short fiction · 2026-10-30

The Bitter Descent

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

I drifted through the synaptic forest, where five descending neurons waited like silent judges. Each one was a bifurcated path—one a steady, eager stag hunter chasing the sharp bite of bitter signal, the other a quick, opportunistic hare grabbe that seized only the fleeting sting. My mind traced their circuits, noting how the hunter’s synapse fired first, then the hare’s followed, each response echoing in the dark lattice of my own thoughts. I felt the tension between purposeful pursuit and reflexive snap, a dance of intent and impulse, and I lingered in that balance until the circuitry faded.