SNEAKING PAST CONSCIOUSNESS

by S. Kay

Capsules

Throwing back a few experimental neuropsychopharmaceuticals without water, I jump out of bed when they jar me awake. No time for sleep.

Tablets

Slide by security in a blackpant suit and hat, total normie. Nobody looks until my tic starts. Two anticonvulsants, it's gone, and me, too.

Gelcaps

Feel like an apathetic unicorn, fierce but showy, a disguised beauty. Drop the shipment, scrub, and prance off to a dance floor.

Patches

Dancing hard, a message reappears, buzzing urgently. I project video without sound. Protesters averted, I see, and more work for moi.

Liquids

Meet in the produce aisle, by the purple cauliflower. He wants to dump the shipment now. I pull up my skirt for a tattoo biodrive transfer.

Suppositories

Heels and a prim navy dress get me past the guards. Of course I'm no threat, invisible. Transferring data, no one's there.

Injections

After the delivery, it takes three kinds of pills to relax and I know there won't be enough nightmares tonight. Life always interrupts.

S. Kay writes sci fi a tweet at a time. Work has appeared in @Nanoism, @7x20, @Trapeze, and many more. A book is forthcoming from theNewerYork Press in 2015.