Do you have any habits that are definitely not the healthiest, but you just can’t quit?
Maybe you don’t partake in them anymore, or you do them in secret hoping no one will find out. If you’re caught your cheeks might go red, or you’ll try and over-explain, but it’s not hurting anyone and it makes you happy, what’s the harm? Right?
Mine was eating in bed.
I know it’s not the worst, but it’s definitely not the best thing to do. I don’t anymore, I could say it’s because my spouse would find it nasty, or crumbs exfoliating your legs while you’re trying to sleep isn’t fun, and while those are valid, they’ll never be the actual reason why I cut cold turkey. I laugh about my old habits with my partner, tucked away in our sheets, but I make sure they don’t notice my frequent glances at all the nooks and crannies in our bedroom while we discuss it.
If they notice, will they see it too?
I don’t know why this entity decided to latch onto me directly, but I do remember the night it did with very vivid detail.
It was before I met my partner, long before. I was in my early 20’s and was living the high life finally alone in a small apartment. I got rid of the college dorm filled with loud teenagers and settled into a small, shitty attic apartment on top of a duplex. My daily routine would stay the same, college then work, but when I got home I got to be as productive or lazy as I wanted. It was usually lazy, and that’s what led to that awful habit.
The day had been long by the time I reached my bed, there was no way I would be eating my late dinner at the table. I hadn’t eaten in my bed in a while, trying to kick the habit as I got farther into being an adult, but decided tonight could be an exception. I pulled my comforter back and sat on my stained gray sheets with my General Tso Chicken and Dumplings from the vendor down the street. The guy had even cracked open a new bag of fortune cookies and had thrown a bunch into the bag. I was a frequent customer, if it wasn’t extra cookies it was an extra something.
Turning on my TV I had thought I heard something, a scratching from somewhere around the room, but filed it under tired-brain-noise. I just wanted to dig into my food. So I did, not much caring for the place I rested my head that was getting doused in stray bits of rice. I sloppily ate my chicken and dumplings while enjoying low-viewed urban exploring videos on youtube.
After finishing my food I was caught in a sleepy trance when I heard the bag beside me crinkle. I was nowhere near it to make it move, but once again filed it under something not worth comprehending. The crinkle reminded me I had more things to munch on.
Pulling out the first fortune cookie I cracked it open quickly, throwing the small paper off to the side before mowing down the cookie. Digging through the bag I picked out another cookie, settling into my spot in the bed again I noticed the first paper had moved from its spot. It was now square in front of me on the sheets, unmarred by folds or marks, the crumples I put in it smoothed out as if it went through a printing press. In perfect block letters it read;
IM HUNGRY.
I picked up the paper, read it again, flipped it over, and looked for more text. Nothing. Looking off to the side I saw the other cookie I had picked up and ripped that one open with haste. In a perfect line of ink, it read just the word;
HUNGRY.
Just as I finished reading the sounds cut off from the TV. Jerking my head up I looked at the brightly lit screen and saw the.. thing… perched on top.
At the top of my TV sat a pair of large, deep-set eyes square in the middle of an unnaturally pale face, staring straight at me. Fingers curled over either side of the TV box, long and skinny, digging deep into the screen.
Rearing back I haphazardly crawled until I hit my headboard, pushing as far away from those eyes as I could. They just looked on, waiting. Never blinking or looking away from my eyes. Chest heaving I thought about running to the door, but something primal and innate told me not to look away.
The eyes moved from their spot once to look at the bag sitting next to me, a freakish imitation of a gesture. Without looking away I felt around until I found the bag and dragged it toward me. Reaching in I found another cookie, accidentally I popped the bag and crumbled the cookie in my hand with my shaky grip, fumbling it open I found the note in the mess, letting the crumbs fall onto my sheets. Keeping the eyes in my periphery I brought the note up to my eye line and read;
YOU FEED ME.
In the small time it took to read the note it had moved from its spot, I could see its entire face above the screen now. The sunken eyes sat above a jagged extended nose, leading down into a ringed maw of teeth. It’s face was long, it’s mouth took up most of the space, leaving its jaw swinging slowly back and forth even though the thing hadn’t moved an inch since I put my eyes back on it. It had no hair except for a few long scraggly wisps near its indented temples. Its hands still sat curled around my TV, but now I could see the arms hoisting it up. Thin papery skin wrapped around arms so skinny you could see where the shoulder bone led into its clavicle, every appendage wrapped so tightly the sharp curve of each ligament should push right through.
Again, it just stared, emotionless. Watching as tears formed in my eyes. Fumbling around slowly I reached into the bag and pulled out another cookie. It slipped between my hands, sweat pouring out of them making it impossible to open. With a tight squeeze, it pooped open once again, crumbs pouring out onto my folded knees. I have no idea how but in my haze I noticed as the crumbs hit my skin that the thing’s eyes flicked down to where they landed before they centered back on mine.
I could barely lift the note to my eye line to read it, my entire body was quivering;
LET FEED. LET FEED. LET FEE-
It kept repeating, trailing off around the other side of the note, filling up the entire thing. Darting my eyes back up I was shocked to find the creature was gone. A breath escaped me as I looked down at the mess on my legs, and that’s when I saw the indented pulls of my sheets, and the fingers curled around my bed keeping them taut. It was now right beside me, looking at me with round eyes. My entire body froze up, any flight leaving in an instant. Its eyes flitted to the bag. I went through the shaky cycle once again, holding the note up I read it, whimpers escaping my dry mouth as I took in the words;
LETUSEATSOHUNGRYSOHUNGRYSOHUNGRYCLOSEEYESCLOSEEYES-
Without a thought, I let my eyes slip shut. As if a spell was put on me by those printed words.
I felt the air displace beside me as soon as I closed my eyes, felt a drag of hair across my legs as it… feasted. Sloppily it ate the crumbs covering my legs and sheets. It dragged something across my skin now and again, it took me a while to connect that it was a tongue, dry enough that I could feel the deep crevices where it had cracked from lack of moisture. My body revolted at the thought, but the overwhelming fear kept me still.
After a moment, it moved away. I could feel the bed lift a bit as its long, beyond-light frame moved from its spot. Just as I was about to open my eyes, I felt the thing pluck a crumb from the corner of my lips with desiccated fingertips, long nails scratching my skin slightly.
After its fingers left my skin I just sat there with my eyes closed for god knows how long. Once I had finally cried out whatever hydration was left in my body and the exhaustion started to crawl across my closed eyes, I cracked them open slowly and looked for it. Looking all around I didn’t see the creature anywhere. After peeking and waiting a moment for it to pop out, I slowly got off and out of bed. Jumping away from the space below my bed I looked under it. Nothing. Looked in the hallway, behind the TV, in every dark hideaway I could find. Nothing.
That was the last time I ever allowed food into my bedroom. Luckily I found a spouse who doesn’t enjoy finding any crumbs in the bed. Some nights though, when I wake up deep into the night craving even the simplest of things like a glass of water on my nightstand, I’ll see those fingers curled around something, gaunter than they were the last time we met, waiting for a drop of something to consume.
I’ll meet those eyes, the ones set back with a deep sheen of animosity over them, starving and weak, waiting for me to indulge and give them power again.
I wonder if just crumbs will sate it’s hunger that time.