[ WP ] A seed from the original forbidden fruit is regrown .

I remember pushing myself up from the dirt, turning around, and yelling back at Marcus, `` Goddammit you idiot, I said no tackling! Just two-hand touch!'' He just kept laughing. I felt a little blood running from my nose, but I just wiped it away, and started laughing too. Marcus could always make me laugh at myself. 
 
 `` Stand over there, I'm gon na throw a long one. You'd better not be too slow this time, or I'll knock you into a tree!'' Standing at 5'9, he was a beast of a 12 year old. I was only 5'2, and I was 3 months his senior. I continued over to the spot he pointed at, and positioned myself to sprint into the forest behind me. `` If that damn ball gets stuck in the trees, it's your own fault and you have to get it!'' `` No, you do. You're smaller than I am, the trees will hold you up.'' Utah had been in a drought lately, and although the trees were still trying to hold onto their green, it looked like some of the branches were starting to crack. 
 
 I stood as light as I could on top of the soft earth and waited for him to throw the ball. And I waited. And waited. And finally he threw it. 
 
 It was a damn good throw, I'll always remember that throw. Marcus was a good football player at the time being, although it would eventually bore him. Lots of things would. But I have n't gotten to that part yet. 
 
 I sprinted as hard as I could after that ball, although it eventually disappeared into the canopy of trees above me. Still, I kept running, thinking it would eventually fall down. It did n't. However, I did. 
 
 I picked myself up after a few seconds of wondering what the hell I had just tripped on. And I saw what it was. It was a thick, jet black... root? My mind subconsciously confirmed that thought when I saw the second-most bizarre thing I attest to have ever seen. It was a tree with bark that was black as night, and leaves that were white as paper. And on it was a single... thing. That's one part I never figured out either. It was just a grey mass of matter, hanging from one of the black branches. I kicked the root sticking out of the ground just to see what would happen. Hard as stone. Bruised my goddamn toe, too, but I could barely feel it. For some reason, the black bard or white leaves did n't catch my attention. It was the grey thing that did. 
 
 I never was able to say what kind of shape it was. In my old age, if I could give it the smallest description, I'd say it was what the opposite of a heart would look like. Symbolically, of course. 
 
 Marcus caught up with me after a few minutes. I could tell what he was about to ask me, but he never did. Instead he saw the grey thing, same as I. We maybe spent an hour there, just staring at it. Eventually, Marcus and his oh-so-daring mind coming back to it's senses, suggested that we try and get it. Being my overly-cautious self, I disagreed. `` Aw man, what's it gon na do, bite? You big baby.'' Had I had a spine back then, I would've persisted. However, I did n't. I just sighed and told Marcus that if he wanted it, he'd have to be the one to get it. And he did. 
 
 He just... stood there. I remember it, right as rain. Just kinda stared at the puny thing. `` I... I think it's a fruit, man.'' `` What gives you that idea, dumbo? Half the shit you eat you probably think is a fruit.'' `` Naw man, I'm not kidding... come here. Touch it.'' Once again, I refused him. `` Well, I think I'm gon na take a bite.'' `` Do n't do that, what if it's poison?! Like those berries that birds eat!'' He then asked me to make a deal. If he eats it, I have to also. 
 
 Now if this was just any guy, I would've walked away then and there. But this was Marcus. We had been through a lot already at that age together, and as stupid as he was sometimes, I was n't going to let him die and me run away like a baby because of some poisoned fruit. So I agreed. 
 
 He sat down on the exposed root, and prepared to take a bite of it. It was about as big as a softball, so there would've easily been enough for me. And then he ate his part of it. 
 
 In horror movies, people who get possessed or something will sometimes spasm or some crazy shit that directors make them do. It's all in good fun, and it serves to creep the viewer out, or horrify them. Choose your verb. But what happened to Marcus was the single-most bizarre, scary, horrifying, and perplexing thing I ever saw in my lifetime. 
 
 He dropped the fruit, and immediately he stood absolutely still. Slowly though, it looked as if his eyes started to sink in ever so slightly, with the most subtle wrinkles around them you would never guess it unless you knew they were there. I assumed he was just screwing with me though, so I went ahead and picked it up, sat on the forest floor, and prepared to take a bite of the gray lump. 
 
 `` No.'' Marcus said. It was his voice... but at the same time, it was n't. `` Drop it. We need to go. Now.'' 
 
 I obeyed. But two things occurred that stuck in my mind forever. That was the first, and second to last, time I ever heard that strange voice from Marcus. And I secretly put the fruit in the pocket of my cargo pants. I tried to fill my other pockets with stones and twigs to make them look full, too, so Marcus would buy it. I thought he did. I found out much, much later in life that he did n't. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
 
 `` Do you remember that story Marcus?'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` Was I right? Or am I making stuff up again?'' 
 
 `` No, you're right.'' 
 
 `` Ah, thank God. I ca n't even seem to remember my name anymore.'' 
 
 `` Hm.'' 
 
 `` Marcus, can I'' ***cough cough*** `` tell you something?'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` I kept that fruit. I never ate it. But I kept it. You acted as if nothing happened when we went back to school, but I could tell it truly did happen. Your eyes. They have n't changed.'' 
 
 `` No they have n't, old friend.'' 
 
 `` Did you know that I kept it?'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` Do you know I have it right beside me?'' 
 
 ``... No.'' 
 
 `` I do. I had the nurse bring me a few things from my house. I kept it in a small metal case ever since, and I look at it all the time.'' ***cough cough*** `` It has n't changed since.'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` Marcus... I think I'm going to eat it. You told me not to, and I saw what it did to you when we were kids. But... I just want to try it.'' 
 
 Marcus' eyes widened very briefly, but they immediately calmed down. `` Ok.'' 
 
 I have to admit, I expected more resistance from him. I always did, especially on things he used to be so passionate about. He quickly grew tired of them all a few days after that single moment, so long ago. So, I picked the fruit up, ever so slightly, ever so slowly. 
 
 `` Marcus...'' 
 
 `` Yes?'' 
 
 `` Help me... lift it to... my mouth...'' 
 
 `` Ok.'' 
 
 Marcus got up, and slowly lifted my left arm. He helped me get the fruit right next to my lips. It never made it to my lips. It never went in, because Marcus made sure it did n't. 
 
 It was already too late when the machine started making it's noises to alert the Doctor that my IV was detached. The fruit fell from my hand, and I saw Marcus pick it up and ever so quickly put it back into it's case. The doctor and nurse ran in right after to see what had happened, but I was already gone. So was Marcus. That bastard. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
 
 `` So....what exactly was the fruit, then?'' 
 
 `` I think you know what it is.'' 
 
 `` But... then... how? Why Marcus and I? Why not someone else find it?'' 
 
 `` No one was supposed to. You ran much further into that forest than you remember. I do n't try to intervene that often, but I tried to make sure it stayed away from humans, although I knew it would n't.'' 
 
 `` Why did n't you intervene?! As far as I'm concerned, you essentially ruined Marcus' life! He could've been a football star, a track star, anything! Are you even aware of what happened to him after he ate that fucking fruit?! He changed, forever! He was n't the same Marcus that I knew!'' 
 
 `` I'm quite aware.'' 
 
 `` What happened to him, then?!'' 
 
 `` Many things.'' 
 
 `` Then why did n't you try to stop those'things'?! Do you just not care?!'' 
 
 He slowly looked away, almost as in regret. `` It's not that I do n't care, it's that I care too much.'' 
 
 `` What the fuck is that supposed to mean, huh?! Whatever happened to the fucking Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omnisentient bullshit?!'' 
 
 `` That stuff is true about me.'' 
 
 `` Then why the hell did you think it was a good idea to plant a fucking tree of knowledge in the middle of Utah?!'' 
 
 He was quiet. 
 
 `` ANSWER. ME.'' 
 
 More quiet. Then an answer. 
 
 `` Ask him yourself.'' 
 
 I turned around and sat on the cloud. I was bewildered. I had no idea what he meant. He, of all people, refused to give me a simple answer as to why he ruined my friend. Then he gave me an answer like that. 
 
 Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was... just as the big guy felt. I figured he wanted something else, so I stood up and turned around. 
 
 There was Marcus. 
 
 
 Note: This is my first actual submission to Writing Prompts. Tried to make it as good as I could, so any and all critique is welcome (:
