The Parasite (Short Story)

The woman had settled into an easy routine many years ago. She got up, washed and dressed herself. After a small but tasty breakfast, she left her house and waded through the river. Afterwards she went about her day and in the evening she crossed the river again and went home. 

It was a simple but joyful life. She had friends and enjoyed the little she had, without any reason to complain until one day everything changed. When she was washing herself, she noticed something below the left shoulder blade. It wasn’t bigger than a seed. She checked in the mirror and sighed when she saw the black dot. It was a river parasite. She wasn’t too worried, more annoyed at the inconvenience. She knew of many people, who had had a parasite and usually it grew a while, until it would let go, when crossing the river. Others went to different healers, who finally managed to detach it. Finally there were those whose parasite had grown so much, that apparently they couldn’t move or do anything. They either died or killed themselves because they grew weary of the parasite.

The woman had always reacted with disdain at those stories. Now that she saw the parasite first hand more so. It was very insignificant and hardly noticeable, how would anybody die because of it? So she went out about her life.

The next days she started growing more and more tired, she would sometimes be late to cross the river and it felt deeper every day. She started cancelling on her friends and was behind on her chores.

One day she put a bit more attention to the parasite and noticed it had grown further. It was now the size of a potato. She felt a little sick but remained confident that it would soon fall off. She decided she was just having a weak phase and she just needed to push herself a little more.

She forced her to get up earlier, to make sure she made it to the river on time. But because she was too tired her morning routine started to suffer. She would wash herself less carefully and the breakfast she used to prepare with such dedication became a quick instant coffee and some cookies from a pack with a doubtful expiration date.

As she kept pushing herself she didn’t realise that the parasite was now the size of a cat. It was feeding off her efforts! The more she tried to maintain her routine as usual the stronger and heavier the parasite grew, while she became weaker every day.

One day she was so tired she couldn’t get out of bed. She decided to call in sick, because she believed that a good night’s sleep would help with her exhaustion for sure.

After three days she decided it was about time to go back to work. She hadn’t looked in a mirror for a very long time and was therefore unaware that the parasite was now covering her whole back and extending over her shoulders. She set her alarm clock ready to return to work the following day, although the mere thought of it made her sick. She said to herself that she was merely nervous about what her colleagues would say. They would probably believe she was being whiny for staying at home three day because of such a tiny parasite. The woman went to bed anxiously trying to convince herself that all would be good the following day. After thrashing around for hours she finally fell asleep.

She startled awake the following day and realised she had overslept. How embarrassing to oversleep on the first day after being on sick leave! She dressed hurriedly and left the house.

When she got the river her heart dropped, that water had already risen and she couldn’t walk through it but had to swim! She sighed but looked at the others who were getting ready. She had done it before and knew she could do it. You can do this she said to herself, despite feeling incredibly exhausted. She started to swim but after a few meters she finally noticed the actual weight of the parasite. How could she not have noticed it before? It was huge, probably heavier than she was! I can do this she thought! She pushed herself, but it was in vain because she couldn’t. The parasite pulled her under. Just as she thought, she should have just gone to a healer, while it was small she felt the weight lessen enough to get back to the surface. As she lay on the river bank coughing some time later she felt for the parasite. It was still there but had already shrunk enough for her to move. She got up and went to the closest healer.