-Dude, you need to try this. This shit will open a door to another dimension.
-Like LSD then?
-Better, the effect of this thing is insane.
-How much is it? I’m short on cash.
-Nothing, the guy said that it was close to spoiling so he gave me a bunch for free.
-That’s suspicious. Isn’t it addictive like heroin or some shit like that?
-Don’t be stupid, hallucinogens are not addictive. The guy must be trying to get some customers since this drug is new. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
-I´ll take it, won´t use it today though.
-No problem dude.
He gave me a blue pill, I put it in my pocket.
-Thanks man, owe you one.
On the following weekend I was home alone, bored. It was the end of the year, all my close friends had gone on a trip (I stayed home for monetary reasons), and I live far from my family.
I looked at the pill and I just thought “fuck it”. I swallowed it and watched some comedy videos while waiting for it to take effect. When I noticed, I was laughing uncontrollably at scenes that weren’t even funny. I got up, surely the hallucinogen was starting to take effect. I took a false step and fell to the ground, I had completely lost notion of space. The walls melted and all the objects around me danced. The lights were blinding me, so I turned them off.
I heard a knock, so I went to the door to check who it was. I opened the door and a man over two meters tall, in a suit and top hat was holding a folder that said “fresh human pieces”.
-Hello sir, would you be interested in acquiring some human pieces? They have been picked straight from the tree. – The figure pointed to one of the trees on my yard. Heads, torsos, legs and arms were hanging from the branches, gently swaying in the wind.
-No thanks, I don’t need that. – I replied.
-Are you sure? A new body can be useful on several occasions, everyone needs it at some point in their lives. – The figure argued with a soft voice.
-Multiple occasions? Like what?
-The loss of a loved one, the replacement of your own body. There is something called cancer, for example. If at any point in your life you are afflicted by such a curse, there would already be a spare body ready in the closet for you to make the switch. Our company harvests body parts from trees, fresh and organic, you will not regret your purchase.
-I’m not going to buy anything today, I’m kind of drugged. Come back tomorrow. – I slammed the door and watched the figure calmly walk away.
I went into the bathroom and turned on the light, my eyes hurt from the glare. I looked in the mirror, pupils dilated like two bowling balls. The skin on my face moved as if it had worms crawling under it. My face turned into a spiral of blood and flesh, swirling like a blender. When it stopped rolling, my face morphed into my father’s. After turning on the faucet and washing my face, it went back to normal.
I walked to the bedroom, bumping into the walls. I laid in bed with the light off , just the brightness of the computer screen illuminating the room, which continuously played videos on YouTube autoplay. The ceiling swayed back and forth like waves. I looked towards the computer, and noticed a spider crawling up my shirt. I reached up to slap it.
-WAIT!
I was startled by the unexpected scream.
-Don’t crush me man, that´s a dick move.
It was the spider talking to me.
-Why didn’t you stay there in your corner, did you need to climb on my clothes?
-I was bored up there, I wanted to come and talk to you
-About what?
-I wanted to see how you are, I’ve been watching you this month and you’re a mess.
-Since when do spiders teach morals?
-Why so defensive, don´t be a kid. I’m asking how you are.
-If you see me every day you already know how I am. I flunked out of college and my girlfriend broke up with me last month. Worst month of my life. I’ll never meet a girl as good as her.
-Typical teenager. You´re in your twenties, how can you say you´ll never meet anyone interesting again? There’s a lot of girls out there man.
- Spiders don’t even live twenty years, how would you know?
-Our species matures faster, it’s not like humans who reach forty and are still stupid and childish.
-Did you come here just to nag me?
-It wasn’t my intention, but you’re not an easy guy. Open the window at least to let in a few mosquitoes, this house stinks of mold.
-I open the window whenever I want, I’m fine the way the house is.
-I’m leaving, this was a bad idea.
The spider turned its back on me and slowly walked away, spitting profanities.
- Crying baby, human is such a useless animal, if it were still a forest here I would be fine in a tree, but nooooo, I have to be stuck in a room with this slug who doesn’t even open the window so I can catch some mosquitoes in my web.
I got out of bed, the computer light was starting to annoy me. I walked to the bathroom, washed my face again and went out into the yard. The darkness lifted my spirit a little. I looked at the sky and saw the stars forming several different designs. I walked to the gate, looked at the completely empty street and decided to walk a little. It was hard to cross streets, because I couldn’t identify if a car was coming or if I was hallucinating. In the windows of the houses it seemed that there were hundreds of faces behind the curtains watching me. I concluded that the visual incentive was too broad and chaotic, so I decided to go back home.
On the way back, a dog started following me.
-Hey, human.
-Oh no, shoo dog, I’ve already been cursed by a super rude spider, I don’t want to talk to anyone anymore.
-I’m kind. I love humans. In fact, I think humans are so badass that I wish I was one. Won’t you break this one for me?
-Break what? What are you talking about?
-You seem to be very sad with that human skin, let’s trade it.
-Trade? What you on about?
-We go to your house, you take a knife, cut your skin off, give it to me, and I go around downtown at Christmas in my human skin, doing human things. After Christmas I return it.
-If I take my skin off I die, stupid dog.
-Hey! Where did this gratuitous swearing come from? I’m being nice and you curse me. Then you still complain that others mistreat you.
-No human cursed me, only that spider.
-It’s because humans pretend. Do you think that people who interact with you don’t hold back from cursing you? If they were honest, they’d send you to hell after five minutes of interacting with you. Humans are the epitome of falsehood and deceit. Any relationship, whether friendship or love, is anchored in lies.
-Now you look like a teenager who has 100% knowledge taken from twitter.
-I’m getting real bro, you should study more. If you want, I can recommend some books.
- Shoo dog, you´re worse than the spider.
-Seriously man, it’s the weekend and you’re on drugs in the middle of the street, you don’t even like being human, you’ll like being a dog, let’s change our skins. A neat cut and tomorrow you put your skin back on, you won’t even notice the difference.
- Shoo, shoo. – I expelled the dog, which crossed the street and distanced itself from me.
Arriving home, I sat on the bed with my head in my hands, feeling anxious and paranoid.
“Water, I need water”. I went into the kitchen and put my mouth under the faucet, drinking water for several seconds. I was still thirsty, and everything around me was warped in a strange way.
In the windows it looked like there were faces begging to come into the house, and every time I looked at my foot because I thought some spider was going to come and kill me. My heart was racing completely arrhythmically, and I turned back on the kitchen faucet every few minutes with the insatiable thirst I felt. I closed my eyes and put my mouth on the faucet. When I opened my eyes, the water came down in a red color, it looked like blood, and tasted like iron. I walked away leaving the faucet running. “I think I’ll text someone.” I looked all over the house for my cell phone and couldn’t find it. I also couldn’t turn on the computer, I walked from one side of the room to the other, and I couldn’t complete the basic steps of a simple task. There was a constant buzz in my ear and I couldn’t concentrate on anything.
My whole body felt warm, my hair was damp with sweat. I decided to get under the shower. I sat under it for a few minutes, eyes closed and trying to concentrate on the sound of the water, to calm my paranoid thoughts. When I opened my eyes, sitting in front of me, I saw a woman standing there, almost anemic white skin, long black hair that touched the floor because she was sitting down. She was staring at me, static, leaning against the wall on the opposite side to where I was. Her eyes were blank, her mouth open like she wanted to scream but couldn’t. The white teeth showing and the static mouth gave an inconceivable feeling of discomfort, as if that position was painful for her. I closed my eyes again, aware of my altered state and knowing that this time, the vision I saw wasn’t real. After a few more minutes with my eyes closed I opened them again. She was still there, mouth open in a humanly impossible way, and lifeless eyes staring straight at me.
I closed my eyes again, I don’t know how long I stayed there like that. I opened my eyes minutes later, without looking forward, but I could see in my peripheral vision that the girl was still there, just as uncomfortable. My hands were extremely wrinkled by the time I was in the shower, so I got up, towel-dried myself, and walked out. The entire time she stood in the corner, her presence clear, watching my every move, but I didn’t make any further eye contact.
I left the bathroom and lay down on the bed. The drug’s effect seemed to wear off a bit, and with it the anxiety and despair I was feeling subsided to an acceptable level. Lying in bed, I heard the bathroom door move, and footsteps of wet feet in contact with the floor getting louder and louder. The door to my room opened, and I saw the girl walking in slowly. She then lay down next to me on the bed, and stared at me with that grotesquely open mouth and those empty eyes. I turned to the other side and closed my eyes. I felt a chill on the back of my neck, like she was running her fingers through my hair. Even aware that what was happening was the effect of the drugs I used, I didn’t have the courage to open my eyes again or to turn towards that figure lying beside me. I stayed in that position for more than an hour, uncomfortably lying there with my eyes closed even though I wasn’t very sleepy, and unable to move to stretch my muscles a little. Eventually I managed to fall asleep after an hour of distress.
The next day, I went to the kitchen to make some coffee, my head exploding with a hangover. I drank a liter of water, the thirst was unbearable. I turned on the computer, put on something to watch and lay down on the bed. I felt something on my arm, when I checked what it was, I noticed that, strangely, there were strands of long black hair in my bed, even though I live alone and have short hair.
Hours later, as I left the house, I noticed that the dogs in the neighborhood were crowding around. Even weirder, they started following me the 3-block walk to the bakery, waiting for me at the door, and following me home. They barked friendly as I walked, and stood at my gate as I entered the house.
Weeks later, these two strange facts didn’t stop. Dogs followed me everywhere, and I found hairs that weren’t mine in my bed almost every day. But what scared me the most was that, one day, when I got out of the shower, there was a message on the bathroom mirror:
-Where r u? I miss you.
What can I do? Any advices?