Sunday, October 30, 2011

189/365 --Playlist Story-- inspired by "New Slang" by The Shins

Jeremy woke up one morning with a terrible toothache. He shuffled blindly to the bathroom, and turned on the light, squinting in it's harsh fluorescent glare.

"Gnnunnnng!" he screamed upon seeing his face in the mirror.

Out of his mouth wiggled a thick green tentacle. Jeremy started to gag in revulsion, his eyes buldging in terror, then steadied himself against the sink counter. He breathed in and out of his nose slowly, then brought his hand up to touch the tentacle with his finger. It recoiled in a curly cue at his touch and fresh pang of pain washed over him.

He picked up his electric toothbrush from it's holder and turned it on. It buzzed feebly and he rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, he shoved the brush end between jowl and tentacle and tried to reach tooth enamel, jamming the brush back and forth and up and down, but a large fleshy object impeded his progress. There was another crippling wave of pain, as if his alveolar nerve was plugged directly into a wall socket, and then the thing inside him squealed and squirted ink that came foaming out of his mouth, dotting the creamy white basin below him.

"Argnummmmm!" he screamed, managing to lodge the toothbrush between the thing and his teeth. As he worked, he felt something solid and hard clamped to his molars. He pressed the brush in further, prying, while the thing continued to squeal muffled inside him.

Finally it came loose and he spat it violently into the basin, with a thick trail of ink, blood, and saliva following like afterbirth. The thing writhed with three swirling, flailing tentacles. It had dull unblinking eyes, set in a patch of dots. And it had a mouth, a snapping orifice, with tiny rows of teeth of it's own, and within that a black barbed tongue that darted back and forth. It squealed one last time before finding the drain and propelling itself down.

Jeremy stared at the hole, relieved, but queasy with the after image of what had just transpired. He rubbed his cheek and felt the pain subside. He filled a cup with water and gargled out the remaining ink and blood, then rinsed out the sink and mopped up the overspray with a hand towel. He turned off the light and shuffled back to bed, falling asleep just as his head hit the pillow.

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