ember

There was one final brownie hidden under the tinfoil on the kitchen counter, one of the corner pieces that nobody ever wants because its shaped funny and the edge that was closest to the pan always turns out hard and crunchy. It was not the most delectable of brownies by far, but when hunger pangs strike and you want a quick fix, that one hard edge becomes deliciously tolerable. I pulled the sheet of tinfoil back and there sat the ugliest, most hated brownie left over from the original bunch, now utterly alone on the crumb-laden plate on which it sat. But fear not, little brownie, for I will take you away from a world that hates you and send you to a place where you will be welcomed by warm, embracing stomach acids that will break you down little by little as youre forced along a treacherous, winding path of doom
I ate the moist, chewy portion of the brownie first, dreading the moment when all that was left was that one, hard edge. As I ate, I looked at the ant farm sitting on the table and observed the tiny insects in their tunnels. They were all congregated at the bottom of the farm in a giant pocket they created in the lowest tunnel. Theyve been sitting there like that for days. In fact, I cant remember the last time I saw them working on a new tunnel. Suddenly I felt bitter at the ants that they werent doing their jobs, and then I remembered the time that there were ants in my chocolate milk in 3rd grade. My mom had left the chocolate syrup top open and ants had crawled inside, and she used the same syrup in the milk she put in my thermos for lunch. I took a sip out of the thermos, and felt something in my mouth that reminded me of cookie pieces after they fall into your milk and start to liquefy at the bottom of the cup. I spit the milk out onto the table and there were ants. Somehow, some of them were still moving.
Hmmliquefying cookie pieces. Cookies are kind of like brownies. Im eating a brownie right now. What if there are ants in my brownie?
I continued to stare down the ant farm, even picking it up with my free hand and turning it around to see the lazy ants at all different angles, casually munching at my brownie and envisioning live ants crawling out of the mushy fibers and invading my mouth with their many tickling feet and cookie-like bodies. Chomp chomp. The more I chew, the more frantic they become. Mushy cookie pieces filling up my mouth. Man thats gross.
I got to the hard edge of the brownie. As I bit into it, small pieces broke off and stuck to my fingertips. Annoyed, I flicked the crumbs off of my fingers and onto the tinfoil, which made a sort of chorus of light tapping sounds that reminded me of drops of rain on a metal roofor falling ant bodies. The crumbs became ants. Every time I flicked my wrist, more ants would fly off of my hand and onto the tinfoil sheet. The silver plane became alive with ants, all racing frantically for cover. My body was covered with ants. Ants filled the room, darted along the walls, fell from the ceiling onto other ants below. Little mushy cookie pieces with legs running everywhere. When I see so many ants at once, it makes me think of their gross shining bodies exploding and ant puss flying everywhere. Please dont explode on me.
Amazingly, even as I imagined all this, I was still eating my brownie unfazed and watching the ants as they sat inside of their encased plastic home. Then I thought about how easy it would be to kill them. All Id have to do is take the top off and run it under water. Water would make its way down the tunnels and would collect into the pocket at the bottom where they were all resting. They would start flailing their legs frantically as their bodies were engulfed by water, and would try to run up the tunnels to escape, but they wouldnt be able to. Theyd just flail and panic and slowly drown to death. But if I did that, my roommates would think Im some kind of psycho or something. I set the ant farm down and finished the remainder of my ugly brownie.
Hmm, I think Ill make a tuna fish sandwich now.