Down with the Sickness

Chapter 2: Call him Hidari

I burst through the door, panting in fear into what happened before my eyes a few steps back. I had to know what was wrong with me, I ran upstairs to search for a pair of scissors, I looked through the desk drawer, the cup holder where I put all my pens and pencils, and I found them just lying on the floor. I forgot why, but was too scared to care. I opened the scissors and made my way to the wrist, but my left hand reacted and combusted into a fleshy mess of eyes and fingers, horrified at what was in front of me, no, on me, it even spoke. "I..failed..I...failed" It gazed at me with a blank stare, giving off the emotion of wanting death, it was almost sad. "Wha..What do you mean 'Failed'?" I asked it, it's eyes looking in many directions as if not knowing how to function them. "I...Failed..to eat...I..failed...to eat." "Eat?" I asked, "Eat what?" it took a second for it to answer, but it answered slowly, like it didn't know how to speak, "B..b..Brain...eat..brain."

I dropped the scissors and covered my mouth to prevent myself from screaming, I then slumped down onto the floor, it drooped a little and said "Tired...very..tired. Must...rest...teach me to speeeak." It then disappeared as if being one with my hand, which what felt like it was. I was relieved and terrified still to know that this thing was part of me, I remembered the tennis ball sized spore that landed next to me the other night, I remembered the small snake like creature that entered my left arm, I remembered what happened 15 seconds ago, I remembered the tone of voice this thing had, it was the tone of someone just now learning the world, 

I decided that I should sleep this nightmare off, if it was even real. I My bed was nothing special, just a mattress with no bed frame, just some pillows and blankets with a stupid anime girl sheet thrown on top of the mattress. It was better than nothing, it at least made me sleep at night. I threw the covers over my cold body, expecting the warmness to kick in, it never would. The same feeling everyone would have when they would put a blanket on them crept over me, that feeling of the blanket being cold when you expect it to be warm, only the warm comes from you or the heat from the heater. The pillow was limp and soggy, not from being wet, just from being used since my late nights where I would stay up till dawn working on comics for the art school newspaper, I would sometimes make ones about anime cliches, like how when a character would get a nosebleed and would bleed more blood then the blood in their body, or how an anime character's sword always gets bigger and bigger, or how overpowered a character is to the point that they can kill a person with one punch. I would drink energy drinks and coffee just to make one single comic, it was only one page too, the problem wasn't coming up with the ideas, I had plenty of them, the problem was drawing the comic on a mattress. The pillow collected both sweat and tears from over 2 years ago, the musty smell and taste made it harder to concentrate on sleeping. The creature that was part of my hand still burned an image into my mind, I imagined what would've happened if it managed to take over the brain, I imagined what it would've been like with that thing in my brain. I tried to forget about it and just think of something else, but it kept coming up, it kept reminding me of what I'm stuck with, it reminded me that I had to live with this thing on my hand forever.

I slowly opened my eyes to see that it was starting to become daylight, thankfully, I was off today, so I didn't have to deal with any 'Incidents' with my left hand today. I rose up from my bed to see this thing reading a bunch of my art books, I was both impressed and mad, it left a pile of books on the floor, they were all organized and kept on a miniature shelf next to my desk, and they were all on the floor an a mess. "Enjoying your studies?" I asked as it turned around to find I was awake. "I'm learning a lot thanks to these knowledges." Cleverly, it knew how to speak well. "Tell me something, Yuji. What made you so fascinated into art?" It asked, I was actually impressed that it scared me. "Well, it's actually a funny story, see my friend Shinichi was in my class and he was struggling so I told him what needed to be done and he just got a little better. I then grew to love art ever since then. It means a lot to me." "I see, so your life depends on a meaningless task to create and destroy and create again until your satisfied with the filthy mess you've made? I'm right, aren't I? Yuuujiii?" It curled it's lips into a smirk, it shocked me to know how it was almost right, it scared me to know how it used big words like that, like hearing a child say something like 'Inconceivable' or 'Putrid'. "Your wrong actually, art to us is a hobby." "A hobby?" It asked confused. "Yeah, something you would do in your spare time to do something other than stare at a wall all day. It keeps me at bay." The thing attached to my hand walked towards me with stubby little legs, it looked up at me and just simply asked for a piece of paper and something to write with. "If you really call this a hobby, if you ask me, it's a waste of time. But I wish to learn how to 'Create' as you humans do." I smiled as if I were being asked to judge a little kid's drawing, it made me feel kinda sick for some reason. "All right Hidari, show me what you got." "Hidari?" it asked, "Why Hidari?" "Well it means left in japanese, and you took over my left hand, so it works perfectly." I smiled. "Normally I wouldn't agree with such a name, name's are pointless in life, it's something that humans are given so they can remember something at the end of the day. But I have to be called something other than 'It' or 'That Thing'. So I'll accept this name, plus it suits me," I was carrying around a smart ass, I thought to myself. The now named Hidari used the same technique I used when I would draw my characters, draw a circle and make a criss-cross line in the center to make the eyes and mouth later. I went along with him, I pulled out my sketchbook and mechanical pencil, I decided to draw someone simple, nothing hard or easy, but just detailed enough to look good for the fridge.