tickle (part seven)

horrors & dread #37g: getting back in the groove with my short stories now that my novel is finished. Yes, you heard that right.

For those that haven’t read any of this yet go check out Part One here.

There’s something soothing about the creature pushing itself into the cave in my head. Its legs flick gently against my eyeball, a hundred feet stepping on the wet surface as it marches inside. Immediately I feel a frantic rustling behind my eyes. Harry the spider alert and afraid at the new combatant entering the arena.

I can tell he’s freaking out as the centipede advances. I imagine him backing up, his eight spindly legs hunched back in fear. I imagine him being smothered by the new entrant.

Harry’s downfall is that he’s worn himself out building a new nest. His final thought as the trespasser coils around him is that he preferred living in the bathroom. Then he feels the tight constriction as the centipede squeezes the life out of his cold eyes.

I want to see what’s happening, to witness the final battle, so I shine the Maglite torch from my keyring into the gape of my tear duct. The light dances over the ripples in the wet red tunnel that’s dug into my face. I see the tango of the two creatures. I see Harry lose. My previous hero. His small body bursts as the centipede crushes his life out like a sour green berry.

Thrilled I use my other hand to bring the tweezers back up into play. This time I won’t make the same mistake assuming it will try and come back out. The metal is cold as it touches the ridges of my eye tunnel but warms up as it goes deeper in.

I make a few failed attempts before a darting quick one successfully latches onto the wriggling creature. It’s here I make a new mistake: I pinch too hard and pull too quickly. What emerges from my head is only half the centipede! The surviving other half scurries away and burrows itself deeper into the soft jelly of my eyeball.

Photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash