Karl’s eyeball fell out.
We where all sitting around the christmas tree, opening presents. Everything was going fine, Karl was so happy. He had been playing his PS5 a lot lately, i got him all the games he’s been wanting. I handed him the last game, He tore the paper open. His head was down as he looked at the game that i got him. “What? what is it? Karl? What’s wrong?” I asked him, in a worried tone.
“Huh?” Karl replied in a deep strange sounding voice, he seemed out of it and like he wasn’t fully there. “Are you okay? Do you not like it?” I put my shaky hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, i’m okay…” He said in a muffled voice. It was worrying me. He raised his head up to look at me, and that’s when it happened. His right eyeball popped right out, and was hanging from the socket.
It looked as if someone was inside his head and that they had pushed his eyeball out! I started to cry at this sight. What happened? It didn’t feel right. I felt we should go to the hospital. He then fell forward out of my grasp, He was now lying face down on the couch with his cheek facing towards me. It was as if he had just fainted, and he never woke up. His remaining eye fell closed, and he didnt wake up.
I was frantic. I hadnt noticed at the time, but Chris was wrapped around me in a bear hug with a terrified expression on his face. “Its okay, I’m here.” Chris told me in a shaky voice. He slowly released his grip on me. Then it hit me, and I thought to myself “I did this.” Did I cause this to happen? Did I cause this to happen while we where having fun like we normally do? I was panicing, i knew it made no sense- i just blame myself when things happen out of my control.
I kicked over a table in a fit of anger, and bang, it crashed against the wall right behind Chris, and scared him. “What was that?” He asked me in a paniced tone. “What the-?” He started to take a step back. He just put me into a bear hug again, as he said. “He’s here, it’s here…” Chris gripped me a little tighter, as he talked about sensing this thing. Then he pulled away. His eyes were wide open now, no longer focused on me, but Karl.
I didn’t know what to do, a normal christmas morning had turned into something of a horror movie or nightmare. I glanced over at Karl, laying face down on the sofa. His eyeball dangling from the side of his face. “Jimmy….” he weakly cried out. My heart stopped, he was still alive. We had to help him.
Chris carefully pulled him up into a sitting position, and then propped him on his back, only Karl was somehow now too heavy for him to hold, so Chris dragged karl from the living room, past the Christmas tree, out of the doorway, and to his bedroom.
I felt sick. All the energy had left my body at this point. I felt the bile rising in my throat. With Karl safely on his bed, Chris began to pat his head and talk gently to him. But, what would normally have worked, no longer seemed to. “Karl, please wake up, I love you. Please wake up.” Chris said to him. It didn’t seem to be working. Then it hit me. This wasn’t an accident. This happened on purpose.
Chris still kept talking to him. “Karl I love you so much, please”-i interrupted him. “Chris, you can’t just ignore what happened out there. What was it that you where talking about?” I stared at him with an intense look. “Look, Jimmy I-“ He was interrupted once again, but this time it was from a loud pop. We both turned our heads to poor Karl laying on the bed, his left eye was now dangling as well.
I felt sick to my stomach. “Oh my god, we have to call an ambulance!” I shouted, grabbing my phone from my pocket. “No! We can’t do that.” Chris’ shout startled me, making me drop my phone. “They won’t do anything to help him… We have to do it ourselves.” Chris let out a deep sigh. “What do you mean?!” I asked. “We have to get it out of him.” He replied. “What are you talking about?!”
“We need to cut open his head, and take this thing out. I dont know how long this will keep going on, it might go on for awhile but if it stays in there, it will end up pushing out every orgran in his body. we cant let it take away his life like that.” “But why would we do that?! what is going on!” I asked again, i was so confused. I didnt wan’t to have to kill Karl… why?! what was in his head?! “We have to.” Chris replied.
His eyes fell to the floor, and then he looked at me. “We just have to.” He said with intense feeling in his eyes. I fell to the floor, tears beginning to fill my eyes. “We can’t do it… We cant!” I kept repeating, as my heart felt like it was being pulled out of my chest and squeezed. I was so scared. This had to be some sick sick joke. A cruel and sick joke. Something so twisted and sick had happened to Karl.
I couldnt handle it anymore, I couldnt comprehend it, I just collapsed to the floor. I felt Chris’ arms wrap around me. “Shhhh, i love you Jimmy, i’m so sorry. Please, you have to help me-I know this is something you don’t understand.” “You’re implying we are going to kill Karl! I’m not okay with this!” I was hysterical.
“If we dont stop it, it will kill him in a much worse way. We have to let him go peacefully, go get some pills to relax him-it’s the only way.” Chris told me. “It’s not right! His brain might not have been working, but we cant do this! I’ll call an ambulance, this can’t happen!” I screamed as tears began to roll down my cheeks.
“Listen to me-if this doesn’t work, there isn’t anything else we can do. It will spread to us. We have to end this.” I watched as Chris picked up the bag of whatever pills it was that we would give Karl, getting onto his knees in front of him. As he reached into the small bag, he let out a small growl. “Please just listen to me and help me… please-“ I couldnt breathe. This was too much for me to handle. I watched in horror as i helped him open the pill bottle, and shoved the pills down Karl’s throat.
Karl began swallowing the pills. Chris held onto Karl’s head. “Okay, we don’t have time for this-it’s taking too long…” I couldn’t say a thing, i was in shock as i watched Chris pull up the pillow a little bit. He then dropped the pillow down on Karl’s face. I could see his face relaxing. “No! No! It can’t end like this! Not like this-please!” I told Chris, but he ignored me, all he did was grip the sides of the pillow tight. “Thats it, Jimmy… one more, and it’s over…” A shining bright blue slit appeared on Karl’s face.
“I told you, we can’t let it end this way.” Another slit, then another, closing in on Karl’s nose. “NO! Please no! What is happening?! What is that?!” Tears rolled down my cheeks, and i looked away. I was in shock, and hurting so badly. I couldnt take it anymore, I was so terrified. “No!” I screamed, and i stood up. “I’m going to call an ambulance, I’m so sorry, stop!”
Chris held tightly onto him, eyes clouded with tears. “Once the host body is dead, we can get the Brain Bug out.” Chris told me, more glowing slits opened on Karl’s face. “Brain bug?!” I shouted, it made no sense to me… How did Chris know all of this, what was a Brain bug? “We do this quick, just one last…” He held the pillow tight, as one last slit appeared on Karl’s face.
There was a loud snap. Karl fell limp in his arms. “No.” I cried, laying on the floor of Karl’s bedroom. My breathing was deep and shaky. “NO.” “This is the end.” Chris’ voice said calmly. “You feel so guilty, and there is nothing you could have done, at all. You had no control, it was already in Karl’s head. Now Jimmy, i need you to relax- go get me one of those big sharp knives from the kitchen, we have to end this-fast.”
“I’m scared Chris- I dont know if i can-“ My voice was full of fear. I still hadnt taken a moment to process what i just witnessed. I felt ill. “You’ll be fine. Be brave.” Chris’ voice was stern. “We have to end this here, we have to do this fast, we need to move fast.”
I walked into the kitchen to get him a knife. I grabbed the biggest, ugliest knife i could find. The kitchen was dim, but as soon as I got a look at the weapon, I felt nothing. When i went back to Chris, i noticed that his expression wasnt quite as stoic as it once was. He had tears running down his cheeks, and i could hear his heavy breaths. He was trying to hold himself together. “Chris- what- why did you-“ He held out his hand.
“You’ll see soon enough Jimmy. First though, I need you to go upstairs- write me a note- make him promise not to call the police.” “Him? Promise? Who?!” “Yes, tell him that everything is okay, and that you wont tell them anything. Please.” I looked at him shocked. He had serious circles under his eyes, and he looked tired. It was like he had been in this situation before, but this time around he didnt seem as burdened as he probably once had been. This time he wasn’t blaming himself for everything.
“But Chris- I dont understand-“ I told him. “Then tell me, Jimmy.” Chris said, and this time it did hurt him to say this, i could see the anger on his face. “Promise me. I cant do this without you.” I know Chris, i understood what he meant. When this was was over, they’d be able to take out these damn Host bodies without any emotions at all. I knew that he felt he had to tell me, and that this was the final part, that we had no choice but to finish this, and finish it fast.
He nodded, put the knife away, and sat on the side of the bed. Chris stared into my eyes. “You can do this Jimmy, you know you can, don’t worry.” “Wait… Me? What do i have to do?” I was so confused, i felt dazed. “We can do this, we’ll make them remember that it was all a horrible dream.” It wasnt. “Just nod, and go to sleep. Then when the Head sleeps we can cut it open, and get at that brain.”
I felt the need to nod, even though i didn’t understand a thing. I knew that if I didn’t nod and go to sleep, then this would all be for nothing. I felt so much fear and apprehension in that bedroom, but there was no time to dwell on it. “Go to sleep Jimmy.” He told me. And so I closed my eyes, and did as i was told. It seemed to go by quickly- instead of finding myself wondering if we’d be able to get the job done, or if I would faint…I found myself falling into blissful darkness.
“Just a second-are you okay?” I heard someone say.
I quickly sat up. I felt drowsy as I opened my eyes. It was my dad, standing above me, watching my reaction as I started to sit up. “You okay, sweetie?” he asked me. “I don’t know.” I could feel Chris’ eyes looking down at me as I spoke. “I am going to go get you some of those pill bottles. I’ll be right back.”
He told me, as he grabbed for his phone to call an ambulance, I continued to sit there in silence, wide eyed, and trying to process what was going on. I felt out of it, so confused and like i was floating in a dream state. There was an intense pressure inside my head, and suddenly, my right eye popped out into my hand. Maybe i’ve been playing too many videogames…