Fungal Halo

Even the machinery of time experiences wear and tear from use. Gears lose teeth, rust builds. Folks don’t often notice the minor grinding or a jump here or there, but sometimes a gear slips and you experience an extra day nobody else in your life passes through. Or you lose one.

I dream of sailing my ship until I reach the sea of stars. I dream of meeting you there, endless, unknowable, and beautiful beyond fathoming. I dream of kissing you until you consume me and I become another smeared brush stroke among the many comprising your being.

Venom dripping from her fangs into my eager mouth. I hunger for it, but it does not fill me; it empties me. I am devoured from the inside, and all I can do is crave more.

The creature stalks the halls, hunting while you cower in hiding. But you can only hide for so long, can you, before…what is it? Boredom? Curiosity? Something compels you to peek out for a brief glimpse of it?

I reach inside for my power, that perfect light within which gives unassailable force to my every action, and for the first time ever, my grasp closes around nothing at all. Emptiness answers my summons. I peer within and see only a yawning abyss where once was a shining column.

I stumble and fall again, dropping the pitcher, its precious fluid spilled and wasted as it shatters on the ground. My limbs struggle to bear me upright again when I feel the heel of Her boot on my back, the weight of Her disappointment in me holding me down.

I stare into the mirror, watching the fat slithering shapes writhing under my skin, distorting my face into a grotesque parody of humanity. In a panic, I try squashing them down with my hands, begging them to disappear. They don’t hide under the surface for long before returning.

She crossed the room leaving a smudge across my vision that no amount of blinking would clear. Her fingertips bled black ink into the air around them. I should have been afraid, but I was transfixed, couldn’t let her leave my sight. I ditched my friends and followed her outside.

This, but even smaller.

No, smaller than that. Too small to make out any individual spider with your naked eye.

Watch me roll into town like the morning fog, a hazy cloud covering the area. Before you realize anything is abnormal, you’ve already breathed me in. You’re mine now.