“Something is crawling inside my head,” the eleven-year-old boy pleaded, but the adults dismissed it as a bid for attention. It wasn’t until a young doctor saw the movement on a high-def monitor that the medical team realized the horrific truth.
3:30 AM. In a modest, drafty two-bedroom house on the edge of a quiet Ohio suburb, the silence was broken only by the hum of the old refrigerator in the kitchen. Toby woke up with a jolt, a searing pain lancing through his right ear like a hot needle. He bit his lip to keep from crying out; he knew if he woke Linda, it would only lead to another lecture about “making things up.”
The eleven-year-old sat up cautiously, trying not to let the old mattress springs creak. The pain pulsed in time with his heartbeat, and deep inside his ear, something shifted. He had lived with this sensation for five years—nearly half his life.
But tonight was different. Toby pressed his palm against his ear and felt a distinct vibration under his skin. Desperate, he began to scratch at the outer canal, trying to reach the intruder that had been tormenting him from within.
His skin quickly turned raw, but he couldn’t stop. The movement inside intensified, as if something were trying to burrow deeper to escape him. A warm, sticky fluid began to trickle down his neck.
Toby pulled his hand away and saw dark stains on his fingers, mixed with a thick, translucent discharge. It had a faint, sickly-sweet metallic smell. He wiped his hand on his pajama pants and whispered to himself, “Not again.”
He slipped out of bed and padded down the hallway to the bathroom. The linoleum was cold under his bare feet. He flipped the switch, and the flickering fluorescent light cast a harsh glow over the dated wallpaper and peeling paint.
Toby leaned over the sink and stared at his reflection. His right ear was bright red and swollen, his face pale, with dark circles under his eyes from years of interrupted sleep. He tilted his head, trying to see into the canal, but the light wasn’t right. Then, the movement started again—followed by a faint, high-pitched clicking sound.
Comments are closed.