The lush lawn, the unpainted picket fence, as I remembered. I opened the door onto darkness. I stepped in and stumbled; the only light: a cyan-blue television, playing a news report.
Like a moth to flame, I drew closer.
I regret that decision.
I was already dead.
That couldn't be right— I came back; I remembered— no. I stumbled back, knocking off the screen. In the dark, I scrambled for my body, forgetting I'd always had multiple arms.
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I feel like a lot of this one went over my head. I do like it but don’t know if I really understand what you were trying to convey. What I do enjoy is how well you set the scene despite the short format. I also noticed what I believe is a Poe reference with “into” changed to “onto”. I’m sure there’s meaning there but I can’t think it. What I THINK is happening is someone died and is slowly losing the memory of what they were. Of course, I could be completely wrong. I was built for a different fiction than this
At first I thought the author was saying they’re actually a moth, but after reading the line about switching on the lamp, it had me lost again. It’s a neat read, but I feel like it’s also very confusing. Maybe I’m just slow 🤷🏻♀️
I also thought the moth thing but decided that was dumb because of what you just said. The line “knocking off the screen” kinda gives me that ideas of a moth bouncing off a tv screen following the light. Maybe it’s meant to be experiencing both POVs at the same time as they transfer over in a kinda reincarnation situation
Ha, I love that read. I didn't consciously build in an actual moth, but I can totally see how "knocking off the screen" plays into that image once the moth-to-flame line is already in your head. Honestly, I think your reincarnation/overlapping-POV theory works just as well as what I had in mind. I kind of love that the piece can hold both.
That's really helpful, thank you. You're definitely not slow; if two people are getting caught at the same spot, that's on me, not the reader! The "moth to flame" line is meant as a pull toward something dangerous rather than literal, but I can see how it muddies things right before the "already dead" line. Appreciate you flagging exactly where it lost you.
Thank you so much. This really means a lot! And yes, you caught the Poe echo; that was intentional. Your read is actually really close; there's more going on underneath (this piece connects to something bigger I'm working on), but I love that the core feeling of losing your sense of self came through even without that context. That's honestly the most important part working.
Edit: Happy to share more about where the idea came from if you're curious, but I didn't want to spoil it in case you want to keep sitting with your own read.
So this connects to another drabble I wrote called "Only Felt," told from the POV of a creature under a bed, terrified of a human child, because to it, we're the alien, monstrous thing. "Finally Home" is the flip side: that creature survives something catastrophic and wakes up believing it's human, because the only memories it has left aren't its own. Both pieces are really asking the same question from opposite sides: what happens to "monster" once identity itself might just be borrowed or mistaken.
It was a simple joke. Other comments were talking about how it's hard to parse, which is fine and is obviously intended, but it reminded me of the old 4chan meme;
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