scene twenty-three - panic - year seven

It bubbled. It became alive inside them, wriggling and writhing like a sentient knot of rope inside their stomach, twisting and turning as if it was trying to slither up their throat and force its way out through their jaws. Hugging their knees to their chest, they let their forehead hit the kneecaps, squeezing their eyes closed and trying to contain the bubbling within them. It wasn’t working—it was going to eat them alive, they could just feel it. They couldn’t ignore it; they couldn’t soothe it, or make it go away. It was trying to become them, taking over their body like a parasite and using it for its own means.