“Now You See Um!”

CW: Violence, Disturbing Imagery, Cannibalism

Hear ye! Hear ye, all young and old! What you may read here is incredibly bold. God made me write this. I believe in God, and His angels. This is what I was created to do. A long life of suffering has led to this point. Now, make a wish, or say a prayer, and jump off of the cliff, and into my story. Enjoy!

TRIGGER WARNING-

What you are about to read will disturb you to your core. It may make you question everything as I believe this was written by God- not me. I thought I was writing out of order, yet the words just flowed. “Part one- Evil little Monsters,” was even titled and started days prior to the Reedsy contest. Low and behold, I knew I was on to something great, so here it goes. Read carefully, and prepare to be disturbed.

“Now You See Um!”

Part One- Evil Little Monsters!

“They’re here! Don’t move a muscle. Shh. Quiet! Sit there prepared to die. Pray. It could be as simple as a hair blowing the wrong way in the wind, or it could be them! I’ve caught many just chilling on my forearm hairs, and I barely felt a thing l! I barely saw them, so you must be vigilant. Inspect each other. Care for each other, and when the time comes- KILL!”

Part Two- Martha!

We lost her first. Martha. She was just eight. They crawled into her eyes, and began to mate. Then she tried to claw them out, but she kept her nails so short for her fungal infection could not be cured. She scratched, and she scratched, and she cried out loud!

“Momma!” But Momma had already locked her in the attic to die alone by that time.

Part Three- “Yipee!”

Now, it was just a girl, Dorothea, and a boy, Max, and there was Momma. Oh yeah, and now there was the corpse of a girl that did all that she could, but the storm that had been brewing for days had reached the whole city. The closer you got to the shrubs or filth, which was unavoidable for those who walked, the more they would attack you.

“No-See-Ums. We are here to stay.” Said the great, mother goddess to her colony. “Yipee!”

Part Four- Signs Everywhere!

“DO NOT EAT OUTSIDE! NOTHING SWEET! RUN AND HIDE!! RUN AND HIDE!!!” Signs read that were stapled onto every surface along the city streets.

“DEATH!”

“BEWARE!!”

“THEY’LL GET IN YOUR UNDERWEAR!!!” “They suck on your flesh, and they do not care! No-See-Ums! NO-SEE-UMS!! BEWARE, BOYS, BEWARE!!! TAPE UP YOUR ORRIFICES! Go ahead! TAPE THEM UP!”

Part Five- The Itch!

Dreadful! Oh, it was dreadful the way they would latch on. The more you scratched the bites- the more inflamed you would become. If they made it into your bed, the tiny, little bastards would eat on you at night. Oh yes, they would eat on you. The females must have blood or else they do not procreate. No blood. No eggs, and they must have eggs. Are you scared? I am, too!

Part Six- “I’m Scared!”

“I’m scared! I can’t see them! Help!” Were Martha’s last words. Wait… What was that? Momma swore she heard one last whisper from the other side of the door. “They’re living inside me.” That was it. No more Martha.

Part Seven- Dawn.

It all happened at dawn. The No- See-Ums planned their attacks.

“Blood. We need blood! Eggs. We must have eggs!” Said the goddess.

“We shall rush in like wolves in the night!” Said her mate.

Part Eight- “He was so tough.”

Max had a coughing tic that grew out of control if he had even the smallest amount of stress. It was so bad that doctors said he could cough himself to death. He was so tough. So tough, and he was only six. He had a positive attitude, and he wanted to be a published author one day. On full disability, he knew that all he could do one day to contribute to society was to write. To entertain people with his words and imagination. At the age of five, he memorized The Bible, and began teaching study classes at his local Pentecostal church. He loved it. For someone who was completely and permanently disabled, it gave him purpose. A sense of meaning. It kept him sane. Without it, he feared he would lose it. Go mad. Without his Bible readings- something he focused on intensively- all he could think about were his tics. The more he thought about his tics the worse they got. Some days he would refuse to leave the house, and he would cough and cry. Coughing and crying all the time was exhausting, and he always thought about death, but as he would cling to his Bible, he would realize that God had a reason for his plight. He knew he could get through the flare-ups, but still he cried. Would he live to be the brilliant, published author he dreamed of being? Would he cough and cry all of the time? Would he die a different way then what the doctors had expected? Poor Max. Poor, little Max.

Part Nine- Poor, Little Max.

Max felt something crawling up his leg.

“No. No! Not my penis!” He shouted.

Momma rushed in to check his left leg, but it was on his right.

“No. No!” He shouted again, but it was too late. Into Max’s lower backside orifice it went, and poor, little Max could not help but scream!

Part Ten- Dorothea, and The Plant that Would Not Grow. One Night About a Year Ago.

Two years. Dorothea had had that damn plant for almost two years. Momma said to throw it out, but no, Dorothea would not for she loved the plant so much that she would stare at it for hours.

“Grow. Please grow.” She would say to it like a mother to her child. “Be healthy. Oh, please grow!”

Part Eleven-The Ant of the Antebellum. An Omen. Death Will Happen. Be Scared!

There was an ant that liked to spit on the heels of those he passed. They’re going to step on me! He would think.

He would do whatever he could to protect himself, and his family.

Then splat! He got stepped on! That was that. Momma stepped on him. He did love the sun. It did make him happy.

For God so loved… but why did He make horrible creatures that taunt us? For God so loved…Why?! Momma wondered.

Part Twelve- An Update.

Dorothea knew. She knew that her plant was finally dying, and that she was the only one who could put it out of it’s misery. Death! Oh no! She thought. DEATH!! OH NO!!! Then like a comet out of space, she rushed to her plants side. Water. It needed water, and sunlight. Purple Passion Plants were beautiful, and Dorothea wanted it back!

Almost three years later, and it was just a stem. Purple Passion Plants have fuzzy, purple and green leaves. Highly decorative, and pleasing to look at.

“Resurrect.” She said. “Resurrect, or I shall join you in death.” Mind you, she was only twelve, but she meant every word.

Part Thirteen- Dorothea’s Big Return to the Story!

“Bly me! Alrighty! I’ll be quiet, but…”Dorothea exclaimed to God in prayer as Momma ordered her to do in private, “why did you make insects? Horrible ones? Ones that could crawl all up inside me, and send me straight to Heaven when I want to live right here on earth with my loved ones bother free? Why? Poor Max. He is having a tough time. Poor, dead Martha. Why did you do that to her? Why?” If only she had had longer nails, and none of that irritating fungus. If only. She would have been able to claw the bloodsuckers out before they mated in her brain. Poor Martha! Poor, poor Martha!

Part Fourteen- Dinner.

It felt tight. Snug, but comfortable inside. Blood. It needed blood. She needed blood. So she bit. She bit down hard, and away she went. Chomping, and laughing. Blood!

Yum! She thought. Blood. Eggs! Soon there shall be eggs!

“All hail the goddess! Hail!” She exclaimed from inside. Way, way deep inside. “Power! Give me more power!” She cried! But, no. She just got to feed that day.

Part Fifteen- Cazan!

As the No-See-Ums boiled their dead, it was time for a cannibalistic feast that had been provided by the gods- they believed.

Yum. Blood.

The corpses were boiled rare as the No-See-Ums needed blood. Lots of blood. They delighted in the undertones of bloody diseases, and the likes of patrinomies that had threatened their living spaces. The patrinomies threatened to spray them all down, so they could sell their properties pest free, but the great mother goddess was not having it.

“Attack!” She exclaimed as the spray came flying. “Kill!” So they killed the spraying bastard, and they enjoyed watching him bleed out.

Yum. Blood.

They feasted on the corpse they carefully boiled in honor of Cazan!

Part Sixteen- Antebellum.

The war between insects, and man had begun. It was in part due to the fact that the great mother goddess would kill for babies. Oh, yes. Redemption. Redemption for Jake!

Dear God. Heavenly Father. Lord of Lords. My son. I miss my son, and when Momma sat on him, and snuffed his life out- I decided to kill off her bloodline.

“Jake. My poor, Jake! I shall never say his name out loud again. Now, onward! Attack!”

Part Seventeen- Flare-Ups!

“I think I’m just having a flare-up.” Said poor Max as he coughed. “Oops!” He said. “I pee’d a little.” But this did not stop the female from chomping harder and harder. “Ow! Oh, ow!” Poor Max. Poor, poor Max exclaimed!

Part Eighteen- On the Inside of Things.

Yum. Blood!

Part Nineteen- The Surge.

She decided to call in the Calvary. She stuck her head out, and called,

“All is well! Hurry. Join me! Come, and feast all you want for I am loving every moment of my life right now! Oh, Heaven. This is truly Heaven. Blood. Yum. Oh, everyone. Join me. For I am deep, deep in a valley full of blood, and sustenance. Feed. Let us feed together. All of us. Let’s feed on Max.”

Then, what happened next even surprised me. A surge of No-See-Ums dropped in from the sky, and went at poor Max as if he were meant to be their Thanksgiving dinner.

Yum. They thought, but Max was not very pleased. Yum.

Part Twenty- “No Joke!”

“No joke! Momma! Let me out!” Max screamed as she had locked him in the attic with his dead sister. “Let me..”

Then the No-See-Ums inside him began to mate. Momma knew this, and began to cry from outside.

Part Twenty-One- Momma.

“Oh, dang.” She muttered. Momma was not having any more. It was over. This was going to stop. Prayer. She thought. This world needs more prayer.

Part Twenty-Two- “Uh-Oh! The Dario!”

“Goodness!” Shouted Max at Momma. “What have you done?!”

Then the goddess called out from beyond Max’s walls,

“How dare you! How dare you allow that cow to sit on my son!”

Then Max saw her. The goddess. She appeared, and no one had ever laid eyes on her before. She was beautiful. Magnificent. A spectacle in shiny grey lighting. She was a purple, fleshy color now that she had just eaten. Beautiful.

Part Twenty-Three- Astonished.

Max cried,

“They’re hurting me. If there is a God, and if you are a goddess, then why?”

“Go into that corner, and look into that mirror.” Interrupted the Lord, Jesus Christ from Heaven. “Go into that corner. Ask for your Momma’s forgiveness, and you shall receive.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Hey now.”

Max went into that corner, and he took out a knife.

“As God is my witness, I want to have a life.”

With his blade in hand, God hollered out,

“No!”

For God decided to spare most that day. All the goodies, and the baddies. Well, almost all. All except the, well, you shall see.

Part Twenty-Four- But…

On the day of the twentieth anniversary of Cazan, the goddess got her anniversary wish. She wanted bright, hot pink larvae, and green herbs, and ham. Yum.

Oh, it was a glorious day right before the, “Attackenning.” The goddess had decided she wanted all or nothing just before the strike. Then, He whispered in her ear.

“Peace be with you.” She shut Him out cold.

Part Twenty-Five- “Oh My! Oh No!”

The Lord shown bright in all His glory.

“Blessed be you, and yours, my dear one, for you have survived many challenges of faith. Remember this. For God so loved the world that He gave His only…”

“I know. I know the rest.” Momma said, and then a glorious rainbow appeared. God was pleased. Martha got her life back, and Dorothea’s Purple Passion Plant grew a new leaf, and sprouted three inches overnight.

Part Twenty-Six- Death!

Death! She thought as she walked out to get some air. It was the great mother goddess with larvae in her hair. No-See-Ums were perched on a branch outside Max’s window just waiting for her. No more war! They all thought.

She swung back, but they got her. She slapped and slapped, but they were too much for her. Death! Oh my! Oh no! Death! Then Momma sat right on the bitch, and put her right out of her misery.

Part Twenty-Seven- Epilogue- Cardinals! They Bring Messages from the Beyond!

Cardinals stay close to their mates. I love how they call to their loved ones! They send beautiful messages to each other, and they channel the beyond!

“I found one! I found two! Yum, blood! No-See-Ums. Yum.”

Part Twenty-Eight- Dear God! Please!

Right before she sat on me- I cried. I just needed to feed. Blood. I just needed blood.

Cardinals ate up all of the leftover No-See-Um’s corpses. God had put them all to death. The plague was over, and God accepted every lost soul into Heaven.

One soul asked God,

“Will there be blood in Heaven?!”

Yum. Blood!

Part Twenty-Nine- The Final Chapter.

After Max passed away, God loved Max so much that He wondered who else would entertain Him like Max did. So, He began the rapture as Max sang Him His favorite songs.