Worms

“An engineer!” Eli shouted. Trying to have a conversation was impossible in a club when the music was so loud he could feel it ringing in his ears. Not that it mattered anyway, she wasn’t really paying all that much attention.

Honestly, he wasn’t even sure why he bothered to go out anymore. He never had any luck anyway, not like the other guys in his frat house. Plus, he had zero money to his name, so he couldn’t exactly afford to take anyone out to fancy dinners.

“Screw it,” he said as he stumbled home, drunk and defeated. The guys were going to be pissed at him for spending the frat’s money on booze instead of buying some new stuff they needed for the house, so it’s not like things could get worse. He was running terrible scenarios over in his head when he saw it.

An old, discarded couch.

Sure, it was in an alley, and probably had been for some time now, but it would be perfect for the common room. They’d been looking for something since they moved in two weeks ago, but being low on funds means taking what you can get. And, seeing as the only offer they got was from some creepy man who offered to give the boys his furniture if they went down to his creepy basement to get it, Eli thought this couch must have been a gift from God himself.

Maybe they wouldn’t be mad at him for wasting what little money the frat had if he could show them he had at least tried. It would be a lie, of course, but he needed to save his own ass somehow.

The only problem would be lugging the thing home. It was old, made of heavy, solid wood, and would definitely not be going without a fight. So, Eli grabbed an end and started dragging it off the curb, making sure not to scrape the legs too much as it came down hard on the asphalt.

It took him three painful hours to stumble his way through the college streets and into the driveway, and then the next morning he woke the rest of the guys to show them his golden find.

“Spray a little air freshener and bam! Good as new!” By the looks on their faces, the others didn’t think it was a gem at all, but they couldn’t exactly argue with a perfectly good couch.

Even if there were a few small holes in it.

Five of the boys carried the couch through their little house, with the two others watching closely to make sure they wouldn’t get stuck. Eli thought it was like playing with a toy he once had, trying to get the shapes to fit into their matching spots. Only this time the shape was ungodly, and the matching spot was completely on the other side of the house.

Finally, the boys set down the couch and examined it. “It looked nicer in the yard,” Russel mumbled. Eli couldn’t believe his ears.

“What are you talking about! This thing is perfect for us. And we didn’t have to get it from some guy’s basement.”

“I don’t know,” Rick said as he kicked one of the legs. “That basement doesn’t seem so bad anymore.”

“You guys are crazy.”

“Fine, you can sleep on it then,” Eddy sneered. “I broke your bed last night anyway.”

Eli didn’t necessarily want to sleep on the old, smelly thing, but he also didn’t want to give Eddy the satisfaction of thinking he was forcing Eli to do something. Eddy would just rub it in his face for weeks, the same thing he did every other time he thought he’d proven Eli wrong.

Well, not this time.

Eli was determined to spend the night on that couch, even though all the air freshener in the world wasn’t going to make it any better. While watching TV and trying to get to sleep, it was hard to get comfortable. Every time he found a sweet spot it felt like it moved away from him.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Eli fell asleep. He dreamt of the girl at the bar and going home with her like he wanted to. She took off her clothes and the two climbed in bed together, and then…

Eli’s eyes shot open as he felt something inching its way across his face.

He pulled the slimy thing off his cheek and held it up to the dim light from the TV. It was a worm. A long, wet, sticky worm that had somehow managed to squirm its way up onto his face. Eli, disgusted at the sight, tossed the worm onto the floor and then rubbed his sleepy eyes.

And then he felt another, and another. All over him were slimy worms, wriggling around and tunneling beneath his flesh. He looked at his arms and saw them crawling under his skin, slowly making their way deeper and deeper.

He tried to stop them before they could burrow into his legs, but they were already full of holes where the insects had slithered inside.