Here lately I've been enjoying writing challenges and I found one online where they give you the last line and you write your story to it. They gave the last line and this was the story that I created to it. After submitting, it was rejected so now it's mine to do what I please.
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“The Bite (or The Unpredictable New Evolution of Man)” is a short horror story about one man’s unexpected change found in the simplest of nuisances while hiking in the great outdoors as he finds terror on the eve of what should be the happiest day of his life. Without further adieu...
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The Bite (or the
Unpredictable New Evolution of Man)
Written by
Christopher Michael Carter
It
was the last time we would be together.
I was dying and she knew this.
I’ve loved her for as long as I’ve known her; perhaps longer as I’ve
always yearned for that unconditional adoration and love. As a child I thought in ways I suppose you’re
not supposed to and certainly not the way other boys did. Sure I loved to play with my action figures,
watch cartoons, play games, rough house, horse play, and what have you but
there was always something more. I was
attracted to girls from early on but I was also attracted to the notion of
love. I didn’t really see any real life
romance in my life and was pretty certain it didn’t exist.
My
parents’ marriage was an unhappy one. My
aunts and uncles were in abusive relationships or frequently getting divorced. Friends of mine were constantly jumping from
one mate to the other. Even if they
stuck with one, they’d cheat on them.
Yes, the idea of romance seemed ridiculous and as fictitious as the
stories seen in movies and read about in books.
I knew if I’d ever find “the one” I’d do everything in my power to make
sure she felt as such. That’s when I met
her, Sylvia. She was going to law school
when I had met her during one of my long walks in the park. I, myself, never went to college
regrettably. I wanted to be a writer; a freelance
journalist, so I could travel and write about my findings in different
cultures.
Sylvia
and I hit it off immediately and it wasn’t long before I knew I had to
propose. I guessed her ring size after
gently examining her lovely hands and guessed correctly. She had taken time off so we could plan the
wedding and in that time I suggested she go on a hike with me I had scheduled
for a piece about untouched wilderness.
That’s when the trouble started…
We
were hours into our hike when we had decided to take a break. The woods were thick and we had plenty of
water. It was warm out but not too hot
by any means.
“We
got any more granola bars?” I asked her.
“Yep.” She handed me one from the bag. I always liked taking these things with
me. They were good for quick energy.
And
that’s when it happened…
“Ouch! Damn!”
I feel a sharp pinch on the back of my neck.
“What
happened?” My concerned Bride-to-Be
asked.
I
answered while smacking the back of my neck and rubbing it, “I think something
just bit me.”
“Let
me see.” She got up and came over to
look. “Yeah, that’s a bite alright but I
can’t see what did it.” I shook out my
shirt and we looked around not finding the culprit anywhere.
“I
think we should cut this one short.” She
suggested. Usually, as bull-headed as I
am, I fought her on ideas as such but this time I agreed and we head back to
the car. Through the trek back my vision
was getting a bit sketchy. Upon reaching
the car I had suggested she drive. I was
sweating and my vision continued to blur.
By
the time we got back home I had been feeling flu-like symptoms with chills
while still sweating profusely. We
called the doctor and they got me in quickly.
They couldn’t figure out what the bite was from but suggested it may
very well have been a spider. They tried
to extract the venom but it was already coursing through my veins. The doctor gave me a couple of shots and
prescribed me some pills to take at home.
Sylvia drove me home, wrapped me up and let me sleep; which I did for
sixteen hours straight.
When
I awoke I felt as though I had the worst hangover I’d ever had. Sylvia was at the office for the day. My vision wasn’t as blurry as it was prior
but now my view appeared fractured, almost like I was looking through cracked
glasses. I took my pills and went into
the bathroom to brush my teeth. Seeing
myself in the mirror was a shock. I’ve
always been a fairly healthy guy but my image in the bathroom mirror showed me
looking like death warmed over. I began
brushing my teeth and the first stroke in teeth began to fall out into the
sink. Tink-tink-clink, they rattled
around. It didn’t really hurt so much as
scare the hell out of me. I checked the
rest of my teeth and they followed suit, falling out into the sink as if there
were no roots at all tethering them to my gums.
I was terrified, crying to myself, “What the hell is this? What’s going on?” The tears streamed down my face in great
fear. I rinsed my mouth out to find
minimal blood to my surprise though the alcohol of the mouthwash surely
burned.
I
got in the shower, still crying in confusion.
The water hit the bite on the back of my neck and it stung worse than
that of a needle. I reached back,
touching the wound, to find it bubbled up yet still open. I began to itch all over; a burning
itching. Despite the feeling of my skin
crawling I showered and wherever I washed was painful as if bruised. A large lump of sorts developed in my abdomen
causing extreme discomfort. I clutched
my stomach and dropped to the tub. I
managed to stand and finish rinsing off before getting out. I sit down on the toilet lid for a moment
while the pain in my stomach throbbed.
“Oh,
God, please help me!” I cried out in a
whimper. I know it’s not typically “manly”
for a grown man to be crying like that but it was all too much; just so
ridiculous. I went to the medicine
cabinet and took anything I could find to hopefully make the pain subside. I wiped off the steam from the mirror to see
my face has already changed yet again.
Out of every pore and hair follicle was a small thick, coarse black
hair. “What!? What is THAT!?” To say I was frightened and saddened is an
understatement. Upon touching my face,
inspecting this new…thing my finger nails broke off with ease as if they were
never on in the first place. The nails
drop down joining my teeth in the sink.
I could feel the little black hairs growing all over my body and it felt
like every individual hair on my body was being plucked slowly. The pain in my abdomen spiked and it felt as
if something was crawling around inside.
Whatever was bubbling around in my guts was scurrying painfully.
I
turned around and dropped to my knees before stuffing my fingers down my throat
attempting to throw up whatever is ailing me.
I heaved and heaved to no avail.
My stomach continued writhing in pain as the only thing that would come
up with water and bile. And then
something new; pressure. The force and
pressure was immense as if something was trying to exit my body. The pressure was dropping from my abdomen to
my bowels.
“RRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!” I screamed out so hard my vocal cords
strained and my eyes bulged and welled up with my view still in pieces. The pressure became too great and so I had to
try to force it out another way. I sat
on the toilet and pushed for a bowel movement as I felt it was my only option
at that point for immediate relief.
The
pressure moves, crawls, drops, PLUMMETS down to my rectum. My sphincter SPLITS leaving me in the most
agonizing pain imaginable. Whatever was
inside me left me into the toilet with a loud splashing THUD. I fell off the toilet from exhaustion and hit
the floor and apparently blacked out. I
wasn’t out for long and when I woke up my anus was killing me. Behind me was a mess of stringy white threads
coming out of me. I couldn’t understand
it. The thick hairs on my body had grown
more almost covering my skin in its entirety.
I got my near-lifeless body to turn around to look in the toilet, not
something of the norm for me. In the
porcelain bowl laid a thick mass covered in white webbing. “No fucking way…” I believed I just laid eggs. Whatever was inside that pulsating mess was
inside of me and surely spawned from that bite, but how? That’s impossible. Or so I thought. I took the egg sac out of the toilet and put
it on the dining room table under the newspaper. My body was then completely covered in the
coarse black hair. I put shorts on
regardless of the pain.
It
wouldn’t be long before Sylvia would get home and I waited in the
recliner. I didn’t feel up to leaving
the house and I knew I couldn’t call 9-1-1 as I knew there was nothing they
could do for me at that point but put me out of my misery. I knew in my heart of hearts that this wasn’t
a phase but a transformation; one that I couldn’t live with. Sylvia’s car pulled in and I had the lights
off and the shades drawn.
She
entered, “What’s going on, babe? Why is
it so dark in here?”
“I
don’t want you to see me like this.”
“Like
what? You’re scaring me!”
She
moved to turn on the lights. “No!” I shouted, but she didn’t listen and saw me
for what I had become. She was
speechless and began sobbing, “Honey, what is this!? What’s going on!?”
“The
bite… It changed me. It made me into…this. I love you but there’s no changing this. I need you to promise me something.”
“What? Anything.”
She said through salty tears.
“On
the table is…something. I want you to
take it to a doctor, a health department or anybody who will look at it.”
She
walked over glancing at the sac on the table, “What…is that?”
“I
don’t really know. It came out of me
earlier. I need you to go now and take
that with you and afterwards I want you to stay with your mother for a few
days. When you get there I want you to
call the police and send them over here.
The house will be quarantined for awhile.”
“I-I
don’t know if I can do this.” She cried.
“Sylvia,
please!” I yelled and gripped my pain
stricken body. “I don’t have much
time. Promise me you’ll take that
thing!”
She
sighed big in this unbelievable situation and steadied her breathing. When she was to leave I was set to drink the
spider and bug spray we kept beneath the kitchen sink. I had the tops off of them and was ready to
start guzzling the moment she drove away.
“I
love you.” I told her.
“I
love you too…” She said shaking her head
in disbelief before picking up the webbed sac from the table with a look of
disgust.
“Remember,
get that to somebody. It could be
important; I don’t know.”
She
said, “I will,” and left.
