A Short Story

I heard something the other day about flies: As soon as they land on food, they lay maggots. I’d always thought it was like the five-second rule, you had a few seconds to shoo them away. It’s gross either way, but especially so as there’s a good chance some of those maggots found their way into my stomach.

But then, two nights ago, as I did my nightly routine, taking my allergy pills, taking my contacts out, washing my face, I got to thinking… What else do flies land on that they immediately lay maggots on?I got the whole body shivers and an anxiety-filled adrenaline rush but then figured just like the acid in my stomach, the maggots would die and I’d be fine. I went to bed with no worries.

However, upon waking this morning, I realized I couldn’t see and my eyes were in quite a bit of pain. Waking up and not seeing much is nothing unusual since I have horrible vision, but this was different. I could see nothing. I moved my hands to my eyes, my fingers brushing against my eyelids. They were crusted close.

Great. Pink eye.

I could feel my eyes moving beneath the crust. I guess I would just need a warm washcloth and some medicine. I’d probably need to call someone for a ride. There’s no way I could put my contacts in to see enough to drive.

I stumbled my way to the bathroom, grabbed a towel off the rack, soaked it with warm water, and focused on letting the warm water smooth the crustiness away.

It wasn’t until after several minutes that I began to suspect something else was wrong. The crusty bits became much juicier than I’d ever experienced before. Pink eye is common when you touch your own eyeballs as much as I have to.

I could feel the juice slide down my cheeks. My fingers glided over my cheeks and I took a sniff. It smelled coppery, yet rotten. I tried to open my eyes, could feel them moving, but I still had no vision.

Panic began to set in.

I stumbled to my room, found my phone, still plugged in and asked Siri to call 911.

When the guy answered, I nearly screamed in relief.

“911; What’s your emergency?”

The guy on the phone told me to not touch my eyes and stay where I was, that someone would be up my house in just a few minutes.

I could hear the ambulance coming, and realized I’d need to unlock the front door or they’d be no getting help unless I didn’t mind a broken door. I again worked my way through the hallway and to the front door. I could hear the ambulance’s song as it finally pulled up to my house. I opened the door and that’s when I heard a scream, accompanied by a stream of swear words.

The two people asked me a million questions about what happened, how it happened, how much pain I was in… I still didn’t understand what was wrong with my eyes.

Finally, they just rushed me to the ambulance, blathering about everything being okay.

It wasn’t until a few days later that I got the full story.

After getting me to the hospital, the police were called to search my home. When they made it to my bedroom, they found a multitude of large, fat maggots laying around my pillow, and several little ones in my contract case, which was when they were able to put together what happened.

Apparently, there was a very busy fly in my home.

Mx. Roth currently teaches English I and II, as well as Creative Writing and Genre Studies at Charles City High School. As someone with horrible vision who must wear contact-lenses to see much beyond her nose, nearsightedness has played a major role in her life, leading to this short little horror story. Enjoy.