Between Here and West of Nede By Ahimaaz Rajesh

Skint as a stray dog perched on a leafless tree, Rubin was making himself a body without organs. You ask him why he was making that and he will act puzzled and say ‘Making what?’ Tell him you know, as well as he, exactly what you’re talking about and he will say ‘Making tea’ and then say ‘Making a gear’ and finally before he shuts up for hours, say something like ‘Would a machine know?’

West of Nede, parallel to it, in the best of all plausible worlds, Rubin was unmaking himself. There was no one to tell him if he was doing it the wrong way, he wasn’t doing it right. With a certain stroke of dexterity, he intersected his uppers and opened the bust. Absence of blood did not necessitate electrocautery. Save for organs of the head, they were isolated. Hands gathered heart and lungs and sewed them up. Likewise it was for liver, kidneys, intestine, and testes. Hands put them back together en masse and closed the bust and the waist.

In a non-drug-induced trip, being an egg of intensities, he went cataplectic and ceased to exist. Absence of god did not necessitate deus ex machina. On the other side, in one piece he stayed, albeit a bit emaciated. All he’d need to do, if he wanted to, was let out of his cage there a duplicate of himself and unmake that self all over again this side of the world.

The day after, he had an interview. Now, he felt hunger on him. Chest aching, throat choking, head spinning, he contemplated on the benevolence of what was between his thumb, index, and middle fingers before he very patiently, consciously, chewed on the crumb. He then sipped, again very consciously, on the sugarless, insipid-to-bitter tea.

© 2014 Ahimaaz Rajesh

Published lately in places such as Spork Press, theNewerYork, and Apparent Magnitude, Ahimaaz Rajesh has his writing upcoming in H_NGM_N and nether. He was, but is not on Facebook, is on Twitter and Goodreads, places where he’s as good as not there. Currently based in India, previously he was based in India as well, and while it’s uncertain he’s barcoded, he is certainly pincoded (like for instance 6 8 1 ), and blogs at http://minimalust.wordpress.com

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