C-HOD-001
Barista: Katherine Wade
Date: Feb-1-2020
Receipt: C-HOD-001
Subject: Business as Usual
The ████████ is bigger up close than I imagined. Not just taller. Larger. Like it takes up more space than it should. Its roots aren’t roots at all, more like veins: black, pulsing, and slick with something too old to name. Its bark twists in impossible patterns, like snakes just beneath its skin.
And it’s quiet here.
Not silent. There is noise, but it’s all so empty. It’s quiet in that way that makes you realize how loud the rest of the world usually is. And how quiet things become when someone, or something, is trying very hard to be quiet. To be silent. To hide. Or to stalk. Every breath, every heartbeat, every shuffle echoes through the tree’s hollow body. Even the wind sounds like it’s holding its breath here. We’re certainly not alone.
I heard a voice when we stepped into its shadow.
No one else heard it and I find that hard to believe with how quiet it is. Alex thought I was joking. Joy just smiled in that way, which means she’s going to write it into a poem later. And Eoin… well, he’s still trying to get his own sense of hearing back. But I heard it. It was right next to my ear. Whispering. Not in English. Not in any language I’ve ever heard. But… I understood it. It said:
"████████████."
Ever since then, I’ve had a chill running along my spine. Like something brushed past me and forgot to leave. I’ve been watched before. Studied. Monitored. This almost felt like that. Like I was back in that chamber beneath the Hollywood Sign being watched by █████████████.
Whatever is watching me doesn’t want to hurt me.
It wants to claim me.
Maybe it’s because of what I am. Or what I was made with. █████ calls to █████, right?
…I don’t know. But I don’t like being… “wanted.”
Decaffeinate Receipt
“Peter’s Psychopomp.”
Theology Trivia | 1 Word