Story entry 29 - Reused Remains

Mr. Needle was making his mark in Mt. Vernon. Auda, The Mushroom Princess, lived in a cozy and spacious home (bedecked with mixed matched antiques and a plethora of plant oddities) deep in the sewer system beneath the surface of the neighborhood. Leaving her home and making her way to the surface, see noticed the handiwork of Mr. Needle at her feet. To the average person, it looked like a large hermit crab, but the tell tale sign that this was Mr. Needle’s handiwork was the fact that the shell of this crab was a barnacle encrusted human skull.
Auda stopped and watch the creature as it drug itself along the wet concrete floor. She wondered who this person once was and what their name had been. How exactly had this happened to them, and why had Mr. Needle sought them out? What had they done or had they even done anything?
Auda knew this curse because she had seen it before. All Mr. Needle needed to do was whisper his curse into his victims ear and these words took hold. It started small, so small a scan of the brain would never pick it up, but it was there. A tiny solid speck that felt like something important you were trying to remember, but couldn’t bring it to the surface, no matter how hard you tried. The first week was like this and it was distracting. The feeling of a lost thought that you just had to uncover, but the second week was the horrible reward for all of time spent trying to remember what you had thought you had forgotten, because this is when the the curse was feeding on those thoughts and growing. By week two, the curse had form and purpose and its heartbeat could be heard by the host. Like the beat of a song they couldn’t shake -an earworm. The next month was a tragic decent into insanity and eventually led to a complete vegetative state and death. Most of those that died from this curse would have been buried and the parasitic curse would did with it, due to enablalming. Some of those afflicted would seek solitude during the period of mental collapse and would end up dying alone. The bodies might eventually be found in the harbor, but the heads would be missing - left to roam the sewer system or shores of the bay.
Auda wondered how long ago this person must have died. How long would it have taken for all this to happen and for barnacles to have had time to grow on the cranial remains which now served as this creatures home. It sent shivers up Auda’s spine and she left the thing where it was. It was horrific and a cruel reminder for those that stood in Mr. Needles way.
By the time Auda had returned from her errands, the creature was long gone, but the thought of it stuck with her much longer. Mr. Needle had been sent from the the Inmost as a warning and if this was a warning to the suvians (like Auda), then what would it be like if he was crossed?

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