Reddit: Writing Prompt: "Lick the Apple" by u/blackparody

Writing Prompt by u/Arroz8941:

You are desperate to become immortal because you have a terminal illness. The only way to attain it is by convincing someone to lick an apple. Unfortunately, you haven't been able to do this simple task.

An apple a day they say,

But in a hospital that doesn't hold sway

I'm dying and they can't help

At least not by injecting me or feeding me kelp

Last Tuesday a nurse whispered to me

"You could live forever, forever young and free"

I looked at her, not wanting to believe

This was a life I'd already begun to grieve

"Take this apple, it is the key

If another mortal were to lick it for ye

Their life would be yours, you would rise

And take their place, that is the price"

"How can I believe you?

What magic is this, can it be true?"

I wondered, as she winked and kissed my cheek

And left me trembling like a withering freak.

At first, I doubted her truth

Of getting eternal life from this damned fruit

But its been six months, and it is still so fresh

I feel it in my bones, and what's left of my flesh

A psychiatrist has been called in

To evaluate my status on a whim

They think I'm going crazy, or already have

Or maybe just need to switch my coffee to decaf

I've been asking the doctors, the nurses

To lick the apple that's lying by my purses

And now I'm almost dead

Without encountering a single gullible head

So while she sits by the bedside

To check in my mental health can abide

The question that I try to grapple

Is how to get her to lick this bloody apple

"There's an easy test to know if I've lost it

I think this apple here tastes like biscuit

If you lick it, and it does not

Then you know my meds have to be kicked up a notch"

She looks at me, thoughtfully

"You seem rational, but you can't bully

People into licking things, you have to know"

I grimace, and my desperation shows

"So I am crazy for thinking it tastes wrong

And I am crazy to want to validate that headlong

If there is no winning, then why are you here?

Just leave me to die, in doubt and fear"

She muses on that and then smiles at me

"Alright, I'll help put your mind at ease"

She takes the apple and gives it a sniff

I'm so close, my eyes widen in disbelief

But as she opens her mouth to lick

The apple that I'm so sure will do the trick

I become aware I'm breathing too fast

And a moment too soon, I breathe my last.