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Eat It!
By Arthur Addison Petravich
Email: arthurpetravich@gmail.com
A man battling depression endures the repetitive motions of his mundane life while resisting the temptation to eat a tantalizing fruit.
Reluctantly following the same routine day in and day out, a man falls into a deep depression induced by the perils of mundanity. In his onslaught of lifeless activities, he begins to notice a small strawberry that he’s kept on a plate in his kitchen is strangely growing bigger and more noticeable in appearance.
The days continue on, the man’s mental state worsening with each new morning. After about a month of questioning his existence, the once small grocery-store strawberry morphs into a puppet, jumping to life. After capturing the man’s attention, the strawberry begins her attempts to lure him into consuming her. In her persistent request for the man to “eat her”, he becomes more fearful and unsure by the second.
With every effort the man makes to push against the fruit’s wishes, the strawberry only pursues him further. As she continues to press on, her sweet nature quickly turns sour as she reveals her true, haunting colors. In the midst of their back-and-forth, the man receives a phone call from a contact named Josh. This call goes unanswered as the strawberry traps the man in her unwavering gaze, convincing him there’s no need to answer.
The strawberry’s antics become more frightening as the dialogue continues. She asks the man about his life, dredging up the depths of what makes him truly unhappy. As the man cowers under a rampage of intense questioning, a second phone notification from Josh captures his attention. This time, the man gains the courage to twist away from the strawberry and listen to his new voicemail. Upon listening, a wave of positive flashbacks flood the man’s brain. The voicemail is a saving grace as he hears his friend, Josh, speak about the love his friends have for him. The man can find relief in remembering that his friends care for and support him in his times of mental turmoil. The flashback gives the man a foundation of peace and confidence to continue on, and defeat the strawberry once and for all.
The man puts his phone down, and the strawberry’s screams are more deafening than ever. As she pleads in agony for the man to eat her, giving him “darkness” once and for all, the man grabs a knife from a nearby counter. He stabs the strawberry multiple times. Falling backward, the strawberry has disappeared, and the man is left with nothing but a handful of red pills. He slumps to the ground in a panic attack, dropping the medication he had planned to take.
Once he catches his breath, he moves quickly to clean up his pills and the rest of his apartment, thanking his phone in the process for the voicemail. The garbage bag used to collect his pills contains the now-dead strawberry, a once terrifying symbol of the temptation to end his life. He walks out his back door to take out the trash for good.
Directed by Arthur Petravich (USA)