The crumpled steel was eaten away by time and exposure, the train car I sat in was unrecognizable so long after its derailment.

Things like the cast-iron wheels would take centuries to depart.

Things like the ghost of the boy I sat with never would.

"I lost my ticket, Mr. Oak," he said.

#vss365

"It's a skerry, Mr. Oak," Amic said as the boat rose and fell. "Not built by men or god - but the others. I'd drift a thousand miles before coming ashore one."
"We've drifted a thousand miles," I say from the floor. "It can't be worse."
"You don't understand. They're bait on a toothy hook."
#vss365

"I'll be right with you, Mr. Oak." She struggles to speak.

The rain is steady now. Her roots are thirsty, eager, dreadfully dry. The face she wears over a skull of twigs hydrates and smiles.

"I feared the fire found you." I say.

"Fire is fleeting. It's the people that worry me."

#vss365 #nature

Those below, in lacquered boxes or simple dirt, pass the time wondering what's happening above.

They become singularly obsessed with a single, painful question:

Have I been forgotten?

Hello, my friends. I'm back, and I have many new stories to tell.

#vss365 #horror #aiart