There is a tree in the garden near my house with the very first apple on it, a deep, vibrant red with dark green leaves that looked like an apple had descended from heaven, people said that the man who ate that apple or took a few bites of it was feeling an intense burning sensation in his body, he said when he took one bite it was deliciously sweet and very juicy, he took more and put it somewhere else, after a while he felt as if he hadn't eaten the apple but the apple had consumed him, he was feeling excruciating pain and eventually died, the remaining apple was forced to be thrown away, the story about that tree spread like wildfire throughout the whole city, no one was now daring to even touch those apples on the tree that were ripening and growing day by day, my daily route to college was passing through that garden which also contained many more trees, the apple tree wasn't cut down because of the beauty it added to the garden, I saw the apple tree passing by it daily, once I thought to pluck one, thinking that not a single bite would make me dead, I saw it, plucked one apple, yeah, it was a mesmerizing red from heaven, with vibrant green leaves, I supposed the rumors about the apples on this tree were exaggerated, I took it home and took one bite of it, it was sweet and deliciously juicy, I couldn't bear and took another, I know I was going to be hopelessly addicted to it, my mom, who asked me from where I'd got it from, threw it into the river, saying you are eating that apple from that cursed tree, I was thinking, I didn't feel any burning sensations, or I can say, I would after a while. At evening, I felt a sudden, searing pain, I thought I had my inner body eaten, yeah, It hurt badly, but I didn't say anything because it was my own choice to eat it, tomorrow, before going to college, I moved to that river to wash my face, and I saw that apple on the water, still red, with two bites taken out of it, I knew if I ate it again, it would hurt me, but I knew I was hopelessly addicted to its taste, I picked it up, took one more bite, and with a shiver of dying, I didn't take more, the pain was intense, but the taste was irresistible, I felt like I was trapped in a cycle of craving and suffering, unable to break free from the apple's sweet and deadly allure. I put it in my bag, and it hurted me through the whole day, when I returned, I took it out, and I wanted to take one more bite, no, I didn't understand, was it an apple from heaven or from hell, or from both, I couldn't resist, I took one more, and one more, and I felt that I would not die, I was born to eat it, ahhhhhhhhh, I murmured, in a mix of pain and ecstasy, the next day, I wasn't able to move, ah, I'm going to die now, just one more bite, just one more, were his last words,...

© ADAM ALEXANDER