Blue Fungus
It all started when I went on a caving exploration to some small Eastern European country, I can’t even recall the name now but if was a fun trip. If I recall rightly I had been trying to pull the guy who was running the expedition, as in sleep with him, it never happened of course he was far too hetrosexual for that. I didn’t mind there was fun in the trying.
The caves themselves had been magnificent and the smell of our acrid torches and the frill of descending into an unknown cave system gave me a sort of mental high that would last for months once I was back home. Of course the bat shit was a bit of an issue it was incredibly slippery and seemed to pretty much coat every surface of every cave we explored. I slipped and slide my way through and we would all have long epic showers on our return, to rejuvenated the aching limbs and to get the stink off of our skin.
Then in the caving lodge we were staying in I noticed a strange cobwebbing, a dark mottled blue veining that stretched out across the bottom of the bunk I slept beneath. I assumed it must be the damp but it niggled at me, I was used to black mould that tended to take hold of the walls of student accommodation but this was different. I wasn’t overly worried about it but I did point it out to the others who predictably just shrugged it off. On maybe the second from last night I had a strange dream about bats and blue mushrooms that grew to the size of a good 4×4 and then filled with gas and floated away until something deflated them or a stray cinder from a camp fire ignited them in balls of green flame.
When I awoke I felt a strange tightness on my face and a panic seized hold of me as I realised I was breathing through a sticky matt of some kind. I scrapped at my face with my blunt fingers and managed to remove a tangled mesh of the fungus, it had detached itself from the bunk above and adhered to my face. Feeling sick and imagining spores in my lungs I ran to the showers.
I scrubbed and scrubbed and gargled and even painfully flushed my nostrils out, when I looked in the mirror I found that I had pink streaks across my face almost as if I had been scolded or had acid flicked at me. They were not bad though – only superficial wounds, skin deep and I knew they would heal.
Fearing the local medical care (mainly due to too many horror movies) I waited until we got home and headed straight off to the Doctors. They checked my lungs as best they could and did some general blood tests but it was basically a waiting game. I went back every six months and then every year and then I moved and forgot about it.
Then yesterday I noticed one of my nails, it has the faintest of blue sheen to it and I have been dreaming of fine little blue hairs that recede from my skin every time light is shone upon them. I am not sure if going back to the doctor will help or hinder (as in will I end up in a lab dying slowly or be dissected for my super powers). I’ve booked the appointment and now as always only time will tell.
Posted: Thursday, January 9th, 2014 @ 1:08 pm
Categories: Flash Fiction.
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