A red apple came to rest on the bottom of the sea.
Cowering inside the core was a half-eaten glowworm,
struggling to survive. The worm gorged itself on the
flesh of the apple like a man before a fast. When the sun
rose over the water, the worm slept, falling into endless
night. Trapped in endless night.
When the moon was high, the crescent on the worm’s
head glowed incandescent silver, transforming the deep-
diving moonlight into sustenance. Locked in
hibernation, the worm began to grow. In mere hours it
outgrew the apple core and burst out like a hatchling
from a shell, although it never awoke. In spite of the
smothering pressure on the seafloor, the sleeping
glowworm swelled ceaselessly long and fat until it was
so big that its bulk could be seen from the surface of the
sea like a dark road leading east.
