I felt a void in my head, as if some surgeon had opened my skull and scooped half of my brains with a teaspoon. It didn’t really hurt. I experienced quite a comfortable feeling, a sort of light numbness similar to the beginning stages of drunkenness.
I recognized in a blur the silhouette of a body lying next to me. I tried to move out of bed, but I couldn’t, somehow fully paralyzed from neck down. I heard a clicking sound, something my teeth would normally do when I reached a temperature I wasn’t used to. The room felt actually very hot, almost steamy.
I stayed there for a while, not really knowing what to do. I still couldn’t see clearly. When I licked my mouth, I realized it was utterly dry, my lips completely chapped. I thought I needed to drink water.
I suddenly heard something snap. It crawled from behind my neck, slowly nibbling on my ear, and ran down my chest. Its million legs stuck onto my skin, each part of his umbilical skeleton cracking with every move, leaving me powerless, unable to scream. My tongue had disappeared, leaving an immense gap inside my throat. I wanted to shiver but it was too hot for me to be cold, and I was unable to feel fear.
The creature continued its journey onto my stomach until it found my navel. I finally recognized its shape as it paused, raising itself into a perfect vertical stick. It looked like a big caterpillar, reinforced with a thick carapace. It remained rigid for a long time, while I kept staring at it, not really aware of what it might do to me. I was still totally out of it.
The stick held its position until I got too tired of watching. I didn’t feel it move either. As I laid my head back against the pillow, I drifted into a deep daydream. I saw myself walking across the battlefield, my weapon in my hand, obliterating them like paper dolls. Blood splattered everywhere, and I heard their screams as they fell onto the ground, eaten by death, but never gone for too long anyway. I popped bullets into their brains, fighting until I was the last one standing. I didn’t win, did I?
The caterpillar still lied above my navel when I slightly opened my eyes. A strange sensation had started to invade my body, the numbness in my brain defeating all my thoughts. A strong feeling of powerlessness soon overwhelmed my core.
Then I smelt it. The rancid odor of blood covering my skin hit my nostrils harder than if an entire bottle of fragrance had shattered on the floor. My mouth immediately began salivating.
The paralysis had subsided, and so did my thoughts. All that remained was this insatiable hunger. I needed to feed, now.
The Manicheans 