Organ - Chapter 21

ORGAN

Chapter Twenty One

Oscar woke before Katie, she was sound asleep snoring quietly into her pillow laying on her side facing his portion of the bed, the blankets between them had been kicked off at some stage and found their way back onto the floor. Between the gaps in the blinds, he could see the sunlight had not yet fully risen over the adjacent buildings that blocked out most of the light. Oscar watched her sleeping and could not help but imagine waking up like this in a different life, with her as his other, holding him intimately in the long hours of the night after he had been out working for himself just like his father taught him to strive after. 

“Breed” the voice called out to him through his body. 

Oscar was startled by an unfamiliar word in its vocabulary, but this one-sided dialogue was something he had grown to live with, in his worst loneliest moments he secretly longed for the company it brought despite the ramifications. 

“Touch….Breed!” it called out to him in whispers that approached his ears with soft warning whispers, Oscar leant down onto the bed gently as to not wake her. 

Unaware of what he was attempting he pulled back the covers revealing her form covered by her pyjama bottoms and vest. But the shaking reality of what Oscar was feeling broke through the encouraged efforts to engage physically with the sleeping woman without consent. 

“No, stop it” he muttered to himself defiantly standing up quickly and throwing on his clothes. “No….breed” it called out once again as he slung his jacket over his shoulders and headed for the door, “Not like this” he repeated to the voice now falling into the pit it rested during the hours Oscar controlled his own mind, body, and soul. 

The air outside their room was disgusting to inhale, it was heavy with the smell of dusty carpets and stale cigarettes that followed the various low rent guests. 

“Back….breed….not safe” the voice called out to him. 

“Just fucking leave, me alone” he whispered not wanting to shout in the hallway that connected all the rooms.

“Breed……breed” it called out as he made his way down the stairwell to the ground floor where he could pass the front desk and leave the building for a walk. 

Oscar ignored the voice from this alien inside and carried on growing some distance between himself and Katies vulnerable sleeping body that this parasite now craved for him. Making his way down the flight of stairs his stomach seized in contractions, it was worse than it had ever been, but the young man was now so accustomed to the pain that his body could outlast the bouts of torture without sending him collapsing to the ground as it once did when this all began, flashes of his mother’s broken dishes on the floor of their kitchen scattered through his mind as he held the railing and his stomach simultaneously for support. “Leave me the fuck alone!” he screamed out through wheezing fits of stabbing biting agony. 

“Back……back” it answered clear as day enough to echo in the stairwell. 

But Oscar did not go back, instead he continued limping and dragging his failing body through the hotel lobby, it was early morning, but some murmuration of life flickered around the desk and seats available for those waiting for coaches or cabs. 

“Good morning sir are you okay?” a voice called over to him from behind the desk, it was the same clerk that questioned Katie on his wellbeing earlier in their stay. 

Oscar ignored the man and continued his slow lumbering walk towards the exit and moving away from these eyes and voices that are following his every waking moment. 

“Sir? Do you need any assistance” he called out once again, Oscar quickened his pace which only added to his current pains that electrocuted his internals leaking down his disfigured side. 

Smashing his shoulder into the front glass doors that rattled in the frames, Oscar pushed the door open and stumbled outside into the morning chilly air, it was relieving but this dull ache was still clinging on, fighting to turn him back on course for Katies slumbering body. 

“Seed….her” it whispered out as he took in heavy breaths. 

“Fuck off already!” Oscar screamed into the air, it turned a few early commuters that passed by and caught the attention of all those in the lobby behind him. 

The clerk put down his papers and made his way to check on the guest having some episode unknown outside the doors of his workplace. Falling to a knee with the wrenching hurt becoming just about rising to his limit, Oscar felt a large hand land on his back that almost knocked him clear to the ground. 

“Sir are you okay?” it was the clerk from the front desk, Oscar did not answer as he stayed hyper focused on keeping his breath steady and making quick promises to himself that he would not faint here in the street. 

If an ambulance was called, he knew it was going one direction, straight to Boothes front door at the hospital he had done all of this to escape. 

“Don’t touch me” he spat at the man behind him who merely attempted to approach a struggling stranger, 

“Please sir, I just want to help. Can you come inside, and we can get you some water?” the clerk asked hesitantly with his hand still attached between Oscars shoulder blades. 

“Stop touching me, not safe” he asked of the older clerk again, the air seemed to becoming lighter between the two. 

Oscars breaths deeper and raspier as the being inside him combated his attempts to control the outbursts it was exhibiting throughout his body. The clerk finally removed his hand from Oscar, perhaps too quickly for the wounded animal he was forming into out in the open, Oscar slammed his shoulder into the sternum of the clerk knocking him backwards into the street adjacent. 

‘CRACK’

His head slammed into the concrete and his arms came up in spasm, locked into a stomach-churning fencing position above his body, Oscar watched on in horror as the man seized and shook before him on the damp floor red pools forming into sinister outlines around him. 

“Fuck! Are you okay?” he vomited up the words and fell to his knees giving the man both hands around his lifeless face, blood dripped thick globs of streaming maroon between Oscars fingers as he felt the split in bone himself. 

“Run” the voice inside called out, the mans face whitened a sickening paleness.

“How can I help you? Please. Tell me what to do?” he asked begging the man for some help in a childish plea.

“Please!” he asked once again but in that moment he saw it, the light going out in the clerks eyes as they turned from watery panicked marbles to dull glassy rocks inside his broken head. 

Oscar fell backwards. 

“RUN! NOT SAFE!” the voice inside blurted out, but he knew running was not the solution.

Oscar crawled back onto his feet with his hands and knees now dripping with the clerks viscous blood and dragged the body further down the street leaving a trail behind him as though some horrific slug made of flesh had crawled through the scene. Safe spots to hide this great sin Oscar had committed became apparent but for the first time in his doomed story he was spoilt for choice, he dragged the limp lifeless and now almost empty of blood body between two buildings and slumped the clerk against a large dumpster. Oscar fell backwards once more after releasing the weight of the corpse and landed on his back in the street. 

“Why couldn’t you leave me the fuck alone!” he screamed at the body that stared across at him with offensive blankness. 

“Hide” his only friend inside said in its usual whispering manner. 

“Where? Where can I hide it” he answered staring around his new resting spot, nothing jumped forward with an answer and he grew in bitterness.

“WHERE?” he bellowed. 

Oscar knew that the area was likely accustomed to many undesirables stumbling through at all hours of the night hopped up on the latest cheap high that littered their once welcoming safe town, what was one more lost soul screaming out incoherent words in the daylight. 

“Down. Down. Down” the voice sang out giving him an odd rhythmic meditation. 

“Down…where” he replied to the song that was short lived. 

Scanning the surroundings with less heated eyes he found the meaning behind the message,  partially lifted drain that led down into the pit of the town. 

“Down there?” Oscar nodded in acceptance but stopped himself short of thanking the unseen fleshy mass that held him hostage.

There he went, Mary Rubens baby boy, dragging this lifeless man, who once had dreams and a family to care for, towards this murky abyss that would hopefully swallow him whole and leave the world amiss from the situation that Oscar wanted so desperately to escape, wake up and believe this was all some dream from the hospital to this disposal of human remains that had become his latest dive into the sinfulness of the world. Oscar kicked back the drain lid out of its socket above the ground, it scrapped and stung his ears, dragging this clerk over to the edge of the pit he looked down at the blackness below and took in an unwelcome waft of sewage and rot that ran beneath the feet of these usually good people. 

“Drop it” the voice said from the pit of his stomach, Oscar hesitated and looked across the scene one last time before depositing the unfortunate clerk down into his final watery slime covered resting place. 

“I can’t do this” he muttered to himself staring at the limp body that slept eternally in his grip.

His clarity was interrupted by the sense he was being watched and before he could think a car began passing the space between the buildings he was filling with his crimes; the sight caused him to stumble in place rolling his foot under the body and falling down into the open drain that swallowed him whole alongside the clerks corpse that fell after him. Mercifully for the incidental murderer, Oscar landed away from the corpse that ricocheted off the ladder descending to the base of this sewage access shaft and thumped morbidly beside him splashing the foul hazardous waters over the two of them. Oscar waited frozen in disbelief for the echoing noises of their fall to cease their song, he wondered how far down these tunnels that noise would carry and at what point some maintenance worker might report some – unusual activity – to the authorities. With his feet slowly becoming sodden with the liquid beneath his feet that pooled in an agonisingly slow flow slanting slightly downwards and off towards some river or sea, Oscar looked over at the body beside him with the realisation landing in dripping moments of atonement. 

“I killed him” he spoke to himself in the darkness of this maintenance tunnel. 

“Not safe” it called out from beneath him, suddenly this presence within was sounding vulnerable, even scared.

Oscar was unsure if the fear came from the surroundings or its sense of impending capture by the police that will almost certainly be looking for the body of this poor old soul that was slowly bloating with blocked flowing sewage before his watery eyes. 

“What do I do now” Oscar pathetically called out into the dark and moist air of the tunnels, 

he stood up and began plodding with watery sloshes through the waters that came just above his ankles leaking this vile pool into his footwear. Assessing the ladder with a shaking of its bars he determined it was intact enough for an escape but exiting the hole he had fell into felt foolish, especially having possibly been spotted in the midst of his crimes against humanity by that cruising car. Oscar saw light intermittently breaking the darkness in the tunnels that stretched out left and right in large runs across the underbelly of the town, his choices limited he determined it would be best to drag the body further away from the immediate area he had likely been spotted in and leave it somewhere hidden before getting back and washing up, the march through the sludge and slime filled waters had become exhausting and the smell had gained such strength with every disturbing footsteps that his head split with agonising migraine. 

“Pain” it creaked out from within his body.

“Dusting off a classic” Oscar mumbled to himself making fun of the voice that was foreshadowing incoming stabs at this body. 

This tired monotonous routine that he not only expected but also now anticipated depending on the level of physical exercise he had exerted that day, and there it was knocking at the door of his stomach lining. Oscar dropped the arm of the body in the water, placed his arms on the curved brick walls of the tunnel and took in deep rot filled breaths from the potion of poison travelling as a river as his walkway, he braced as the pain hit and dropped a hand to his side over the lump creating a pressure against it to soothe the ache, it worked momentarily as it usually did but the ache was internal and solid in resolve. 

Time past by slowly but certainly, the waters beneath him turned his feet into weighted boots of solid bone with the cold tainted filth filling his boots, when the winds of the blowing ache finally ceased and he could breathe normally once more, or as normal as anyone could be expected in a faecal funnelling channel such as this, he grabbed blindly into the disgusting waters pulling the arm of his empty of life friend back into his hand. Thankfully for the pair the entrance they descended so carelessly down was still vacant of further activity, the people who drove through had seemingly not informed any police officers or maintenance staff from the towns municipal crew. “Got a break” he said to himself slowly commencing his march through the tunnel, passing the first ray of light that bled down through the surface world, no ladder accompanying this drop but still progress for the murdering young man. 

“Not safe” it called out, this time echoing through the tunnel, the loudest he had heard his growth speak since the hospital. 

“Shut up, you are going to get us caught” he muttered struggling further with the body trailing behind him, every step taking in more water as the corpse of the ill-fated clerk bloated and bulged with blackened water. 

The second ray of light bathed Oscar in sunlight, the world outside seemingly so warm and orange in glow, sadness crawled through his mind with slithering snakelike presence, but he knew that analysing his situation would only lead him further into the darkness that threatened to swallow him for good. The third light broke over him, the walk now becoming a deathly stumbling dance as his corpse now heavy as the actions that took it from this world, heavy weaves escaping Oscars mouth as his heart pounded in his fragile chest. 

“Not safe” it called. 

“I know we aren’t fucking safe” he answered. 

Finally, Oscar could walk no further, the break was below another collection of broken lights that filtered through to the tunnels from the drain above, a ladder equipped at its side rusted but usable, nonetheless. Oscar slammed the body against the wall just out of sight from the drains comforting but exposing lights, it sat in ornamental horror with the head sloping down to its shoulder and water trickling from between its gaping lips and bloodied eye sockets, it worried him deeply how little the face of this abomination affected him in that reveal. If reality was a boiling pot, the lid was coming up with foaming scolding water, Oscar stared down at the body and his actions felt unreal, he had killed this man and dragged his body that his family hugged, kissed and loved through what must have been a mile of festering sewage tunnels before dumping it unceremoniously at the foot of a ladder away from the crime scene without even the light to comfort the rotting man’s soul. 

“Feed” it muttered breaking his wandering crushing thoughts of recompense, “Feed. Eat it” the voice called out echoing again through the tunnels, every winding passage carrying the song further through the cities worn out ceramic bowels. 

This time he simply ignored the words that pestered him, taking his break from the events and refilling his stamina bar that spat out fumes from the empty tank of energy, his stomach growled and his pain suddenly stung winding him of breath. 

“Again!” he barked out sending thunderous noise all around, “Feed” it repeated now it had Oscars attention. “We can eat when we get back to the room” he muttered through furious gritted teeth that ground and flaked white dust from his mouth.

“Feed. Organ. Feed” it begged as its host stared winded, looking down at the outcomes of the day.

More words of discomfort filled the air around him that he would have preferred to stay muted.

“We need to eat” Oscar felt another deep gurgling discomfort in his stomach causing another hurtling exhale.

Lifting his shift to assess he saw for himself the issues, the attachment had shifted from its usual lumpy side further into his stomach, bulges rose and sank near his belly button as he realised the worst. It was waiting to eat whatever content filled the boys stomach. 

“Fuck you” he muttered dropping his shirt to his waist again, weakness that he felt now made sense as this internal parasitic lifeform gobbled up his foods before he could get any nutrients from it burning away in his stomach.

Reaching for the ladder, his stomach turning in twisting excruciating roil he hesitated off the bars and splashed his feet back down into the now unalarming filthy drink. They had taken control for a brief moment. Oscar resisted but the words “Feed” rang out like a sirens call in his ears bouncing off the walls of his skull with taunting notes. Dropping to his knees and soaking up more of this vile beneath him into his knees, he edged closer examining the face, it was lifeless as he imagined and bluer than he pictured a corpse this recent could get, but it was the eyes that haunted him as they had become covered with a thick layer of clotted dried blood like sickening claret contact lenses. 

“Nothing human left in there” he whispered to himself, perhaps to the voice but he was unsure how aware of his own voice it had become, it was rather saddening for him to imagine all this trouble from a talking alien attachment within him that was completely unaware of his presence or his voice.

Close together but miles apart. 

“Feed” it begged as Oscar bobbed his head around the corpse analysing the features as if he were photographing every corner for a future canvas, “EAT!” the voice grew in volume, and he wondered how loud it would get if he left it unanswered. 

In reality he knew it would simply begin its performance of twisting, thrashing, and chewing around his insides to kneel him over in pain as it had done countless times in their unwanted time together.

“Perhaps I should” he whispered into the muted ears of the corpse friend, “Wasted meat” he added now seemingly losing himself to the hunger this feature of his anatomy was causing. 

“EAT!” echoed through the tunnels reverberating off old pipework and bricks greased in slime.

Oscar leant the body forward and pulled the jacket of its back, dropping it into the water that gently carried it away to some unknown access point to a river or ocean, he watched as the light bounced off the nametag that stayed attached to the lapel. 

“Why didn’t you just leave me alone. You could have left me to myself, and you could be home with your family, well goodbye to you” he muttered into the dark.

Soaking up the spill beneath and still drenched in the blood from the split skull above, the white shirt that hid away from all this beneath the safety of its separated jacket slowly changed colour as the sewage below creeped its way up his back. Oscar took his exploit another step further off the diving board of sanity, dragging the shirt over the man’s head, his limbs flapping in the air helplessly before splashing down back into the flowing waters below. 

“God” he wheezed out with vomit rushing into position at the back of his throat at the sight of this shirtless clerk leaning back against the rough bricks, soaked through, and blackened with bruises from the fall and the dragging journey he was taken on by his murderer. 

“What a mess you are” Oscar said looking over his handy work with regret and shameful intrigue.

“Eat. Pain” they said from his bowels, it sounded like some veiled threat from this unintelligible creature.

“You want me to eat huh? YOU WANT ME TO EAT! FINE!” he screamed into the thick tunnel air.

Oscar grabbed the man by the wrist and pulled his bare arm towards his chest, tucking it under his armpit and spinning round to face away from the corpses face. Inches from his jaws he held this limp blue wrist, the dirt under the clerks finger nails still visible and likely from the adventure they shared in the sewage system. Taking deep rapid breaths, he pulled the hand up to his face and placed it between his teeth, holding tightly with his canines down onto the base of the thumb and feeling the texture of human skin in his mouth, disgusting filthy soaked human skin, but human skin all the same. Blood trickled into his mouth; his teeth had broken the surface, but it was unsurprising as the corpse was now in a state of obliteration that would render it beyond fragile. Behind him the body dropped forward and tipped over into the water, splashing up into his face as he swivelled in reaction, the cold rank water on his face brought him back to the realities of humanity. Oscar dropped the corpse that he had by the wrist and fell backwards sprawling away until his head crashed against the metal ladder. 

“Stop” he begged addressing the control they had over him “Please stop,” his hands pulling him up from behind by gripping the bars. 

Oscar ascended, his shame and crimes committed rendering his mind almost entirely devoid of feeling, the world around him felt fake as though this was some elaborate set of a big budget movie he would watch through closed fingers with his dad. Pushing the metal rough drain away from its cavity at the top of the ladder, hoping that the scrapping noise was not going to alert any passers by, he scampered out of the manhole and slid the drain cover back over securely, glancing down he could see the foot dangling into the light from the now lost clerk, the sight was alarmingly the final straw and the summing of events as Oscar wretched up whatever morsels of food his internal friend had not stolen all across the path. 

Deep acidic gags continued for a few moments that lingered too long for the unfortunately placed man, how he had been undetected throughout this orchestra involving a dead clerk and the adventure in the sewers. Looking around Oscar could see the hotel building a few streets away, it was hovering like a beacon of safety, but he knew in his heart that safety was no longer an option for him in this life, he was destined to be on edge and at wits with his own being as long as this story wanted to unravel. The entrance to the hotel was surrounded, a crowd of five or six people, some seemed to be on the phone, others discussing with intense focus something undiscernible from his lookout.  Oscar knew the main entrance was a no go, it was too heavily watched, and his state of dress covered in blood and all other manner of unspeakable fluids, he walked around the building until he found the kitchen entrance that seemed to be in constant use. Moments later he saw the opening as the staff members seemed to be drawn to the noise outside the main entrance, Oscar broke free and marched his way through the kitchen, then the canteen, then the lobby and finally up the stair case and landing at the outside of his floors hallway. With the escape successful for the moment, he paused and caught his breath. 

“Hungry” it muttered into the stairwell. 

Oscar ignored it, hoping the nightmares of what he had almost committed would fade into memory like the bad dream it had to be.