Ana Robbins
The glare from my modest, 21 inch monitor sears my vision, prompting me to lean back in my heavily padded, brown faux leather desk chair and press my palms onto my eyelids. The slight pressure on my eyes coupled with instant darkness seem to act as a reset button for the senses; I feel my dry eyeballs being blessed with viscous salty fluid, revitalizing my wish to open my eyes and experience my home office, my place of wishes. In front of me sits a heavy, homemade desk, crafted from large wooden beams left over after one of my love’s construction projects. On top, there is a layer of padding covered by soft black fabric; cold silver grommets hold it all in place. While my eyes’ thirst may have gotten quenched, my mouth now pushes its demands to the front of my brain. My tongue scrapes at the roof of my mouth, a lack of moisture between the two making me hyper-aware of the tall ridges running all along my mouth’s ceiling, and the grating sensation caused by scraping them with the dry bumps of taste and texture erupting from my tongue. My pupils contract in search of fluorescent green relief. To the right of the monitor, next to a life-sized clay vial of purple skooma, I see a half-empty 20 ounce bottle of slick, caffeinated, fizzy, cold, resuscitating Mountain Dew. I lean forward in my chair eagerly, and reach out to grasp the thin, textured plastic. It’s warm to the touch.
That is not a good sign. My thumb and forefinger wrap themselves around the bottle’s white cap before my brain is even aware of the movement. With a quick, practiced twist, I hear the slight, slow snake-like hiss of compressed air being released from prolonged confinement. My mouth salivates as the hiss shoots dew onto my skin. I remove the cap, pushing it into my palm as my hand forms a fist. My other hand, grasping the worryingly warm plastic, brings the open, waiting bottle towards my face, towards my open, waiting thirst. I feel the hard rim against my bottom lip.I tilt the drink almost fully upside down, spilling the max amount of refreshing liquid into my
PHEUUUGHHHHHHHHHH!
…flat.