In This World (Harry Styles)

6

(DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. It's important to remember this is all totally fabricated, embellished, and exaggerated for entertainment purposes.)

*******

Run, rabbit, run

Dig that hole, forget the sun

When, at last, the work is done

Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one

Breathe – Pink Floyd

I awoke hours later to a slurping sound and a hot tongue molesting my face. I grumbled in protest, shifting to lay on my back and finding a scraggily dog having his way with me. Oh for fuck's sake. Mangey beast! Piss off! I put up an arm, shooing him away, but he only moved to sniff my crotch, then the bottom of my sock. There was a pair of legs standing over me from behind, something I realized too late to panic. Fucking great. Another creep. Too little, too late, mate. I've got nothing more. Then suddenly I pictured them kidnapping me and selling me into sex slavery and shot straight to my feet, regardless of the agony. When I stood before my assailant, it was to discover he was an old Japanese guy with a twisted face and one empty eye-socket. No glass eye or anything of the like to fill the space. Just raw, exposed tissue; blood red. Holy shit, it looked ghoulish. Quite undead. He appeared to be a restaurant cook, from the looks of it, as he was wearing a soiled apron. He watched me dumbfoundedly while I tried not to shit myself out of terror for what I was witnessing. Before I could say anything, I blacked out again, teetering forward until he was forced to catch me.

***

Softly uttered Japanese drifted back and forth over my head. They seemed to be in a lighthearted debate. One of the women giggled. Another shushed her. I heard a persistent beeping, and what sounded like a blood pressure monitor kicking into action. I peered from beneath my lids, only to find I was in some sort of hospital room, and that there were two snickering nurses having a conversation across either side of my bed.

"Ohhhh! Kon'nichiwa!" one sang.

"Tsuini!"

"Uh... sumimasen... Eigo?" I uttered.

"English! Ah, yes, of course! How are you?!"

"Not well..."

"You've had a fall, we've heard."

"I was...uh...robbed. Beaten—" They gasped in unison. They exchanged something in Japanese, then one left the room abruptly.

"We call the police and file a report for you."

"Thank you so much."

"Tell me...are you...Harry Styles...?"

"No."

"Ohhh, you look so much like him! You could be his impersonator!"

"I'm only kidding," I grinned with a wince. "That's me. Don't tell anyone alright?"

"Oh! So nice to meet you!" She shook my hand with a huge grin. Hers was extremely soft and tiny.

"You too, thanks."

"Who did this to you, Harry Styles??"

"Thugs. Big, big guys. They were huge," I lied. "They've got my phone, my wallet——"