Human bodies can create life. When people become pregnant, it’s a miracle. Even though the mass of cells forming in their womb is sapping a lot of their energy and nutrients.
Humans are also great hosts for many different viruses. Really, if you think about it, all our cells are alive, so our body is just a collection of living things.
At first it was just a ripple. My abdomen would occasionally shake, the skin shifting like the waves of an ocean. Maybe I’m just hungry, I thought. But it became more and more frequent, beyond just hunger. Simply lying awake I could feel my stomach churn. I could see something underneath the surface of my skin move, the waves becoming a single force writhing with every breath I took.
Last night, I heard it hiss. Not just digestion, but almost serpentine. Placing a hand against it, I could feel how warm my stomach was, how it twitched here and there under my palm. How it bloated outwards. No amount of breathing or pills calmed it.
Today while walking to the hospital, I felt heavier, like I was carrying extra weight. Only I wasn’t blessed with a miracle, I could feel it. This was something different.
The scans showed nothing was wrong. Slight swelling of the intestine, but nothing abnormal, nothing concerning. They took some blood samples and sent me on my way.
As if it knew I had been to the hospital, it only started to bug me again once I was home, and it was ten times worse. The churning became an ache, the hissing a low growl, and pain bloomed from deep within. The pain spread all over: to my stomach, to my shoulders and even down to my feet.
I collapsed on my bed, curling up. It took everything I had not to scream or pass out. Every move I made was met with a sharper pain, every sound that escaped my lips met with a louder, more menacing growl. All I could was let the pain wash over me and hope it would pass.
Desperate for relief, I grabbed hold of my stomach, digging my nails into skin like I was an acupuncturist. It worked for a moment, the briefest second where I could catch my breath and relax my muscles. But then I felt a worse pain. This thing, it had nails too and it was clawing at the lining of my abdomen. Each scratch was agonizing.
With every ounce of strength I had left I stood up and moved to the mirror. Yanking my shirt up, I saw my skin stretch with every claw, stretching so thin I was sure my skin would break. I wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t feeling the pain.
Amidst the claws, something else caught the light. Something that made my heart stop. I was beyond fear at this point.
Inside my belly button, an eye looked into the mirror and back up at me. So distinctly human and yet so not human at the same time; its pupils too large, its movements too jerky.
One of the claws pierced through my skin, making me cry out, but all I could hear in my head was a small, hoarse voice. “Let me out.”
Image by: Mckenzie Martin | Infinitum Editor
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