Sanity Games

The bugs swirled around his head

As he swatted at them

Never managing to actually hit one

They were great at dodging the hands from humans

Human hands were big and slow compared to them

And more importantly

They were predictable

This particular group of swirling bugs

Had been following this particular man for weeks now

Right around his eyes

Is where they liked to hangout

At first

He didn’t know what to do

He called his Doctor

But she didn’t have any answers for him

His friends laughed at his predicament

His girlfriend thought that he was crazy

According to her

He was making up the bugs

Because she

Couldn’t

See them

She told him to seek psychiatric help

And for two whole days

He believed her

And thought he was

Going crazy

And she seemed

Smitten with herself

But one night

He woke up to take a piss

And was swatting unconsciously at his bugs

When one of them

Bit him

And the little bugger

Wouldn’t let go no matter how hard the man swung his hand in the air

The bite stung

And he grabbed the bug between two of his fingers

And squashed it

It’s head squirted out towards his fingernails

He looked at the bug guts on his fingers proudly

He had finally managed to kill one

But when he tried to go back to sleep

He could hear the rest of the bugs crying right by his ear

No sleep came to him that night

But in the morning

He showed his girlfriend the mark that was left on his hand

From the bug bite

She laughed at him

And told him that it must’ve been a dream

And that he really was

Losing his wits

She said that invisible bugs couldn’t cry

But

He wasn’t so sure about that

He stopped trying to swat at them after that

And then

He watched them fly from his face

To hers

And she told him that there was now a buzzing noise

Following her everywhere she went

But she didn’t understand where it was coming from

He smiled at her

And told her that it was probably nothing

And that she was probably just

Crazy

Like he apparently was.

CH 12/5/24