𝕰𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖍𝖆𝖚𝖓𝖙 2021_Day 04 [Trick]
~Original~
Category: Body horror, suspense, parasites, not actual animal cruelty.
𝕯𝖆𝖞 𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗: 𝕲𝖔𝖔
Louis Lamontagne was a snail breeder renowned among Amity Park restaurants, because his gastropods were biological and he killed them with the least amount of pain for selling them as escargot.
So, he was used to snail slime. He even had a healthier skin because of it!¹*
However, nothing in his experience would have prepared him for the scene he found one late evening…
Louis was checking the perimeter of the greenhouse where he bred his snails, when with the corner of his eye saw a pale glow beyond the elder bushes that surrounded the structure (and that he had planted to dissuade the pests²*).
Had that spectral pompous pest came back? Louis had already given that jerk all his infected snails, he didn't have any more of them (he hoped)!
And certainly he wouldn't breed any of his babies to be infected just for that nuisance! Who did that ghost think he was? Part of the mafia?!
If that ass ever tried to extort him for "protection", he was so calling the Fentons and who cared what they would do to him!
Carefully, the breeder quietly stalked toward the elder bush…
(Yes, he knew that one shouldn't follow something glowing during the night, he had seen too many horror and thriller movies about that and he lived in Amity on top of it, however he had his Fenton Deterrent™ keychain if things got dicey, so!)
…that rustled slightly, as slooooowly a glowing snail slithered from under the foliage.
Louis held his breath, squeezing his flashlight and the keychain, as he observed the gastropod placidly creep on the dew-stained grass, leaving behind a trail gleaming slime.
The man squinted: there was an odd pattern on its shell, what… Ah. It was one of the "tattoos" he had painted on every batch of snails before releasing them in the greenhouse, in order to recognize each generation when he went to gather them from sale. That specific pattern had been on the infected batch that Louis had to "liberate" to the ghost menace. Had the moron turned them into ghost deliberately or was it just a byproduct of being consumed by an ectoplasmic entity?
…Well, no matter, what was really important at the moment was to assess if this tiny specter was a threat to either him or his babies.
Slowly, Louis poked the glowing shell with a stick, obtaining as only reaction the retraction of the mollusk. Like a normal snail would have done.
…Okay, this could be manageable.
Louis crouched down and illuminated the gastropod, while it carefully came out of its shell and extended its antennas. Oh! It was parasite free! At least in death it didn't have any of those disgusting worms inside…
Another snail from the bunch phased across the shrub, following its sibling towards the greenhouse.
‒ Ah, no babies, I don't I don't know if you're harmful to your sisters! ‒ He playfully scolded them, putting on his gardener gloves, and gently plucked them from the ground. None of them attacked, they just retracted into their shell, so he should be safe (for now).
He could try to set a terrarium for them, they looked cute with their body tinted with a lime-green hue and white rings-on-gray pattern on their shells. Their four eyes seemed even little led-light bulbs, nothing like those worms that had infected them in life…
The last thought made the breeder pause.
If the snails had turned into ghosts after being eaten by that heathen, what had happened to the parasites? Shouldn't they have returned along with their ex-hosts?
A pulsing light with gradually increasing intensity made itself noticed beyond the elder bush, as another phantom snail phased the greenery. …Were they fleeing after all?
Carefully, the man opened the mini-transportable terrarium he kept with a strap over his shoulder for when he found one of his snails outside the greenhouse (the little devils were slippery bastards) and put inside the three specters, which seemed content to stay within the transparent confines of the box.
Quietly, the man stalked to the shrub, still crouching down and plucking from the ground as many as his undead mollusks once they showed up… Then he peered over the foliage.
…Yeeeah, the snails had definitely been fleeing.
…And yes, the worms had been reborn as specters as well, only…
They didn't seem to target snails anymore.
The goo-ish shape on the grass may have been humanoid once, but now it looked halfway melted in a spread-eagle position.
Where the chest cavity had once been, the semi-solid ectoplasm had liquefied, revealing a glowing whitish oval-shaped thing that was peppered by opaque-grey tumor-like bulges that pulsed in sync with… ugh…
Louis was about to get violently sick. Goosebumps had already made home on his skin at the sight of the body of the ghost, but its head… was material for nightmares.
Much like the worms had done with the snails when they had been alive, the ectoplasmic equivalent had taken residence inside the ocular bulbs of the victim, altering their initial spherical shape into an elongated form, similar to a rice grain, but several times its size.
Actually, they seemed twice as big as the victim's head.
Unfortunately, though, that wasn't the worst body modification: these new demented antennas displayed psychedelic neon rings that pulsed along the grayish tumors and slid up and down as if they were trying to imitate the insignia outside a barber shop.
A wheeze, almost a croak, gurgled from the frothing mouth of the victim, resembling eerily a cry for help.
Oh God, does that mean that it's still conscious despite all of this?!
No, he had to call the Fentons, whatever they would do to it (him? Could the ghost that Louis had called a jerk before still have an identity in this state?) would be merciful in comparison to this.
¹* There are several beauty products based on snail slime…
²* Elderberry plants are, in fact, poisonous. Only mature berries and flowers are safe, so this is why they are ideal as warding plants against animals that could damage the greenhouse to sneak in and eat all the snails.
A/N. This was inspired by a video a friend of mine IRL showed me about "Zombies in the animal world". So, yeah there are other things like this, if not even worse…
That being said! What do you think? This was my first attempt ever to plot and write horror, how did it go?
(A newcomer in our group of friends when I mentioned this plotline told me to "get rid of it, because parasites are overused"… But you know what? I suffered for this, it's my creepy baby and I'll die on his hill! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧)
If anybody wants to know, the spectral snails did end in their personal terrarium with anti-phase glasses (courtesy of the Fentons). They are very happy inside of it and Louis loves them very much since he can keep them as pets and they will last technically forever (on the contrary of living snails).
As for the escargot-lover idiot ghost instead, well… The only positive note is that in this timeline the Fentons either know about Danny or they are chill with Phantom after making the permanent Truce, so they won't use the newly created parasites to target him (or others).
Though, if you want to imagine the worse timeline, feel free to do so, just… I'll appreciate the tag if you ever write something about it, but I won't read it (I'm warning you in advance).
I appreciate angst only in certain ways and doses, sorry… (๑•﹏•)
Now onward with the schedule, type ya tomorrow!
Will Day 05 be Ouija Board or Fairy Circle? Check in "Domestic Phantoms" and you'll find out!