Bogleech.com's 2014 Horror Write-off:

"wet bread"

Submitted by Crow N.

It starts at the tip of your fingers, a tingling sensation, like when a foot falls asleep if you rest on it wrong for too long. You dismiss the feeling at first. Then it begins spreading, slowly up your hand, then your wrist. By the time the uncomfortable numbness reaches your forearm, you are getting worried. No matter how much you move, or how you stretch it, your whole arm is soon dead weight at your side, though you can still see your fingertips twitching when you concentrate on moving them.

You sit down. When you prop your arm on the table in front of you, there is a soft squishing sound. You slide your unresponsive hand over the tabletop and it leaves an oily stain behind. You desperately clench your hand, trying to work some feeling back to it, when you notice it is losing tone. The fingers seem to squash together, and the knuckles are barely visible over the expanse of skin. Your wrist no longer differentiates your hand from your forearm and when you hold it to try and raise it from the table, your whole arm curves downwards above the elbow, completely limp.

Anxiety grips your throat. You choke out a cry for help. When you try to get up from the chair, your ankles give up from under you, bending far past the point where they should have broken though they are still attached. You hit the ground, but you don’t feel pain. You feel your own weight pressing your ribs towards your body where you fell. You try to prop yourself up with one arm but it bends midway through the forearm and you slide over your own skin leaving stains on the ground.

Your knees won’t budge. You try again to make a sound, to call for help, the side of your face pressed against the ground. The sound comes out warbled as your windpipe closes softly upon itself. You bite down and feel your jaws pressing through your teeth and into the bone. You start coughing to dispel the feeling of your own tongue filling up your mouth as it relaxes into your palate. You retch and you curl upon yourself on the cold floor.

You cough more violently as panic seizes you. One of the coughs comes out wet and something plops out of your mouth. It is a small glob of tissue, red and glistening and you realize it’s a chunk of your own throat as your eyes slowly fold into your skull.