Food Poisoning

Food Poisoning  (Horror)



         When Merissa took her first deep inhale of fresh coffee, she felt the world sigh with her. Her life had seemed to be getting dirtier and more frantic every day they spent in the city. It meant so much to her to have a little time away from it, even if it was only an afternoon. She had driven to her best friend, Karon’s, house just an hour or so out of the city, and now they were both starring out the window watching their kids play.

         “It seems unreal doesn’t it?” Karon asked over her own steaming mug.

         Rather than break the moment, Merissa just looked up and raised an eyebrow.

         “This moment, I guess. It’s just easy to get lost sometimes, but moments like this seem perfect. Like something you would see on T.V.” She dropped another sugar cube into her drink, which really wasn’t coffee at this point. “Anyway hun, how have you been? You two don’t come see us enough.”

         She smiled. It was true; they hadn’t been here in almost a year. “I know. God, do I know. It’s been too long. I didn’t think Eric would recognize Breezy.” Merissa nodded her head toward the window, to the yard where they were digging in a plastic turtle sandbox. “But it looks like he remembered her.” She gave a fake laugh, as women are apt to do when they’re together. She silently scorned herself, but old habits die hard.

         “How’s he getting on without Dan around?” If women are apt to fake laughter, they’re almost required to break the moment with a serious topic that no one wants to discuss.

         “He’s hurt. You know, why isn’t Daddy here anymore? Kind of thing. But I think he’s starting to understand. We couldn’t deal with that any more, and I think he knows it. Doesn’t make those questions any easier to answer though.”

         They let the moment pass in silence, each immersed in appreciating children at play. The sand was wet from recent rain, so the kids were patting it into loose piles they fancied as castles. No matter how many times Eric tried to shape the towers, the sand just crumbled. On his most recent attempt, after the inevitable crumbling something must have struck them as silly, because both Eric and Briana fell to the ground, squirming and panting from a heavy giggle fit.

         “What happened to him? Dan, I mean.”

         “I don’t know, we had to leave at night.” Merissa stopped and took a long drink from her mug, feeling unresolved emotions bubble up and catch in her throat. She took a deep breath and gathered her resolve. “He had been drinking again, and didn’t recognize me. There toward the end, he didn’t know who either of us were. He kept insisting that his wife and daughter had died. I didn’t know what to do, sometimes he was a loving father, and the man that I had fallen for.” She stopped to sniff, still staring out the window. Though she didn’t see the yard, she was looking into the past.

         “But he kept getting worse. Even when he was sound enough to know who I was he still insisted that Eric was his daughter, and would go into his room to read to him. He called him Becky.” Karon watched as her friend wiped a lone tear away with the back of her finger, knowing that now wasn’t the time for comfort. She didn’t dare interrupt. “Anyway, that night he lost it, worse than I had ever seen. He was drinking and getting angry because he didn’t know who I was, he said I couldn’t replace ‘her’ and to get out of his house. He hit me, Kare, he actually fucking hit me.”

         She let her head drop and just stared at her lap, letting silent tears fall until Karon kneeled next to her chair and put her arms around Merissa. She rocked back and forth, letting her friend cry. A burst of emotion that she had likely been holding back for months.

         “I couldn’t keep Eric there, I couldn’t let him grow up with a father like that. I hate him.” Her voice started to shake and a moan escaped her throat when she tried to reign in her pain. “But I still love him. God it’s so hard, because I still love him.”

         Karon kissed her forehead and shushed her, rocking back and forth as though she were calming a fussing child. “I’m proud of you sweetheart, you did the right thing.”

         Merissa sobbed lightly into her friend’s chest, taking comfort from the embrace. Thankful she still had someone to console her in a moment of weakness. Through blurry vision, streaked with tears she noticed the kids disappear behind a bush and back into the trees, but before she could raise an objection Karon soothed her worry about that too.

         “It’s ok. You’re not in the city anymore, they’ll be alright.”

         She contented herself with the answer, thought the worried stomach of a mother is not easily satisfied. Merissa calmed herself, but still sat, silent in the arms of a friend.

         “Comm’er, I wanna show you something.” Eric couldn’t help but be enthralled by her giggling, it was so innocent, so pure. It reminded him what it was like to be a kid, he hadn’t done much playing since they moved to the city. So he let himself giggle too and ran behind her, trying to keep up.

         “Where are we going?” He yelled up ahead as she darted behind a bush.

         “Geez Eric, you ask too many questions. Just sit tight and find out.” She scolded.

         He almost tripped on thick roots when he came around the corner. So quick the grass and open yard had turned into forest. There were old leaves and fallen sticks on the ground, making him watch were he put his feet. ‘Test your weight first before you commit to the step,’ he remembered his father telling him once, when they went camping. So he focused on navigating the woods, testing every step before he took another.

         “Come on, slowpoke!” He looked up to see Breezy with her hands on her hips yelling at him. She had climbed up a short embankment with the aid of a waterfall of roots spilling out over the rock. “They’re just leaves!” She shouted.

         When he got to the ridge she had climbed he looked at the roots, not quite sure he trusted them. But with enough playful mocking from the girl who was already on top, he took hold of them with both hands, and with an exaggerated grunt, heaved himself partway up. Before he could secure another grip on the roots his feet washed out from under him and the dirt crumbled like his castle and sent him sprawling onto his face.

         He grunted again and heard Breezy above him giggling. Eric stood and wiped dirt from his lip and furled his brow. He was determined to look tough. She leapt down and patted dirt off of his back and chest. “Come on, silly. It’s not that hard.”

         She reached out and grabbed his hand, leading him over to the roots. He just gave a shy smile and let her guide his hand to one of the thicker ones. “Just grab here.” She pointed with his other hand to a rock lodged in the side of the dirt. “And when you pull yourself up grab that.” She leaned down and grabbed his ankle, placing his foot on a secure patch of earth. “Now, one, two, three!” She counted and grabbed his bottom with both hands, boosting him up.

         When he felt her hands on his backside, Eric’s face turned red and he scrambled up the dirt as quick as he could, clawing at the dirt and raking his hands through the roots. His feet kicked and showed clumps of mud down on Breezy who glared up at him, her hands once again on her hips.

         “What did you do that for?” She shouted up to him, but he was paying her no mind, already fascinated with what he saw on the other side of the ledge.

         The ledge opened up to a steep hill, covered in moss and the brightest green grass Eric had ever seen. The moss tumbled down into a slow running creek that reflected the few beams of light that broke through the trees, and bounced them around the forest. Standing guard over the creek was a huge old tree, with gnarled bark and thick clumps of moss griping to the limbs. All around the tree, butterflies danced with one another, fluttering out to the water and back to the soft moss of the tree.

         Eric couldn’t look away from the towering tree and its rainbow aura of thin, flapping wings. He hadn’t even noticed Briana crawl up beside him, her dress thick with mud after trying to find a new path through the bank that he destroyed.

         “Toldja it was neat.” She said.

         He looked over to her like he wasn’t sure why she was there, the way you might look if you ran into someone at the grocery store. This place was magic and he didn’t want to look away for too long, so he gave her a wide toothless grin and proclaimed. “That’s a big ol’ bitch!” He threw himself down the hill toward the creek.

         Briana gasped and called out behind him, “That’s a bad word! Where did you learn to say that?” She chased him down, her feet having to keep up with the rest of her body as she hurled down the slick moss.

         Before she could stop herself she collided with him and they both tumbled to the ground. He didn’t seem to mind and lifted his head from the tangle of limbs and told her, “I go to school in the city, I know all kinds of naughty words.” His face still plastered with the same bemused smile.

         Eric crossed the stream in three long leaps and at first the butterflies scattered, seeking refuse in the shadows of the tree. He frowned and held his hands out, urging them to come back out to play. When the first hesitant one poked its head out and drifted a bit closer to him he smiled and giggled like he hadn’t giggled since he was with his daddy.

         “Eric, don’t!” She yelled and tried to cross the stream, but she slipped and slick rocks and fell into the water. When she looked up, with her hands stretched toward him shouting, “They’re fairies!” she knew it was too late, he was already flapping his arms and dancing with them.

         He held his fingers out and one of the butterflies fluttered down to rest on the tips of them. It was the biggest one there and had bright green and orange wings, with long antennas twitching toward Eric’s face, saying hello. He looked past the butterfly to see Breezy soaked and screaming at him, with her hands groping for him. But he couldn’t hear her, instead he just looked back to the butterfly.

         The women had taken their spots back on either side of the table and were laughing about celebrities and talking offering absent conversation about day to day life when the screen door banged against the dryer and Breezy’s shriek echoed through the house.

“Mommy!” she screamed loud enough for her voice to shake, shrill and ringing. “Mommy!” She cried again, jumping into Karons lap, sobbing. “I took him,” She stopped to gasp, cries stealing her breath.

Merissa jumped up, yelling to the door, “Eric?”

“It’s ok sweetie, breath. Now tell me what happened.” Karon smoothed the hair out of Briana’s face while the little girl took a deep breath and tried to talk through her wails.

“I took him to see the fairies, we went to see the butterflies.”

Merissa rounded the corner back into the kitchen. “Where is Eric?” She snapped, a mothers worry speaking for her.

“We went to see the butterflies.” Breezy’s eyes were red and swollen.

Her mother looked at her sternly and grabbed each of her shoulders. “What happened? Where’s Eric, baby? Did he fall in the creek?”

Brianna shook her head. “No, he didn’t fall in.”

“Then what’s wrong, what happened to him?”

The little girl took another deep breath and her sobs became soft moans. She met Karon’s eyes for a moment before she whispered, “He started eating them.”

He remembered that when his mother had come over the ridge he was still dancing, his arms flapping at his sides while his hands darted out to catch them. His fingers already caked with pollen, and his mouth working at the dry flaky wings. He remembered legs twitching in his mouth, trying to climb past his lips, even in death trying to get away. He remembered Breezy screaming and his mother running at him, but he couldn’t stop himself from eating.

More than any of that, he remembered the light feeling in his stomach, like he could fly. His whole body had been tingling and he his head felt light. None of the butterflies had run from him, only brought more to play. He felt like he was bathing him them. He had tossed his shirt off and could feel their wings and feet tickling his bare chest.

Eric had grabbed them by the hand full and when his mouth was full, he rubbed them across his chest, smearing them on his skin, until his mothers sharp hand clamped over his arm and jerked him away from the tree. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him through the water while he screamed and reached for the butterflies.

He felt them waving to him, looking sad as they watched him being dragged away. He tried everything to get away, squirming from her grasp and planting his feet on the ground. But she pulled him all the way to the car and put him into the back seat.

He remembered his mother apologizing to Karon and Breezy before she got in the car and drove him home. The whole way she was yelling at him. First he had been acting out in school, she said. Then causing problems with the neighbors, and now this? What was wrong she yelled, why was he acting like this.

But it all seemed so far away for Eric, all he remembered feeling was the warmth in his stomach and the magic in his veins. He felt full, he felt loved. And when he could feel the fairy magic tickling in his chest, he didn’t think about how much he missed daddy, or how much he hated the city. He just laid across the back seat and stared out the window, enjoying being full again.

When they got back to the city his mother went back to work, but she made him talk to the school therapist. He was a funny smelling man with no hair and big glasses. He asked question after question, about what happened when he went with Breezy, about his mother, about his home, and his father. And no matter how many of them he answered, the man still didn’t understand.

“I don’t know how to explain it. I just felt full. It made me feel good.”

He heard the man explaining to his mother that Eric was unable to cope with the loss of his father, and that he was acting out to get attention. Maybe she should take some time to spend with just him, show him some extra attention.

The next week Merissa took time off of work and came home early, hoping to make it home before Eric so she could surprise him when he got out of school. When she opened the door she saw that his backpack had already been flung over a chair and his shoe had been kicked into the hallway.

“Eric?” She called and heard a banging in his room.

She stopped and listened again, hearing more movement in his room, but no response from him. Merissa rushed into her sons room to see him slamming the window and turning around with wide eyes and a bottle of grape juice.

“Mom! I.. um..” He began but stuttered.

She met him with only a strict stare, telling him to move.

“I was just going to…” She put her hand on his shoulder and moved him away from the window.

He babbled behind her, trying to say anything and everything he could think of to keep himself out of trouble. Outside the window was a foot wide wooden ledge that stretched out on either side. On the ledge, just under one of the lights that lit the patio was an old plastic tray. The bottom was crusted with old juice and a swamp of wings and legs. Bits of moth and gnats were glued to the bottom, drowned by fresh juice.

She watched legs and half a body spasm in the slime, and she saw where the wings were missing. Merissa had a pretty good idea of where they had gone, and spun around ready to scream, but when she saw him, his head just hung. His dirty blonde hair draped over his face and hid his teary eyes.

“I’m sorry mommy,” He sniffled. “I was hungry.”

She knelt next to him and hugged her son, kissing him. “Baby, there’s food in the fridge.”

“Not that kind of hungry.” He let his head rest on her shoulder and weakly hugged her back.

Eric had been catching moths for weeks before his mother found the tray. He felt so empty, and didn’t understand why he yearned to go back to the woods. When she took the tray he tried to fight it, but he knew the moths weren’t helping the ache in his chest.

The next day he squatted by his closet door and shoved piles of toys and clothes out of the way. Past a big plastic bin that served as his toy box he had hidden another tray of juice. When he slid it out he saw a big brown spider wrestling the goop. It had long legs and a hairy brown body, his mother had warned him about this kind when they moved here. She said that they were very poisonous and that he had to stay away from them.

He reached down and grabbed one of its legs, tugging it out of the tray, but he was careful not to hurt it. Eric dangled it in front of his face and then let it fall onto the back of his other hand. It crawled up and down his arms and he let it jump from one hand to the other, playing with it. He held his forearm up to his face and talked to the spider, seeing its fangs rolling back and forth.

When the spider lost its novelty, he just popped it into his mouth and crunched away. He felt his skin tingle when he shoved the tray back into his closet. That didn’t help either, the hunger burned at his chest and gave a very sharp pain in his head. Eric heaved himself onto his bed and felt his stomach cramping while something churned under the skin of his back.

He cradled his stomach and rocked back and forth crying, trying to think of some way to soothe his hunger. He remembered how the butterflies had whispered to him while they danced. Now he whispered back to them, telling them how hungry he was, and that he loved them.

Eric lay alone on his bed and wept to the shadows in his room. He cried and wished for friends, he wished his mother had never pulled him away from them, and that he might still be dancing with them now. When he felt the hunger eating up his insides and splitting his head he wished that he had never been born.

When Merissa got home it was already dark and the apartment was quiet. She had hoped to catch Eric before he went to bed so she could read him a story. She tiptoed up to his room, trying hard not to wake him. When she got close she saw that his door was open and felt a cool breeze coming from his room.

She opened the door, hoping he hadn’t fallen asleep with the window open. Trying to rationalize her maternal fear, she assured herself that was it. He was watching TV or reading and just fell asleep with the window open. But before she even went in, she knew he wasn’t in his bed. Mother’s intuition couldn’t have prepared her for what she saw.

The widow was open and the sill was littered with crumbled cheerios. His curtains flapped in and out in the breeze and her gaze fell to a hammer lying on the floor. She reached out with a blind hand stumbling against the side of the wall until she found the light switch.

It flashed and she saw the hammer was covered in gore and blood dripped across the floor to the far side of her son’s bed. She was shaky and watched herself from another world as she edged around the bed. She saw her eyes dart away and her hand cover a shriek.

On the other side of the bed was crumbled, broken carcass. What had once been a pidgeon was now a headless mass of feathers, one of its wings and most of its body gnawed away. What lay on the floor was only a heap of feathers and blood. Merissa saw the stain on the floor, the blood mostly dry. She saw where her son’s tongue had left a pattern in the mess, where he had licked the gore from the floor boards.

Breezy was playing in her sandbox, and humming to herself. She kept looking up to the forest on the other side of the yard, it seemed so dark. She hadn’t been in there in months, not since she had taken Eric there. She was afraid that the fairies would be mad at her. She thought that they would blame her for the way that he had attacked them.

She hummed louder and tried not to think about it. Her mommy had said that Eric had gone missing a few weeks ago. She said that she thought he crawled out of the window and run away, and that if they didn’t find him Merissa may come stay with them for a while.

It kind of made her sad to think that he was missing, and she felt bad because secretly, she thought he deserved it, for the way he treated the fairies.

The trees moaned in the wind and she thought she heard a whisper. He looked up at the tree line and saw one butterfly float out of the trees and flutter over the bush before it disappeared back inside. Briana was scared but she wanted to follow the Fairy, she wanted to tell them that she was sorry, so that maybe they would let her back in.

She stood on shaky legs, wobbly with fear. Even though she was nervous she still brushed off the dirt and started walking to the trail. Her steps grew more resolute until she reached the tree line, and then she saw just how dark the forest really was.

Instead of the warm glow that was normally passed between the trees, all that was left was an icy silence that echoed back into the forest. Spider webs were thick and stretched across her path. She felt her hair stand on end and almost turned to leave, but she saw the bright yellow wings of the fairy disappear behind the ridge. The vibrant butterfly contrasted the woods and made the place seem darker. More grey.

She edged into the trees and felt the forest groan under her feet. Her feet moved as slowly as Eric’s had, afraid that if she broke the smallest twig, the noise would shatter the world. The trees responded to her fast breathing with its own breath, slow and deep. Breezy felt like she was being swallowed and gooseflesh scarred her arms.

After climbing the roots she felt spiders on her hands, and worms writhing under her feet. She clawed spider webs from her face and looked down the hill to the tree. The water was dark and made no sound as it trickled across the rocks.

The butterflies stood out against the icy black forest, their wings were rich with color and fluttered just as freely around the base of the tree, ignoring the ominous tone of the woods. She took a deep breath and watched it come out as a cloud from her pale lips. The cold was like walking into a freezer when she took her first step down the hill.

“I’m so sorry,” She started speaking to the Fairies, ready to plead forgiveness, when she was interrupted by a hollow raspy voice.

“Breezy…” It strained.

She followed the sound up to the lowest branch and cried when she saw the twisted body hunched, and starring at her. The limbs were long and thin, twisted at gross angles and covered in filth. Its fingers were pointed into claws and it griped at the bark, leaning toward her. It coughed and wheezed her name again, “Breezy…” as it reached out for her, losing its grasp and falling with a thud to the ground.

Briana wanted to turn, she wanted to run away, but she was locked in the moments of fear between thinking and acting. The slow agonizing moments where her body would not respond and she was forced to just stare in horror at the mutated boy lying at the ground under the tree.

She watched it raise its deformed head to her, its jagged fingernails clawing at the air between them. Deep in the mauled flesh of its face she saw a single human roll back and forth, coated with dark slime, and she recognized the pain and lonely star of a lost boy.

“Breezy...” It rasped again, fighting to stand.

She saw its body covered in fine hair, and lumps curl out from it’s back. “Eric? I…I…” Her body reacted and her feet spun, slipping in the mud while she scrambled away from the tree. Her legs pumped and she slid down the embankment, feeling the forest melt around her. She felt her legs stick in the mud, but she closed her eyes and ran harder. The ground she thought, felt like old sticky juice, sucking at her shoes and trying to hold her to the ground.

She burst from the tree line soaked, into the pouring rain. She didn’t stop to look back, Briana only cried as she ran for the back door. Behind her the forest whispered.

“Breezy… I’m so hungry.” She heard Eric calling from the trees.