I lost my sense of hearing 5 years and 11 months ago.
Me and my sister decided to go on a camping trip for our upcoming 25th birthday, I never really enjoyed the outdoors, but she loved it, she always told me that the “night sky burning with balls of fire” would turn me around on it, she always phrased things so weirdly, I brushed it off as another quirk but there was something in her eyes I couldn’t quite recognize.
I wish I veto’d it.
We got there about a week later, my first red flag should’ve been that there weren’t any other tents, camper vans or even people around for miles- My sister, Emily, told me that there would be a group of people here, with designated spots, I suppose she wanted to calm my nerves, Can you hear me? I brushed it off and started to set up camp- Emily offered to do it but I needed to busy my own hands, it was getting late because I wanted to be there as little as possible, Emily decided to sleep early.
That’s when I heard it, a rustle in the treeline, I grabbed the torch I packed, cursing to myself I didn’t splurge for the more powerful one, and that’s when I heard it.
“Can you hear me?”
I shouted out that I could, worried that maybe it was someone that gotten lost, someone Emily stated was suppose to be here, as I was going to grab my phone, I clutched my head in pain, my ears started bleeding and I must’ve been shouting- My throat felt like it was ripping itself out, and then I passed out.
I lost my eyesight 5 years and 7 months ago.
Our camping trip was cut early, of course, Emily told me (through a series of hastily written Can you hear me? posted notes) that there was nothing there that day- nothing she could hear at the very least before my scream, she was the one who called the ambulance of course, I stayed in the hospital for two weeks, I needed some psych evaluations aswell as physical treatment of course, but the doctors told me there was nothing wrong, and concluded that whatever I saw, I must’ve tripped and fell, and whatever happened to my brain was causing this, that it would be temporary, and life moved on.
I was sitting in my apartment, I’m not sure what struck me to do it, but I decided to research into whatever I saw, can you hear me? I remember getting a glimpse of it before hearing it, it looked like…static on a television screen, but instead of gray and white it was pure black, with the fur having an electricity current running through it the whole time- The jaw looked…barren, like it had no lips, I know that it had teeth on the lower jaw, but I can’t seem to remember how I know, it’s eyes were sunken in, a dim white light coming from within them, and it’s nose concaved in on itself. I also remember it was tall and spindly, it looked like it could wrap itself around the tree and blend in with the shadows.
Maybe I remember this so vividly because it’s the last thing I saw that night, not on the computer, in my apartment, *with* me, I had gone to get a snack after turning up nothing, and it’s head was in my fridge, I recoiled in terror, before the light in my eyes shut out.
I lost my taste 3 years ago.
Without my eyesight and without my hearing, I had to get someone to help me, my family had all but abandoned me at this point, my sister celebrated her last birthday alone, I hated it, she was the reason I was in this mess in the first place. The nurse they hired to live-in with me was a nice women, Doreen, she seemed to have endless patience as she told me her stories through a series of taps to my shoulder, Can you hear me? I could get use to the routine by the time the day came around, 2 years and 4 months of this, when she brushed my elbow 2 times, that meant it was time for food.
I hardly even noticed her fingers seemed longer than usual. I mean, can you blame me? I thought I was going crazy, maybe I am, but I ignored it. The first few months I needed help getting used to navigating my apartment, but I was able to feed myself just fine at this point- I grabbed a fork full of what we were eating, judging by the toughness, I imagined a steak, bringing it up to my mouth, I bit down.
Do you ever imagine tasting a gone off cheese? One that had been sitting in the sun way too long, stepped on by everyone without them noticing, scrapped off the ground and served to you? This was that but a thousand times worse, I was almost thankful I couldn’t taste it anymore. I didn’t bother going to the hospital this time, taste was hurtful to lose, but I could live with it. Can you hear me? I mean, I adapt, that’s how you stay alive.
I lost my sense of smell 4 months ago.
I never mentioned my taste to anyone- I thought day in and day out about these things, and there was one thing I noticed, it was when I *reacted* to whatever it was that I lost it, I had smelt the odour about a week before it got me, I tested my hypothesis- Doreen couldn’t smell it, or obviously she would react to the smell of a rotting corpse within my living room, I thought, maybe if I ignore it, it’ll go away? But it only seemed to be getting worse with time. I was holding on until the corpse moved, I was able to locate where it was, if only because it was so strong, and it moved, it got into my face- this creature, whatever it was, seemed to be changing the odour to whatever I hated the most, like it was in my brain. Can you hear me? I couldn’t help myself, I vomitted.
I lost my sense of touching 10 minutes ago.
It was when I was writing this, I brushed up against one of those damn fingers, you might be thinking, how am I typing all this? Before everything, I was coding, I did it day in and day out, and I know my keyboard like the back of my hand, I also know there isn’t a finger beside the C key, Can you hear me? It felt like it was fighting to take control, I knew it upon first touch- it’s been here, the entire time, I’ve just been blind to it unless it wants me to notice, and the shock- and I mean actual shock, burning my finger, I couldn’t stop myself from reacting, but it’s ok, I haven’t been able to feel pain for 14 minutes. Can you hear me? Has it been 14 minutes? It’s getting difficult to tell, listen, Doreens gone, I came here asking for help, I can’t…feel hunger, or thirst or pain or anything, Please. I need you, it’s here, it can affect me, it can feed me anything and it can drain me of my very essence, I…came here to give my address, but I can’t remember it, somewhere in Maine I think? Hell, I don’t even know if I’m typing the right keys, I can’t think straight, I think it’s taking everything, taking me over, I did this a lot, so I know how to post, please tell me you’ll find this. Remember, just answer it.
Can you hear me?