Craving Vegetables

   Dad said Billy couldn’t have any chocolate for the rest of his life. Billy was five, so he didn’t understand that he was allergic. He wanted to obey Dad, so he convinced the rest of his family to rid his house of all chocolate. But one night, he had super intense chocolate cravings. He scoured his house for chocolate, and found nothing except for a box of toffee near the back of the fridge. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to eat the toffee, but he took the box anyway. However, just when he was about to eat the toffee, he felt guilty so he stopped. He put the box back in the fridge.

   The next day, Billy was in his kindergarten class, and his craving for chocolate returned with full force when he saw his friends eating their dessert during lunch- the dessert that Billy couldn’t have. At that moment his mind started working on his plan. He would wait until his whole family was asleep. Then he’d creep out of bed and take the box of toffee from the fridge. He’d eat it all the toffee over the toilet so there wouldn’t be any crumbs. Then he’d put the empty box back in the fridge and pretend he didn’t know what happened.

   That night when his parents went to bed, he successfully enacted his plan. He was sitting over the toilet, about to eat the toffee, when something changed inside of him. The bar of toffee was almost in his mouth, but his mouth refused to bite down. He put the piece of toffee back in the box and frowned. He didn’t feel like eating it anymore. He didn’t feel like eating chocolate anymore. He felt like eating vegetables, just like Dad always wanted him to. He went to the fridge and took a bag of carrots. He ate them and enjoyed them immensley.

   However,the next day, his chocolate cravings were back, and he could no longer identify with last nights love of carrots.

   “What happened to me?” The boy asked himself. But he never figured out the answer to his question. Occasionally, his carrot craving would come back when he least expected it, but it was always sandwiched between long bouts of fighting the chocolate craving that could kill him.

Nights Alone

   Once, a boy woke up  in an empty world and realized he was alone. With this realization came chills that formed a layer of ice on his skin. The ice made him stiff, and hindered his journey past dead trees to search for another soul. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t shake the ice. It clung to him and made his body heavy. Though it was morning, the cold night was coming to freeze the boy. He had to feel another’s warmth. Then he’d be feee from the ice. Then he could live through the night. He walked through the dark forest all day long, finding no one. Then the night came. He lost consciousness in the blackness as his body grew numb.

   The next morning, a flash of lightning brought the dead body back to life. The boy stepped out of the dead forest and into fields of tall, green grass. The ice still covered him. But this time, he heard the laughter of children playing. He tried to run to the sound, despite the weight of the ice. He reached the sound, and found a cottage with a welcoming family. They let him stay the night, but marveled at how slow he moved. They could not see the ice. Before he slept, the boy looked in the mirror and saw cracks in the ice.

   In the morning, he felt lighter. He hoped the family would invite him to stay again… maybe for forever. But they didn’t. They packed his things for him, thinking they were being helpful. Then they wished him luck on his journey. A new layer of ice grew on top of the cracked one. The boy trudged over green, rolling hills. The cracks of the bottom layer of ice cut his skin. He died frozen that night, and on many nights after that, only to be brought back the next morning. He met many different people, but none of them saw the ice. None of them stayed long enough to melt it with their warmth.

   The boy could be me, or he could be someone from The Fall of Men (his lack of a name kind of gives it away). But yeah, nights still scare me, and lots of times I can’t sleep without imaginig God or some man holding me. And there have been tons of people in my life who’ve been incredibly amazing. But they’ve never stayed long enough for me to really trust them and feel confident around them. It seems like it might change now… but I’m still not completely confident that it will last long enough for all the ice to melt.