Today’s flash fiction prompt: Write something eerie. I have to preface this one by saying I found a worm in a wrapped chocolate today, (oof!) and, well, one thing led to another . . . Sorry.
Forbidden
He should have heeded my warning. Instead, he bit into the chocolate with a careless smirk and tossed the wrapper. I shook my head and sat back, waiting.
He chuckled. “Nice try, Calli.”
“You should have listened to me.”
He shrugged. “I should have eaten this sooner. It’s delicious. And I’m ready for another.” He grabbed a second chocolate from the dinner tray, popping it into his mouth without chewing. He sucked on it, moaning in delight. But those weren’t ordinary chocolates, and eating them without permission was forbidden.
“You’re going to regret this.”
“Why? Will too much sugar give me a tummy ache?” He mocked and used both hands to pat his stomach, fake groaning, then shifted back to obnoxious laughter. “You worry too much, Sis.” He wiped the spittle from his mouth, grinning at me. “That old spinster doesn’t scare me. You shouldn’t put so much weight on her words.”
“What’s that on your hand, Cody?” I pointed to the fingers that had wiped away his spit. He looked down with raised eyebrows. Then frowned.
“Are those maggots?” I asked.
He flicked them from his hand in disgust, then swatted at his mouth. More maggots appeared on his hand, and he flicked those away, too.
“Cody . . .” Our eyes met, and his grew wide. His hand met his mouth and came away with more maggots.
Again, and again, and again.
“Calli, I-” he choked on his words, and a sea of maggots poured from his lips, creating a pile on the floor that soon reached his middle. Each time he tried to speak, the sea grew, gushing with each lurch of his stomach.
I froze in momentary shock as they wriggled, squirmed, and laid claim to my brother. They climbed up his legs and over his head, covering him, clicking as they slid against one another.
I shoved my hand through the army of larvae, shivering in revulsion as hundreds of tiny bodies circled my palm. They scattered and fled, the human pile dropping to the ground and dispersing as quickly as it swarmed. But they left an empty space behind.
Not one trace of my brother.
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