Did anyone else see the guy who walked into the Lakeshore Walmart last night?
I mean, I guess anyone walking into a Walmart at 10:30 PM probably doesn’t entirely have their shit together. I sure don’t.)But this guy looked rough. He looked to be somewhere in his forties, and had a weird build. He had this bulging stomach, but his physique was otherwise kinda thin. He had these thin, twiglike arms and legs that barely seemed able to support their weight and his skin looked pale and dotted in scars and scabs. He wore these tattered, dirty clothes that looked as if they hadn’t been washed in years.
I feel kinda guilty saying it, but looking at them my first thought was that they were on something. Lakeshore kinda has a drug problem, and this wouldn’t be the first weirdo high off his ass I’d seen in Walmart. But this guy didn’t seem like any addict I’d ever seen before. Usually, they look spaced out, or they’re doing the crackhead funky chicken (if you’ve seen someone on drugs in public, you know what I’m talking about.)
This guy looked like he was on some kind of mission, though. His eyes looked like they were rolling back in his head, and he smelled as if he’d recently shit his pants but he was waddling through the store with a purpose. I honestly couldn’t tell you just what the hell that purpose was, but he clearly had one.
Now, when I initially saw this guy I didn’t really pay that much attention to him. I actually just did the reasonable thing and kept my distance from the guy, watching him as he walked past me. I saw him heading toward the back of the store, and left him alone while I went over to the grocery section to continue my shopping.
About fifteen minutes later, while I was getting ready to check out I noticed the paramedics coming in. I saw them making a beeline for the back of the store and to satisfy my own curiosity I followed them.
I didn’t follow them all the way to the back of the store, just enough to see what might have been happening although to be honest I’m not really sure how to describe what I saw.
There were some workers standing around the same man I’d seen earlier. He was still on his feet, but bracing himself against a shelf in the pet food aisle and judging from the mess at his feet, he’d started vomiting.
That vomit… it looked bright red. I could see it against the shiny white floor. This guy looked like he’d just puked up several pints of blood and judging by the look of it, he was still going. His entire body jerked violently as he vomited up a fresh torrent of blood. I swear that I even saw his bloated stomach shrink a little it as he did, and I’m gonna be honest the sight of this whole mess made me want to vomit.
Clearly I wasn’t the only one who felt sick by proxy either. I saw one of the employees who’d been trying to help the man take off at a run, with a hand pressed over her mouth as if she was about to spew chunks herself. She left footprints in her wake, and they looked a hell of a lot like blood.
I few of the other late night shoppers who’d come to gawk with me reacted with the appropriate disgust, and a few even stormed away but I couldn’t quite tear my eyes away from this particular trainwreck. I just kept staring in a mix of horror and awe as the paramedics tried to talk to the guy. It didn’t look like they got very far. He just kept vomiting, and the smell of it was starting to get to me. I’ve smelled my fair share of puke, thank you very much but whatever was coming out of this guys stomach was especially nasty.
A few minutes later, one of the employees came over to us to ask us to move along and by that point I was more than happy to oblige. I took my cart back to the self checkout and rang up my items.
As I did, I saw the employee who’d run off earlier talking with one of her co-workers and I may have eavesdropped a little bit.
I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but here’s what I overheard.
“Well did he say anything? What’s going on with him?”
“I don’t know, he just started puking up blood… it’s so fucking gross!”
“Like, actual blood?”
“I think so? God… I swear I saw something moving in it too. But I didn’t look that closely at it.”
The employee who’d run away shuddered, before looking back toward where the paramedics were. I heard her saying something else to her friend, but I was just about done at that point, and didn’t want to make it too obvious that I was listening in, so I packed up my stuff and headed out to the car.
I haven’t seen anything on the news about the guy from last night. Although I’ve been starting to feel a little sick myself. I noticed it this morning. My stomach was upset and nothing I’ve tried has helped. If anything it’s just been getting worse. My skin itches too, I can’t stop scratching! It’s gotten so bad that I’ve actually drawn blood in a few places. And as the day has gone on, I’ve noticed that my stomach is starting to get a little bloated.
I tried going to the walk in clinic, but they’re full. They’re not accepting new patients right now. I could try to drive to the nearest hospital and try my luck in the emergency room, but I don’t know if I’m well enough to make the trip.
I just feel worse and worse with every minute that passes. It’s starting to hurt so bad. My stomach feels like its stretching, but the rest of my body feels so weak.
Maybe I can try and wait this out? Maybe if I get some rest, I’ll get better.
I’m not sure what else I can do right now and at this point, I’m starting to freak out. I keep thinking about that man from last night. Am I sick, just like he was? Did I catch something? Did other people catch something? What’s happening here?
Oh God… am I going to start puking up blood? Am I going to die?
I’m scared.