Why that metaphor?

Melt Session #1/Walking – Denzel Curry – Jude

Late at night, the world closed in on him. He was driving home from work, the long empty streets of the city lay out before him, any curve so gradual it was undetectable. His eyes dragged across the surface of the billboards he passed: each was a show he’d already seen trailers and was intimately acquainted with. Though he’d seen very little of each of them, he knew exactly which streaming service you could watch them on: Disney+, Stan, and HBO Max – which meant it was on Binge.

He was subscribed to so many streaming services, this was something that came naturally – but as with most people his age, the boasting rights accompanying said subscription were much greater than the utility he got out of them. He could realistically only watch one show at a time, and yet the fear of missing out meant he was draining in excess of $50 in monthly payments.

On the couch in front of the TV screen, this seemed like a mighty power to wield – shows all laid out bare before him, the breadth of which could be compared to a king’s feast. But here, in the cold night air, the sanctuary in transit between work and home, it was meaningless. The comforting distance between him and his thoughts usually given by a blanket of sound, being either music or quiet sitcoms (usually episodes of Community or the US version of the Office) was deafeningly absent.

3:42AM. A careless scrape of key on lock followed by angry mumbling signalled his return home. Stumbling through the door, he saw a body slumped over on the table, unmoving. The quiet hum of the laptop over which an arm was draped told him that such murder would have occurred less than an hour ago – the laptop had been changed to enter hibernate after that point.

Throwing his bag and shrugging off his clothes into the laundry basket, he dragged himself over to the couch and hauled himself into a reclined position. Switching it on, he began to scroll.

The other body remained unmoving by the dinner table, even as one liners started wafting through the air, cigarette (and other) smoke wafting up through the balconies outside. As his body began to melt into the couch and his mind meld with the screen, power returned to him, sceptre. The king had returned to his castle and the walls and moat were suddenly erect once again.

How to have fun/going heavy by Molly Payton