Marcus sat on a park bench in the shade with his 4 year-old son Devin. The pair was taking a break from football and enjoying the ice cream cones that Marcus had bought for them. Marcus thought that this past week must have been the hottest St. Louis has ever seen and that the shady bench was a godsend. Both Devin and himself were sweating from head to toe and their ice creams were rapidly liquifying in their cones. The boy and his father made a peculiar pair with Marcus being 6’3’’ while his son’s legs didn’t even touch the ground on the bench. He looked at Devin and saw that his ice cream had slipped out of his cone and onto the hot pavement. Devin looked at his father and began to cry loudly. Marcus picked Devin up in his arms. “It’s ok buddy, it’s ok. I’ll get you another one, yeah? Hush now, quit your crying”, Marcus said while holding Devin in his arms with the child’s head pressed against his chest. Then Marcus noticed an foul odor.After a few second he realized that it was coming from his son. Devin looked at him except that it wasn’t Devin anymore. Devin’s head had been replaced with that of a worm, it was making terrible hissing noises and lunging towards Marcus. It had no eyes and a ring of razor sharp teeth lining its mouth in a circle. “Dad”, the revolting thing said. “Daaaaaaaad”. Then the creature lunged at Marcus’ face and was on him before he could even scream.

Marcus woke up screaming and in a cold sweat. There were marks on his palms where his nails had dug into flesh. He immediately looked over to his wife’s spot in the bed but, of course, she wasn’t there. The alarm clock on his nightstand said 3:00 A.M. Marcus sat in bed, breathing hard for about a minute before getting up and going to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and seeing his appearance just made him more tired. Marcus hadn’t had a decent meal since the accident and his eyes resembled deep pits in his skull. He also hadn’t had a good nights rest in 12 weeks and 6 days and it was definitely showing. He was still quite large muscle wise but had lost a considerable amount of weight. The bags under his eyes grew larger with each sleepless night and his five o’clock shadow had transitioned into a full beard. He realized that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight and splashed cold water on his face. When he looked back in the mirror he noticed a slight movement behind him. There , on the edge of the toilet seat, crawled a worm. Marcus recoiled at the sight of it but quickly regained his composure. He was immediately reminded of the day of the accident. The day his son died. They were in the park and Devin spotted an ice cream truck across the street and took off after it. Marcus yelled after him but it was too late. A truck came around the corner and failed to see the child due to his short height. The impact sent the boy flying across the pavement, landing with a distant thud. Marcus rushed to his son and saw that it was too late. Marcus looked at Devin’s broken body and saw a worm crawl along his face.  Then Marcus was back in the present, staring down at the worm. To be scared by such a little thing was silly and he scolded himself for it. If he wanted to he could crush the worm with his pinky. However, this didn’t stop the uneasy feeling that he had gotten on seeing the worm. He walked over to the toilet and flicked the worm into the bowl, just to be safe. He then flushed and watched it swirl away from him. Marcus immediately felt better and continued getting ready. He resumed his morning routine and 20 minutes later he was ready for work. He still had 4 hours before he needed to be there so he sat on his couch to wait. His eyes scanned the his apartment and landed on a family photo from 2 years ago. The photo displayed him and his wife standing on either side of Devin, each holding one of his hands as he took some of his first steps. It was then that Marcus realized that he had never cried for his wife, now dead for almost one year, or his son. When his wife died he wanted to look strong for Devin but now that Devin was gone he had no reason not to let it out. However, he had been raised in a world men, especially of his size, didn’t give in to such emotional outbursts. To cry was to admit weakness, or so Marcus believed. He looked at the photo again while remembering that day. Remembering how happy they all were. A deep, aching desire for his lost family and when the pain became to much to bare he leapt off the couch and turned the photo over, never reaching the catharsis he desperately needed. He decided he would walk to work to pass the time, anything to get out of that apartment. Marcus was a mechanic and had recently been working a lot to keep his mind occupied. He thought that maybe if he ignored the pain it would go away. Marcus emerged from his apartment and onto the street, relieved to be in the fresh autumn air. He turned and started his walk to work. The city was still waking up and the sun was just barely visible behind an oncoming cloud. Soon after Marcus noticed this a light rain began to fall. Marcus started to walk faster in an attempt to stay dry. Eventually, Marcus noticed that the rain seemed irregular in size. One drop landed on Marcus’s face. It landed on the bridge of his nose and came apart on impact. It left some sticky residue that didn’t feel much like water. He looked at the ground and saw the destroyed remains of the “rain drop”. It was a night crawler, or another worm of similar size. It was all the same to Marcus and he jumped back, startled. He looked up to see hundreds of worming careening down towards him. He began to run.  With each worm that touched him his mind was transported back to that fateful day at the park. A decaying, earthly smell filled the air and Marcus broke out into a full sprint towards the nearest shelter. However, it was so early that no businesses were open and Marcus wasn’t about to bust into a random apartment. And so he was forced to return how to avoid the horrid rain. He burst into his apartment panting and locked the door behind. He closed his eyes for a minute or so to catch his breath. We he opened his eyes his heart seemed to skip a beat. On his couch sat his deceased wife and son. They turned to him in unison and stared at his face. Their eyes were empty sockets, each filled to the brim with worms. They opened their mouths as if to speak but their words were incomprehensible due to the cascade of worms that poured from their mouths. Then, the seated pair leapt at Marcus soundlessly. Before Marcus could react their cold hands were on him. Marcus was to shocked and tired to even resist as they began to wrap their arms around him. Marcus closed his eyes and and gritted his teeth, preparing for the end. He felt their arms wrap around him and squeeze with fierce intensity. After a few moments Marcus opened his eyes and saw that neither one was harming him. They were simply hugging. Marcus took in this information slowly and then shedded a tear. Then his family disappeared and he fell the the floor, entering grief’s sweet embrace.