u/StefanJenkins

My wife Becky has been distant recently. Coming home at strange hours. Secretive over her phone. I thought she was cheating on me, but it's worse. So much worse.

It all started 6 months ago.

I asked why she kept coming home so late. She told me her “company was busier than ever.”

I was a little relieved at first. So many companies nowadays are looking for reasons to fire you and replace you with an AI chatbot. At least for now, it looked like her job was safe.

For the next few months, she came and went as she pleased. Then came the calls. Her phone kept ringing at all hours of the day.

Last week, she was in the shower when her phone rang. I picked it up. No one answered. All I heard was static and the sound of someone breathing down the line.

She again denied it. Saying it must have been a cold caller. Even cold callers don’t phone at 1 am.

Finally, I had enough. It was time to follow her. Catch her in the act. I had to know what she was doing.

This morning I left early. Rented a different car and stalked my wife.

First, she went to the office. I breathed a sigh of relief when her car pulled into the parking lot.

“At least she wasn’t lying about going to her job.”

From the road, I could see her desk. I watched all day. Just to make sure her bosses or coworkers weren’t sticking the company pen inside her.

Now, if you think working on a computer all day is boring. Try watching someone work all day. Becky barely moved from her desk. Even ate lunch there.

“Jesus, no wonder she is coming home late. If this were my day. I would be hitting every bar on the way home. anything for a bit of excitement.”

Finally, 5 pm came. My heart sank when she left on time.

As she got into her car, I got a message,

“Working late won’t be home until after 8 XXX.”

I almost busted her right there. But I knew she would just make up some excuse. I had to catch her with no way for her to lie her way out of it.

She started the car and drove to the old part of town. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She went into the street where I grew up.

My mind was racing, “Where was she going to stop?”
“Was one of my old friends seeing my wife?”
“Which one of their houses was she going to stop at?”

Her car finally pulled into St James’s parking lot.

“St James?”

I used to hate that church. My mother made me go every week.

“I thought it was still closed? Guess someone must have reopened it.”

I still remember the day it shut. Pastor Gregg clutching his chest and falling to the ground. My mother telling me god needed him in heaven. I can still feel the sting on my face when I told her I dont think he is going to heaven.  

My wife got out of the car and greeted a group at the door.

“Why would she lie to me about going to church?
I wouldn’t have stopped her from going? Sure, I gave up on religion years ago. But I wouldn’t have cared. Might have even joined her.

My mind was racing. 6 months ago, out of the blue, she suddenly stopped drinking.

“Did something happen to her. Was she going to some kind of AA meeting? She always liked drinking, but I never thought she was an alcoholic.

“Shit! I have to go in. I need to know what she is doing.”

Everyone was walking through the giant wooden front door. No way I could use it. Someone might recognise I am her husband.  

I started chuckling to myself. Guess Mom was right. One day, I would be glad I went to Sunday school. Pastor Gregg made us use a different door around the back that led to his office. His office led to the main hall.  

I slipped around the back and slowly opened the door to my old pastor's office. His once-perfect office was a mess. glass was on the floor. Dust everywhere. Graffiti on the wall. No one had used it since the day he died.

The sound of church hymns rang out in the distance.

“Is she in a choir? Why would she lie about this?”

I quietly slipped out of the office and walked up the steps to the second floor. It gave me a perfect view of the main hall. 100 people were singing below. The song was one I had never heard before. Gregorian-style chanting hung in the air. Dancing across the walls of a church. Chills went down my spine. I had never seen anyone sing like this before.  

When the singing stopped. I took a good look at everyone below. Everyone was wearing long black robes.

My eyes almost burst out of my head when I saw a Giant pentagram in the center of the hall.

“Holly shit. She joined a cult. Christ!”

My wife stepped towards the pentagram. Holding a small puppy.

I couldn’t be sure from the distance, but it looked like a golden retriever.

I told her years ago I always wanted a golden retriever.

“Was I about to be getting some cult dog to look after?

Why couldn't she just be cheating on me….”

Becky looked at the members and held the dog high with one hand. They all cheered as she raised it.

It was a beautiful little dog. Its eyes darting all across the room. Trying to curl itself up into a little ball.

Its fear was soon taken away. My wife took a knife from her belt and slit the dog’s throat.

The noise it made was indescribable.  

I almost gave away my hiding spot as she threw it in the centre of the pentagram.

The signing started again, only this time louder.  

The dog's body started glowing red.

As the song reached its chorus. The dog's body started thrashing. Mutating in a creature more foul than I had ever seen.

When the creature shrieked, the crowd cheered.

My wife knelt down in front of it as it rose onto its legs and spoke in a deep, echoing voice.

“There is an un-sinned among us.”

Gasps went around the church. Everyone started looking in different directions.

The creature's eyes met mine. I couldn’t breathe as it lifted one of its arms and pointed to me.

“There is the un-sinned.”

I dove down and ran faster than I had moved before. Jumping down the steps back into the office. Sprinting out the back of the church to the car. The tires screamed as I hit the gas.

Breaking every speeding law I could on the way home. My mind raced.

“Fuck, Fuck. FUCK! What has she gotten herself into?”

I dumped my car in the drive and went straight to the gun safe. Pulling out the rifle and pistol.

A message flashed up on my phone.

“Be home soon XXX”

“Fuck” I shouted. Flying down the stairs.

I went to the fridge and pulled out the emergency 6-pack. Cracking a can, I drank it as fast as I could.

Moving into the front room, I took a chair and placed it by the door. Checking my guns were loaded, I took a seat and slammed back another can.

I am now waiting for her to return. I don't know what I am going to do when she walks in.

“Fuck! What did she bring into this world? A demon. The devil. The antichrist?”

My wife Becky has been distant recently. Coming home at strange hours. Secretive over her phone. I thought she was cheating on me, but it's worse. So much worse.

It all started 6 months ago.

I asked why she kept coming home so late. She told me her “company was busier than ever.”

I was a little relieved at first. So many companies nowadays are looking for reasons to fire you and replace you with an AI chatbot. At least for now, it looked like her job was safe.

For the next few months, she came and went as she pleased. Then came the calls. Her phone kept ringing at all hours of the day.

Last week, she was in the shower when her phone rang. I picked it up. No one answered. All I heard was static and the sound of someone breathing down the line.

She again denied it. Saying it must have been a cold caller. Even cold callers don’t phone at 1 am.

Finally, I had enough. It was time to follow her. Catch her in the act. I had to know what she was doing.

This morning I left early. Rented a different car and stalked my wife.

First, she went to the office. I breathed a sigh of relief when her car pulled into the parking lot.

“At least she wasn’t lying about going to her job.”

From the road, I could see her desk. I watched all day. Just to make sure her bosses or coworkers weren’t sticking the company pen inside her.

Now, if you think working on a computer all day is boring. Try watching someone work all day. Becky barely moved from her desk. Even ate lunch there.

“Jesus, no wonder she is coming home late. If this were my day. I would be hitting every bar on the way home. anything for a bit of excitement.”

Finally, 5 pm came. My heart sank when she left on time.

As she got into her car, I got a message,

“Working late won’t be home until after 8 XXX.”

I almost busted her right there. But I knew she would just make up some excuse. I had to catch her with no way for her to lie her way out of it.

She started the car and drove to the old part of town. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She went into the street where I grew up.

My mind was racing, “Where was she going to stop?”
“Was one of my old friends seeing my wife?”
“Which one of their houses was she going to stop at?”

Her car finally pulled into St James’s parking lot.

“St James?”

I used to hate that church. My mother made me go every week.

“I thought it was still closed? Guess someone must have reopened it.”

I still remember the day it shut. Pastor Gregg clutching his chest and falling to the ground. My mother telling me god needed him in heaven. I can still feel the sting on my face when I told her I dont think he is going to heaven.  

My wife got out of the car and greeted a group at the door.

“Why would she lie to me about going to church?
I wouldn’t have stopped her from going? Sure, I gave up on religion years ago. But I wouldn’t have cared. Might have even joined her.

My mind was racing. 6 months ago, out of the blue, she suddenly stopped drinking.

“Did something happen to her. Was she going to some kind of AA meeting? She always liked drinking, but I never thought she was an alcoholic.

“Shit! I have to go in. I need to know what she is doing.”

Everyone was walking through the giant wooden front door. No way I could use it. Someone might recognise I am her husband.  

I started chuckling to myself. Guess Mom was right. One day, I would be glad I went to Sunday school. Pastor Gregg made us use a different door around the back that led to his office. His office led to the main hall.  

I slipped around the back and slowly opened the door to my old pastor's office. His once-perfect office was a mess. glass was on the floor. Dust everywhere. Graffiti on the wall. No one had used it since the day he died.

The sound of church hymns rang out in the distance.

“Is she in a choir? Why would she lie about this?”

I quietly slipped out of the office and walked up the steps to the second floor. It gave me a perfect view of the main hall. 100 people were singing below. The song was one I had never heard before. Gregorian-style chanting hung in the air. Dancing across the walls of a church. Chills went down my spine. I had never seen anyone sing like this before.  

When the singing stopped. I took a good look at everyone below. Everyone was wearing long black robes.

My eyes almost burst out of my head when I saw a Giant pentagram in the center of the hall.

“Holly shit. She joined a cult. Christ!”

My wife stepped towards the pentagram. Holding a small puppy.

I couldn’t be sure from the distance, but it looked like a golden retriever.

I told her years ago I always wanted a golden retriever.

“Was I about to be getting some cult dog to look after?

Why couldn't she just be cheating on me….”

Becky looked at the members and held the dog high with one hand. They all cheered as she raised it.

It was a beautiful little dog. Its eyes darting all across the room. Trying to curl itself up into a little ball.

Its fear was soon taken away. My wife took a knife from her belt and slit the dog’s throat.

The noise it made was indescribable.  

I almost gave away my hiding spot as she threw it in the centre of the pentagram.

The signing started again, only this time louder.  

The dog's body started glowing red.

As the song reached its chorus. The dog's body started thrashing. Mutating in a creature more foul than I had ever seen.

When the creature shrieked, the crowd cheered.

My wife knelt down in front of it as it rose onto its legs and spoke in a deep, echoing voice.

“There is an un-sinned among us.”

Gasps went around the church. Everyone started looking in different directions.

The creature's eyes met mine. I couldn’t breathe as it lifted one of its arms and pointed to me.

“There is the un-sinned.”

I dove down and ran faster than I had moved before. Jumping down the steps back into the office. Sprinting out the back of the church to the car. The tires screamed as I hit the gas.

Breaking every speeding law I could on the way home. My mind raced.

“Fuck, Fuck. FUCK! What has she gotten herself into?”

I dumped my car in the drive and went straight to the gun safe. Pulling out the rifle and pistol.

A message flashed up on my phone.

“Be home soon XXX”

“Fuck” I shouted. Flying down the stairs.

I went to the fridge and pulled out the emergency 6-pack. Cracking a can, I drank it as fast as I could.

Moving into the front room, I took a chair and placed it by the door. Checking my guns were loaded, I took a seat and slammed back another can.

I am now waiting for her to return. I don't know what I am going to do when she walks in.

“Fuck! What did she bring into this world? A demon. The devil. The antichrist?”

(Any Feedback would be great)

My wife has been distant recently. Coming home at strange hours. Secretive over her phone. I thought she was cheating on me, but it's worse. So much worse.

It all started 6 months ago.

I asked why she kept coming home so late. She told me her “company was busier than ever.”

I was a little relieved at first. So many companies nowadays are looking for reasons to fire you and replace you with an AI chatbot. At least for now, it looked like her job was safe.

For the next few months, she came and went as she pleased. Then came the calls. Her phone kept ringing at all hours of the day.

Last week, she was in the shower when her phone rang. I picked it up. No one answered. All I heard was static and the sound of someone breathing down the line.

She again denied it. Saying it must have been a cold caller. Even cold callers don’t phone at 1 am.

Finally, I had enough. It was time to follow her. Catch her in the act.

I had to know what she was doing.

This morning I left early. Rented a different car and stalked my wife.

First, she went to the office. I breathed a sigh of relief when her car pulled into the parking lot.

“At least she wasn’t lying about going to her job.”

From the road, I could see her desk. I watched all day. Just to make sure her bosses or coworkers weren’t sticking the company pen inside her.

Now, if you think working on a computer all day is boring. Try watching someone work all day. Becky barely moved from her desk. Even ate lunch there.

“Jesus, no wonder she is coming home late. If this were my day. I would be hitting every bar on the way home. anything for a bit of excitement.”

Finally, 5 pm came. My heart sank when she left on time.

As she got into her car, I got a message.

“Working late won’t be home until after 8 XXX.”

I almost busted her right there. But I knew she would just make up some excuse. I had to catch her with no way for her to lie her way out of it.

She started the car and drove to the old part of town. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She went into the street where I grew up.

My mind was racing, “Where was she going to stop?”
“Was one of my old friends seeing my wife?”
“Which one of their houses was she going to stop at?”

Her car finally pulled into St James’s parking lot.

“St James?”

I used to hate that church. My mother made me go every week.

“I thought it was still closed? Guess someone must have reopened it.”

I still remember the day it shut. Pastor Gregg clutching his chest and falling to the ground. My mother telling me god needed him in heaven. I can still feel the sting on my face when I told her I dont think he is going to heaven.  

My wife got out of the car and greeted a group at the door.

“Why would she lie to me about going to church?
I wouldn’t have stopped her from going? Sure, I gave up on religion years ago. But I wouldn’t have cared. Might have even joined her.

My mind was racing. 6 months ago, out of the blue, she suddenly stopped drinking.

“Did something happen to her. Was she going to some kind of AA meeting? She always liked drinking, but I never thought she was an alcoholic.

“Shit! I have to go in. I need to know what she is doing.”

Everyone was walking through the giant wooden front door. No way I could use it. Someone might recognise I am her husband.  

I started chuckling to myself. Guess Mom was right. One day, I would be glad I went to Sunday school. Pastor Gregg made us use a different door around the back that led to his office. His office led to the main hall.  

I slipped around the back and slowly opened the door to my old pastor's office.

His once-perfect office was a mess. glass was on the floor. Dust everywhere. Graffiti on the wall. No one had used it since the day he died.

The sound of church hymns rang out in the distance.

“Is she in a choir? Why would she lie about this?”

I quietly slipped out of the office and walked up the steps to the second floor. It gave me a perfect view of the main hall. 100 people were singing below. The song was one I had never heard before. Gregorian-style chanting hung in the air. Dancing across the walls of a church. Chills went down my spine. I had never seen anyone sing like this before.  

When the singing stopped. I took a good look at everyone below. Everyone was wearing long black robes.

My eyes almost burst out of my head when I saw a Giant pentagram in the center of the hall.

“Holly shit. She joined a cult. Christ!”

My wife stepped towards the pentagram. Holding a small puppy.

I couldn’t be sure from the distance, but it looked like a golden retriever.

I told her years ago I always wanted a golden retriever.

“Was I about to be getting some cult dog to look after?

Why couldn't she just be cheating on me….”

Becky looked at the members and held the dog high with one hand. They all cheered as she raised it.

It was a beautiful little dog. Its eyes darting all across the room. trying to curl itself up into a little ball.

Its fear was soon taken away. My wife took a knife from her belt and slit the dog’s throat.

The noise it made was indescribable.  

I almost gave away my hiding spot as she threw it in the centre of the pentagram.

The signing started again, only this time louder.  

The dog's body started glowing red.

As the song reached its chorus. The dog's body started thrashing. Mutating in a creature more foul than I had ever seen.

When the creature shrieked, the crowd cheered.

My wife knelt down in front of it as it rose onto its legs and spoke in a deep, echoing voice.

“There is an un-sinned among us.”

Gasps went around the church. Everyone started looking in different directions.

The creature's eyes met mine. I couldn’t breathe as it lifted one of its arms and pointed to me.

“There is the un-sinned.”

I dove down and ran faster than I had moved before. Jumping down the steps back into the office. Sprinting out the back of the church to the car. The tires screamed as I hit the gas.

Breaking every speeding law I could on the way home. My mind raced.

“Fuck, Fuck. FUCK! What has she gotten herself into?”

I dumped my car in the drive and went straight to the gun safe. Pulling out the rifle and pistol.

A message flashed up on my phone.

“Be home soon XXX”

“Fuck” I shouted. Flying down the stairs.

I went to the fridge and pulled out the emergency 6-pack. Cracking a can, I drank it as fast as I could.

Moving into the front room, I took a chair and placed it by the door. Checking my guns were loaded, I took a seat and slammed back another can.

I am now waiting for her to return. I don't know what I am going to do when she walks in.

“Fuck! What did she bring into this world? A demon. The devil. The antichrist?”

My wife has been distant recently. Coming home at strange hours. Secretive over her phone. I thought she was cheating on me, but it's worse. So much worse.

It all started 6 months ago.

I asked why she kept coming home so late. She told me her “company was busier than ever.”

I was a little relieved at first. So many companies nowadays are looking for reasons to fire you and replace you with an AI chatbot. At least for now, it looked like her job was safe.

For the next few months, she came and went as she pleased. Then came the calls. Her phone kept ringing at all hours of the day.

Last week, she was in the shower when her phone rang. I picked it up. No one answered. All I heard was static and the sound of someone breathing down the line.

She again denied it. Saying it must have been a cold caller. Even cold callers don’t phone at 1 am.

Finally, I had enough. It was time to follow her. Catch her in the act.

I had to know what she was doing.

This morning I left early. Rented a different car and stalked my wife.

First, she went to the office. I breathed a sigh of relief when her car pulled into the parking lot.

“At least she wasn’t lying about going to her job.”

From the road, I could see her desk. I watched all day. Just to make sure her bosses or coworkers weren’t sticking the company pen inside her.

Now, if you think working on a computer all day is boring. Try watching someone work all day. Becky barely moved from her desk. Even ate lunch there.

“Jesus, no wonder she is coming home late. If this were my day. I would be hitting every bar on the way home. anything for a bit of excitement.”

Finally, 5 pm came. My heart sank when she left on time.

As she got into her car, I got a message.

“Working late won’t be home until after 8 XXX.”

I almost busted her right there. But I knew she would just make up some excuse. I had to catch her with no way for her to lie her way out of it.

She started the car and drove to the old part of town. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She went into the street where I grew up.

My mind was racing, “Where was she going to stop?”
“Was one of my old friends seeing my wife?”
“Which one of their houses was she going to stop at?”

Her car finally pulled into St James’s parking lot.

“St James?”

I used to hate that church. My mother made me go every week.

“I thought it was still closed? Guess someone must have reopened it.”

I still remember the day it shut. Pastor Gregg clutching his chest and falling to the ground. My mother telling me god needed him in heaven. I can still feel the sting on my face when I told her I dont think he is going to heaven.  

My wife got out of the car and greeted a group at the door.

“Why would she lie to me about going to church?
I wouldn’t have stopped her from going? Sure, I gave up on religion years ago. But I wouldn’t have cared. Might have even joined her.

My mind was racing. 6 months ago, out of the blue, she suddenly stopped drinking.

“Did something happen to her. Was she going to some kind of AA meeting? She always liked drinking, but I never thought she was an alcoholic.

“Shit! I have to go in. I need to know what she is doing.”

Everyone was walking through the giant wooden front door. No way I could use it. Someone might recognise I am her husband.  

I started chuckling to myself. Guess Mom was right. One day, I would be glad I went to Sunday school. Pastor Gregg made us use a different door around the back that led to his office. His office led to the main hall.  

I slipped around the back and slowly opened the door to my old pastor's office.

His once-perfect office was a mess. glass was on the floor. Dust everywhere. Graffiti on the wall. No one had used it since the day he died.

The sound of church hymns rang out in the distance.

“Is she in a choir? Why would she lie about this?”

I quietly slipped out of the office and walked up the steps to the second floor. It gave me a perfect view of the main hall. 100 people were singing below. The song was one I had never heard before. Gregorian-style chanting hung in the air. Dancing across the walls of a church. Chills went down my spine. I had never seen anyone sing like this before.  

When the singing stopped. I took a good look at everyone below. Everyone was wearing long black robes.

My eyes almost burst out of my head when I saw a Giant pentagram in the center of the hall.

“Holly shit. She joined a cult. Christ!”

My wife stepped towards the pentagram. Holding a small puppy.

I couldn’t be sure from the distance, but it looked like a golden retriever.

I told her years ago I always wanted a golden retriever.

“Was I about to be getting some cult dog to look after?

Why couldn't she just be cheating on me….”

Becky looked at the members and held the dog high with one hand. They all cheered as she raised it.

It was a beautiful little dog. Its eyes darting all across the room. trying to curl itself up into a little ball.

Its fear was soon taken away. My wife took a knife from her belt and slit the dog’s throat.

The noise it made was indescribable.  

I almost gave away my hiding spot as she threw it in the centre of the pentagram.

The signing started again, only this time louder.  

The dog's body started glowing red.

As the song reached its chorus. The dog's body started thrashing. Mutating in a creature more foul than I had ever seen.

When the creature shrieked, the crowd cheered.

My wife knelt down in front of it as it rose onto its legs and spoke in a deep, echoing voice.

“There is an un-sinned among us.”

Gasps went around the church. Everyone started looking in different directions.

The creature's eyes met mine. I couldn’t breathe as it lifted one of its arms and pointed to me.

“There is the un-sinned.”

I dove down and ran faster than I had moved before. Jumping down the steps back into the office. Sprinting out the back of the church to the car. The tires screamed as I hit the gas.

Breaking every speeding law I could on the way home. My mind raced.

“Fuck, Fuck. FUCK! What has she gotten herself into?”

I dumped my car in the drive and went straight to the gun safe. Pulling out the rifle and pistol.

A message flashed up on my phone.

“Be home soon XXX”

“Fuck” I shouted. Flying down the stairs.

I went to the fridge and pulled out the emergency 6-pack. Cracking a can, I drank it as fast as I could.

Moving into the front room, I took a chair and placed it by the door. Checking my guns were loaded, I took a seat and slammed back another can.

I am now waiting for her to return. I don't know what I am going to do when she walks in.

“Fuck! What did she bring into this world? A demon. The devil. The antichrist?”

Ever since I can remember, I can see the creatures that make you itch. All around us are small black creatures. They look like tiny black Hedgehogs. They climb up you and eat your skin. This is what makes you itch.

Even right now, as I am writing, I can see them in the room crawling up my coworker’s arm. Causing him to scratch.

They are born in our skin, what most people call kitchen pox. Is actually them being born. The creatures come from small eggs that are buried in our skin. As they hatch, they make the red spots.

For years, the creatures and I have had an unspoken rule. You leave me alone. I leave them alone. But I have noticed something strange. They seem to be growing in numbers. Normally, in every room or office, there was just one or two of the creatures roaming around. But now they seem to be on every surface.

---

I awoke last night, and my skin was on fire. The Hedgehogs were all over me. I fought to shake them off, but there were so many. I was almost overwhelmed. I tripped and stumbled as I dove into the shower to wash them off.

They hate water. They can't swim, and they drown in the smallest of drops.

My skin itches so bad. It burns.

The monsters eat every part of my skin. Even places I thought were protected by my folds.

I walked past the window after my shower, and my heart sank. They are everywhere. They are waiting for me to go outside. I did everything I could to stop them from getting in. Every door and window I tapped up. They can’t crawl into the house. They will go away in a few days. It is meant to rain on Tuesday. That should kill most of them.

---

For two days, I haven’t left the house or opened the windows. Not one has managed to get to me.

Something is wrong. It's been days since I saw them climbing on skin, eating my flesh. But my skin still itches like crazy. I have a large red ring forming on my chest. Something is coming, I feel it moving inside me.

---

The creature. It hatched from my chest. It was bigger than the others. As it crawled out, it spoke to me. In a deep, gravelly voice.

“Hello, John. Finally, you are ready. We have been waiting.”

“Ready? Ready for what? Leave me alone. We had a deal. You stay away from me. I stay away from you.”

I ran to the shower, ready to drown the creature. As I reached for the lever. It made me burn.

“I wouldn't do that, John! One more move and my sisters dig towards your heart.”

I winced in pain, unable to move.

“Why do you think it is only you can see us? You are our host, our nesting ground. From the moment you were born, your body had one purpose: to make us queens.”

Every 25 years, we need 5 queens to survive. Your body is finally ready. Now you can either live with us. Or we can make you suffer!”

The creatures kept digging inside me. My skin itched and burned. The pain was unbearable.

“There is nothing you can do to stop us.”

For the next 4 weeks, every Tuesday, a new queen was born. Each larger than the last. As the last was born, I scratched my skin raw.

As it climbed out of me, it turned to me as it spoke,

“25 Years, John. In 25 years, we will be back.”

Since that day, I can no longer see them. But once a week, on a Tuesday, I feel them tasting me. There is nothing I can do to stop them.

I can't keep living like this.

This is a warning to anyone coming to or living in Japan. Stay away from the rice fields!

I have lived in Japan all my life. Japan is the only country I have ever seen that has rice fields in the middle of sprawling cities. I live on the edge of Osaka, and in the summer, the fields are flooded to help the rice grow. But rice isn’t the only thing growing in the fields. Beneath the water, the creatures are growing.

Last week it was the hottest day of the year, and it's the rainy season. Out of nowhere, giant rain clouds will come in a flash and dump a whole month's worth of rain in minutes.

As I was on my way home from school. I walked past the rice field closest to my house. This field is incredibly beautiful. Something about it standing in the middle of so many apartment buildings,
reflecting the summer clouds. I can’t help but look at it and drift off into my
own thoughts.

While I was admiring the wonderful field. I was pushed from behind by three of the biggest assholes known to man. The Abirus. Three cousins whose dads are all big shots in the local government.

Every day, they bully other kids at school. The teachers do nothing. They don’t want to fall on the wrong side of the mayor and lose funding for the school.

I splashed into the rice field. Relieved to find it was deeper than any other rice field I had been in. The water was just above my waist.

On a hot day like today, the water felt amazing on my sun-tired body.

I heard the Abirus laughing at me, calling me names as they walked down the road.

I laid back in the field and enjoyed the cold water for a moment.

My mum was going to kill me when I got home. I could hear her in my mind.

“Another school uniform, dirty. How many times do I have to tell you these are expensive?”

Whack.

I felt a raindrop gently kiss my cheek and snapped out of my daydream.

The heavens opened up.

“Could this day get any worse?”

I sat up in the field, about to head to my home for my daily shouting.

A giant splash came from the other end of the rice field, far too big to be the rain. I stared in the direction the splash came from.

The earth beneath me started to shake.

“An earthquake?”

I fell back into the water and scrambled to get any purchase.  

The splashing was getting closer.

“It’s no earthquake!” I screamed.

As fast as I could, I treaded in the water and mud and tried to escape from the field. My hands tried to grip the road, but I kept slipping in the wet mud.

The splashing was right next to me.

I scrambled frantically and managed to get enough of a grip to pull myself back onto the road. As I ran away from the field, I turned to see what was chasing after me.

The splashing has stopped. Nothing. Just the sound of rain falling.

“What the fuck was that?”

I went home that night and received the shouting of the century from my mother. The rain had helped get some of the mud off, but my clothes were a mess.

After a few good whacks. I was sent to bed without dinner.

“Joke's on her. Her cooking is terrible.”

That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about what was in the field. I checked the internet. No reports of an earthquake.

“What could have been big enough to make the water move like that?”

“Why didn’t I see anything?” My mind was racing. I eventually drifted off to sleep, knowing I had to go back the next day.”

After school the next day. I went back to look at the field.

It looked the same as always.

I knelt down on the road. Searching for anything hiding low in the fields.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the Abirus walked past me. Alone.

“There's never alone, I thought”

He was silent and barely made eye contact with me.

“Yeah, ain't so tough without your cousins around to back you up!” I shouted.

He turned to me with the look of a madman.

“What did you say to me, you rat! Looks like someone wants to go swimming again.”

He rushed towards me, and we tussled. Trying to push the other one into the field.

“Get off me, you psycho!” I said as I managed to get my feet square, pushing him towards the field. As he started falling backwards. I thought, “Yes, I won.” I felt his hand grab my shirt and pull me back into the field.

As I splashed into the water. I panicked.

“Shit!, Shit!, Shit!” I shouted as I got to my feet and ran back to the road.

Abiru was barely at his feet. By the time I got to the road.

“Now look, you've done. You little shit. I am going to make you pay for this. Get back in this field and fight me like a man.”

In the distance, I could see the water splashing again. It was getting closer to Abiru.

I froze, not believing what I was seeing.

“Run! It's getting closer,” I screamed. But he didn’t listen.

“Run! From a rat like you I would nev….

He yelled out as something grabbed him. Yanking him underneath the water.

“Abiru?” Abiru!? I kept calling.

But there was no reply, just silence. I thought about going back into the field to look for him. But in the end, I just ran.

As I got home, I snuck my clothes into the washing machine and hoped my mum wouldn’t see them again, and hid in my room.

I stayed in my room all night. Going through everything I saw.  

The next morning, it was all over the news.

“Missing boy. Abiru. Fifteen years old. Last seen heading home from school.”

His mother and father were on the news. Asking him to come home. Journalists move fast when your dad's the mayor.

A search party had been made to search the whole town. But I knew they wouldn't find him. He was somewhere in that field.

I thought about going to the police. But what would I say?

"Me and Abiru were fighting in the rice field. Something grabbed him and pulled him under."

I have seen enough cop shows to know what would happen. They would pin it all on me. Call me a murderer. I would be in prison before they had time to eat their second donut of the day.

As I walked to school that morning. I looked at the field. It still looked no different than it did any other summer.

I stood on the edge of the road and got as low to the ground as I could. Trying to see if I could see anything moving inside the water.

A creature moved so fast I hardly saw anything. It leaped out of the water and pulled me into the field beneath the mud.

I thought I was dead. I couldn’t breathe.

It pulled me deep beneath the mud into a cave. I hit the ground and heard the creature run off into the distance.

It clicked and shuffled as it moved.

It was so dark I couldn’t see a thing. I reached into my pocket for my phone and switched on its light.

I was in a tunnel.

Above me, the water from the field was dripping on my face. I tried to jump up to reach the entrance, but it was too high.

I heard more clicking in the distance. I spun with my light to see what had pulled me down, but there was nothing.

The tunnel went in two directions, one in front of me and one behind me. It was cold and damp.

Walking forward, I heard something crunch underneath my foot. I looked down to see the bones. As I yelled, I jumped off the bones and pressed myself against the wall.

“Shit, Shit. Come on, get yourself together. I need to think about how to get out of here.”

I looked around the damp tunnel and didn’t know which way to go.

“Forward or back.”

The sound of skittering came from in front of me.

“Well, no way in hell I am going that way.”

Moving away from the noise. I got further down the tunnel.

"Abiru must have gone this way. His school jacket is here." Then his name tag was further in the distance.

As I kept walking, I could hear skittering in the distance at different pitches

“God help me. There is more than one”

The sound kept following me.

I started to run, hoping I could get away from the noise.

As I ran, I saw something curled up in the distance.

"Abiru!"

His school uniform was completely in tatters, and he was bruised, cut, and covered in blood.

“Abiru, is that you?”  

I shone the light towards him, and he covered His eyes.

He called out, “Help me.”

When I got closer, he grabbed me and realized who I was.

“Kento. We have to get out of here. It's teaching them.”

“Teaching them. Teaching them what?”

His arms and legs had chunks of skin missing. Small wounds were all over his body.

“Teaching them to feed.”  

The skittering started to grow louder.

“No, no, No! Not again. he stood up and limped as he ran.”

I sprinted after him.

“Abiru, stop. We have to stay together.

“They’re coming. They are coming back to feed!

I turned and got a good look at the creatures.

They were about the size of small dogs. Giant Woodlouses. Swarming us.

They used their pincers and teeth to rip chunks of flesh from our bodies. I tried to fight them off, but there were too many.

A bug-like roar echoed in the cave. The beasts stopped and skittered away.

Everywhere hurt. But I could still stand. I got to my feet and saw it staring at me.

The queen. A giant bug standing about 6 feet tall. Its teeth were like knives, and its pincers were the size of woodsaws.

The smaller bugs skittered past her. After what felt like an eternity, she turned and skittered down the tunnel.

I gingerly limped over to Abiru.

He was covered in blood. Barely moving, wheezing as he spoke.

“That’s what they do. They swarm. leaving just enough of us alive to keep feeding. We have to get out of here. I can't take it much more.”

“How long until they're back. When was the last time they fed?”

He painfully raised his arm and looked at his watch. The glass was cracked, but it was still ticking.

“About 8 hours. Was the last time they came?”

“Is anyone else down here? Have you seen anyone?

He coughed as he replied,

“Only the dead.”

God, how many had the creature taken? I wondered.

“Have you seen anything that looks like an entrance, a way to get out of here?

Taking a large breath, Abiru answered,

“It’s a big circle. The only way in or out is the way we came in. But it’s too high.”

“Is there something we can climb on, anything? It doesn't have to be that big?”

He thought for a moment.

“What about a barrel? Will that work?”

“A barrel, yes, that’s perfect.”

He pointed in the distance, “That way. I tried to open it. But it's stuck.”

“Alright, here is what we do. I get the barrel roll it down this way and then use it to climb out.”

“As I walked away in the direction he pointed to. I felt him pull at my leg. Don’t you leave me here. You take me with you. They will eat me. They have two now.”

“Alright, alright, let's go.”

I lifted Abiru to his feet. He could barely walk, even with me holding onto him.

After about an hour, we finally got to the barrel. It was big and made of some kind of metal. written on the side was writing I couldn’t read. It looked like English. But I had never seen these
words before.  

With Abiru unable to walk alone. I had to take turns pushing the barrel a few hundred yards, then coming back to help move Abiru. The creatures were never far away. Skittering and clicking out of sight.

It took us hours to get back to the entrance.
But we made it.

As I placed the barrel into position, I helped Takura climb on top of it. I could hear the creatures getting closer. It was feeding time.

“Oh my lord, they are coming!” Abiru shouted.

“Quickly climb. Get out of here!”

His eyes darted towards me. He raised his right leg and kicked me to the ground. As I fell backwards, I saw him jump and climb out into the darkness.

My feet couldn't move fast enough. The first creatures started nipping at my heels.

Fighting through the pain, I climbed onto the barrel. As I stood on top, ready to jump. The queen roared, rushing towards me.

"Fuck!" I jumped up and reached for the earth above me. I felt the mud of the rice field and used every ounce of strength left in my body to climb out of the creature's cave.

The mud changed to water as I came up gasping for breath. The sun was gone. And it was hammering with rain.

I scrambled to get to the road. It was trailing behind, splashing out of the water.

It took everything I had to run into the road. My heart was pudding I couldn't breathe. The sound of a car horn and brakes squealing hit my eardrum. I slipped and saw the headlights get closer.

The car must have hit me, or I passed out. I don’t remember.  

When I awoke, I was in a hospital bed. Next to me, covered head to toe in bandages, was Abiru.

Once we were both strong enough to speak, a policeman came and asked us what had happened. We told him about the creatures in the field. He looked at us like we were mad.

After the policemen left. Abiru apologized to me for kicking me down. I can't say I didn’t think about taking a scalpel to his throat. But I did leave him the first day.

“I guess we are even,” I replied, and left it at that.

We stayed in that hospital for a couple more days. When we were discharged, the same policeman made me go to the rice field with him.

The water was gone, and the rice had been harvested. There was no sign of an entrance to a cave.

I kept telling what I had seen, but I knew I was wasting my breath. He didn’t believe me.

As the officer dropped me off at my home, I got out of the car and went to open the front door. As he pulled away, I heard him say to his radio.

“They're back.”

This is a warning to anyone coming to or living in Japan. Stay away from the rice fields!

I have lived in Japan all my life. Japan is the only country I have ever seen that has rice fields in the middle of sprawling cities. I live on the edge of Osaka, and in the summer, the fields are flooded to help the rice grow. But rice isn’t the only thing growing in the fields. Beneath the water, the creatures are growing.

Last week it was the hottest day of the year, and it's the rainy season. Out of nowhere, giant rain clouds will come in a flash and dump a whole month's worth of rain in minutes.

As I was on my way home from school. I walked past the rice field closest to my house. This field is incredibly beautiful. Something about it standing in the middle of so many apartment buildings,
reflecting the summer clouds. I can’t help but look at it and drift off into my
own thoughts.

While I was admiring the wonderful field. I was pushed from behind by three of the biggest assholes known to man. The Abirus. Three cousins whose dads are all big shots in the local government.

Every day, they bully other kids at school. The teachers do nothing. They don’t want to fall on the wrong side of the mayor and lose funding for the school.

I splashed into the rice field. Relieved to find it was deeper than any other rice field I had been in. The water was just above my waist.

On a hot day like today, the water felt amazing on my sun-tired body.

I heard the Abirus laughing at me, calling me names as they walked down the road.

I laid back in the field and enjoyed the cold water for a moment.

My mum was going to kill me when I got home. I could hear her in my mind.

“Another school uniform, dirty. How many times do I have to tell you these are expensive?”

Whack.

I felt a raindrop gently kiss my cheek and snapped out of my daydream.

The heavens opened up.

“Could this day get any worse?”

I sat up in the field, about to head to my home for my daily shouting.

A giant splash came from the other end of the rice field, far too big to be the rain. I stared in the direction the splash came from.

The earth beneath me started to shake.

“An earthquake?”

I fell back into the water and scrambled to get any purchase.  

The splashing was getting closer.

“It’s no earthquake!” I screamed.

As fast as I could, I treaded in the water and mud and tried to escape from the field. My hands tried to grip the road, but I kept slipping in the wet mud.

The splashing was right next to me.

I scrambled frantically and managed to get enough of a grip to pull myself back onto the road. As I ran away from the field, I turned to see what was chasing after me.

The splashing has stopped. Nothing. Just the sound of rain falling.

“What the fuck was that?”

I went home that night and received the shouting of the century from my mother. The rain had helped get some of the mud off, but my clothes were a mess.

After a few good whacks. I was sent to bed without dinner.

“Joke's on her. Her cooking is terrible.”

That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about what was in the field. I checked the internet. No reports of an earthquake.

“What could have been big enough to make the water move like that?”

“Why didn’t I see anything?” My mind was racing. I eventually drifted off to sleep, knowing I had to go back the next day.”

After school the next day. I went back to look at the field.

It looked the same as always.

I knelt down on the road. Searching for anything hiding low in the fields.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the Abirus walked past me. Alone.

“There's never alone, I thought”

He was silent and barely made eye contact with me.

“Yeah, ain't so tough without your cousins around to back you up!” I shouted.

He turned to me with the look of a madman.

“What did you say to me, you rat! Looks like someone wants to go swimming again.”

He rushed towards me, and we tussled. Trying to push the other one into the field.

“Get off me, you psycho!” I said as I managed to get my feet square, pushing him towards the field. As he started falling backwards. I thought, “Yes, I won.” I felt his hand grab my shirt and pull me back into the field.

As I splashed into the water. I panicked.

“Shit!, Shit!, Shit!” I shouted as I got to my feet and ran back to the road.

Abiru was barely at his feet. By the time I got to the road.

“Now look, you've done. You little shit. I am going to make you pay for this. Get back in this field and fight me like a man.”

In the distance, I could see the water splashing again. It was getting closer to Abiru.

I froze, not believing what I was seeing.

“Run! It's getting closer,” I screamed. But he didn’t listen.

“Run! From a rat like you I would nev….

He yelled out as something grabbed him. Yanking him underneath the water.

“Abiru?” Abiru!? I kept calling.

But there was no reply, just silence. I thought about going back into the field to look for him. But in the end, I just ran.

As I got home, I snuck my clothes into the washing machine and hoped my mum wouldn’t see them again, and hid in my room.

I stayed in my room all night. Going through everything I saw.  

The next morning, it was all over the news.

“Missing boy. Abiru. Fifteen years old. Last seen heading home from school.”

His mother and father were on the news. Asking him to come home. Journalists move fast when your dad's the mayor.

A search party had been made to search the whole town. But I knew they wouldn't find him. He was somewhere in that field.

I thought about going to the police. But what would I say?

"Me and Abiru were fighting in the rice field. Something grabbed him and pulled him under."

I have seen enough cop shows to know what would happen. They would pin it all on me. Call me a murderer. I would be in prison before they had time to eat their second donut of the day.

As I walked to school that morning. I looked at the field. It still looked no different than it did any other summer.

I stood on the edge of the road and got as low to the ground as I could. Trying to see if I could see anything moving inside the water.

A creature moved so fast I hardly saw anything. It leaped out of the water and pulled me into the field beneath the mud.

I thought I was dead. I couldn’t breathe.

It pulled me deep beneath the mud into a cave. I hit the ground and heard the creature run off into the distance.

It clicked and shuffled as it moved.

It was so dark I couldn’t see a thing. I reached into my pocket for my phone and switched on its light.

I was in a tunnel.

Above me, the water from the field was dripping on my face. I tried to jump up to reach the entrance, but it was too high.

I heard more clicking in the distance. I spun with my light to see what had pulled me down, but there was nothing.

The tunnel went in two directions, one in front of me and one behind me. It was cold and damp.

Walking forward, I heard something crunch underneath my foot. I looked down to see the bones. As I yelled, I jumped off the bones and pressed myself against the wall.

“Shit, Shit. Come on, get yourself together. I need to think about how to get out of here.”

I looked around the damp tunnel and didn’t know which way to go.

“Forward or back.”

The sound of skittering came from in front of me.

“Well, no way in hell I am going that way.”

Moving away from the noise. I got further down the tunnel.

"Abiru must have gone this way. His school jacket is here." Then his name tag was further in the distance.

As I kept walking, I could hear skittering in the distance at different pitches

“God help me. There is more than one”

The sound kept following me.

I started to run, hoping I could get away from the noise.

As I ran, I saw something curled up in the distance.

"Abiru!"

His school uniform was completely in tatters, and he was bruised, cut, and covered in blood.

“Abiru, is that you?”  

I shone the light towards him, and he covered His eyes.

He called out, “Help me.”

When I got closer, he grabbed me and realized who I was.

“Kento. We have to get out of here. It's teaching them.”

“Teaching them. Teaching them what?”

His arms and legs had chunks of skin missing. Small wounds were all over his body.

“Teaching them to feed.”  

The skittering started to grow louder.

“No, no, No! Not again. he stood up and limped as he ran.”

I sprinted after him.

“Abiru, stop. We have to stay together.

“They’re coming. They are coming back to feed!

I turned and got a good look at the creatures.

They were about the size of small dogs. Giant Woodlouses. Swarming us.

They used their pincers and teeth to rip chunks of flesh from our bodies. I tried to fight them off, but there were too many.

A bug-like roar echoed in the cave. The beasts stopped and skittered away.

Everywhere hurt. But I could still stand. I got to my feet and saw it staring at me.

The queen. A giant bug standing about 6 feet tall. Its teeth were like knives, and its pincers were the size of woodsaws.

The smaller bugs skittered past her. After what felt like an eternity, she turned and skittered down the tunnel.

I gingerly limped over to Abiru.

He was covered in blood. Barely moving, wheezing as he spoke.

“That’s what they do. They swarm. leaving just enough of us alive to keep feeding. We have to get out of here. I can't take it much more.”

“How long until they're back. When was the last time they fed?”

He painfully raised his arm and looked at his watch. The glass was cracked, but it was still ticking.

“About 8 hours. Was the last time they came?”

“Is anyone else down here? Have you seen anyone?

He coughed as he replied,

“Only the dead.”

God, how many had the creature taken? I wondered.

“Have you seen anything that looks like an entrance, a way to get out of here?

Taking a large breath, Abiru answered,

“It’s a big circle. The only way in or out is the way we came in. But it’s too high.”

“Is there something we can climb on, anything? It doesn't have to be that big?”

He thought for a moment.

“What about a barrel? Will that work?”

“A barrel, yes, that’s perfect.”

He pointed in the distance, “That way. I tried to open it. But it's stuck.”

“Alright, here is what we do. I get the barrel roll it down this way and then use it to climb out.”

“As I walked away in the direction he pointed to. I felt him pull at my leg. Don’t you leave me here. You take me with you. They will eat me. They have two now.”

“Alright, alright, let's go.”

I lifted Abiru to his feet. He could barely walk, even with me holding onto him.

After about an hour, we finally got to the barrel. It was big and made of some kind of metal. written on the side was writing I couldn’t read. It looked like English. But I had never seen these
words before.  

With Abiru unable to walk alone. I had to take turns pushing the barrel a few hundred yards, then coming back to help move Abiru. The creatures were never far away. Skittering and clicking out of sight.

It took us hours to get back to the entrance.
But we made it.

As I placed the barrel into position, I helped Takura climb on top of it. I could hear the creatures getting closer. It was feeding time.

“Oh my lord, they are coming!” Abiru shouted.

“Quickly climb. Get out of here!”

His eyes darted towards me. He raised his right leg and kicked me to the ground. As I fell backwards, I saw him jump and climb out into the darkness.

My feet couldn't move fast enough. The first creatures started nipping at my heels.

Fighting through the pain, I climbed onto the barrel. As I stood on top, ready to jump. The queen roared, rushing towards me.

"Fuck!" I jumped up and reached for the earth above me. I felt the mud of the rice field and used every ounce of strength left in my body to climb out of the creature's cave.

The mud changed to water as I came up gasping for breath. The sun was gone. And it was hammering with rain.

I scrambled to get to the road. It was trailing behind, splashing out of the water.

It took everything I had to run into the road. My heart was pudding I couldn't breathe. The sound of a car horn and brakes squealing hit my eardrum. I slipped and saw the headlights get closer.

The car must have hit me, or I passed out. I don’t remember.  

When I awoke, I was in a hospital bed. Next to me, covered head to toe in bandages, was Abiru.

Once we were both strong enough to speak, a policeman came and asked us what had happened. We told him about the creatures in the field. He looked at us like we were mad.

After the policemen left. Abiru apologized to me for kicking me down. I can't say I didn’t think about taking a scalpel to his throat. But I did leave him the first day.

“I guess we are even,” I replied, and left it at that.

We stayed in that hospital for a couple more days. When we were discharged, the same policeman made me go to the rice field with him.

The water was gone, and the rice had been harvested. There was no sign of an entrance to a cave.

I kept telling what I had seen, but I knew I was wasting my breath. He didn’t believe me.

As the officer dropped me off at my home, I got out of the car and went to open the front door. As he pulled away, I heard him say to his radio.

“They're back.”

This is a warning to anyone coming to or living in Japan. Stay away from the rice fields!

I have lived in Japan all my life. Japan is the only country I have ever seen that has rice fields in the middle of sprawling cities. I live on the edge of Osaka, and in the summer, the fields are flooded to help the rice grow. But rice isn’t the only thing growing in the fields. Beneath the water, the creatures are growing.

Last week it was the hottest day of the year, and it's the rainy season. Out of nowhere, giant rain clouds will come in a flash and dump a whole month's worth of rain in minutes.

As I was on my way home from school. I walked past the rice field closest to my house. This field is incredibly beautiful. Something about it standing in the middle of so many apartment buildings, reflecting the summer clouds. I can’t help but look at it and drift off into my own thoughts.

While I was admiring the wonderful field. I was pushed from behind by three of the biggest assholes known to man. The Abirus. Three cousins whose dads are all big shots in the local government.

Every day, they bully other kids at school. The teachers do nothing. They don’t want to fall on the wrong side of the mayor and lose funding for the school.

I splashed into the rice field. relieved to find it was deeper than any other rice field I had been in. The water was just above my waist.

On a hot day like today, the water felt amazing on my sun-tired body.

I heard the Abirus laughing at me, calling me names as they walked down the road.

I laid back in the field and enjoyed the cold water for a moment.

My mum was going to kill me when I got home. I could hear her in my mind.

“Another school uniform, dirty. How many times do I have to tell you these are expensive?”

Whack.

I felt a raindrop gently kiss my cheek and snapped out of my daydream.

The heavens opened up.

“Could this day get any worse?”

I sat up in the field, about to head to my home for my daily shouting.

A giant splash came from the other end of the rice field, far too big to be the rain. I stared in the direction the splash came from.

The earth beneath me started to shake.

“An earthquake?”

I fell back into the water and scrambled to get any purchase.  

The splashing was getting closer.

“It’s no earthquake!” I screamed.

As fast as I could, I treaded in the water and mud and tried to escape from the field. My hands tried to grip the road, but I kept slipping in the wet mud.

The splashing was right next to me.

I scrambled frantically and managed to get enough of a grip to pull myself back onto the road. As I ran away from the field, I turned to see what was chasing after me.

The splashing has stopped. Nothing. Just the sound of rain falling.

“What the fuck was that?”

I went home that night and received the shouting of the century from my mother. The rain had helped get some of the mud off, but my clothes were a mess.

After a few good whacks. I was sent to bed without dinner.

“Joke's on her. Her cooking is terrible.”

That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about what was in the field. I checked the internet. No reports of an earthquake.

“What could have been big enough to make the water move like that?”

“Why didn’t I see anything?” My mind was racing. I eventually drifted off to sleep, knowing I had to go back the next day.”

After school the next day. I went back to look at the field.

It looked the same as always did.

I kneeled down on the road. Searching for anything hiding low in the fields.

out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the Abirus walk past me. Alone.

“There's never alone, I thought”

He was silent and barely made eye contact with me.

“Yeah, ain't so tough without your cousins around to back you up!” I shouted.

He turned to me with a look of a madman.

“What did you say to me, you rat! Looks like someone wants to go swimming again.”

He rushed towards me, and we tussled. Trying to push the other one into the field.

“Get off me, you psycho!” I said as I managed to get my feet square, pushing him towards the field. As he started falling backwards. I thought,“ Yes, I won.” I felt his hand grab my shirt and pull me back into the field.

As I splashed into the water. I panicked.

“Shit!, Shit!, Shit!” I shouted as I got to my feet and ran back to the road.

Abiru was barely at his feet. By the time I got to the road.

“Now look, you've done. You little shit. I am going to make you pay for this. Get back in this field and fight me like a man.”

In the distance, I could see the water splashing again. It was getting closer to Abiru.

I froze, not believing what I was seeing.

“Run! It's getting closer,” I screamed. But he didn’t listen.

“run! from a rat like you I would nev….

He yelled out as something grabbed him. Yanking him underneath the water.

“Abiru?” Abiru!? I kept calling.

But there was no reply, just silence. I thought about going back into the field to look for him. But in the end, I just ran.

As I got home, I snuck my clothes into the washing machine and hoped my mum wouldn’t see them again, and hid in my room.

I stayed in my room all night. going through everything I saw.  

The next morning, it was all over the news.

“Missing boy. Abiru. Fifteen years old. Last seen heading home from school.”

His mother and father were on the news. Asking him to come home. Journalists move fast when your dad's the mayor.

A search party had been made to search the whole town. But I knew they wouldn't find him. He was somewhere in that field.

I thought about going to the police. But what would I say?

"Me and Abiru were fighting in the rice field. something grabbed him and pulled him under."

I have seen enough cop shows to know what would happen. They would pin it all on me. Call me a murderer. I would be in prison before they had time to eat their second donut of the day.

As I walked to school that morning. I looked at the field. It still looked no different than it did any other summer.

I stood on the edge of the road and got as low to the ground as I could. trying to see if I could see anything moving inside the water.

A creature moved so fast I hardly saw anything. It leaped out of the water and pulled me into the field beneath the mud.

I thought I was dead. I couldn’t breathe.

It pulled me deep beneath the mud into a cave. I hit the ground and heard the creature run off into the distance.

It clicked and shuffled as it moved.

It was so dark I couldn’t see a thing. I reached into my pocket for my phone and switched on its light.

I was in a tunnel.

Above me, the water from the field was dripping on my face. I tried to jump up to reach the entrance, but it was too high.

I heard more clicking in the distance. I spun with my light to see what had pulled me down, but there was nothing.

The tunnel went in two directions, one in front of me and one behind me. It was cold and damp.

Walking forward, I heard something crunch underneath my foot. I looked down to see the bones. As I yelled, I jumped off the bones and pressed myself against the wall.

“Shit, Shit. Come on, get yourself together. I need to think about how to get out of here.”

I looked around the damp tunnel and didn’t know which way to go.

“Forward or back.”

The sound of skittering came from in front of me.

“Well, no way in hell I am going that way.”

Moving away from the noise. I got further down the tunnel.

"Abiru must have gone this way. His school jacket is here." Then his name tag was further in the distance.

As I kept walking, I could hear skittering in the distance at different pitches

“God help me. There is more than one”

The sound kept following me.

I started to run, hoping I could get away from the noise.

As I ran, I saw something curled up in the distance.

"Abiru!"

His school uniform was completely in tatters, and he was bruised, cut, and covered in blood.

“Abiru, is that you?”  

I shone the light towards him, and he covered His eyes.

He called out, “Help me,”

When I got closer, he grabbed me and realized who I was.

“Kento. We have to get out of here. It's teaching them.”

“Teaching them. Teaching them what?”

His arms and legs had chunks of skin missing. Small wounds were all over his body.

“Teaching them to feed.”  

The skittering started to grow louder.

“No, no, No! not again. he stood up and limped as he ran.”

I sprinted after him.

“Abiru, stop. We have to stay together.

“They’re coming. They are coming back to feed!

I turned and got a good look at the creatures.

They were about the size of small dogs. Giant Woodlouses. Swarming us.

They used their pincers and teeth to rip chunks of flesh from our bodies. I tried to fight them off, but there were too many.

A bug-like roar echoed in the cave. The beasts stopped and skittered away.

Everywhere hurt. But I could still stand. I got to my feet and saw it staring at me.

The queen. A giant bug standing about 6 feet tall. Its teeth were like knives, and its pincers were the size of woodsaws.

The smaller bugs skittered past her. After what felt like an eternity, she turned and skittered down the tunnel.

I gingerly limped over to Abiru.

He was covered in blood. barely moving, wheezing as he spoke.

“That’s what they do. They swarm. leaving just enough of us alive to keep feeding. We have to get out of here. I can't take it much more.”

“How long until they're back. When was the last time they fed?”

He painfully raised his arm and looked at his watch. The glass was cracked, but it was still ticking.

“About 8 hours. Was the last time they came?”

“Is anyone else down here? Have you seen anyone?

He coughed as he replied,

“Only the dead.”

God, how many had the creature taken? I wondered.

“Have you seen anything that looks like an entrance, a way to get out of here?

Taking a large breath, Abiru answered,

“It’s a big circle. The only way in or out is the way we came in. But it’s too high.”

“Is there something we can climb on, anything? It doesn't have to be that big?”

He thought for a moment.

“What about a barrel? Will that work?”

“A barrel, yes, that’s perfect.”

He pointed in the distance, “That way. I tried to open it. But it's stuck.”

“Alright, here is what we do. I get the barrel roll it down this way and then use it to climb out.”

“As I walked away in the direction he pointed to. I felt him pull at my leg. Don’t you leave me here. You take me with you. They will eat me. They have two now.”

“Alright, alright, let's go.”

I lifted Abiru to his feet. He could barely walk, even with me holding onto him.

After about an hour, we finally got to the barrel. It was big and made of some kind of metal. written on the side was writing I couldn’t read. It looked like English. But I had never seen these words before.  

With Abiru unable to walk alone. I had to take turns pushing the barrel a few hundred yards, then coming back to help move Abiru. The creatures were never far away. Skittering and clicking out of sight.

It took us hours to get back to the entrance. But we made it.

As I placed the barrel into position, I helped Takura climb on top of it. I could hear the creatures getting closer. It was feeding time.

“Oh my lord, they are coming!” Abiru shouted.

“Quickly climb. Get out of here!”

His eyes darted towards me. He raised his right leg and kicked me to the ground. As I fell backwards, I saw him jump and climb out into the darkness.

My feet couldn't move fast enough. The first creatures started nipping at my heels.

fighting through the pain, I climbed onto the barrel. As I stood on top, ready to jump. The queen roared, rushing towards me.

"Fuck!" I jumped up and reached for the earth above me. I felt the mud of the rice field and used every ounce of strength left in my body to climb out of the creature's cave.

The mud changed to water as I came up gasping for breath. The sun was gone. And it was hammering with rain.

I scrambled to get to the road. It was trailing behind, splashing out of the water.

It took everything I had to run into the road. My heart was pudding I couldn't breathe. The sound of a car horn and brakes squealing hit my eardrum. I slipped and saw the headlights get closer.

The car must have hit me, or I passed out. I don’t remember.  

When I awoke, I was in a hospital bed. Next to me, covered head to toe in bandages, was Abiru.

Once we were both strong enough to speak, a policeman came and asked us what had happened. We told him about the creatures in the field. He looked at us like we were mad.

After the policemen left. Abiru apologized to me for kicking me down. I can't say I didn’t think about taking a scalpel to his throat. But I did leave him the first day.

“I guess we are even,” I replied and left it at that.

We stayed in that hospital for a couple more days. When we were discharged, the same policeman made me go to the rice field with him.

The water was gone, and the rice had been harvested. There was no sign of an entrance to a cave.

I kept telling what I had seen, but I knew I was wasting my breath. He didn’t believe me.

As the officer dropped me off at my home, I got out of the car and went to open the front door. As he pulled away, I heard him say to his radio.

“They're back.”

Ever since I can remember, I can see the creatures that make you itch. All around us are small black creatures. They look like tiny black Hedgehogs. They climb up you and eat your skin. This is what makes you itch.

Even right now, as I am writing, I can see them in the room crawling up my coworker’s arm. Causing him to scratch.

They are born in our skin, what most people call kitchen pox. Is actually them being born. The creatures come from small eggs that are buried in our skin. As they hatch, they make the red spots.

For years, the creatures and I have had an unspoken rule. You leave me alone. I leave them alone. But I have noticed something strange. They seem to be growing in numbers. Normally, in every room or office, there was just one or two of the creatures roaming around. But now they seem to be on every surface.

---

I awoke last night, and my skin was on fire. The Hedgehogs were all over me. I fought to shake them off, but there were so many. I was almost overwhelmed. I tripped and stumbled as I dove into the shower to wash them off.

They hate water. They can't swim, and they drown in the smallest of drops.

My skin itches so bad. It burns.

The monsters eat every part of my skin. Even places I thought were protected by my folds.

I walked past the window after my shower, and my heart sank. They are everywhere. They are waiting for me to go outside. I did everything I could to stop them from getting in. Every door and window I tapped up. They can’t crawl into the house. They will go away in a few days. It is meant to rain on Tuesday. That should kill most of them.

---

For two days, I haven’t left the house or opened the windows. Not one has managed to get to me.

Something is wrong. It's been days since I saw them climbing on skin, eating my flesh. But my skin still itches like crazy. I have a large red ring forming on my chest. Something is coming, I feel it moving inside me.

---

The creature. It hatched from my chest. It was bigger than the others. As it crawled out, it spoke to me. In a deep, gravelly voice.

“Hello, John. Finally, you are ready. We have been waiting.”

“Ready? Ready for what? Leave me alone. We had a deal. You stay away from me. I stay away from you.”

I ran to the shower, ready to drown the creature. As I reached for the lever. It made me burn.

“I wouldn't do that, John! One more move and my sisters dig towards your heart.”

I winced in pain, unable to move.

“Why do you think it is only you can see us? You are our host, our nesting ground. From the moment you were born, your body had one purpose: to make us queens.”

Every 25 years, we need 5 queens to survive. Your body is finally ready. Now you can either live with us. Or we can make you suffer!”

The creatures kept digging inside me. My skin itched and burned. The pain was unbearable.

“There is nothing you can do to stop us.”

For the next 4 weeks, every Tuesday, a new queen was born. Each larger than the last. As the last was born, I scratched my skin raw.

As it climbed out of me, it turned to me as it spoke,

“25 Years, John. In 25 years, we will be back.”

Since that day, I can no longer see them. But once a week, on a Tuesday, I feel them tasting me. There is nothing I can do to stop them.

I can't keep living like this.

Ever since I can remember, I can see the creatures that make you itch. All around us are small black creatures. They look like tiny black Hedgehogs. They climb up you and eat your skin. This is what makes you itch.

Even right now, as I am writing, I can see them in the room crawling up my coworker’s arm. Causing him to scratch.

They are born in our skin, what most people call kitchen pox. Is actually them being born. The creatures come from small eggs that are buried in our skin. As they hatch, they make the red spots.

For years, the creatures and I have had an unspoken rule. You leave me alone. I leave them alone. But I have noticed something strange. They seem to be growing in numbers. Normally, in every room or office, there was just one or two of the creatures roaming around. But now they seem to be on every surface.

---

I awoke last night, and my skin was on fire. The Hedgehogs were all over me. I fought to shake them off, but there were so many. I was almost overwhelmed. I tripped and stumbled as I dove into the shower to wash them off.

They hate water. They can't swim, and they drown in the smallest of drops.

My skin itches so bad. It burns.

The monsters eat every part of my skin. Even places I thought were protected by my folds.

I walked past the window after my shower, and my heart sank. They are everywhere. They are waiting for me to go outside. I did everything I could to stop them from getting in. Every door and window I tapped up. They can’t crawl into the house. They will go away in a few days. It is meant to rain on Tuesday. That should kill most of them.

---

For two days, I haven’t left the house or opened the windows. Not one has managed to get to me.

Something is wrong. It's been days since I saw them climbing on skin, eating my flesh. But my skin still itches like crazy. I have a large red ring forming on my chest. Something is coming, I feel it moving inside me.

---

The creature. It hatched from my chest. It was bigger than the others. As it crawled out, it spoke to me. In a deep, gravelly voice.

“Hello, John. Finally, you are ready. We have been waiting.”

“Ready? Ready for what? Leave me alone. We had a deal. You stay away from me. I stay away from you.”

I ran to the shower, ready to drown the creature. As I reached for the lever. It made me burn.

“I wouldn't do that, John! One more move and my sisters dig towards your heart.”

I winced in pain, unable to move.

“Why do you think it is only you can see us? You are our host, our nesting ground. From the moment you were born, your body had one purpose: to make us queens.”

Every 25 years, we need 5 queens to survive. Your body is finally ready. Now you can either live with us. Or we can make you suffer!”

The creatures kept digging inside me. My skin itched and burned. The pain was unbearable.

“There is nothing you can do to stop us.”

For the next 4 weeks, every Tuesday, a new queen was born. Each larger than the last. As the last was born, I scratched my skin raw.

As it climbed out of me, it turned to me as it spoke,

“25 Years, John. In 25 years, we will be back.”

Since that day, I can no longer see them. But once a week, on a Tuesday, I feel them tasting me. There is nothing I can do to stop them.

I can't keep living like this.

Ever since I can remember, I can see the creatures that make you itch. All around us are small black creatures. They look like tiny black Hedgehogs. They climb up you and eat your skin. This is what makes you itch.

Even right now, as I am writing, I can see them in the room crawling up my coworker’s arm. Causing him to scratch.

They are born in our skin, what most people call kitchen pox. Is actually them being born. The creatures come from small eggs that are buried in our skin. As they hatch, they make the red spots.

For years, the creatures and I have had an unspoken rule. You leave me alone. I leave them alone. But I have noticed something strange. They seem to be growing in numbers. Normally, in every room or office, there was just one or two of the creatures roaming around. But now they seem to be on every surface.

---

I awoke last night, and my skin was on fire. The Hedgehogs were all over me. I fought to shake them off, but there were so many. I was almost overwhelmed. I tripped and stumbled as I dove into the shower to wash them off.

They hate water. They can't swim, and they drown in the smallest of drops.

My skin itches so bad. It burns.

The monsters eat every part of my skin. Even places I thought were protected by my folds.

I walked past the window after my shower, and my heart sank. They are everywhere. They are waiting for me to go outside. I did everything I could to stop them from getting in. Every door and window I tapped up. They can’t crawl into the house. They will go away in a few days. It is meant to rain on Tuesday. That should kill most of them.

---

For two days, I haven’t left the house or opened the windows. Not one has managed to get to me.

Something is wrong. It's been days since I saw them climbing on skin, eating my flesh. But my skin still itches like crazy. I have a large red ring forming on my chest. Something is coming, I feel it moving inside me.

---

The creature. It hatched from my chest. It was bigger than the others. As it crawled out, it spoke to me. In a deep, gravelly voice.

“Hello, John. Finally, you are ready. We have been waiting.”

“Ready? Ready for what? Leave me alone. We had a deal. You stay away from me. I stay away from you.”

I ran to the shower, ready to drown the creature. As I reached for the lever. It made me burn.

“I wouldn't do that, John! One more move and my sisters dig towards your heart.”

I winced in pain, unable to move.

“Why do you think it is only you can see us? You are our host, our nesting ground. From the moment you were born, your body had one purpose: to make us queens.”

Every 25 years, we need 5 queens to survive. Your body is finally ready. Now you can either live with us. Or we can make you suffer!”

The creatures kept digging inside me. My skin itched and burned. The pain was unbearable.

“There is nothing you can do to stop us.”

For the next 4 weeks, every Tuesday, a new queen was born. Each larger than the last. As the last was born, I scratched my skin raw.

As it climbed out of me, it turned to me as it spoke,

“25 Years, John. In 25 years, we will be back.”

Since that day, I can no longer see them. But once a week, on a Tuesday, I feel them tasting me. There is nothing I can do to stop them.

I can't keep living like this.

 

Ever since I can remember, I can see the creatures that make you itch. All around us are small black creatures. They look like tiny black Hedgehogs. They climb up you and eat your skin. This is what makes you itch.

Even right now, as I am writing, I can see them in the room crawling up my coworker’s arm. Causing him to scratch.

They are born in our skin. What most people call kitchen pox. Is actually them being born. The creatures come from small eggs that are buried in our skin. As they hatch, they make the red spots.

For years, the creatures and I have had an unspoken rule. You leave me alone. I leave them alone. But I have noticed something strange. They seem to be growing in numbers. Normally, in every room or office, there was just one or two of the creatures roaming around. But now they seem to be on every surface.

---

I awoke last night, and my skin was on fire. The Hedgehogs were all over me. I fought to shake them off, but there were so many. I was almost overwhelmed. I tripped and stumbled as I dove into the shower to wash them off.

They hate water. They can't swim, and they drown in the smallest of drops.

My skin itches so bad. It burns.

The monsters eat every part of my skin. Even places I thought were protected by my folds.

I walked past the window after my shower, and my heart sank. They are everywhere. They are waiting for me to outside. I did everything I could to stop them from getting in. Every door and window I tapped up. They can’t crawl into the house. They will go away in a few days. It is meant to rain on Tuesday. That should kill most of them.

---

For two days, I haven’t left the house or opened the windows. Not one has managed to get to me.

Something is wrong. It's been days since I saw them climbing on skin, eating my flesh. But my skin still itches like crazy. I have a large red ring forming on my chest. Something is coming, I feel it moving inside me.

---

The creature. It hatched from my chest. It was bigger than the others. As it crawled out, it spoke to me. In a deep gravely voice.

“Hello, John. Finally, you are ready. We have been waiting.”

“Ready? Ready for what? Leave me alone. We had a deal. You stay away from me. I stay away from you.”

I ran to the shower, ready to drown the creature. As I reached for the lever. It made me burn.

“I wouldn't do that, John! One more move and my sisters dig towards your heart.”

I winced in pain, unable to move.

“Why do you think it is only you can see us? You are our host, our nesting ground. From the moment you were born, your body had one purpose: to make us queens.”

Every 25 years, we need 5 queens to survive. Your body is finally ready. Now you can either live with us. Or we can make you suffer!”

The creatures kept digging inside me. My skin itched and burned. The pain was unbearable.

“There is nothing you can do to stop us.”

For the next 4 weeks, every Tuesday, a new queen was born. Each larger than the last. As the last was born, I scratched my skin raw.

As it climbed out of me, it turned to me as it spoke,

“25 Years, John. In 25 years, we will be back.”

Since that day, I can no longer see them. But once a week, on a Tuesday, I feel them tasting me. There is nothing I can do to stop them.

I can't keep living like this.

Ever since I can remember, I can see the creatures that make you itch. All around us are small black creatures. They look like tiny black Hedgehogs. They climb up you and eat your skin. This is what makes you itch.

Even right now, as I am writing, I can see them in the room crawling up my coworker’s arm. Causing him to scratch.

They are born in our skin. What most people call kitchen pox. Is actually them being born. The creatures come from small eggs that are buried in our skin. As they hatch, they make the red spots.

For years, the creatures and I have had an unspoken rule. You leave me alone. I leave them alone. But I have noticed something strange. They seem to be growing in numbers. Normally, in every room or office, there was just one or two of the creatures roaming around. But now they seem to be on every surface.

---

I awoke last night, and my skin was on fire. The Hedgehogs were all over me. I fought to shake them off, but there were so many. I was almost overwhelmed. I tripped and stumbled as I dove into the shower to wash them off.

They hate water. They can't swim, and they drown in the smallest of drops.

My skin itches so bad. It burns.

The monsters eat every part of my skin. Even places I thought were protected by my folds.

I walked past the window after my shower, and my heart sank. They are everywhere. They are waiting for me to outside. I did everything I could to stop them from getting in. Every door and window I tapped up. They can’t crawl into the house. They will go away in a few days. It is meant to rain on Tuesday. That should kill most of them.

---

For two days, I haven’t left the house or opened the windows. Not one has managed to get to me.

Something is wrong. It's been days since I saw them climbing on skin, eating my flesh. But my skin still itches like crazy. I have a large red ring forming on my chest. Something is coming, I feel it moving inside me.

---

The creature. It hatched from my chest. It was bigger than the others. As it crawled out, it spoke to me. In a deep gravely voice.

“Hello, John. Finally, you are ready. We have been waiting.”

“Ready? Ready for what? Leave me alone. We had a deal. You stay away from me. I stay away from you.”

I ran to the shower, ready to drown the creature. As I reached for the lever. It made me burn.

“I wouldn't do that, John! One more move and my sisters dig towards your heart.”

I winced in pain, unable to move.

“Why do you think it is only you can see us? You are our host, our nesting ground. From the moment you were born, your body had one purpose: to make us queens.”

Every 25 years, we need 5 queens to survive. Your body is finally ready. Now you can either live with us. Or we can make you suffer!”

The creatures kept digging inside me. My skin itched and burned. The pain was unbearable.

“There is nothing you can do to stop us.”

For the next 4 weeks, every Tuesday, a new queen was born. Each larger than the last. As the last was born, I scratched my skin raw.

As it climbed out of me, it turned to me as it spoke,

“25 Years, John. In 25 years, we will be back.”

Since that day, I can no longer see them. But once a week, on a Tuesday, I feel them tasting me. There is nothing I can do to stop them.

I can't keep living like this.

Every day as I drove my son to school, we passed a cemetery. On the edge of the cemetery was a statue of a smiling boy facing the road. The statue's hand was outstretched. As if it were waving at cars. Every time we drove by, we would wave back at the boy. It became a morning tradition. Until it waved back.

“Wave to the boy, Daddy.” My son would say as we passed. As I did, my son would always smile and laugh.

Some mornings, we turned our morning wave into a game of rock, paper, scissors. The statue would always pick paper, and we laughed when we won. That, though all one morning.

As we drove past the cemetery. My son had his head buried deep inside his tablet, playing some kind of game. As we got close to the cemetery, the traffic started to slow down.  “Charlie, don’t forget to wave at the boy.” Without lifting his eyes from the screen, he shook his hand at the frozen boy.

Traffic came to a stop, and I looked at my son playing on his tablet.
“God, growing up so fast, soon I will be driving him to college.” I looked at the statue of the boy and wondered,
“Will we still wave at you when we go to college?” I raised my hand to play rock, paper, scissors. As I shot scissors, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I lost.

Before I could take in what had just happened. The sound of a car horn came blasting from behind me. The road was clear to move.

I panicked and hit the gas. “Was I starting to lose my mind? Did I really just lose a game of rock, paper, scissors to a statue?”

I asked my son. “Did you see the statue move, Charlie?”

He slowly took his eyes away from his tablet and sighed, “Don’t be silly, daddy statues can’t move.” He then went back to his game.  

I smiled and looked back at the road. “Yeah, you're right, buddy, only messing with you.”
When we arrived at school, he jumped out of the car. I thought to myself
“I need to get some more sleep. Starting to see things for Christ’s sake.”

That evening, when I picked up Charlie, he got in the car and told me, “My legs hurt.” I asked him if he played any sports that day. He then listed so many sports, just hearing them made me want to lie down.

“Well, of course, your legs hurt. You are tired. That’s what happens when you play too much sports. Just relax tonight, and in a couple of days you will be fine.”

But for the next week, he kept saying his legs ached. He complained so much that we took him to the doctors to get it checked out.

“His skin is so hard, and his muscles. They shouldn't be this large and thick,” The man in the white coat said as he poked and prodded him.

They took scans and ran tests. Finally, after he typed everything into the computer, he came back with one diagnosis.

“It appears your son has hypertonia. Nasty thing. His central nervous system is damaged, his muscles are much tighter and harder than a normal child of his age. He is going to need medication and occupational therapy. Now, at the moment, with the correct treatment. He should be able to live a fairly normal life. It's unlikely he will grow up to become an athlete, but he can still live a perfectly normal life if we maintain it correctly. But he is likely going to experience some level of pain for the rest of his life.”

As I drove home, I wasn’t sure what to think. My poor son was going to be in pain for the rest of his life. I kept trying to try myself. It could have been worse. Thousands of parents every year walk into doctors’ offices and hear far worse news than this.

As we drove past the cemetery, something caught my eye. The statue's arm. Was it always that height before?

“Dad, can I still play football?”

My mind went back to my son. “Of course, you can still play football, son. We just have to make sure we do the stretches the doctor said and take your medicine.

“ok great,” he smiled as he looked out the window. Not understanding what the rest of his life was going to look like.  

Over the next few weeks, he started going to occupational therapy, but his muscles. Didn’t get better. If anything, they started getting worse, and his skin started to lose its joyful colour and turned pale.

We took him to doctor after doctor, but no one could understand.
“One of the worst cases of hypertonia we have seen.” They kept saying. His muscles were getting so tight that he could barely walk. Every step was agony for him.

The occupational therapy lessons got worse and worse. They sounded like a torture session. Every massage. Every stretch sent tears down his face. His muscles couldn’t take it anymore. Eventually, he had to use a wheelchair to get around.

At first, he loved his electric chair. racing his friends at school in it. But it didn't take long for him to see what a prison it was.

Day by day, he slowly got worse.

A year after the first diagnosis. We heard those words no parent wants to hear.
“There is nothing more we can do for him. All we can do is try to manage the pain.”

His muscles were so tight he could barely breathe.

A week after, the doctors wrote him off. We were driving to see a specialist, there was a trial in Europe that could maybe save his life.

As we went past the statue for the final time. My son used what little strength he had to talk. “Wave and the statue,” he gingerly said. Using the might of a lion to raise his arm.”

I looked at the statue, trying not to burst into tears, and my heart stopped.

The statue's smile got bigger as it jumped from its stand. It waved at us and ran down the road, its skin turning from its normal grey to healthy pink.

“Did you see that, Charlie? The statue. It moved!”

My son didn’t reply. He was frozen. His skin was grey, and the life had left his eyes. I rushed to the hospital, hoping I wasn't too late to save him. But it was too late. He was gone.

I told the doctors about the statue, but no one believes me. I don’t know how, but it stole my son’s life. They all think I have depression. I know what I saw.

I write this message as a warning to other parents. Never let your children wave at a statue. You never know when it will wave back!

Every day as I drove my son to school, we passed a cemetery. On the edge of the cemetery was a statue of a smiling boy facing the road. The statue's hand was outstretched. As if it were waving at cars. Every time we drove by, we would wave back at the boy. It became a morning tradition. Until it waved back.

“Wave to the boy, Daddy.” My son would say as we passed. As I did, my son would always smile and laugh.

Some mornings, we turned our morning wave into a game of rock, paper, scissors. The statue would always pick paper, and we laughed when we won. That, though all one morning.

As we drove past the cemetery. My son had his head buried deep inside his tablet, playing some kind of game. As we got close to the cemetery, the traffic started to slow down.  “Charlie, don’t forget to wave at the boy.” Without lifting his eyes from the screen, he shook his hand at the frozen boy.

Traffic came to a stop, and I looked at my son playing on his tablet.
“God, growing up so fast, soon I will be driving him to college.” I looked at the statue of the boy and wondered,
“Will we still wave at you when we go to college?” I raised my hand to play rock, paper, scissors. As I shot scissors, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I lost.

Before I could take in what had just happened. The sound of a car horn came blasting from behind me. The road was clear to move.

I panicked and hit the gas. “Was I starting to lose my mind? Did I really just lose a game of rock, paper, scissors to a statue?”

I asked my son. “Did you see the statue move, Charlie?”

He slowly took his eyes away from his tablet and sighed, “Don’t be silly, daddy statues can’t move.” He then went back to his game.  

I smiled and looked back at the road. “Yeah, you're right, buddy, only messing with you.”
When we arrived at school, he jumped out of the car. I thought to myself
“I need to get some more sleep. Starting to see things for Christ’s sake.”

That evening, when I picked up Charlie, he got in the car and told me, “My legs hurt.” I asked him if he played any sports that day. He then listed so many sports, just hearing them made me want to lie down.

“Well, of course, your legs hurt. You are tired. That’s what happens when you play too much sports. Just relax tonight, and in a couple of days you will be fine.”

But for the next week, he kept saying his legs ached. He complained so much that we took him to the doctors to get it checked out.

“His skin is so hard, and his muscles. They shouldn't be this large and thick,” The man in the white coat said as he poked and prodded him.

They took scans and ran tests. Finally, after he typed everything into the computer, he came back with one diagnosis.

“It appears your son has hypertonia. Nasty thing. His central nervous system is damaged, his muscles are much tighter and harder than a normal child of his age. He is going to need medication and occupational therapy. Now, at the moment, with the correct treatment. He should be able to live a fairly normal life. It's unlikely he will grow up to become an athlete, but he can still live a perfectly normal life if we maintain it correctly. But he is likely going to experience some level of pain for the rest of his life.”

As I drove home, I wasn’t sure what to think. My poor son was going to be in pain for the rest of his life. I kept trying to try myself. It could have been worse. Thousands of parents every year walk into doctors’ offices and hear far worse news than this.

As we drove past the cemetery, something caught my eye. The statue's arm. Was it always that height before?

“Dad, can I still play football?”

My mind went back to my son. “Of course, you can still play football, son. We just have to make sure we do the stretches the doctor said and take your medicine.

“ok great,” he smiled as he looked out the window. Not understanding what the rest of his life was going to look like.  

Over the next few weeks, he started going to occupational therapy, but his muscles. Didn’t get better. If anything, they started getting worse, and his skin started to lose its joyful colour and turned pale.

We took him to doctor after doctor, but no one could understand.
“One of the worst cases of hypertonia we have seen.” They kept saying. His muscles were getting so tight that he could barely walk. Every step was agony for him.

The occupational therapy lessons got worse and worse. They sounded like a torture session. Every massage. Every stretch sent tears down his face. His muscles couldn’t take it anymore. Eventually, he had to use a wheelchair to get around.

At first, he loved his electric chair. racing his friends at school in it. But it didn't take long for him to see what a prison it was.

Day by day, he slowly got worse.

A year after the first diagnosis. We heard those words no parent wants to hear.
“There is nothing more we can do for him. All we can do is try to manage the pain.”

His muscles were so tight he could barely breathe.

A week after, the doctors wrote him off. We were driving to see a specialist, there was a trial in Europe that could maybe save his life.

As we went past the statue for the final time. My son used what little strength he had to talk. “Wave and the statue,” he gingerly said. Using the might of a lion to raise his arm.”

I looked at the statue, trying not to burst into tears, and my heart stopped.

The statue's smile got bigger as it jumped from its stand. It waved at us and ran down the road, its skin turning from its normal grey to healthy pink.

“Did you see that, Charlie? The statue. It moved!”

My son didn’t reply. He was frozen. His skin was grey, and the life had left his eyes. I rushed to the hospital, hoping I wasn't too late to save him. But it was too late. He was gone.

I told the doctors about the statue, but no one believes me. I don’t know how, but it stole my son’s life. They all think I have depression. I know what I saw.

I write this message as a warning to other parents. Never let your children wave at a statue. You never know when it will wave back!

Every day as I drove my son to school, we passed a cemetery. On the edge of the cemetery was a statue of a smiling boy facing the road. The statue's hand was outstretched. As if it were waving at cars. Every time we drove by, we would wave back at the boy. It became a morning tradition. Until it waved back.

“Wave to the boy, Daddy.” My son would say as we passed. As I did, my son would always smile and laugh.

Some mornings, we turned our morning wave into a game of rock, paper, scissors. The statue would always pick paper, and we laughed when we won. That, though all one morning.

As we drove past the cemetery. My son had his head buried deep inside his tablet, playing some kind of game. As we got close to the cemetery, the traffic started to slow down.  “Charlie, don’t forget to wave at the boy.” Without lifting his eyes from the screen, he shook his hand at the frozen boy.

Traffic came to a stop, and I looked at my son playing on his tablet.
“God, growing up so fast, soon I will be driving him to college.” I looked at the statue of the boy and wondered,
“Will we still wave at you when we go to college?” I raised my hand to play rock, paper, scissors. As I shot scissors, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I lost.

Before I could take in what had just happened. The sound of a car horn came blasting from behind me. The road was clear to move.

I panicked and hit the gas. “Was I starting to lose my mind? Did I really just lose a game of rock, paper, scissors to a statue?”

I asked my son. “Did you see the statue move, Charlie?”

He slowly took his eyes away from his tablet and sighed, “Don’t be silly, daddy statues can’t move.” He then went back to his game.  

I smiled and looked back at the road. “Yeah, you're right, buddy, only messing with you.”
When we arrived at school, he jumped out of the car. I thought to myself
“I need to get some more sleep. Starting to see things for Christ’s sake.”

That evening, when I picked up Charlie, he got in the car and told me, “My legs hurt.” I asked him if he played any sports that day. He then listed so many sports, just hearing them made me want to lie down.

“Well, of course, your legs hurt. You are tired. That’s what happens when you play too much sports. Just relax tonight, and in a couple of days you will be fine.”

But for the next week, he kept saying his legs ached. He complained so much that we took him to the doctors to get it checked out.

“His skin is so hard, and his muscles. They shouldn't be this large and thick,” The man in the white coat said as he poked and prodded him.

They took scans and ran tests. Finally, after he typed everything into the computer, he came back with one diagnosis.

“It appears your son has hypertonia. Nasty thing. His central nervous system is damaged, his muscles are much tighter and harder than a normal child of his age. He is going to need medication and occupational therapy. Now, at the moment, with the correct treatment. He should be able to live a fairly normal life. It's unlikely he will grow up to become an athlete, but he can still live a perfectly normal life if we maintain it correctly. But he is likely going to experience some level of pain for the rest of his life.”

As I drove home, I wasn’t sure what to think. My poor son was going to be in pain for the rest of his life. I kept trying to try myself. It could have been worse. Thousands of parents every year walk into doctors’ offices and hear far worse news than this.

As we drove past the cemetery, something caught my eye. The statue's arm. Was it always that height before?

“Dad, can I still play football?”

My mind went back to my son. “Of course, you can still play football, son. We just have to make sure we do the stretches the doctor said and take your medicine.

“ok great,” he smiled as he looked out the window. Not understanding what the rest of his life was going to look like.  

Over the next few weeks, he started going to occupational therapy, but his muscles. Didn’t get better. If anything, they started getting worse, and his skin started to lose its joyful colour and turned pale.

We took him to doctor after doctor, but no one could understand.
“One of the worst cases of hypertonia we have seen.” They kept saying. His muscles were getting so tight that he could barely walk. Every step was agony for him.

The occupational therapy lessons got worse and worse. They sounded like a torture session. Every massage. Every stretch sent tears down his face. His muscles couldn’t take it anymore. Eventually, he had to use a wheelchair to get around.

At first, he loved his electric chair. racing his friends at school in it. But it didn't take long for him to see what a prison it was.

Day by day, he slowly got worse.

A year after the first diagnosis. We heard those words no parent wants to hear.
“There is nothing more we can do for him. All we can do is try to manage the pain.”

His muscles were so tight he could barely breathe.

A week after, the doctors wrote him off. We were driving to see a specialist, there was a trial in Europe that could maybe save his life.

As we went past the statue for the final time. My son used what little strength he had to talk. “Wave and the statue,” he gingerly said. Using the might of a lion to raise his arm.”

I looked at the statue, trying not to burst into tears, and my heart stopped.

The statue's smile got bigger as it jumped from its stand. It waved at us and ran down the road, its skin turning from its normal grey to healthy pink.

“Did you see that, Charlie? The statue. It moved!”

My son didn’t reply. He was frozen. His skin was grey, and the life had left his eyes. I rushed to the hospital, hoping I wasn't too late to save him. But it was too late. He was gone.

I told the doctors about the statue, but no one believes me. I don’t know how, but it stole my son’s life. They all think I have depression. I know what I saw.

I write this message as a warning to other parents. Never let your children wave at a statue. You never know when it will wave back!

***

(All feedback welcomed. If you finished the story, I would love to hear what you thought. Even if negative.)

Every day as I drove my son to school, we passed a cemetery. On the edge of the cemetery was a statue of a smiling boy facing the road. The statue's hand was outstretched. As if it were waving at cars. Every time we drove by, we would wave back at the boy. It became a morning tradition. Until it waved back.

“Wave to the boy, Daddy.” My son would say as we passed. As I did, my son would always smile and laugh.

Some mornings, we turned our morning wave into a game of rock, paper, scissors. The statue would always pick paper, and we laughed when we won. That, though all one morning.

As we drove past the cemetery. My son had his head buried deep inside his tablet, playing some kind of game. As we got close to the cemetery, the traffic started to slow down.  “Charlie, don’t forget to wave at the boy.” Without lifting his eyes from the screen, he shook his hand at the frozen boy.

Traffic came to a stop, and I looked at my son playing on his tablet.
“God, growing up so fast, soon I will be driving him to college.” I looked at the statue of the boy and wondered,
“Will we still wave at you when we go to college?” I raised my hand to play rock, paper, scissors. As I shot scissors, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I lost.

Before I could take in what had just happened. The sound of a car horn came blasting from behind me. The road was clear to move.

I panicked and hit the gas. “Was I starting to lose my mind? Did I really just lose a game of rock, paper, scissors to a statue?”

I asked my son. “Did you see the statue move, Charlie?”

He slowly took his eyes away from his tablet and sighed, “Don’t be silly, daddy statues can’t move.” He then went back to his game.  

I smiled and looked back at the road. “Yeah, you're right, buddy, only messing with you.”
When we arrived at school, he jumped out of the car. I thought to myself
“I need to get some more sleep. Starting to see things for Christ’s sake.”

That evening, when I picked up Charlie, he got in the car and told me, “My legs hurt.” I asked him if he played any sports that day. He then listed so many sports, just hearing them made me want to lie down.

“Well, of course, your legs hurt. You are tired. That’s what happens when you play too much sports. Just relax tonight, and in a couple of days you will be fine.”

But for the next week, he kept saying his legs ached. He complained so much that we took him to the doctors to get it checked out.

“His skin is so hard, and his muscles. They shouldn't be this large and thick,” The man in the white coat said as he poked and prodded him.

They took scans and ran tests. Finally, after he typed everything into the computer, he came back with one diagnosis.

“It appears your son has hypertonia. Nasty thing. His central nervous system is damaged, his muscles are much tighter and harder than a normal child of his age. He is going to need medication and occupational therapy. Now, at the moment, with the correct treatment. He should be able to live a fairly normal life. It's unlikely he will grow up to become an athlete, but he can still live a perfectly normal life if we maintain it correctly. But he is likely going to experience some level of pain for the rest of his life.”

As I drove home, I wasn’t sure what to think. My poor son was going to be in pain for the rest of his life. I kept trying to try myself. It could have been worse. Thousands of parents every year walk into doctors’ offices and hear far worse news than this.

As we drove past the cemetery, something caught my eye. The statue's arm. Was it always that height before?

“Dad, can I still play football?”

My mind went back to my son. “Of course, you can still play football, son. We just have to make sure we do the stretches the doctor said and take your medicine.

“ok great,” he smiled as he looked out the window. Not understanding what the rest of his life was going to look like.  

Over the next few weeks, he started going to occupational therapy, but his muscles. Didn’t get better. If anything, they started getting worse, and his skin started to lose its joyful colour and turned pale.

We took him to doctor after doctor, but no one could understand.
“One of the worst cases of hypertonia we have seen.” They kept saying. His muscles were getting so tight that he could barely walk. Every step was agony for him.

The occupational therapy lessons got worse and worse. They sounded like a torture session. Every massage. Every stretch sent tears down his face. His muscles couldn’t take it anymore. Eventually, he had to use a wheelchair to get around.

At first, he loved his electric chair. racing his friends at school in it. But it didn't take long for him to see what a prison it was.

Day by day, he slowly got worse.

A year after the first diagnosis. We heard those words no parent wants to hear.
“There is nothing more we can do for him. All we can do is try to manage the pain.”

His muscles were so tight he could barely breathe.

A week after, the doctors wrote him off. We were driving to see a specialist, there was a trial in Europe that could maybe save his life.

As we went past the statue for the final time. My son used what little strength he had to talk. “Wave and the statue,” he gingerly said. Using the might of a lion to raise his arm.”

I looked at the statue, trying not to burst into tears, and my heart stopped.

The statue's smile got bigger as it jumped from its stand. It waved at us and ran down the road, its skin turning from its normal grey to healthy pink.

“Did you see that, Charlie? The statue. It moved!”

My son didn’t reply. He was frozen. His skin was grey, and the life had left his eyes. I rushed to the hospital, hoping I wasn't too late to save him. But it was too late. He was gone.

I told the doctors about the statue, but no one believes me. I don’t know how, but it stole my son’s life. They all think I have depression. I know what I saw.

I write this message as a warning to other parents. Never let your children wave at a statue. You never know when it will wave back!

No matter what I try, the devil won’t let me pass on to the afterlife.

He spoke to me after my 5th failed attempt.

“Nothing I can do in hell is worse than your life on earth.”

I work in Japan at a company, filling paperwork that doesn’t need to be filed.

Every task I complete is pointless. It’s all just box-ticking exercises. The Job pays minimum wage, and everyone who is here hates each other. We all just wait for the clock to hit 5 pm every day. So we can go home and get out of this miserable place.

No matter how hard I search, I can’t find another Job. I have no girlfriend, no friends, and hardly speak to my family. I think every day about just walking out and never coming back, but without the shit pay. I would be homeless in less than a month.

Multiple times a day, I try to kill myself. But I can’t die. I have tried it all. Hanging, stepping in front of a train. Running into traffic, cutting myself, but nothing happens. I just wake up at my office desk or in my bed.

Sometimes when I die, the devil is sitting next to me in a chair or inside the bed I lie in. He always does the same thing. He laughs and says,

“Why would you want to leave this world? You have so much to live for.”

He then lets out a smile, showing his rows of sharp, pointed teeth, and vanishes.

This has been going on for almost a year. This week is the first week I haven’t tried to end my life. Not because I have found some joy in the world, but because, in truth, I have run out of ideas on how to try.

On the days I don’t try to kill myself, the day goes like this. I go to work, and the monotony of my days begins. I tell myself not to look at the clock, but after what feels like hours, the clock has only moved a few ticks. When I do finally go home from work. I just sit in front of a screen. Sometimes a phone, sometimes the TV, but the result is the same. I am alone, and nothing brings me any joy. I'm trapped in a cycle of boredom.

To make matters worse, it’s summer in Japan. My office, as you can guess, is full of cheap bastards. Even though it’s over 90 degrees, they won’t use the air conditioner in the room where my coworkers and I sit. They keep saying WE have to save costs and that WE are all in this together. My boss, though, sits in his air-conditioned room watching from the window as the rest of us drench our seats in sweat.

Today’s heat, though, gave me an idea, another way to try to take my life.

I shall go to the coast and try to drown myself in the sea. I will swim out as far as I can and let the waves just take me.

As the bell finally chimed for 5 pm, I unstuck myself from my leather office chair. Left the office and somehow stepped into the cooler Tokyo air. I sprinted onto the first train to the coast and sat inside the cool train. Its gentle air conditioning kissed my skin.

When the train arrived at the coast. The sun was just setting. What was left of the light was glistening, dancing across the water. The sky had turned a beautiful red and orange colour. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.

I stepped out of the station and took a moment to enjoy what might be the last sunset of my life when I heard her. A woman standing at no more than 5 feet walked next to me and said,

“Wow, what a beautiful view.”

I looked at her and thought she was more beautiful.

She wore large glasses and had shoulder-length hair. Her perfect, imperfect smile beamed out.

I replied Yes, I don’t think I have seen the sky look that colour before.

“Yes, amazing,” she replied.

I tried to muster my brain to think of anything to say back to her.

I thought as hard as I could to muster something of an interesting question or statement, but nothing could come out.

With nothing else to say, I asked her.

“Does the sea always look like this at sunset?”

Somehow, this led to us talking for almost 30 minutes. Until, finally, I asked her to dinner. She accepted, and we spent the rest of the evening eating in a restaurant overlooking the ocean, drinking lemon sours.

At the end of the night, she gave me her number, and we began dating. Her name is Eiko, and I have never been so in love with such a perfect woman.

Just a week after my first dinner with Eiko, something else amazing happened. My boss was fired, and I was given his job. I can finally make a difference. I removed all the pointless jobs and let the AC run. My new line of work came with a massive pay rise. I now have enough money to try to turn my life around.

It’s been a year since I met Eiko, and today I asked her to marry me. She accepted and told me something I had never expected to hear. She is pregnant. I never thought I would be a father, but I guess good things come to those who wait.

I went to the first baby scan with Eiko today. I saw my daughter’s heart beating. I can’t believe I am saying this, but I can’t wait to be a father. The Doctor gave us some pictures of our baby. I can’t stop looking at it.

On my way to work today, I spent my usual subway ride. Just staring at the photo of our baby-to-be, trying to think of a name for it. I finally arrived at my stop and went into the office. When the unthinkable happened. My old boss is back. Turns out he sued the company for wrongful dismissal and won the case. He is to be reinstated to his old position, and I am going back to my old job.

I broke down in the bathroom. How am I meant to support my new family on minimum wage? Can't I go back to my old job? It doesn’t even exist. I removed all the paperwork? Did I remove my own Job?

I don’t know what I can do, but I will find a way to support Eiko and the baby. Whatever it takes, I will do it.

The rest of my train ride home, my mind was racing. How was I going to tell Eiko I had been demoted? What are we going to do?

I was barely getting by on my old salary. What if there are complications with the birth and we get a big hospital bill? FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.

The chime of the train door broke my spiraling mind. I stepped out of the train and could see my apartment from the train platform. I took a breath and thought. Well, this is what it means to be a father. Working out a way to support your family, even when it seems impossible.

I walked out of the station and fumbled for the keys to the apartment door. Taking a moment before opening the door to think about what I was going to say to her.

“Hi, honey. We are royally fucked.”

“Hi, honey, I got demoted today. What’s for dinner?”

“Hi, honey, your new husband and father-to-be has a minimum wage job. Surprise!”

I pulled myself again from my swirling mind, slapped my face a few times, and opened the front door. That's when I found her. My beautiful Eiko, hanging from the ceiling light. Her body was cold and lifeless. I tried to save her. But it was too late. She was gone.

Why would she do it? We were so happy.

I called for the ambulance, but I already knew it was too late. When they arrived, they told me she had likely been dead for hours. She must have done it as soon as I left for work.

I tried to take my life for the first time since I met Eiko that night. But again, I just woke up in my bed a few moments later. The rest of the evening I spent sobbing until sleep took me.  

I awoke next to her. Next to Eiko, she was alive. I thought for a moment. It had all been a dream. But it wasn’t a nightmare, something far worse.

I told her of my dream. She told me how awful a dream it was and that she would never take her own life. I looked at the clock, and we both realised I was going to be too late for work. I asked her again if she was fine. And she began pushing me out the door.

“Yes, I am fine. It was just a dream now. Please get going, or you will be late for work.”

As I left my home to head to work, I noticed something. The day I had lived was repeating itself. At 9.30 I was called into the same meeting. My old boss was coming back. The second the woman for HR said his name, I raced home, hoping to catch Eiko before she ended her life. But it was too late. She was dead again.

I spent another evening in an emotional wreck. Before again, I must have drifted off to sleep. For it all started over.

Once again, I awoke, and she was there next to me. As she woke. I told her I was feeling unwell and wouldn't be going to work today. She smiled and held me. Glad to spend the day together. Little did she know I was trying to save her life.

I asked her if she was happy with me. And she replied that she had never been happier. I sighed in relief and asked her if she ever thought about taking her own life. She looked at me with a face I had never seen before and replied

”That she would never do such a thing.”

She looked at me like I was losing my mind. Perhaps I am. But for now, at least my wife-to-be is next to me and alive.

I went to make myself and Eiko a coffee. When I noticed the time on the coffee maker had turned 9.30 Am As, I switched the coffee maker on and heard a thud from the other room, and rushed towards it. I knew deep down what that sound was. Maybe if I were quick, I could save her.

But I couldn’t save her. She was once again hanging. Hanging from the light.

Every morning, I now wake up and see my beautiful Eiko alive and well. She has no idea what is about to happen. I have explained to her over and over again that at 9.30 she will die and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Doesn’t matter where I go or what I do. At 9.30 she and my unborn child are dead.

It has been 6 months for me, reliving the same day over and over again. The calendar never moves. I keep trying once again to take my own life. I can't keep seeing her cold, lifeless body. But the devil won't let me go.

Today, after she died again for the 200th time. I thought about the day we met. The one way I never tried to end my life. Perhaps that was the key. It started by the ocean. Maybe it will end there. I waited for the day to reset and once again planned to end my life.

I woke up, kissed Eiko, and rushed out of the house, making my way to the sea.

Once again, the view over the coast was beautiful. Almost exactly the same as when I first met Eiko, despite it being only 7.30 am. Instead of taking it in, I made my way towards the water.

Just as I was about to reach the water, I felt something grab my arm and pull me back. It was Eiko. She was screaming,

“Dont go. Dont go. We need you.”

I fought her back and shouted,

“I have to. This is for you and the baby. Let me go.” I pushed her back and sprinted as fast as I could.

As I reached the water, I could hear her screaming, calling me back. I just kept swimming. Trying to block the sound of her calling me.

The further out to sea I got, the larger the waves became. Until, for a moment, the waves stopped. Silence filled the ocean, and for the first time since I first found Eiko dead, I was at peace. Everything was still.

I looked at my watch. The seawater had flooded it. Freezing the clock's hands at 9.25 am.

I floated there for what seemed like hours. Until I spotted an oar boat drifting towards me. There was no motor and no one rowing, but somehow it was moving towards me.

Inside the boat was a freakishly long-limbed man wearing a 3-piece suit. His long fingers wrapped around a teacup. As the boat moved towards me, he kept sipping the tea and smiling in my direction.

The man had no fat on his face, just a thin layer of skin and bones.  As the boat was almost close enough to touch, the man in the boat said to me calmly, almost in a whisper,

“You know what’s worse than having nothing? Having everything, then having it taken away.”

As he finished his sentence, I started to sink into the ocean.

I drifted deeper into the water. No matter how hard I swam, I kept going down.

In the depths of the ocean, I saw a vision of Eiko crying to the policeman who told her of my death. I tried to call out to her as the water filled my lungs.

“I did it to save you and the baby”.

She couldn’t hear. Everything went dark, and the devil finally let me pass.

No matter what I try, the devil won’t let me pass on to the afterlife.

He spoke to me after my 5th failed attempt.

“Nothing I can do in hell is worse than your life on earth.”

I work in Japan at a company, filling paperwork that doesn’t need to be filed.

Every task I complete is pointless. It’s all just box-ticking exercises. The Job pays minimum wage, and everyone who is here hates each other. We all just wait for the clock to hit 5 pm every day. So we can go home and get out of this miserable place.

No matter how hard I search, I can’t find another Job. I have no girlfriend, no friends, and hardly speak to my family. I think every day about just walking out and never coming back, but without the shit pay. I would be homeless in less than a month.

Multiple times a day, I try to kill myself. But I can’t die. I have tried it all. Hanging, stepping in front of a train. Running into traffic, cutting myself, but nothing happens. I just wake up at my office desk or in my bed.

Sometimes when I die, the devil is sitting next to me in a chair or inside the bed I lie in. He always does the same thing. He laughs and says,

“Why would you want to leave this world? You have so much to live for.”

He then lets out a smile, showing his rows of sharp, pointed teeth, and vanishes.

This has been going on for almost a year. This week is the first week I haven’t tried to end my life. Not because I have found some joy in the world, but because, in truth, I have run out of ideas on how to try.

On the days I don’t try to kill myself, the day goes like this. I go to work, and the monotony of my days begins. I tell myself not to look at the clock, but after what feels like hours, the clock has only moved a few ticks. When I do finally go home from work. I just sit in front of a screen. Sometimes a phone, sometimes the TV, but the result is the same. I am alone, and nothing brings me any joy. I'm trapped in a cycle of boredom.

To make matters worse, it’s summer in Japan. My office, as you can guess, is full of cheap bastards. Even though it’s over 90 degrees, they won’t use the air conditioner in the room where my coworkers and I sit. They keep saying WE have to save costs and that WE are all in this together. My boss, though, sits in his air-conditioned room watching from the window as the rest of us drench our seats in sweat.

Today’s heat, though, gave me an idea, another way to try to take my life.

I shall go to the coast and try to drown myself in the sea. I will swim out as far as I can and let the waves just take me.

As the bell finally chimed for 5 pm, I unstuck myself from my leather office chair. Left the office and somehow stepped into the cooler Tokyo air. I sprinted onto the first train to the coast and sat inside the cool train. Its gentle air conditioning kissed my skin.

When the train arrived at the coast. The sun was just setting. What was left of the light was glistening, dancing across the water. The sky had turned a beautiful red and orange colour. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.

I stepped out of the station and took a moment to enjoy what might be the last sunset of my life when I heard her. A woman standing at no more than 5 feet walked next to me and said,

“Wow, what a beautiful view.”

I looked at her and thought she was more beautiful.

She wore large glasses and had shoulder-length hair. Her perfect, imperfect smile beamed out.

I replied Yes, I don’t think I have seen the sky look that colour before.

“Yes, amazing,” she replied.

I tried to muster my brain to think of anything to say back to her.

I thought as hard as I could to muster something of an interesting question or statement, but nothing could come out.

With nothing else to say, I asked her.

“Does the sea always look like this at sunset?”

Somehow, this led to us talking for almost 30 minutes. Until, finally, I asked her to dinner. She accepted, and we spent the rest of the evening eating in a restaurant overlooking the ocean, drinking lemon sours.

At the end of the night, she gave me her number, and we began dating. Her name is Eiko, and I have never been so in love with such a perfect woman.

Just a week after my first dinner with Eiko, something else amazing happened. My boss was fired, and I was given his job. I can finally make a difference. I removed all the pointless jobs and let the AC run. My new line of work came with a massive pay rise. I now have enough money to try to turn my life around.

It’s been a year since I met Eiko, and today I asked her to marry me. She accepted and told me something I had never expected to hear. She is pregnant. I never thought I would be a father, but I guess good things come to those who wait.

I went to the first baby scan with Eiko today. I saw my daughter’s heart beating. I can’t believe I am saying this, but I can’t wait to be a father. The Doctor gave us some pictures of our baby. I can’t stop looking at it.

On my way to work today, I spent my usual subway ride. Just staring at the photo of our baby-to-be, trying to think of a name for it. I finally arrived at my stop and went into the office. When the unthinkable happened. My old boss is back. Turns out he sued the company for wrongful dismissal and won the case. He is to be reinstated to his old position, and I am going back to my old job.

I broke down in the bathroom. How am I meant to support my new family on minimum wage? Can't I go back to my old job? It doesn’t even exist. I removed all the paperwork? Did I remove my own Job?

I don’t know what I can do, but I will find a way to support Eiko and the baby. Whatever it takes, I will do it.

The rest of my train ride home, my mind was racing. How was I going to tell Eiko I had been demoted? What are we going to do?

I was barely getting by on my old salary. What if there are complications with the birth and we get a big hospital bill? FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.

The chime of the train door broke my spiraling mind. I stepped out of the train and could see my apartment from the train platform. I took a breath and thought. Well, this is what it means to be a father. Working out a way to support your family, even when it seems impossible.

I walked out of the station and fumbled for the keys to the apartment door. Taking a moment before opening the door to think about what I was going to say to her.

“Hi, honey. We are royally fucked.”

“Hi, honey, I got demoted today. What’s for dinner?”

“Hi, honey, your new husband and father-to-be has a minimum wage job. Surprise!”

I pulled myself again from my swirling mind, slapped my face a few times, and opened the front door. That's when I found her. My beautiful Eiko, hanging from the ceiling light. Her body was cold and lifeless. I tried to save her. But it was too late. She was gone.

Why would she do it? We were so happy.

I called for the ambulance, but I already knew it was too late. When they arrived, they told me she had likely been dead for hours. She must have done it as soon as I left for work.

I tried to take my life for the first time since I met Eiko that night. But again, I just woke up in my bed a few moments later. The rest of the evening I spent sobbing until sleep took me.  

I awoke next to her. Next to Eiko, she was alive. I thought for a moment. It had all been a dream. But it wasn’t a nightmare, something far worse.

I told her of my dream. She told me how awful a dream it was and that she would never take her own life. I looked at the clock, and we both realised I was going to be too late for work. I asked her again if she was fine. And she began pushing me out the door.

“Yes, I am fine. It was just a dream now. Please get going, or you will be late for work.”

As I left my home to head to work, I noticed something. The day I had lived was repeating itself. At 9.30 I was called into the same meeting. My old boss was coming back. The second the woman for HR said his name, I raced home, hoping to catch Eiko before she ended her life. But it was too late. She was dead again.

I spent another evening in an emotional wreck. Before again, I must have drifted off to sleep. For it all started over.

Once again, I awoke, and she was there next to me. As she woke. I told her I was feeling unwell and wouldn't be going to work today. She smiled and held me. Glad to spend the day together. Little did she know I was trying to save her life.

I asked her if she was happy with me. And she replied that she had never been happier. I sighed in relief and asked her if she ever thought about taking her own life. She looked at me with a face I had never seen before and replied

”That she would never do such a thing.”

She looked at me like I was losing my mind. Perhaps I am. But for now, at least my wife-to-be is next to me and alive.

I went to make myself and Eiko a coffee. When I noticed the time on the coffee maker had turned 9.30 Am As, I switched the coffee maker on and heard a thud from the other room, and rushed towards it. I knew deep down what that sound was. Maybe if I were quick, I could save her.

But I couldn’t save her. She was once again hanging. Hanging from the light.

Every morning, I now wake up and see my beautiful Eiko alive and well. She has no idea what is about to happen. I have explained to her over and over again that at 9.30 she will die and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Doesn’t matter where I go or what I do. At 9.30 she and my unborn child are dead.

It has been 6 months for me, reliving the same day over and over again. The calendar never moves. I keep trying once again to take my own life. I can't keep seeing her cold, lifeless body. But the devil won't let me go.

Today, after she died again for the 200th time. I thought about the day we met. The one way I never tried to end my life. Perhaps that was the key. It started by the ocean. Maybe it will end there. I waited for the day to reset and once again planned to end my life.

I woke up, kissed Eiko, and rushed out of the house, making my way to the sea.

Once again, the view over the coast was beautiful. Almost exactly the same as when I first met Eiko, despite it being only 7.30 am. Instead of taking it in, I made my way towards the water.

Just as I was about to reach the water, I felt something grab my arm and pull me back. It was Eiko. She was screaming,

“Dont go. Dont go. We need you.”

I fought her back and shouted,

“I have to. This is for you and the baby. Let me go.” I pushed her back and sprinted as fast as I could.

As I reached the water, I could hear her screaming, calling me back. I just kept swimming. Trying to block the sound of her calling me.

The further out to sea I got, the larger the waves became. Until, for a moment, the waves stopped. Silence filled the ocean, and for the first time since I first found Eiko dead, I was at peace. Everything was still.

I looked at my watch. The seawater had flooded it. Freezing the clock's hands at 9.25 am.

I floated there for what seemed like hours. Until I spotted an oar boat drifting towards me. There was no motor and no one rowing, but somehow it was moving towards me.

Inside the boat was a freakishly long-limbed man wearing a 3-piece suit. His long fingers wrapped around a teacup. As the boat moved towards me, he kept sipping the tea and smiling in my direction.

The man had no fat on his face, just a thin layer of skin and bones.  As the boat was almost close enough to touch, the man in the boat said to me calmly, almost in a whisper,

“You know what’s worse than having nothing? Having everything, then having it taken away.”

As he finished his sentence, I started to sink into the ocean.

I drifted deeper into the water. No matter how hard I swam, I kept going down.

In the depths of the ocean, I saw a vision of Eiko crying to the policeman who told her of my death. I tried to call out to her as the water filled my lungs.

“I did it to save you and the baby”.

She couldn’t hear. Everything went dark, and the devil finally let me pass.

Billy spun the cylinder of his revolver. The whirling and clicking was a melody of sanity for old Billy Bats.

He stared at the clock. Waiting for the creature to roar from outside his home.

Taking one last swig of his whiskey. He put on his white cowboy hat and stood up. His spurs chimmed as the clock hit 12.

Billy raised his weapon to the window. "Whooow, here we go, old Billy Boy."

"Meow"

Billy fired his revolver, smashing the glass in the window.

He stumbled over to the opening, trying not to knock over what little whiskey he had left.

The monster was nowhere to be seen.

"Ahha, that's what I thought, not tonight, foul beast."

"Meow"

John fired another bullet into the darkness.

"Not tonight, demon. You're going back to the hell from which you rose."

"Meow".

"I said back, foul devil!"

Old Billy fired four more shots into the darkness and dove backwards, screaming, "Reloading!"

He shakily put six more bullets into his old, rusty shooter.

The sound of its feet jumping through the window echoed in the darkness. the beast cried the sound of the devil, "Meow."

Billy fired three shots into the room. Smashing glass and crockery.

Silence filled the old cowboy’s home.

"Ah ha ha. There is more where that came from, night demon."

The black cat snuck right up to Billy without him realizing. It cried out that foul sound.

"Meow"

Billy jumped out of his skin, firing 3 bullets into the floor and ceiling.

“Yahhhhh” he screamed as he retreated upstairs, diving into his bed.

His hands shaking, he wrapped himself in the blanket. pointing his trusty revolver at the door. Waiting for the beast to slink into his sight.

The cat pounced in and stood right in front of Mr Bats.

Aiming his crosshairs at the creature, he smiled, pulling the trigger. "Click."

"What?!" "Click, click, click, CLICK, click."

“Ah fuck it,” He threw his empty revolver at the cat, missing it by more than a country mile.

He laid back and accepted his fate.

The cat jumped on Billy’s chest and "prrrrred." It closed its eyes and fell asleep.

The old cowboy closed his eyes and yawned, "You win this round, Mr. Mittens."