The Prince of Milk

by Exurb1a

He's just lonely. If we're scared of lonely people, they'll only get lonelier.”

Imply I'm a whore if you like, but I wouldn't kill anyone.”

She is certain now that a pair of cologne-doused pyjamas is the closest she will be getting to another meaningful friendship.

The two brothers work to the blare of an MP3 player on shuffle. Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 Movement 2 has given way to I Believe in Miracles by Hot Chocolate

Seems insane, he thinks, that something so beautiful would want to remove itself from the world. But then maybe that's how beauty keeps its market value, else the world would be full of beautiful things and no one would give a damn about any of them.

We were untouchable, she and I. And I knew that nothing could ever kill what we had. And we killed it.

Now remember, why did you end it, dickhead? Yes, because I never felt I was enough. Because I thought I'd rather stay alone than be an option to someone I considered a priority. Because I was too ashamed to give away just how insecure I felt back then. Because I was young. Because I was pathetic. And what I wouldn't give to just sleep next to you one more time.

She waggles her head a little awkwardly. “I have these episodes where I don't want to be around anymore. The gods don't take kindly to their creations trying to off themselves, do they?

of you just lie and talk. You've seen each other's genitals. Now you're free to reveal yourself as a vegetarian, or an emotional wreck, or a YouTuber.

Better to keep lovers at arm's length from then on, he decided. A wrapped surprise was better than an opened gift you never wanted anyway. That was a fine philosophy to lead a life by. Probably.

You're a thinking bag of meat standing on an organic spaceship. And that doesn't seem to bother you. Why should a talking cat make the situation any worse?”

“Happy people are just people you aren't acquainted enough with yet to know how miserable they really are.”

“There are rules to meddling with time. I'm not going to flaunt them so you can revolutionise salad a century early.”

That god I never believed in is determined to have the last laugh by not only existing, but raising the whole world to hell.”

It's the dance of time, Causality tripping over Her own shoelaces on occasion.

“Should I be worried?” “If you like, but it won’t help.

What is time and why has so much of it happened to me?

“The Lord can kindly fuck off,”

There is evil in the world, yet God claims he loves us. If he could remove that evil but chooses not to, then he is not all-loving as we're told he is. If he wants to remove that evil from the world but cannot, then why do we call him all-powerful? In any case, he's not truly God and there's nothing to be frightened of. Chin up.”

The universe creates itself from nothing, just for the pleasure of doing so. History waddles about, drunk. Logic only sits at the back and holds Her tongue.

Over in the corner, Time takes a look up Her own skirt.

I might be wearing it down, she thinks. That patch on the wall, with all that looking. I wonder how much more it can take. Maybe it's been looking back at me and that's why I'm wearing away too.

If I was in hell, would I know? she thinks. Maybe that's half the torture, thinking you're still alive.

If you accidentally kill yourself while I'm gone, I'll be extremely annoyed.”

There's no grand plan and no one's in charge. It's all just fumbling about in the dark, and half the time you're not even sure why you're fumbling. You're so desperate for something to pin your peace of mind to that you'll do all sorts of stupid things in its name. You don't mean to break up a marriage, but if breaking it up might let you sleep like a normal person again, suddenly you start considering it. You don't mean to become a drunk, but if drink is the only way you can keep a handle on some tiny compartment of your life then it's straight for the bottle.”

The politics of adulthood rarely yields pleasantness when inspected closely,

I hope it all meant something and I was just too stupid to get it, she thinks. I hope it's that, because if it's the other thing then I'd rather have not been born at all.

There is a kind of bravery to our condition, I reckon: brought into being without an explanation, in a potentially infinite and apparently dead universe, and expected to just get on with it as though nothing strange is going on.