Unearthed from the Under-Earth

Source: Kelly Sikkema via Unsplash.

I cannot breathe. But then, do I need air? Darkness — it surrounds me. Beneath the world, I lay like a dormant pupa. But I am not alone. There is someone growing in the chamber adjacent to my own. Like a mummy, petrified, unchanged, I rest. Now someone is grabbing at me; they’ve got ahold of my husk.

I am cut from my umbilical cord and pulled from my nest of granular soil. My sarcophagus is opened. I realize my existence. Then, suddenly, I am executed. While falling down a tunnel of slime, I hear the echo of my executioner’s voice: “That was a good peanut! May I have another?”