The atoms assembled and became a Burger King tray. Black, plastic, with sides meant to hold the food in. Scratches developed over time, and the plastic faded. The Burger King was renovated and the tray was tossed for a newer design. It was taken to an incinerator and vaporized.
The atoms were ripped asunder but decided sticking together was better than meeting new people. They gathered in raindrops, and flew thousands of miles through the azure sky. They soared together with others in big puffy clouds, watching airliners streak by.
They rained down in the most unlikely of places, the parchest dry desert. They were absorbed by a seed and became part of the vascular structure of a cactus. They helped it grow, soaking in its nutrients and feeling the spikes poke out.
The sun bore down and the nights were cold. The occasional storm, not unlike the one that landed them here in the first place, swelled the cells they were part of till it felt like they would burst. The cactus swooned under the deluge. But the sun returned when the gray skies passed away and the water became new strength for the cactus.
Flowers bloomed after the storms and a few atoms were lost to seeds that fell with the fruit. The juices within danced in a symphony of different enzymes and became pungent and unique- the atoms flowed in new combinations, exotic and effervescent.
Unfortunately for the atoms, the fluid and tissue they found themselves to be a part of was the psychedelic part of the cactus. A man came by, picked the cactus, and put it into a large garbage bag. The slimy, slick black plastic reminded the atoms of their time as plastic, they felt a familiar discomfort against their valences.
The cactus had a long ride and was then exchanged for some green paper. A teenager took it home and hit it amongst socks. The smell of detergent was overwhelming and unknown to the atoms, they had forgotten the smells of man out in the sands and wind of the desert.
The cactus met its disintegration in a blender set on ‘frappe.’ Orange flavored sugar water was added to the mix and it was drunk down. The atoms flowed past a gagging throat and down an esophagus that was contracting in upwards ripples in protest of, and abhorrence to, the liquid the atoms were a part of. They landed in a churning stomach and soon were fighting with the acids that floated around dissolving all bonds of connection.
The owner of the stomach, though, was the unlucky one. He drank the mixture alone, out of pure ignorance rather than some sort of courage. He headed off to meet friends at a fast food place, unaware that in addition to extremely powerful dissociative hallucinations, the cactus often caused projectile vomiting.
Sittin in a plasticy booth under unforgiving fluorescent lights the poor highschool student’s entire sense of reality cracked as the faces of the girls he and his friends were trying to impress began to melt. Try as me might to follow his buddies commands of ‘keep it together dude’ the sudden weight of understanding that the universe is experience itself subjectively through both him and the lettuce on the hamburgers set to the spirling technicolor visualization of neon fractals that seem to be both infinitesimally small and stretch to the horizons of infinity his eyes couldn’t shut out, he projectile vomited on the tray across from his seat.
The atoms were briefly airborne before they felt their electrons rubbing up against something fairmilar. Bonds were again established and a sense of home swallowed them up. They were again a burger king tray. And all was well with the universe, save the part of it that was still puking while muttering how spoons are god made manifest.
