Taylor Lee- Author (2024)

05/10/2021

CONFIDENCE TAKES ITS TIME
I’m walking down the aisle past the pharmacy. There’s a woman looking at sleep medication. The store is pretty low population. She’s tall, slightly hunched over, shoulders unbalanced and bulging like someone stuffed a king-sized sleeping bag into a twin sized sac. God, they don’t even hide it anymore.
I look down and away as she looks up. I think she steps in my direction as I walk by, and I round the corner and start walking faster. After a few moments I glance back, like anybody might naturally look over their shoulder. She’s looking away and stepping back into her aisle. Blech.
I run my fingers through my hair and pat my kakis. Phone, wallet, keys. It’s all still there. I’ve got an hour and fifteen minutes left on my shift. I’m supposed to clean the bathrooms, but I don’t think I want to do that. But I should. Then again, I have a clean record. I can afford a write up.
There’s a man to my left. He’s big, but it’s hard to tell. There’s lots of cookies and soda in his cart. Eh, still not a full diagnosis. I don’t know a surefire way to read them, unless it’s in the shoulders. Not like I could do anything about it anyway.
I suppose I could kill them or whatever, but I’m the only one brave enough to do it. Nobody would help me, and I’d be in deep trouble for sure. I round another corner and walk through the double doors into the back warehouse. There’re rows of spare product all around.
“Hey man how you doing?” It’s Jack. They got him last week.
“Hey man, good. You?”
“I can’t wait for break. I’m so hungry. Do you have any lunch you didn’t eat?” Something like two arteries pulse from his throat and over his shoulder toward his back.
“No sir, I ate it all haha.”
“Really? You’re kinda small for your appetite.”
“Yeah, I don’t know, this human body or something. It’s okay, I’ll deal with it later.”
“Oh, oh. Okay…”
I keep walking to the back. That’s how it starts. Overnight they get bigger, then the hunger. And then they grow and grow, a balloon off the shoulder, a swelling on the back of the neck. Oh, there’s Emily. She’s normal.
“Hey, Em!”
“Hey you.”
“Did you refill the paper towels?”
“I was going to do that after lunch, that alright?”
“Yep.”
“Hey, do you have a minute?”
“Of course, what’s up?”
“In the back, please.”
“Okay…”
I know this could be a trap, but I don’t think so. They’re curious, but sort of passive, in a confident way, I guess. Plus, she’s normal.
“Okay, Leon has been acting super weird... It’s freaking me out.”
“I’ve been trying to tell you…!”
“No, listen to me! I don’t care about demons or aliens or whatever conspiracy theory you’re on this week. He groped me at the meeting this morning. I want you to file a report to HR.”
“Em this is bigger than assa…”
“Please, I don’t feel comfortable working here anymore.”
“I don’t either. I just keep my head down.”
“Yeah, well I need you to rear your head now, because if you don’t, I will quit.”
I sigh. “Alright. What else has been happening? I need to know everything for the report. If it’s not something you want a bunch of people to know, don’t tell me, but the more you hide the less likely it is he will get punished.”
“Eh, not much. He grabbed me here, and has rubbed my shoulder twice.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, it’s still inappropriate!”
“No, I’m not saying… I want all the details. If that’s it, that’s it.”
“That’s it.”
“Alright, I’ll go submit a report.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Do whatever you can to not be alone with him. Whether he’s a demon or a pervert.”
“Heh, I will. Thank you.”
I have to get on the company computer to file this report. I don’t like this, but what can I do? Nobody seems to care. They got Biden a few months ago. I can’t find any of the social media discussions about it. No YouTube comments, no Facebook posts. Nothing, it’s just normal.
All of my friends are either disgustingly out of touch or too terrified to talk about it. Like Emily, she calls it conspiracy theories but it’s all around. At the very least, Jack being fine one day and coming in with a shoulder hump the size of a dog the next day should get some questions. It didn’t. Leon of course got it first, so obviously he wouldn’t question Jack’s change. But Em, Janine, Marco. Someone else should notice it.
An object falls on the floor behind me. I turn around and look, it’s Marco trying to reach a toilet paper pack on the top rack.
“Hey, let’s make sure we’re using our ladders.”
“Alright sorry.”
“You’re fine,” I mutter as I turn back.
Time to file this report. Em doesn’t know this, but this is my third report on Leon. He was a great boss, but then the change. These reports started after his change. They all report him to me, because they trust me. But nothing else about this is unusual, it’s so bizarre.
“Hey boss,” Marco says.
I turn back and greet his gaze with my own. “What’s up?”
“You ever feel like something is wrong? Like, with, you know,” his voice is low, and he nods his head toward the warehouse doors where Jack was.
“Yeah, I do. Are you alright?”
“Ah it’s probably nothing.”
“Hey, you’re usually happy. If you feel off, it probably means something.”
“I don’t feel off.”
“Oh, okay. Maybe we should get a drink after work, I know a bar where the owner is still normal.”
“I think bars in general are normal eh boss? Heh heh, but I would like a drink.”
“Cool cool, now leave me alone for a few minutes, I have to finish this thing for HR.”
Wow, Marco noticed Jack. But then he was aloof about it. Maybe he knows something I don’t. Maybe he’s brainwashed or something. I don’t have any answers. I need to talk to a scientist I think, but all the ones in the news are changed. I guess I could try at the university. Maybe someone there is smart and sane still.
Okay, okay. Type explanation, reread, proofread, and I think we can submit it. See this, this is normal. This is comfortable. I can’t solve the world’s problems, but I can file reports for my employees.
Marco yelps in surprise. “Heh, found a spider…” I turn around in the office chair and Marco is stepping back and forth, trying to grab at something on his back.
My heart jumps and so do I. Marco stops stepping around but he’s still grabbing at the thing on his back. It’s like a blob with legs from what I can see, but it’s lowering itself below his head. Marco’s arms slowly stop grabbing and relax to his side. He lets out a sigh and his eyes stop moving. Something like a te****le slides under his skin over his shoulder, the thing must be cold because Marco’s skin goes rough with goosebumps. Another te****le slides under his skin and over his shoulder on the other side. I can’t see the blobby thing now, and more te****les slide under Marco’s skin on his face. His lip curls up a few times at the corner, then the te****les go flat, and his face looks normal.
“Hey, good idea saying you know a normal bartender, put his mind right back at ease, eh boss?”
Are you taunting me, or have I fooled you?
“Yeah, right. Make sure you’re eating.”
“Jack has one more seedling, can you send Emily back here?”
“Yeah, I can. Just let me finish up my work here.”
“Heh heh, we’re taking our time, but we still have to pretend for a while. Some day this will be over.”
Eughehh. “Yeah, for you. I think I’m done pretending.”
I make sure the report sent, just in case, and check the status of my previous two reports. Under review, unread. They don’t care, nobody cares anymore. I come in late every day, and nobody bothers me about it. Maybe Emily will. I’m not sending her back here. I’m not letting them get her.
I nod at Jack who points up. I glance back at the top of the product racks and there’s two insect-like legs poised there and hiding. I nod at Jack and walk toward the front. I think I want to go home a little early. I walk past the cereal aisle and there is a woman with a cart and a baby. Something blobby jumps on her back and slices her neck open. She falls to the ground with a groan and her baby looks down at her, then to me with the short jerky head movements of a baby. His big blue eyes take in everything, as do mine. The bobbly thing slides its te****les into the open skin, fixes itself to her neck, and then with little insect arms it pulls her skin taught and glues it together with a skin tone fluid. The woman stands up, lifts her baby who coos a question at her, and she rushes to the front of the store. I follow, because I too have to go this way.
I can’t tell Emily Jack wants to see her. This is how Leon got Jack. I didn’t want to tell him, but I saw him and just blurted it out. Maybe it was self-preservation. Maybe I’m brainwashed.
The woman basically begins running to the front. I follow, but not running. That draws their attention. They never run. Unless they have a baby. I don’t know what happens to the babies. I get to the front door and walk out. The woman runs to a white SUV at the front of the parking lot and opens the side door. I walk past and the baby is lying on the vehicle’s floor, the woman is putting up the flower sunshade in the windshield. I walk past but glance back. She is clearly in a hurry, closes the driver door, and climbs into the back side door, and stares at the baby as she slams the sliding door shut.
Oh hey, Emily is in her car. “Hey Em, did you see that?”
“Yeah, that baby must’ve been poopy.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it. By the way, Jack needed to see you.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know, I think the bathrooms got clogged.”
“Oh, hell no, I’m staying here until ten thirty, no less.”
“You know, better you than me.”
“Oh thanks, asshole.”
“Well, you don’t have to go right now, maybe you should take your time.”
“Oh, I’m going to.”
“I mean, maybe you should go home.”
“I’m not a quitter.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Going home early would be bad for you.”
“Yeah, everything is normal. By the way, aren’t you supposed to be at work for another hour?”
“No, I’m pretty much free now.”

02/10/2021

This is a true story, it's not exactly horror, but it's important to me. Please protect your dogs from Parvo, it's devastating to unprotected puppies especially. They had had their first round of shots and that still wasn't enough protection (They were too young for a second round).

I Don’t Have Words For This Love, This Pain

I loved you from the moment you were born. All of you. Pink Collared girl, you were the biggest. Red, the smallest. Blaze, you were the first to bark at unusual sounds. Dark Green, you were the second to, but you had a solid coat, which is preferable. Purple, you were the smartest. Light Green, your ears never got cropped because your health testing hadn’t come back yet. Light Desert, you have the nicest head, and Viper, you were the best combination of all of this, and thank God you escaped.
None of you ever held still for photos, I had to scoot and slide you dozens of times per photo, like a bower bird rearranging his nest for attention. The photos weren’t for attracting a hapless female, they were to show the world the light you brought me. To show the world the light you brought it. You were beautiful and vibrant and photogenic, and tons of people messaged me to ask about having one of you. Slowly, and with your help, I found homes for most of you.
I had no intent to keep any of you. Your place was to go to other homes and make those homes happy. To grow up with their children. To learn their schedules. To grow old in their homes, to die in their arms. But alas, Red, you picked me. With your tiny frame and big dark eyes gazing up at me, I noticed you following me. Looking to me for approval. Jumping on me more than the others, your tiny claws gouging white scrapes into my calves. You picked me, I accepted, and I picked you.
I had a relationship with all of you. One that grew and developed and that only a dog breeder can form with puppies. It’s a silent bond that nobody else understands. It’s just you, and me. One that you will always recognize me, and I wonder if you would have felt betrayed when I sent you to your new home. I always wonder this. But I still tried to share that with others. This is all my fault. I had people over to meet you. I should have made them wash their hands, decon their shoes, and meet them off site.
I hadn’t even considered disease. When a single puppy had symptoms and just a couple were throwing up on occasion, I thought it was the new kibble. I stopped feeding it and switched your food. I waited, the one got worse, and the rest of you hovered. Dark Green passed, the rest of you hovered. I swore you had been poisoned by the kibble. I buried you Dark Green, hoping the new food would clear your littermates of your curse. Two days later, you all got worse. The emergency vet confirmed it was Parvovirus. Light Green, you were so far gone. I’m sorry buddy. I made sure I was there when they eased your pain. I held you, and I made sure to watch, because your suffering is my responsibility. It is my fault. You were so far gone, saving you would almost certainly have failed. I had to put money toward the rest, they still had a chance.
The vomiting was awful. All the girls, you had phlegm in your lungs, it sounded like you needed to clear your throat. Then a hack and clear fluid, sometimes blood would come out. Your stool turned pink as your intestines sluffed off segments of lining to fight the infection. Your metabolisms and appetites shut down. You all barely moved. Red, your eyes were sunken with dehydration. You were the worst off after Light Green. I had the vet give you an IV as they taught me how to take care of you at home. Hospitalizing one of you cost five times what it would cost to outpatient care for all of you. I have a mortgage to pay. I have your father and grandfather to feed. I’m sorry. I could have afforded to hospitalize one of you. And it would have been you, Red. However, I couldn’t afford to treat any of you if I hospitalize just one. And our home… We’d all be at risk. I wonder if I did the right thing all the time. It haunts me because I can’t undo it.
Last night I brought you to bed. Purple was too ill to climb the gate and follow like usual. I put you in bed and brought you close, knowing it could be my last night with you. You sat by my chest like usual, and rested your head on my neck, your throat popped with mucous all night, your semi coughs kept me awake. But I didn’t mind. I was just happy to see you with me every time I opened my eyes.
Until my second alarm went off and you were missing. There was p*e on the floor, so I knew you got off the bed like I taught you. But you didn’t wake me up like usual to get back up to me. I found you curled up behind the crate, and I sweet talked you the whole way upstairs where I gave your siblings and you your IV, and offered food to no avail. I wasn’t sure what to do next. I wanted to bring you to bed with me, but I also wanted to leave you there in case you got hungry. I almost slept there with you to compromise the two plans, but I didn’t want to wake up covered in body fluids. That’s why you were alone, I didn’t want to roll into something I could wash off.
Gulp, gulp, gulp, and you throw up, several times in a row. There were worms too, because the dewormer made them flee their home in your gut. We got those bastards. I wish I had known about the other monster sooner. Pink, you just… You stopped getting up to release your bowels. The pink and mucous filled fluid just oozed out of you. I didn’t mind, five paper towels at a time and your were clean and somewhat dry. I tried to make it comfortable for you.
With all of you huddled and dying in the corners of your room, I did my best to clean the floor. Bleach and vinegar in different stages, I spread the water over the floors, loosed your stool and swept it up with the mop. Sometimes there were dead worms. Usually there were spots of red or the waste was straight pink. I imagine you all had cringy skin from fever and hypoglycemia. You didn’t even watch me mop. You just laid there, breathing slowly. I’m sorry if the videos I was listening too hurt your sensitive ears.
Now our house is silent. No more growling over kibble. No more snapping or snarling. Our floor no longer trembles under your playful weight. No more rustling in the gardens where you loved to run. Where you were always happy. I stand in the doorway to your room and it’s empty. There are only two of you left, and you are not well. Your siblings’ vomit and diarrhea stain the floor. Your siblings’ wheezing mucous filled breaths echo in my mind. I hear things that sound like puppies getting into trouble. I have to remind myself that that is impossible now. I sit back down and cry. Then I pray at the soft spot in my garden.

23/09/2021

I write horror.

23/09/2021

Did you know that James Murray from Impractical Jokers also writes Science/Fiction horror? I was enamored to meet him at FanX in Salt Lake City this weekend. His smile outshines mine! https://jamesmurrayofficial.com/books/

15/09/2021

Can't wait to see you all at FanX tomorrow! Who else is going?

15/07/2021

Enjoy some concept art for my novel :)
Also, it is free on Kindle Prime so you have nothing to lose! Try it out. I'm a new author but it doesn't suck that bad, I promise!
amazon.com/gp/product/B08P5RVJLH?pf_rd_r=38EFXW29E13PJSCX4VTF&pf_rd_p=27eb236c-7697-41b0-9dfe-0fdfb96dd235&pd_rd_r=c574c3d7-bc98-4574-a199-de3a84e6919c&pd_rd_w=xadld&pd_rd_wg=qc3aE

19/06/2021

If you're looking for a bleak cosmic horror, please check out my short story, free for all!
NSFW
The Gods Are Always Right

“I can’t wait to grow up!” Benjie says to me.
“Now there child, take your time. You have so much to learn, and much growing to do,” I reply.
“Aww. Why do I have to take so long to grow up? It sucks.” This small boy in front of me crosses his arms and kicks a toy. He could kick it all the way across our leisure hall if he wanted to. I almost laugh. He reminds me of me when I was his age. And my father said the same of me.
I sit down in a chair. “Growing is slow for us because we take so much time to grow. We learn, and as our knowledge grows, it makes us more valuable as people to ourselves, and others.”
“Why can’t we just learn everything at once like the computer?”
“Because the toil and struggle for knowledge adds value. We take our time because, it’s a pleasure, it’s a delicate and enjoyable experience. We control our fates, so we take our time.”
“You’re just copying what you were taught! Why actually do we learn slow?”
“Why do we actually learn. Now then, I think it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. You like to read, right?”
“Of course, I do. Everyone does.”
“And you like to eat, right?”
“Duh!”
“And you enjoy taking your time with these things?”
“Well, yes. Because they are fun.”
“Exactly. Learning is fun, so we take our time growing up.”
“Growing up isn’t fun.”
“No, it isn’t. But learning is. And when you get older, all of the not fun you had, will give you a lens of clarity for what you have learned. It adds value to your experience.”
“I think the Gods watch us growing up suffering and enjoy it.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because. I dunno. Do you ever feel like something isn’t right?”
“Of course not. We have food. Water. Clean air, clean clothes. Everything is taken care of. Things could be worse. We could be on the savannah getting chased by lions. Rawr!” I launch a tickle attack on my small friend, and he giggles. I pull away smiling.
“Yeah but. I just always feel like something is missing. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I searched the computer. It said nothing is missing, and if it is, it’s in the lost and found.”
“Have you checked the lost and found?”
“No! It’s not an object. I don’t get it. I just feel like there is supposed to be more.”
“I never felt that. I eat when fed, drink when thirsty, sleep at bed time. Everything I could ever want is here. What could you possibly want more of?”
“What if we are supposed to be on the plains getting chased by lions?”
“Savannah, Benjie. Oh, and trust me, you’re not.”
“Have you ever been chased by a lion?”
“No, because I am smart enough to stay here.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Excuse me, Jeffery?” I look up, it’s Senior Mentor Richardson.
“Hang on Benjie, I’ll be right back.”
“I’m sorry to pull you away,” Richardson whispers to me, his voice rising as we move away from Benjie. “I think you should spend some time mentoring some of the other boys. I can get another mentor to spend time with Benjie.”
“But why, he seems to be doing fine.”
“Benjie is not well. He questions everything. He is exercising an increasingly disturbing bias for asking questions.”
“There is nothing wrong with asking questions, is there?”
Senior Mentor Richardson must have noted strain in my voice. He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Of course not. It’s not the asking, it’s what he’s asking. What he’s searching on the computer. Curiosity is important, drive for knowledge compels us to gain access to more information, more knowledge, more value. But if you think about the wrong things, the Gods will not want you. If your mind becomes tainted by certain perversions, at least too early, your life will become strained, and a stressed man is an unvalued man. You’re not a bad mentor, Benjie is a bad student.”
I sigh. “I understand. I like that kid, you know?”
“We like all of our kids. But sometimes they are bad students. Bad, bad students. It’s okay, these things happen. Why don’t you go mentor those boys? They’re talking at a slightly higher volume than we should like. Go forth, quiet them.”
I nod and walk over to the boys.
“Did you know that invertebrates have their skeletons outside the body?”
“No, they don’t!”
“That’s why they have a hard shell!”
“You’ve never touched a bug; how would you know!”
“I. Uhm. I don’t know. They look hard, look at this!” The first boy excitedly holds a book up, showing a black beetle to the other boys.
“Good afternoon gentlemen.”
“Good afternoon, mentor!” The boys sing out.
“Why are you so excited?”
“They don’t believe me that bugs have an exemoskeleton!”
“They don’t! Bugs are alive just like you. So, they have bones, just like you!”
I interrupt before the argument escalates. “It’s called an exoskeleton and it is true. They are not bones. More like hard skin sections. Like a snake with scales, just no ribs.”
“Wow really?” Some of the boys murmur.
“Yes.” I sit down. “Boys, skepticism is a healthy part of a balanced, joyful learning experience. Indulge in it, passionately if you must, but always be open to being wrong, and always give someone else a chance to teach you. Now also, don’t forget, to be quiet, kind, and respectful. We don’t want any strained voices or Gods forbid, a bruise!”
“Oh no bruises… Bruising is bad, the Gods are always right,” The boys murmur to one another.”
“No one is getting bruised. Now perk up.”
The boys look down in shame at my last word. “Yes Mentor.” They mumble.
“Jeffery, come here!” Senior Mentor Richardson sings.
“Yes, Senior Mentor?”
“It’s time.”
“For whom?”
“For you.”
“W… Wha… Now?” My eyes bulge and my chest trembles with warmth.
“Yes now, it’s time to say your goodbyes.”
“Oh my… Finally…. I can’t….”
A group of boys and other men are looking at me and gathering. They’re all smiling and a hand pats my shoulder. It’s time for my Ascension.
“Don’t cry Jeffery. The Gods want your eyes to see clearly as you Ascend.”
“I, I don’t know what to do.”
Silly, I know what to do. We all know what to do. It’s just so sudden, unexpected, now I seem to be forgetting at the time I need it most.
“Come with me,” Senior Mentor Richardson holds my hand and walks me toward the big doors where the Gods call upon us. It’s next to his office. The walls are mirrored so we see ourselves when we look at him. When the phone rings, he answers, and one of us Ascends.
I look at the crowd of boys. Hundreds of times, perhaps thousands I was in that crowd. It’s always like this. In the evening, usually before supper, one or two of us called every night, most nights of the week. Nobody knows when it is their turn. I have seen men weep. I have seen men turn their backs and never look us in the eyes again, strutting out to meet the Gods.
I look over all of my fellow men and boys; mentors and students. This will be the last time I ever see them. Unless the rumors of us becoming Gods ourselves and looking upon us later are true. I don’t know, I just know it’s time.
“You go through this door and close it. The next door will unlock. Go into there and follow the instructions on the wall. Our hopes are with you. And I will be over there with you some day.”
“But me, before you? You’re senior, you should go first.”
“The Gods are always right. Go now.”
I wave to the men and boys. Benjie makes eye contact.
“I’ll make you proud when I do grow up and follow you!”
“Good boy. Now go back to studying.”
With that I turn and open the door. It’s heavy. My focus narrows and I am acutely aware of the men and boys watching me enter, but it’s distant. Their noise, their eyes. Distant. CRACK! The door slams shut behind me. I steady my breathing and enter the next room. The instructions are to my right, and I begin to read them after closing the door.
Senior Mentor Richardson’s voice comes out of a speaker in the ceiling. “The Gods gave us their language. The Gods gave us knowledge. The Gods gave us freedom from suffering. Now, give them value!”
The speaker cuts out and a burst of foggy gas shoots out of the walls. It stinks and I stop breathing instinctively. The instructions on the wall though, they tell me to breathe deeply. I do so. The stench fades and I feel a strangeness. An excitement in my body. I read onward from the instructions.
Breathe deeply. The gas might stink, this is normal. It is reversing your chemical castration. This will free you from chastity for Ascension. Likewise, you must now sacrifice your abstinence for Ascension. The heightened mood you are feeling is arousal. You may have felt this before. You likely felt shame for such feelings. Now is not the time for shame. The Gods want your chastity now. The Gods are always right.
1. Remove all clothes.
2. Gently wrap hand around your p***s
3. Move hand up and down. Everything you will feel is normal. Surrender yourself to Ascension. Become God.
4. When your body is ready, Ascension will begin, hold still and look forward.
I comply with each instruction as I read it. It is right, I have felt this before but never so strongly. I try to resist the feeling, this feels so unnatural yet, so normal. It says to do it and I always knew I was saving for this, but it is so sudden.
I feel my p***s become fully erect as I surrender to the instructions. This is what they want. Warm air rushes around me. The instructions on the wall fade and a glass elevator rises in front of me and… Oh my what is this?
“I am a woman.” The person says to me. Her voice is almost like a purr. She is beautiful. Her skin is like an eggshell in color, her eyebrows and eyelashes dark, her eyes blue and her hair blonde with pink streaks. She is in a red chair, all skin showing, and her ni***es look like mine. “Our job is to help you Ascend.” Her elevator rises and disappears.
Another woman rolls into view as the next elevator moves up. She makes a gesture with her hand like I am doing and licks her lips. My eyes stay locked with hers.
Another woman rolls into view, rubbing her breasts. “You were such a good, good student,” she purrs. “And because of that you will get to reproduce.”
The next female makes me pick up my pace. She has dark everything like me, and long, thin arms and legs. “Ascension is messy for most, but such a good student gets special treatment. The others, their Ascension products are left behind. A bitter waste,” she yawns and her elevator floats away.
Another female enters my view pushing the yawning dark woman away, I look up, trying to get every moment of her face, then body, and finally I have to settle on staring at her feet until they too, disappear into the ceiling. I almost yell to come back but I resist. The Gods want this, and the Gods are always right.
The new woman speaks. “Don’t mind the mottled dry leavings you find. Yours are worthy, they won’t be left behind. With this, a metal tray pops up in front of me at groin level.
Another woman rolls into view. Her rear is high, and her long legs remind me of the dark woman. Why was she so attractive, why have I never met her? Suddenly, this all seems unfair, but I commit to my duty, but with the dark woman’s face imposed over the woman in front of me.
She gestures with her hand like I am doing. “That’s it, faster now. Flavor your soul, tenderize your flesh. Flavor your soul, tenderize! Tenderize your own flesh!”
She drops to all fours in front of me, her breasts smooshed to the floor and her arms out in front of her, her rear and everything between and under her legs is exposed to me and I imagine the dark wom…
A mountain climbs inside of me and I feel at a height never before felt by man. The woman’s hair is on one side of her head, and she glances back at me. “Give the Gods value. She giggles and wiggles herself in the elevator. My whole body feels fuzzy and elated. High above all, and far below an endless pile of blankets. I squeeze my eyes shut and the pleasure washes over me. My left foot arch twitches in similar pleasure. And then it fades.
I open my eyes. The glass in front of me is now black and opaque. The room now feels cold. The walls are all grey cement. I look down to see a puddle of white swirled fluid on the metal tray, which promptly disappears, revealing a canvas of dried white splotches on the floor. They are layered thick in the center and random thin specks are all over, from years of what she called waste?
The splotches explode and my vision goes full white. I am racked with such pain that I collapse. I try to grab my head, but my muscles are weak.
I look to what was behind me and a conveyor brings me out of the room where the women were, a large man with a bloody apron and a sledgehammer walks out through a door that was behind me.
The conveyor rolls my limp body onto a stand of some sort, and a darkness falls over me. The air becomes intensely humid. It’s hot, scalding almost, but I can’t much move. I feel something small moving next to me. Several somethings. They feel small and warm, with little wet spots nudging against be. It reminds me of videos I have seen of animals nursing. I don’t have teats, nothing should be trying to nurse on me. Then, light.
The steam around me rushes upward and divine light surrounds me. The ceiling is pale blue with a white splotch shaped like a puppy dog’s face. It’s sliding gently across the way up blue. The air is warm and chirping and singing are all around me. There’s a tree. A real life tree! This must be Heaven. Something blocks out the light. I see two large, inhuman eyes staring at me. It’s the eyes of a God!
“Are you sure it’s dead?” he says in a small voice.
“Of course it is, stupid! Another small voice says from my other side. I glance over to the best of my ability, and it shrieks. “Mama!”
I look the other way as another shadow comes into my periphery. “Oh my,” it says. “Waiter!”
Another figure looms over me. “It appears he is still alive.”
“Would you like to keep him that way ma’am?” The waiter asks.
“Isn’t that illegal for higher organisms?”
“What I don’t know, I can’t state,” The waiter looks over his shoulder.
“We are outside on the patio. What do you think, hun?” It whispers to an unseen figure.
The reply is masculine. “Dig in kids. This is the freshest meat you can get.”
The one called Waiter moves away. “The customer is always right.”
I look back to the first one to look at me. “I call his brain!” he says.
The one that shrieked picks up a fuzzy four-legged animal from my side. It is squirmy and its eyes are sealed shut. It grunts and is flung into a mouth of sharp teeth and poorly defined shape.
I try to speak. I owe so much to these Gods. My entire existence. “Buh.”
“Oh, honey look, it’s crying for help.”
“Still fresh meat.”
“Buh. Buh. Beautiful. Gods. I. Luh, love. You. I am your value.”
“Oh, honey he said the line!”
“And he thinks you’re beautiful.”
“It’s too bad he won’t be getting what you got this morning. And what you’ll get after this meal.”
“Technically he will be part of both of us at that point so you are wrong.”
“Oh hush,” she giggles.
My head gets shoved over and I feel my shoulder getting cut into, but it doesn’t hurt much. I try to move as an instinctive reaction, it doesn’t work. I begin to look around and then I see my home. The familiar white walls, men, and boys through a glass wall with a pair of Gods staring in. It’s exactly as I saw it in the mirror behind Senior Mentor Richardson’s office. His chair is even there.
The Gods are talking to one another, watching my friends. My brothers. The taller God points to one and looks at the smaller who nods. They then point to the man, Stuart is his name, and a third God picks up a phone.
Senior Mentor Richardson rushes to his office, picks the phone up, nods, and the goes to Stuart. His Ascension is beginning, and it is beautiful.
The table thuds and my knee shatters. The flesh in my knee goes tight before tearing. That hurts, but I can’t physically react. My breathing increases. This isn’t how I pictured Ascension feeling.
“You were right hun, the meat is sweeter here,” The male voice says.
“I told you.”
“What do you think, kids?”
There is more grunting from another small animal. “Now I know why they are called hush puppies. Hush, puppy!” There is a crunch.
“Heh, you’re right. Here son, try the foot. No, this half, get the arch. There you go.”
Something must have gone wrong. This isn’t Ascension. These aren’t the Gods, this isn’t the plan, they will come save me. They will save Senior Mentor Richardson, Steven, Stuart, Michael, Benjie and the others! These are usurpers! Pretenders!
I hear distant laughter.
“Oh great. It’s kids from school, mom please don’t talk to them.”
“Haha, I knew you guys could only afford to eat at the Great Value Buffet!”

If you enjoyed this read please check out my other works on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Type-Ten-Competitor-Taylor-Lee-ebook/dp/B08P5RVJLH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=%22type+ten+competitor%22&qid=1624067878&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PKY84HJ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p

Taylor Lee- Author

05/10/2021

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