escalated chaos                 by Jason Coe
	The man sat there looking at the painting.  Not really vivid imagery, but serene and cool, like a midnight ocean breeze. The dark blue hues calmed his beating heart, and he felt the chaos in his mind escalate into the nothingness. As the tourists walked by gawking at the priceless Rembrandts and Monets, the man didn't move, transfixed by the canvas, but the gray glaze in his light-less eyes made it almost seem as though he saw right through it. Right through the colors, the shade, the shape, the lines, the molecules, the atoms, and into the nothingness.   Each person a specialist, "oh the beauty!" "How inspiring." "Why it's absolutely gorgeous, this must be his greatest work. Look at the lines, the symbolism, the hidden sadness in his work." The man said nothing. The crowd thinned, and the empty claims of the cultured slowly quieted. The man sat emotionless, gazing only at the painting ahead. "Sorry, good friend, it's time to go," the guard said with a feeling pat upon the shoulder. Feeling the euphoria slip away, the man sadly nodded his head, gently lifted his coat, and made ready to go. With an understanding look emoting from his face, the guard continued locking the doors as he watched the man go. As he greeted the night security while walking out of the museum, he felt the heavy sadness once again weigh down upon his heart. Once in his one-room flat, the guard opened up his bottle of brandy and poured himself a glass. Alighting upon his chair, the guard turned on his record player and let the soft shadowed music gently envelop his senses. Slowly, he was almost losing himself, as he felt the chaos in his mind escalate into nothingness. Just as the drunkard finished off his bottle of vodka, as the woman unscrewed her prozac bottle, as the man looked down upon the prostitute and felt the rapture slide up through his veins, as the girl displaced the finger from her throat and felt the onrush coming out of her stomach, as the child looked up into the face of the virgin idol, as the man began squeezing the trigger of the gun in his mouth, they all felt the chaos in their minds escalate into nothingness. Together, every one of them alone.