the floor. Come in and do my laundry.

There were people like that in my life. Never got the chance.

A knock at the door would send me into panic. As if my veil would be lifted.

Their knocks went unanswered.

Then there had to be lies. That’s why I hated when people came over.

They would ask why they heard music. Saw lights on in the kitchen. I would do my best reality bending dance.

“I must have been in the shower.”

“Maybe I was sleeping?”

Kept at a distance, people don’t know.

And they give up.

Slowly.

There aren’t anymore visits every Sunday.

That phone call before bed.

Just that f*****g glass.

At some point you’re not the god anymore.

Bending reality.

It’s the glass.

Like all gods, it demands sacrifices.

Money. Time. Relationships.

Failing to make a sacrifice involves consequences.

Sleeplessness. Shakes. Nightmares.

It forces you back.

On your knees for worship.

It’s not until you’ve lost everything that you realize how quickly you change allegiance.

You don’t need the glass anymore.

Can fill the glass with cheaper spirits. There’s a whole world full of gods. All craving worship.

And it’s ok. There’s no one left to lie to.

And your world is crumbled. And it doesn’t matter.

And that is the one glass that just won’t f*****g break.