It had been 6 years since that horrifying incident I had suffered through. It was traumatic for me; so much so that I started living within my family’s shadow. Each day I’d undergo one nightmare after the other.

My mental stability felt fragile, like it was right on the verge of breaking. It didn’t help either that the glimpses of those monstrosities would remind me of my past trauma. My family had taken full advantage of the condition they developed within me.

They indulged my very presence; relished in it. It had started to develop into something worse. They’d treasure my each and every possession, like some sort of a sick stalker. It grossed me out, but the repulsion lessened the more dependent I grew to become. It was like an amalgam of an extremely unhealthy, symbiotic relationship.

“Isaac, be safe out there… okay?” My mother spoke to me, cuddling me in her tight embrace.

Her breathing was erratic with widened eyes, as if she was afraid of something.

“Brother, please come back soon.” Dolores whimpered with teary eyes.

Truth to be told, I didn’t want to leave their safety either. I was a weak, frail child who hadn’t grown properly. The thought of going off, wandering out of my home and being exposed to those grotesque beings chilled me to my very bone.

I wanted to dwell on their warmth a bit longer, despite how much I hated them. Even with all this commotion, the situation was much more comedic when taken out of context. I was simply heading to my first day of kindergarten, an institute of education.

Their reluctant woes made me suspicious though, as if I was separating from them for a long journey. If they were so worried, they could’ve just chosen to not send me to such an establishment, but it seemed as if they were forced to do so; something which was obligatory for me.

In the end, I was about to be sent off to this new place. Looking at it positively, it might be something that could help overcome my attachments and fears, though I wasn’t overly optimistic about that possibility.

It didn’t take long for the bus to appear right outside our building, which was odd since I was just going to kindergarten. Usually, it would just be the family responsible for leaving them off. Mara gave me one last look filled with infatuation before smothering my face with kisses.

With one last deep whiff from my hair, she finally let me go. Dolores came near me and imitated mother’s actions. Her crumbling visage was heart-wrenching to look at. Mara would’ve probably been reacting the same if she didn’t have the composure of an adult, though it wasn’t much to speak for.

As I entered the worn and broken bus, I noticed a peculiarity. It was only me and the bus driver inside. Taking a peek at the driver, I gasped as I fell on my butt. It was a “man”, the first one I had seen which wasn’t inside the plastic box.

His bulb-like face with the creepy drawn smile looked at me. The reflective sheen on its face made it all the more intimidating. I wanted to run back to my family, but the door had already closed.

Like a lamb awaiting his fate, I took the farthest seat. I warily stared at him as the bus began to rumble. I was afraid that he might come to attack me anytime soon. Only after we reached our destination did I heave a sigh of relief.

The “man” in question didn’t seem to be hostile to me. The door swung open on its own as the driver sat there motionlessly. I quickly got off, not sparing a single moment. As I left, the bus drove past the corner, the humming sound of the vehicle growing weaker until what remained was complete silence.

Though I had gotten out of that unknown predicament, I was now left alone in front of a decrepit building. It was a lonesome structure on the dirt field. The walls were made of concrete, filled with signs of ageing.

The windows and doors looked anything but welcoming. Weeds had grown through its cracks. It was suffice to say that this wasn’t an environment suited for any person, much less a child like me. It’d be more accurate to call the place a warehouse, or even a jail.

With trepid steps, I gradually reached its entrance. I could hear the faint cries of children. Their high-pitched squeals and joyful laughs comforted me to a certain extent. I didn’t feel as nervous as before, though there was still uncertainty brewing in my mind.

With a quick look inside, I saw a bunch of kids playing around. Bulb head “boys” and normal girls were doing various activities. Though the surreal sight of the boys was enough to make one alert, there was still something else that seemed strange.

The girls… all of them had perfectly symmetrical face. Just like my mother and sister, they had this unnatural beauty to them. It felt synthetic, almost hollow, but it would be a lie to say that they didn’t look any less cute.

As I took a step in, their doll-like faces darted at me. Pin drop silence. It didn’t take long for them to resume whatever activity they were doing, but the air suddenly felt tense. While the boys were indifferent to my existence, the girls kept fidgeting while taking glimpses of me.

I could feel the uncountable eyes piercing my skin, like a hunter tracking their target. If I weren’t so scared of open places, I would’ve run away at that moment. There was some safety in numbers. At least half of them looked human.

I just had to bide for time until the worst got over. Thinking so, I went to the dimmest corner I could find to cover my presence. The girls didn’t seem to have given up on me yet. I could still feel their crawling eyes on me.

As I continued to survey the surroundings, I noticed a dire lack of supervision. There were only children in the area doing whatever they wanted. It was less like a kindergarten and more like a daycare.

After some painfully long minutes, one of them stood up and headed my way. I tried to switch places, but she blocked my path.

“Hi, I am Zoe.” The girl introduced herself.

Her amethyst hair was cut into a bob haircut. She looked at me with impish engrossment. Her eyes shared a similar violet shade as her hair. I stood silently in front of her, hoping she’d lose her interest soon.

“What’s your name?” She asked, while giving a gentle impression. I continued acting like a mute while facing downwards. Unexpectedly, she reached out to my hand and started dragging me along.

“Let’s play house, you’ll be the husband.” The girl announced without my approval. I shook my head left and right in rejection. She still was insistent on playing with me, outright ignoring my opinion on the matter.

Since acting meek wasn’t working out, I tried taking a more confident approach.

“I don’t want to play with you.” I said while raising my voice. Just as I said that, I forcefully tried to shrug off her hand. It was firmer than I anticipated. Her grasp was like a bear trap.

“I really want to play with you, please play with me.” She pleaded to me with upturned eyes, but I was too busy trying to get rid of her vice grip. Seeing my resistance, it seemed like she had enough. Her hands clenched tighter than ever. I involuntarily leaked out a painful moan.

“Aahhhhh!” My shout resounded throughout the room, but no one tried to do anything, much less help me.

“Do you still want to say no?” The girl maintained her gentle voice but contrary to her tone, I could see a malignant streak in her eyes.

I stifled out my painful cries and shook my head. The wrapped expression returned to her jovial smile before grabbing on to my other hand. I felt my left hand had started to swell, it would surely form an unpleasant bruise.

She cordially led me to her play area. Before I knew it, a mob of bulb heads surrounded me. I looked around in panic, wondering how to get out of this situation. My sight wavered from this unpredictable development.

I didn’t know what to do; it felt like I was a lamb on the chopping board. I gave pitiable looks to Zoe, my classmates, and anyone who was around me, but it aroused excited responses from them. Their reactions heightened my worries.

Looking at my flustered behaviour, Zoe started blushing. Her fervent gaze eyed my defenceless state in delight. It was the same for the other girls. They were enjoying the sight of me writhing in fear. These weren’t kids like I first imagined, they were demons in human skin.

“P-please let me go.” I begged them.

“Shh, Isaac, it’ll be alright.” One of the girls responded.

Just… how did they know my name? Trepidation filled my body. I was sweating like a pig. With all the remaining adrenaline in my body, I rushed with full vigour to break through the crowd, but before I got past the first few boys, they had grabbed onto all my limbs.

“Let me go, please! I didn’t do anything!” I screamed, despite how futile it seemed.

“Shh, it’s fine.” She tried to pacify me. Her finger beckoned one of the lackeys. They formed a pathway for him to enter the encirclement. Within his hands was a bowl. The thing of importance wasn’t the bowl itself, but the substance within it.

As I took a peek, I retched with just a glance. It was one of the most disgusting things I had seen in this world. A mass of wretched and putrid flesh marred by the taints of black and purple. It wriggled and squirmed as if alive. The soft squelching sound was like stakes being driven into my ears. I knew it wasn’t good news when they brought it to me. My worst of fears were soon to come to realization.

I instinctively knew what they planned to do with it. I hurled my body as I bawled out my lungs.

“No, please, anything but that! L-let me go!”

With my blurry eyes and runny nose, I fell to my knees. I managed to suppress a strong urge to vomit.

“It’s okay honey, soon you’ll become an obedient husband,” Zoe said with a perverted grin. Other girls tried to placate me too, but their attempts were akin to nailing my coffin.

“It’s alright Isaac, we will take care of you.” One girl said, while caressing my skin.

“Don’t you want to play with us? It’ll be fun.” Another said, while romantically intertwining our fingers.

“Isaac, you look so cute.” Uncountable number of hands surrounded me, I couldn’t determine who all were touching me anymore.

The creepy face drawn on the bulb heads now seemed like a mocking smile, laughing at my plight. I struggled and struggled, harming myself in the process. My appearance became more haggard as I kept resisting.

Some of my clothes got stripped due to my violent bearing, but it was all for naught. The kids’ strength overpowered the control over my body. There wasn’t anything I could do, my fate was sealed the moment I entered this hell hole.

“Open his mouth for me,” Zoe commanded her underlings. Their hands held on my jaw and stretched it agape.

“Isaac, don’t hate me too much for this, alright?” She whispered to me as if she was just carrying out some small mischief. Tears flooded my eyes as I watched the grotesque thing near my mouth.

She held out my tongue, placing the wretched black mass. It tasted horrible, like veiny stale flesh which was dropped on the floor. Its movements made me revolt. I could feel my stomach convulsing.

I would’ve vomited, but they forced it inside my throat before that. Suddenly, the flesh expanded. It instantly started becoming more active as it thrashed down my windpipe. It was like I had thousands of worms gagging me. I could feel every single motion made within me.

Like a cell going through mitosis, it started forming more of itself within me. Tendrils started forming, slither through my very flesh. My nerves felt on fire. As I suffered, a cold hand traced my cheeks, appraising me with a scarlet flush on her face. She looked excitedly at my tormented grimace. I could tell so from her crescent-shaped eyes.

“It’s okay Isaac, it’ll be over soon.”

I couldn’t make out what she said. The feeling of horror and dread made me focus on what was happening inside my body. The sloshing sound reverberated in my brain. I would’ve screamed if my throat still belonged to me.

Gradually, it started to settle down, but the damage had already been done. I could feel the tightening of its appendages throughout my organs, muscles and bones. The parasitic being had taken over almost every part of my body, leaving me only with my consciousness.

Not a single sound left my throat, my joints feld rigid, becoming completely immovable. The muscles had begun to feel sore; I had been completely immobilized. Was I going to die?

“Now that you’ve calmed down, you can be my husband!”

The violet headed imp squealed in delight. With crazed fixation, her eyes were fixed at my face. She held it out and gave me a kiss on my lips. The kiss was immature, almost uncharacteristically childish compared to her deranged deeds inflicted upon me.

She kept her lips planted for a bit too long, much longer than I could tolerate. It didn’t take long for the other girls to start taking the initiative. Like wolves hungering for their favourite meat, their disturbed smiles widened seeing me being violated by Zoe. It soon became a frenzy.

Every girl in the room rushed at me, grabbing ahold of whatever they could. It became absolute chaos within mere moments. I was like a small teddy bear being fought over. Dozens and dozens of small hands trying to rip me apart.

My face was pecked by who knows how many girls. It was suffocating; I felt like I would die. Seeing my miserable state of helplessness made me want to wail in anguish. My body pulled like a rag, their cold touch smearing my body.

My pride felt shattered by the hands of these mere monsters. Though the parasite had become inanimate, I could still feel its body pulse within me. It was pure torture. I just wished to be relieved of this pain.

Hours went by… my will had long since disintegrated. The girls were still going on with it, playing with my body recklessly. My clothes were torn to shred, revealing bits of my skin, just like my sanity which was on the brink of collapse.

“I want to take Isaac home!” A girl wished as her hand traced my stomach. My dazed out state alerted within that moment.

‘No, please don’t! No, please! NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO! I cannot tolerate this!’

“No, I want him to be with me. He’ll be my husband!” Another one argued. The discussion turned into a squabble as they fought over the rights to my body. I spasmed at the thought of it.

‘Dolores, Mara, save me, please! Please! Please!!!’

My body started spasming, but I couldn’t do anything. Their fingers squeezed my skin, some intruding right into my mouth. It was inconceivable how an adorable-looking child could be so inhumane inside. I recounted all sorts of prayers in my mind, hoping to be liberated from this nightmare. As if mocking my wishes, another girl’s lips brushed against mine.

‘Save me, please…’ once more I whined. My tears had run dry.

With a loud rattling sound, the tattered door opened with a bang. Someone entered the ruddy room, one who I never expected to be here at this time. It was the bus conductor who brought me here. He walked over to me as the girls gave pouty looks.

The boys were indifferent as ever; they hadn’t budged once while the girls had their fun with me. He bent down and picked up my corpse-like body. I was immensely grateful for his help. Was I really saved?

I just couldn’t believe my saviour would come down in this form. I had been freed. He brought me back to the bus before heading home. The girls shrieked and screamed at my departure, telling me to come back. Just their voices made my stomach churn.

Finally, he deposited my body into the welcoming hands of my weeping family. I never wished to set foot in that accursed hell again.