Taken
"All As We Wish" art by Edward Lee
by Aaron Sandberg
In the driveway, your brother will be burning ants—magnifying glass a tool he will choose to use in other ways than good. He will not come in peace. You’ll read your book on the couch in numbness wishing the universe would nudge you. You’ll wish for wanting. You’ll get your wish.
Above the skyline, a mothership will eclipse the sun, focus a beam, explode the little living things beneath. Some will be spared and abducted. Irony will not be lost. You’ll steady yourself for what you’re ready for. Everyone will die at a distance.
In days, you’ll erase the distance—grin awe-struck at charred city remains, smoky horizons, orange glows of camps no longer safe. You’ll tell yourself you’re doing the work of gods. You’ll tear through bodies. You’ll kill with conviction. The gods will not see you for weeks. The need for annihilation will course through you—an oily river you cannot clean, cannot reverse. You’ll want neither anyway.
You’ll feel invaded by urge, or, like a sleeper cell, feel it was always there.
You’ll streak tar under your eyes, sleep in trees, keep fingernails as tally marks of your human dead. You’ll find your beginning at the end. Your body count will rise.
When the creatures come to abduct you, you won’t feel fear. You’ve already been taken.
Aaron Sandberg has appeared in McSweeney's, Maudlin House, Rust & Moth, HAD, The Offing, Asimov’s, Phoebe, Lost Balloon, Flash Frog, Phantom Kangaroo, and elsewhere. He’s a multiple Best Microfiction winner (2024) and a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Dwarf Stars nominee. Find him—and his writing—on Instagram @aarondsandberg.
Edward Lee is an artist and photographer from Ireland. His paintings and photography have been exhibited and published widely, with many pieces in private collections. His website can be found at https://lastimagesphotography.com
Twitter: @EdwardLeeArtist2
Instagram: @edwardleeart
