I turn on the camera and look into the lens. No emotion. I quickly take a glance on the other side to see if the view is good enough and it is. I sit down on the bed, palms sweaty and a straightened back. In the corner of my eye it stands. The skin crawler, the impostor. The white skin, inhumanly tall body and limbs, a face covered in the shadow of the corner inside the room. Just strands of black hair could be seen resting on its shoulder. The moon shone brightly, but not bright enough to reveal its face. Fuck, I can’t understand it came to this. One of its bony fingers began rolling up and down, telling me to begin. To tell our story and confess. I cough to make myself ready, and stare into the camera.
“Well, I’ll start from the beginning.”
[-]
We met in middle school. Classmates. At first glance, I fell in love. I guess it’s what they call love at first sight. The window was open and the wind was gently brushing her long blond hair. The rays of sun reflected onto her pale and clear skin. Her dimples showed clearly as she smiled while talking to her friends. What an Angel. I came in the middle of the first year since my family had just moved to this town. So me sitting there, a stranger creepily staring at her seemed rather odd. She turned her head and looked me in the eye. Took me a few seconds to even realize the situation I was in thanks to her blue gemstones as her eyes just pulled me in. I remember how she slightly tilted her head and raised one eyebrow since I wouldn’t stop staring, probably smiling as well.
“Who are you?” It brought me back to reality, and it made me blush rose red. I’d always been picked on for blushing easily. Just as I was about to stutter out my answer, the teacher walked inside and I hurriedly stood up and went into the back of the classroom, straightened my back and looked forward. I wasn’t confident to look at her. I heard some giggles coming from the girl’s direction, but I didn’t dare to look if it was actually her. That was our first meeting. Throughout middle school, we became close, really close. We didn’t start dating until high school but rumors were around even in middle school. Apparently, we lived really close to each other, basically neighbors. So after a while, even our parents became close. They were so delighted when we began dating.
[-]
I jump on the spot as I notice the monster in the corner has disappeared. Nervously, I look around trying to find it, but it’s nowhere to be seen. I feel cold vines slowly tangle around my leg. I don’t dare. My head can’t afford to see its face at the moment. But my human instincts give in and I take a glance down. Its face was peeking out of the bed. The emptiness. The pale face. The void. That smile. It nods and I immediately look ahead into the camera again. Shaking constantly out of fear. It had me within its grasp. I wipe of my sweet and bite my upper lip. I want to break down and cry. I’m terrified. I don’t know what to do. It’s as if my life has paused I can’t do anything. My mind spins in circles but I take a deep breath. There is a way out of this. But to get there its nothing I can do but continue.
[-]
High school was different. Kids were older, to some degree more mature but also trying so much more to be cool, especially boys. I described her as an Angel, right? I was quite the opposite. A loser, a nobody, but I tried my hardest to live up to my name as her partner. So in high school, this pretty Angel of mine got a lot of attention and questions as to why I was her spouse and not anyone else. Her answer was always the same.
“He was made for me, and no one else could replace him.” I trusted her. I always have. She wouldn’t do anything to the boys who were drooling over her. There weren’t any problems in my case with girls. No other girl other than my Angel wanted to be with me. The only problems were the boys, especially one guy that was interested in my Angel. Unbeknownst to my Angel’s knowledge he bullied me, both physically and verbally. Telling me she’s his and whatnot. He never hit me in the face, always on the body, so that she could never tell I was getting bullied. I was scared to tell her I wanted to, but I didn’t want to seem like a loser. Someone who couldn’t stand up for himself. So this kept on for a long time.
After we graduated from high school, we were still together. Nothing much changed other than my body ached all day. She never knew and still knew nothing. I had faked it so well, I could almost become an actor at this point. We enrolled into the same college, to finally get away from high school and hopefully forget those years, at least in my case. Maybe she had a good time. But college is when it all started. At first we made a lot of friends. I was finally accepted for who I was, and people accepted we were dating. No trouble and no glances. It was all perfect.
But we all know that when you reach the highest highs, there is only one way to go and that’s down. My parents passed away during the second semester of college. Which hit me hard. And even worse, apparently my mother had been infested with a skin crawler and haunted my late grandma until she committed suicide days after! I had lost everything, except my angel. But even my Angel being there for me wasn’t enough comfort for me to be satisfied. Which it should’ve. I was just stupid and ignorant. So I went out drinking, alone. She always had to pick me up and drag me home. I never felt sorry. I was a loser. I couldn’t change. Everything I do brings her down. It’s just who I was.
We fought and fought, and my excuse was always to let me drink my sorrows away and that I would never change since this is who I was. Someone that didn’t live up to Angel’s expectations. In the beginning, she always screamed and begged me to stop. But then even the lectures came to an end and she let me do whatever I wanted. Which I hated. I wanted her to help me, to stop me. I wanted her to lift me up. I needed her. It just made everything in my head worse and I drank even more and made even more mistakes. I got into fights a lot. If I had bruises in high school, there were more like knife cuts. I got into the hospital many times, one was especially bad, which almost caused my death. It was the last time I went out drinking. Seeing my Angel’s face in the hospital that day made me cry. I realized I’d been stupid. I tried to change.
I had been on the top and now reached rock bottom. And now the only way was up. But if the last top had been a mountain, this top was only a hill, nothing could compare to what it used to be. We didn’t go out as much on dates together; we weren’t as touchy as before. Sex was never an option. We stood each other close but took as much distance as possible without it feeling forced. This went on for some months and I was tired of it. I confronted her and tried talking things out. To make everything go back to normal. But all she did was cry.
“Angel, please. Remember how it used to be! When everything was perfect! When everything seemed dark and void around me, you’ve always been there for me. We can go back!”
“Love is like a shooting star. The glance, realization, the excitement, the wishing and finally the passing. We had our first glance in middle school and we realized we were perfect not only as best friends but also as lovers. The excitement we felt during our relationship was great. The wishing comes from the wishes we both wanted in our relationship. We both fulfilled them. And now is the passing, the excitement is gone, our wishes are not fulfilled anymore, and we want to find another shooting star to wish for. The wish I wanted you to give me has passed. Now I want to look for another shooting star.” That night, she just stood up and left.
I couldn’t say a word. We didn’t have any contact for days, weeks. I had no reason to. I know what she said was real. Her intent was real. I had fucked up. But I couldn’t give up. I was still living in the past. Holding onto the memories we used to have. The happiness we once had and can still have if we work things out. But I wanted her to have some time to cool off before I spoke to her again. I had fucked up and I admitted that, so giving her time was the last thing I could do.
[-]
The vines wrapped around my leg disappear and in a second, the bony fingers appear around my shoulders. My breathing began giving up on me as its chilly breath tickled my neck and its stank penetrated my nostrils. One of its fingers slowly makes its way up to my chin and cuts it with its fingernail. Its breath touches my ear and I hear it whisper.
“Soon.” I clench my shirt with my right arm and laugh in disbelief at the situation. It couldn’t be real. My Angel couldn’t have been devoured by that parasite. No. But I have to finish it no matter what. I have a way out, but I have to finish this first. I stare dead into the camera, determined to see it through.
[-]
That night. November 23rd. I was taking a night walk wearing my headphones. Listening to some sad ballads. As I saw a car parked strangely in some parking lot in the forest. I could catch a glance in the windows of the car and there were people inside, fucking… It Can’t be real. It’s freezing cold and it’s clearly visible from the road!? Who are these people? I was curious.
I sneakily walked towards the car to get a better glance. An Angel and a devil. My Angel. Her naked back pressed up against the window and as she slid down her eyes met mine. Behind her thrusted my high school bully with a grin on his face. I fled the scene. I couldn’t be real. No, no NO! Anything, anyone but him. No no no no. I just ran that day. Kept running. The memories, the happiness I once felt, everything just flashed in front of my eyes and vanished into thin air. I bawled my eyes out and didn’t even think of any directions, I just kept running away from everything. I felt my phone vibrating but I didn’t care. The snow began falling and the surrounding scenery turned white.
A while later, I finally stopped and sat down and just cried on the ground. My face had become frozen since tears didn’t stop running. I was pathetic, a loser. I lost her; I lost to the bully. I let him win because I was stupid enough to let her go of my grasp. Eventually, I trudged through the snow home.
Outside my apartment complex I saw her, waiting. I sneered and ignored her but she pleaded.
“Please let me explain, wait!” she grabbed a hold of my coat but I pushed her away. I could hear her sobs but I didn’t care. No, I did. She is still my Angel.
“I thought we could reconcile. I still had hope. The memories of our past were the embodiment of hope in my life. You ruined it all. I have nothing.”
“Stop holding onto the past! Move on. A relationship can’t be based on memories. What point is there to date if the spark isn’t there or can be reignited? It’s no different from dating a diary from the past. Let me go and find someone who can regain your hope.”
“Why… Why him Angel? Why did you begin fucking the devil himself? Why did you taint your holiness from that wretched man? The man who tortured me throughout high school. Hit me behind the school, bruised my whole body, tainted my name just because he wanted you for himself. Why did it have to be him?”
“What do you mean, you never told me this?” I walked down the stairs and grabbed her by the collar, not hard, but enough to force her to look me in the eye.
“I didn’t want to be a burden. I didn’t want to be a loser in your eyes. I tried my best to be perfect for you.” Tears fell down her chin and I let go of my grip.
“No matter what you could’ve done in the past, have done in the past, and can do in the future wouldn’t have changed the fact you were always perfect in my eyes. The only problem was yourself. You were never perfect enough for your own satisfaction. You can’t love someone who doesn’t even love themselves. And you don’t love me anymore. You love the idea of my past self. Wake up.” She stomped out into the dark night and disappeared soon after. I had nothing to think of. It was all blank in my head. Hearing her words kind of made me wake up. I needed someone to tell me the truth other than myself. She was right. I just walked into my room and fell asleep. Dreaming on how I should improve.
[-]
I grab onto the gun I have tucked into my pants through my shirt and get ready. Soon, the battle would commence. The battle who would determine my fate. Its fingers slowly leave my shoulders and I turn backwards. It was gone. As I look back, its face was behind the camera. I close my eyes and my whole face squints in disbelief and fear. I take a deep breath and prepare myself. I look straight into the camera trying to ignore the figure behind it, but its haunting face is still visible. Nothing I could do.
[-]
Now we’re at this part of the story. When I held her again, she was still warm. But drenched in blood. Why did she do it? Why did she close out her own life? Leaving this fucking note, “Forget me, and live on. Sorry, I couldn’t be the one you could lean on. Sorry I couldn’t be the Angel you truly deserved.” I hate her, I hate her, I HATE HER. No, no I don’t. I don’t blame her at all. It’s my fault. I was finally changing myself to become a man she could respect, but I still can’t be him. No one will love me as well as you did, Angel. Oh Angel. I couldn’t even call the police on her. I couldn’t bear to witness your body being taken away from me. So I’d be with you. I held her tight until my own eyes gave up.
My eyes slowly open again, hoping everything I witnessed the day before was all a nightmare. But alas, my hands were red and the floor was covered in blood. But her body was gone. Desperately, I looked around me. Where was she, my Angel?! I looked to my left and there she was, floating in midair. She hung like she was attached to a rope around her waist, lifelessly. I rubbed my eyes, just to be sure I wasn’t seeing things. But she was still there. My heart rate increased as I didn’t dare to move an inch. Was this her way of revenge, her way of telling me it was my fault? The air had this thick stench that I can even feel and taste on my tongue. Flies flew from behind her, swarming around me. I tried to scare them away but they didn’t stop coming.
The entire room filled up with darkness, as if a black mist covered it whole. She moved her limbs robotically while her bones cracked with each movement. I backed away to the window and leaned my back against the wall, hyperventilating afraid of what to come next. Finally, her head faced mine. Her eyes opened and the two previous sapphires turned void instead of blue. Her facial expression was stern, unchanged. And even though her limbs had moved, she didn’t move towards me, only in place.
The cracking of bones stopped. She was just floating in midair with all of her limbs bent all over the place. I couldn’t keep my eyes away from her. I couldn’t close them. It was if something was preventing me from doing it. Like fingers were pulling up my eye sockets, making me look at the scene unfold in front of me with eyes wide open. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do. I was shaking and hiding like an abused dog in a corner. I almost scratched the wall behind, wishing it would fall over so I could jump down onto the ground. I wanted to scream for help, but no words would leave my mouth.
She did nothing for a solid 10 seconds. It’s as if she wanted me to say something, waiting for me. She was judging me, wanting me to plead for forgiveness for what I have done.
“Angel I- I’m sorry.” As I said that, her stern expression turned sour, and switched immediately into a haunting smile. A smile so wide the edges of her lips cut open, like someone had dragged a knife across her cheeks. Blood gushed out from her chins and her throat. The skin of her body melted and ultimately dropped to the floor, as if she was shedding. The once pale skin and angelic face were laying on the ground as a full body suit. I just looked at it. I glanced up and in my angel’s place hangs a chalk white inhuman figure with black hair. It couldn’t be. A skin crawler.
A haunting laugh filled the room and her body fell down onto the floor. I stood up in fear, hugging the wall behind me. I still couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Her body was facing the ground, but her limbs began moving again. She lifted her body up with all four limbs and began looking at me with that destructive smile once again. Her entire neck began twisting 180 degrees, making the stretched skin around it rip open. Her face who’d been upside down was now facing me correctly, and that damn smile is still there.
She charged towards me with a piercing scream and I jumped over her, almost slipping on the blood filled floor. She swung her long arms towards me but I just kept going and ran out of the apartment, closing the door tightly behind me. Her nails had successfully managed to drill into my leg. I screeched in pain as blood poured out of the wound. She slammed on the door multiple times behind me while screaming haunting words on the other side.
“It’s your fault, IT’S YOUR FAULT! IT’S YOUR FAULT I NEVER FOUND MY OTHER FALLING STAR. IT’S YOUR FAULT YOU FUCKING LOSER.” I bit my lip as I tried to hold in my tears. The constant bashing behind me made it harder to hold them in. Every punch against the door felt personal, like every punch was something I had done wrong. It felt like she finally had the time to speak her mind.
“YOU NEVER SPOKE YOUR MIND, YOU NEVER CARED FOR ME, YOU NEVER LOVED ME FOR WHO I REALLY WAS, YOU NEVER SAW MY PAIN!” The bashing finally stopped and I leaned slowly down onto the floor. I cried and cried. For the first time in my life, I prayed to God to forgive me. On the other side I heard sobbing instead.
“I just wanted you to look at me, to understand that I loved you. I was your Angel wasn’t I? But no more. It’s your fault.” I screamed in anger. I grabbed my hair and just shook my whole body like a little toddler whose parents did not want to buy him candy. I ultimately stand up and peek open the door. Except the pool of blood there was a blood trail leading to the open window, it would come back. I couldn’t believe a fucking skin crawler had taken over her. Her suicide was shocking enough! I just began walking home, limping on my wounded leg as I swayed from side to side in disbelief like I’m drunk.
I pulled down my door handle and entered my apartment. Laid down in bed and took out the item I’d put behind my pillow and examined it. A gun. It was saved for myself. But if a skin crawler had infested my Angel, it was time to use it for something else.
[-]
As I say that line, I hear a dreadful laugh and a screech that pierces my eardrums from the skin crawler behind the camera. It faces me and lunges forward and I roll back to the other side of the bed. In the span of a second, I stood up and shot the creature in front of me while it kept charging.
“FUCK YOU PARASITE!” The entire room turned quiet. I open one eye and see that the bullet seemed to do its job. The bullet had drilled into its forehead. The monster laid on my bed, still with that eerie smile. It was still alive, wobbling in my bed. As one last tear rolled down its cheeks, the laugh quiets down. The inhuman body turns into ashes and left on the ground was a giant insectoid. The parasite.
I fall down onto my knees and rest my body on the side of the bed. I can’t believe that thing infested my Angel. Demon. I never thought I’d encounter one myself. But luckily I killed it. Infesting the bodies of the dead is evil, but to haunt their loved ones, terrifying. Altering the body of the host to scare its prey with the best of its ability.
“Beware people out there. Skin crawlers are real, and they might target your loved ones next.” I approach the camera and give it a final awkward smile before turning it off.