The Story of Justin, Epilogue.

He feigned sleep, that one night, lying with his back to her. She was stroking her fingers through his hair, lightly drawing them down, over the shell of his ear.

She whispered, asking if he was awake. He kept silent, not wanting to ruin the moment.

He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, initially. The odd, tickling pressure from inside her fingertips. Something wet was touching his ear, and the tickling went further down. Running along the inside of the shell, into his ear.

As the grub dug into his ear canal, he realized what was happening.

The wetness was blood.

They were ripping their way out of her fingertips, and worming their way past his skull.

She covered his mouth with her own, when he tried to scream. He wasn’t sure what was crawling over his tongue, but by the time she was through kissing him, they had stung and swollen his throat so badly, no more sound could escape.

He lay there, painfully conscious of the grubs nestling into his head. And that is how Justin’s story began.