Don't Pine for the Apple

Rewriting a story of creation employing or introducing a variant point of view.

Originally published 28 November 2022

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Delicious; Enticing; and Inflicting.

That is what He called me, perfectly describing my role. He had been curating this place for a long time now, this garden. It was a shame I couldn't see much of it. Unable to move from my spot, I had been forced to eternally stare at the same shrubs. Day in, day out, as He called it.

"You are Golden. And when the sun shines, it will shine the brightest onto thee. Don't let them violate you." is what He spoke unto me. I felt unique, special. Unlike the others of my kin, He had given me something, something no other would possess.

Knowledge.

Fascinating. That's how I would describe it, this feeling. I heard and saw marvellous things no other would, could, or dared to see. I felt, eccentric, ecstatic, elated and yet...

So alien. Isolated.

No other understood me. It didn't matter, I was better than them anyway. I was naturally wonderful. My skin would draw anyone in, my fibrous juicy flesh as tasty as it looked, and my tall forked leaves the most radiant of all! I didn't need, or would ever want, the company of that rotten bunch.

One lonesome afternoon I heard someone, something, rustling in the bushes. It must have been one of the new creatures! He told me they would lead this place and reign over us.

They looked just like Him... somewhat.... less Holy. Bewildered, and exploring the green around them. Not even looking in my direction. How dare they?! Do they not see the bright halos around me, do they not see how the rays and beams bounce off my skin? Do they not see how my body is covered in heliodor scales?! How my juice is dripping, begging to be quaffed?! Barbarians! I'll teach them to appreciate art when it's staring them right in the face! If only they knew just how delicious I tasted...!

There was only one other beast that cared for me. A sly slithering serpent. I despised its sliminess and the sounds it made, but I let it stay, as, somehow, one of them that looked like Him seemed to be interested. How dare she be curious about this mucous monster and not the gift from thy Holiness?!

As the slimy and limbless beast pulled her in, I felt her tearing away my spikes. "Come here, stay here, we'll be good to you..." it whispered in her ear. While my lore of yore may be apocryphal, trust that I'm speaking from the core when I say I felt petrified when she sunk her teeth into my yellow flesh. Something horrible was happening inside of me. I felt myself turning rotten. My pulp transformed into something so ungodly, even she started to feel it.

I was thrown to the ground as she shrieked out in pain. My acids devoured her from the inside out. They tore away at her; at our verdant surroundings; at her hands; at her mouth - swiftly turning red from our sins as she spewed her vileness around until she fell to the ground.

Her lifeless body collapsed next to mine. Our impure, corrupt flesh slowly decaying in her blood, as we nonchalantly awaited our punishment.