“Another beetle, I guess that makes ten.” He almost laughs this time, and he would if it didn’t hurt so much. This time the thing came out of his right shoulder, “At least it wasn’t my face again.” He thanks God for small favors, but he doesn’t think He’s listening.
He didn’t know what he did to deserve this, he didn’t know who he pissed off enough that he would be cursed this way, but maybe this was his life now, every day scratching some part of his body, and every day finding some new bug that crawls out of his skin.
It wasn’t always like this. Months ago he was a promising student with a great future. He thought he was going to be an accountant; he never smoked, never swore and never said a bad thing about anyone. Then one day it happened, slowly at first, then it progressed.
It started with slight swelling. He thought it was just an allergy attack and took some antihistamines, then came the boils. The doctors couldn’t tell what was wrong with him. Each medicine they gave became more and more useless until they were just pills full of false hope.
The first bug was a firefly. It was almost like a dream. The itching became almost unbearable, blood was being drawn from his cheeks, and then a light came from inside him. He scratched and he scratched until his nails were red, and then the insect was released. It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t so damn painful.
But this was his life now, he didn’t know how he got here, but he knew he still had hope. Maybe one day it would end. One day, where he wouldn’t find something skittering inside of him, one day when something wouldn’t fly out of him.
Until that day, he would hope and pray for his torment to be over.
He hoped someone would hear his prayer.
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Mambabarang description in 101 Kagila-gilalas na Nilalang. Samar. 2015 and Myth Museum. Medina. 2015.
Mambabarang Illustration by Leandro Geniston fromAklat ng mga Anito
FB: That Guy With A Pen
Color by Alexa Garde
Website: Lexa.us
