The Lilac x The Student: “Rainforest Gothic”

you’re lost in a tangle of greenery, nature gone

wild. sunlight seeps through the leaves, bleeding your retinas while

you listen to the scream of howler monkeys, primal and

macabre. the flowers are all

too bright — colors you’ve only

read about in books, with lurid names like:

“viridine,” “heliotrope,” “citreous.” the jungle

does not know you, and it certainly

does not like you. the trees are inching towards each other and

if you’re not careful, the last thing you’ll see is

the forest floor.