His face will be gone and his memories consumed

This is a much older dream
but another one about Lawrence
I drive up
in a convertible car
to a convenience store
in what seems Austin
somewhere around the Drag
Lawrence's old haunts
I see Lawrence standing
in front of the store
anxious and nervous
I am happy to see him
but I know he is dead
I ask him how death
is treating him
he says it's rough
rough as a motherfucker
always hungry
never satisfied, Scot
as always
he is resigned to his fate
I ask if I can get him anything
if he needs any money
he shakes his head
money is no good
they won't let me in the store
and I can't use anything from inside
I ask why he's hanging around
outside of it
what else am I gonna do, he says
I got so much goddamned time
and there's nothing I can do about it
no way to escape it, Scot
you sure there's nothing I can do?
he says
we'll you can try
to get some drugs for me
I say sure
but let me get something to eat
from the store
they won't let you eat here
it's only for the dead
but not for you?
only for the good motherfuckers
I wasn't a good motherfucker
I tell him to get in the car
I try to go inside the store
but the door is locked
the clerk ignores my hammering
on the door
I head back to the car
Lawrence has crawled into the convertible
head first
is searching the carpet
on the passenger's side
for fallen drugs
he is sniffing the carpet feverishly
like a dog
a ravenous animal
his feet are shaking spasmodically
above the headrest
Lawrence
there's nothing down there
this isn't even my car
he ignores me
I see his lower jaw dislocate
and a black snake like demonic creature
emerge from within him
all teeth and dripping flesh
Lawrence's face is folded back
over his skull
like an outer mask slid back
I think
this can't be Lawrence
but then I realize it is
this is him
stripped away of his charm
and intellect and humor
this is the raw hunger
feverish desire
that was always in him
that he wore a mask over
as a disguise
and now here
in this afterlife
with no way to satisfy the hunger
with no friends
with no family
with all the time in the world
the black creature within him
is gradually replacing
the Lawrence I once knew
in a few years
perhaps when I die
and return to this afterworld
I won't even recognize him
he will not longer answer to his name
his face will be gone
and his memories
consumed in the
terrible unquenchable
hunger and desire