Whoa...
I've-I fell asleep for a while. I couldn't help it
I've been pushing myself to the end even faster, taking fewer breaks
I dreamt while I slept. Edward was in my dream
Neither of us had really ever left the insane asylum
We just sat there in matching straitjackets in uncomfortable chairs, facing each other
We were surrounded by huge orange-red-and-black mushrooms
The sight of their amber gills above us, slowly breathing in and out in a sussurating mimicry of conscious life, was strangely calming to me
"Where have you gone?" I asked him
"Underground," he said
"What did you find there?" I asked
"Acceptance, everlasting life, and mushrooms," he said, and smiled
It was a lovely smile. It radiated outwards to suffuse his entire face in a golden light
"Is that all?" I said. "Was it worth it? Did you have to give up anything?"
"My fear. My consciousness. My former life."
"What was that like?"
"Do you remember those trust exercises they made us do? Where one of us would fall into the arms of the others, and you just had to fall and keep falling and believe they would catch you?"
"It was like that?"
"It was like that. Except imagine falling for a hundred years before you're caught, looking at a black sky full of dead stars in front of you, and the abyss at your back."
"You're dead," I said. It wasn't an accusation
"Probably," he replied