like bursts of machine gun fire

it hurts

and I cough to get rid of it

then I breathe in

and water

like hot coals

roars in my chest

this only lasts a minute

then I'm all liquid

like I'm cold, dark blue ink

poured from a bottle

into a river

I turn into

ribbons that snake

like weeds in a current

then I become

an electric current

zinging round the wires

in our house

I go into the food processor

and munch

all the cookie crumbs

Mum had been using

in her famous cheese cake

recipe

I zoing into the TV

and change the programs

my sister Gradie

is watching the news

suddenly my face

appears on the screen

it's the last time

she'll see me

then I kapow

into the vacuum cleaner

that Dad had left plugged in

when he was cleaning up

his workshop

after he'd finished

turning that celery top bowl

for Mum's birthday

I drive the vacuum cleaner

crazy

it sucks up everything in sight

it hunts around the workshop

till nothing is left

then it heads up the stairs

from the double garage

into the main part of the house

it sucks up everything

furniture, carpets, utensils,

pets, paintings, books

the vacuum cleaner hose

with its

flexible

questing

nozzle

slips out the back door

pokes around in the garden

sucks up everything

dirt, grass, plants, trees

garden gnomes

it stretches

and tries to get out into the street

it wants to be let loose

in the world

stretches and stretches

so hard

it pulls out the plug

then I realise

I'm just the electricity

left behind

in the last half second

as a dying electric motor

stops turning

then I'm gone

I've

completely

disappeared