It started innocently enough. I was reading on the bed while my boyfriend, Charlie, was playing on the computer with his friends. I don't play many games so it's interesting to listen to the things he says to his friends, even if terminology goes over my head sometimes. There will be moments when I'll be focusing on something and he'll just spout off words that sound extraterrestrial.

I'll just laugh it off and continue with what I was doing, it wasn't my thing but he enjoyed it and it wasn't hurting anyone, initially. Like I said I had my nose between the pages reading about various armchair philosophies as Charlie raved on in the background play Among Us, I think. He had won a match and swiveled his chair to face me, like a dog when they did a trick right.

“Finally got a win tonight as imposter.” He exclaimed, more for himself than for me.

“That's great babe,” I replied offering an admittedly false smile, I was happy he was happy but I can't say I was invested. He turned back to the computer and talking to his friends again, they were hyping each other up.

I heard Charlie mutter. “when the imposter is sus.” It was such a random word that it tickled my brain when I heard it and I couldn't help but laugh. Charlie leaned back in his chair as if he was exhausted himself as he swiveled to face me once more.

“I can't believe I just said that unironically-” he echoed my laughter offering a painfully adorable smile. “-I feel like I should wash my mouth out with soap.” He repeated the word a few times, making sure to let out popping noise when mouthing the “S”. We both laughed it off and he said goodnight to his friends. It was time for me to get some quality time with him and with that my book remained on the nightstand until morning.

In the morning I woke up early and felt like I had gotten a really good sleep so I was in a good mood. And when I'm in a good mood, I make breakfast. I heard the stairs creak and figured the smell of bacon had lifted Charlie out of bed. He stumbled into the kitchen, his hair a complete mess. “That smells hella sus.” He groggily moaned.

With mild amusement, I went to laugh. Charlie's face conveyed confusion as he stood in the kitchen. His eyes strained and mouth still slightly agape. “I totally meant to say great.” He continued turning his gaze to me. “God I'm tired.” He chuckled before shuffling over to help me finish up with breakfast.

The rest of the day was pretty normal. We even decided to go on a little impromptu date, the best we could with the world the way it is. But when we were winding down for the night, getting ready to brush our teeth. Charlie informed me that “Today was sus babe.” I politely replied that if he was trying to mess with me it was going to get old fast.

He shook his head. “It just kind of came out sorry.” He said raising the toothbrush and dragging it across his teeth. We both brushed our teeth and in unison spit into the sink, as I was wiping my mouth I could see Charlie leaning in for a kiss. I turned my head but when I met him face to face I a putrid smell climbed into my nostrils. It was enough to make me recoil away from him, it was like battery acid poured over rotting roast beef.

I instinctively put my hand over my nose. “Your breath is awful,” I told him. Which we both knew was odd, he just brushed his teeth and it's not like he has gingivitis or anything. He went to point out as much by pointing to the sink but stopped. I followed his cue and looked into the sink where we had spit our toothpaste out. On my side of the sink, there were a few lingering bubbles.

On his side of the sink, however, still clinging to the white porcelain was a thick and frothy substance. It was a sickly yellow with streaks of red the would suggest Charlie's dental hygiene had degraded significantly in just one night. He quickly reached over and turned the faucet on, opening his mouth he checked out the condition of his teeth, they looked completely fine.

It took a good bit of water for the mess he had spit into the sink to budge at all. Eventually, with the convincing of steaming hot water, it disappeared. I went to say something to him but he was captivated by his reflection with his mouth moving ever so slightly. His lips quietly repeating the “S” sound over and over. I told him that we should just go to bed and we'll make an appointment to see the dentist, make sure something weird wasn't going on with bacteria or something.

We made our way to be and settled down for the night. With the lights turned off and the dark of a sleeping world creeping in I closed my eyes. I don't know how long I was asleep for but I was woken slowly by a small prodding on my shoulder. Charlie was ever so gently poking me, like a child who wants their parent to wake up on Christmas but is afraid to make them angry.

I shuffled my body, still coming out of the throws of deep sleep my body was sluggish and the blankets felt like they weighed thirty pounds. As I turned over I reached behind me to flick on the light and the sudden brightness momentarily stunned my vision. I started wiping my eye and was about to ask what was wrong when a very familiar and pungent smell assaulted my senses again.

It was worse this time like it had been sitting for a while. I struggled to keep my urge to vomit subdued, this was made all the more difficult when I moved to brace my new position and felt my fingers press against the sheets. As my fingers pressed down, a hot and viscous liquid rose from the divots I had made.

Then I saw Charlie. His face had that sickly yellow ♥♥♥♥ caked onto his face, he looked like an infant that fought hard against eating his baby formula. His mouth was moving and words were coming out but just barely. His voice was raspy I could tell they were painful, his body would tremble every time he started to speak. “Re..d...s...u.s”

Such a horrid sight, watching each letter accompanied by a small spittle of the disgusting liquid and before long I could see how it was about to get worse. As he kept going-

“Red..ss..us..”
“Red....s..us.”
“Red- s-s-sus.”

I could see thin trails of smoke lifting from inside his mouth and under his lip. Horrified, I hadn't moved my hand yet but once the new drippings had made their way to my hand I could feel an intense burning sensation. Charlie started to shake more violently as I finally snapped to my senses and ran to the phone.

Dialing 911 as fast as I could I heard Charlie behind me beginning to shout “SUS” over and over. I could just imagine the molten ooze spewing from his mouth like Yellowstone as he attempted to clear his mouth of the heat. I didn't know what to even say to the operator so I told the lady he had severe burns and trouble breathing.

Keeping the phone off the hook as the operator confirmed that an ambulance was on the way I made my way back to Charlie. It was so much worse than I first saw, the blankets on the bed where he was facing away from me were soaked. The liquid had saturated the sheets and bed to the point that they were dripping onto the hardwood.

Plumes of smoke rose from the hardwood threatening to bore right through the floor but it wasn't my biggest concern. I couldn't help but picture Charlie laying there all night, saying that stupid word over and over, suffering but not wanting to disturb me. He looked so weak, I don't know what that fluid was but it was taking all the nutrients Charlie needed to function with it.

The whites of his eyes were beginning to stain yellow like a smoker's walls and his skin was so visibly dry I thought he was going to start molting. He barely recognized the man I knew as he rose from the bed, shambling to his feet. It looked like some cheesy zombie flick with a small budget but seeing it in person, happening to someone I loved, was so painful and