The Apple

Kind of based off Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay".

    Cold, blistering winds knocked on buildings and sculpted faces in the starless sky as it slowly drifted down, landing aggressively on my shivering shoulders. I trudged. I sunk into the frigidness beneath my feet, giving up on the hope of it all, resolving just to quit.

    I'd done it. I'd lost it all. I'd lost my family and my home. Nobody would hire. Nobody cared. So I hired myself, and with it I lost my last possession. Divinity.

    What mattered anymore? There was no way they'd accept me up in Heaven anymore, and I was certainly a pitiful joke to Hell. I'd die, and even there nothing would be worth existing for.

    I stood up, my legs cramped and unmoving and I couldn't help but to feel pathetic. I moved forward, leaving nothing behind nor having anywhere to go. The back alley looked comely. The dirt-stained graffiti walls beckoned me to them. When I reached them, I pressed my cold palms up against the brick, watching the dark red stone play with the fog from my breath. I felt stiff. I felt dirty. More than anything yet worst of all, I felt loathe for myself, for the fact that somehow I was still existing.

    I might have stayed there for hours. All I knew was that the dark only got darker and that the fresh, crisp snow only got colder. I don't know what I was waiting for. Maybe for someone on the other side of these fruitless walls and invite me in to the other side, where warmth would feel so sweet against my unholy skin. Or maybe I hoped that enough snow would eventually clean my red blood-stained hands. Maybe I just hoped for an ounce of purity beneath all the white ice, or for a star to appear up there in the sky, in between a dense cloud cut in half.

    My fingers kissed my palms, making fists as I crumbled to the ground. It welcomed me. Rest was luscious relief for my mind.

    No sooner could I have closed my eyes as appeared suddenly a strange mirage. It advanced closer to me in the snow. I stood still and helpless as I watched it come near me. The closer it came, I noticed, the warmer I felt.

    A smile peaked through my lips when it was close enough for me to see. There in the snow stood a unicorn, a coat of hair even whiter than that cold snow beneath my hard fingers. Light illuminated off its dainty figure in all directions. Black eyes stared into mine as it harrumphed. I was dazzled by the rainbow, full of reds, yellows and greens. It artistically shined on the snow beneath it, inching closer to me until it surrounded me. I felt warm. It was delicious to me.

    This beauty I was beholding before my eyes couldn't have been less flawless. It couldn't possibly have been less wonderful, less pleasing to beseech. Deep within me I couldn't let go of that sense of hatred within me though, but it wasn't towards this majestic creature in front of my impure eyes. It was myself. I was so unworthy to be of this great sight, to feel the burning against my skin that it brought with it. It was relief to my skin. I wondered how long I had until I woke up from that dream of mine. Eden had sank to grief, but in that moment I wondered how this animal had perished with it. I pondered how a creature so divine would sink with the fall of Adam, the animal who died because of a single apple.

    It whinnied, a noise that sent tingles up my spine and the hairs of my back stood up in fear of the superior thing. It tossed its long hair, asking me to climb upon its back. Who was I to argue? With any strength left within me, I stood up and noticed how light I felt.

    Don't dare to pursue desire, warned a voice within me, and instantly from it I felt a fire burning within my bosom. I looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, but nothing appeared in this dark night. I turned to the unicorn who held it's head up high as if it had heard the voice too.

    Don't dare, said the voice again. The power of the voice within my mind couldn't have possibly been my own. The depth behind that voice would have been a voice to outshine the sun had it been tangible. I looked around again, not seeing a thing in sight.

    The horned horse waited for me with impatient eyes and I felt that if I did not act fast my source of warmth would soon be gone.

    The voice rang inside of me again. Thy destiny is determined from thy dealings. Dare not to direct thy desires too deliberately in this direction.

    Still, there was no man, no other creature, no anything to confirm that what had been happening in my head was not just my insanity speaking to me. The fire within my chest burned hotter, even so much that my skin felt cold, even with the relieving warmth illuminating from the unicorn.

    I shook my head. Nothing could be so wrong. The devil was trying to possess my heart once again, and for once I wouldn't allow it to. The devil bid me to stay in the hellish world with him, instead of going aboard on that magnificient beast of my eyes.

    I walked closer to the unicorn, its eyes welcoming and expectant. I touched it and the unicorn neighed in approval.

    Nothing gold will stay, according to Robert Frost. I would certainly be a fool to let it slip out of my possession, then.

    Don't warned that voice once more. I bid it out of me and mounted the back. The touch felt juicy as I felt sweat dripping down off my face. And the unicorn fled out of that evil place, taking me along into another world.

    I felt sick. I felt possessed. I felt my skin starting to boil which was amazing due to how quickly it had happened. Moments before I'd frozen to death. And now my heart felt untamed and the real fear set within me. My understanding had come much too late though, and I cursed outloud.

    Had I only chosen my heart over my mind. This touchable beast beneath me transformed to something else, something I feared. I'd never wonder again from that moment why the unicorn disappeared upon Adam's transgression.

    I had not resisted the temptation of the apple.

Author's Note

I'd like to know
a. something that stuck out to you
b. your interpretation :]

Reviews

[Ecnelis]

Fantastic imagery. Possible the best I have read in awhile. Your descriptive words made things incredibly vivid.

"What mattered anymore? There was no way they'd accept me up in Heaven anymore, and I was certainly a pitiful joke to Hell. I'd die, and even there nothing would be worth existing for."

That is a great, great paragraph. It is almost amusing while at the same time incredibly depressing.

"My fingers kissed my palms, making fists as I crumbled to the ground. It welcomed me. Rest was luscious relief for my mind."

Again, wonderful imagery. Possibly my favorite from the piece.

Stylistically, there are some slight changes I would make but again, its stylistically which implies that it is my preference in style, not yours. So I won't even go into that.

I could go on for awhile picking lines out of this that I loved but I will refrain from doing so.