Down by the Inlet

So, this all started like six months ago. My two roommates and I were headed down to South Florida to look for a new place to live. We had been threatened with eviction right before the start of winter after complaining about some heating issues and we had no doubt our landlord would do it since we were month to month. We’re from Long Island, New York (Seaford, in my case). We had all gotten tired of the cold and heard legends of cheap rent and warm weather. Stacey, a 24 year old blue haired fading faux punk rocker who was growing more mundane by the birthday, had just dropped out of some retarded small liberal arts college program. Todd, a call center employee, now had peach fuzz where a freshly shaved scalp always used to be and a history of making up weird stories that had never gone to college to begin with. He had no reason to hesitate. So after my dad died we decided to take the one way trip to what we called “budget California”. My name is Chris, I enjoy smoking pot and I never really made any life plans anyways.

Todd was the only one with a vehicle, but thankfully it was a Ford Econoline from the 80s that had somehow survived the frequently salted roads over the decades, leading to an only slightly rusty floor that we hoped to sleep on while we searched for jobs. As we got closer and closer to our destination we realized that the heat and humidity could be more of a problem than we initially thought. As the gracious weeping willows slowly gave way to the more abrasive and strangely minimal landscape of dagger like palm trees and scrubland, long pines sticking Todd had the brilliant idea of getting a large battery to power a cheap box fan while we slept with every window and door open. Eventually this changed to sleeping on top of and around the van in the parks and truck stops dotting I-95 along the way that we slept in until we reached our destination.

We got to West Palm Beach at about two in the morning and decided to check and see if any of the areas near the beach had any parks with hobos in them. Beaches usually have showers, which can help when you’re homeless and looking for a job.

Eventually we came across a park called “Ocean Ridge Park”, which showed up on our GPS as “Ocean Inlet Park”. The park was arranged in a shape that was almost a three leafed clover, except for the bridge leading out to an inlet pier on the opposite side of the powerful waterway. On one leaf was a family friendly looking park with pavilions, in the center leaf a large building and dock and in the third a large circular parking lot directly next to the bridge. The area over the bridge had fewer lights, so we couldn’t see as clearly, but seemed to have no facilities.

The Palm Beach Sherriff’s Office apparently used the area as a boat launch, out of a large building directly front and center of the entire park, which explained the police working even at night. Todd slowed the van, weary of police in a rich area in the dead of night, but as we got closer we began to notice a good sign: hobos already in the parking lot.

“Jesus Christ, are you guys seeing this?”

Todd asked us, in a mildly dreamy voice. He slowed down further while our eyes adjusted enough to the new light to assess the park.

Next to the docks were some fishing areas along the intercoastal side of the inlet with a large parking lot that had several large beaten to shit vans with obvious occupants. A massive concrete staircase led up out of the intercoastal side and to the road, and across the road was a beach which was awkwardly bisected by the unnatural inlet, which required massive pier walls to ensure that the beach areas adjacent were safe from the brutal current. Down the road and across the bridge that went over the inlet were an enormous inlet pier and some sort of a large building attached to the waterway gate. Across the street from this pier and down a steep incline was another parking lot that also had its fair share of occupants and night fishers. A massive looking island loomed behind this parking lot, which seemed covered in strangely unmanicured plant life that made it look as if it were an untouched part of Florida that just happened to be surrounded. It had a tidy looking concrete wall that seemed to surround it entirely, which I assumed insulated it from the currents.

The presence of both hobos and police existing peacefully was instantly and massively reassuring, and it was on the thin island next to West Palm Beach, so it was actually pretty beautiful as well. Even in the dead middle of the night there were quite a few fishermen, and several massive boats using the inlet that cut through the thin island. The inlet, we would find, had waters that were deep enough to be jet black in daylight, despite the waters surrounding the inlet on both sides of the island being extremely shallow naturally. The unnatural location of the waterway seemed to force water through violently, and there were no fishers on the far side of the park, just two vehicles.

“Jesus Christ, it’s perfect.”

Stacey mumbled, absentmindedly while Todd pulled into the parking lot without even asking us whether we should stop or not. It was relatively empty for such a nice day, with three parking lots and only seven vehicles. She had been giving driving “advice” the entire journey, but most of it was pretty good, especially in comparison to Todd’s insistence that all Wal-Mart parking lots were safe.

“Do you think there might be a place to get groceries nearby?”

She didn’t even sound interested in the answer. She was arguably the leader of the group, and had used her uncompromising prettiness to get out of traffic citations in three different states. Being on a one road island, stranded between bridges and surrounded by exclusive homes I doubted we would find much convenience near. It would take at least fifteen minutes to even leave the island.

“I’ll Google laundromats in the area!”

“I’ll bet there are a few people here who would already know.”

Todd nodded towards the three vans in the most isolated corner of the main parking lot, where a deeply tanned man in khaki shorts sporting a wild beard was washing some pots and pans while listening to Warren Zevon on some shitty speakers. Todd sounded deeply satisfied, and I was certain that no small part of him was congratulating himself on his incredible find which he would probably make up some weird story about in the future. His black undershirt had visible stains all over it and I still wasn’t used to seeing him with any hair.

“It’s like a sign from God!”

Stacey was instantly more awake, despite having driven from Atlanta south to Yeehaw Junction before trading off with Todd just a few hours ago. “Dude! It even has showers! This place is perfect!” She was slack jawed, her blue-grey hair sticking to the sides of her face like a funny helmet.

Soon enough it would be time to get gym memberships so we could take regular hot showers and start looking for shitty telemarketing, or painting or landscaping jobs. Stacey’s phone stayed on while she frantically sent her resume out to any and every shithole within fifteen miles. Todd went out to pick seagrapes, which he claimed were edible. He’s usually fairly full of shit so I Googled it, but sure enough, you can eat them. They tasted kind of like pomegranate, but lighter, extremely citrusy and with kind of minty taste. We all ate more than we wanted to while we wandered around investigating what we all sensed was about to become a long term home.

Without mentioning it to each other, it was obvious we were all ingraining the place into our memories. It was bizarre to think that we might find happy poverty right down the road from Trump’s palace. Stacey and I eventually went to sleep after the sun began to come up, and the sky was filled with incredible shades of pink, turquoise and orange. Todd stayed out all night, exploring every nook and cranny of what we all knew was the closest the thing to a home we would see in a while.

When I woke up at about eleven it was a bit more crowded. I had a ringing headache and barely remembered nightmares. I felt a strong pressure in one of my teeth and hoped that I wouldn’t need a dentist. Stacey had left a note saying that she was walking to the nearest bus stop to go to an open interview at a call center. Todd was gone as well, but didn’t leave a note. I went to the convenience station in the middle of the parking lot to take a piss and then began to walk up the oddly large stone steps towards the beach and the showers. I was debating taking a swim when I noticed in the distance that Todd was standing on the weird island off the end of the other parking lot. He wasn’t doing anything, just staring at the dense wall of trees. I wondered how he managed to get over there, since the current in the inlet was obviously overwhelming to anything other than large vessels and a concrete wall seemed to surround the island.

The beach already had about a dozen retirees and four extremely attractive young girls, so I opted for a swim before taking a beach shower. After the extended swim and ice cold shower I headed down the road a bit and gawked at a few of the massive, absurdly expensive homes that surrounded the homeless camp. A bit down the road was a small shopping center filled with restaurants, and sure enough some had help wanted signs. It took a while to get back to the van, where I noticed Todd had finally decided to go to sleep, curled into a ball with his wet clothes sticking to him. Next to his sleeping body was a small, dark package that drew my attention. Had my brilliant roommate managed to score weed so quickly?

Curious, but hoping that I could avoid waking Todd while rifling through his shit, I moved slowly and cautiously over to Todd’s section of the van floor, careful not to incite groans of protest from the rusted metal. He slept curled up next to a wheel well. Next to the paper thin pillow he clung to every night was a small parcel wrapped in what seemed to be one of his dark and wet pieces of clothing. I slowly moved my hand over to grab and carefully remove the item, which seemed to be a hard surface.

I prayed it wasn’t his underwear this was wrapped in while I moved the cloth aside to reveal not the small stash of weed I was hoping to find, but a thin stone mask. One side of the mask was clearly made of incredibly thin stone, carefully carved to resemble what appeared to be a smiling face. The stone was beige and smooth. The other had been covered by horrific barnacles. Black oceanic viscera tethered a myriad of different sizes of tiny, gleaming white shells to the mask, clustered so closely that I couldn’t see a hint of stone underneath. Each was slightly irregular in size but perfect copies in form, seeming to have a black crack along the edge. The sight of them made my skin crawl. I didn’t want to imagine what kind of sea vermin made those things. I carefully replaced the package when I heard Todd’s unhappy grunt.

A fat guy about my age with curly red hair and a tropical shirt and a skinny guy with thick black hair wearing a wife beater were smoking a massive blunt in their convertible Fox body mustang, so I decided to attempt to introduce myself to the locals while waiting for Stacey to get back so we could go shopping.

The fat guy smirked slightly as I walked up, and I got a smug feeling from behind his aviator glasses. He motioned for his friend to pause in speaking order to wave to me.

“Good morning boss. I noticed from your plate that you’re from New York, mind if I ask what part?” The fat guy took a massive drag off his blunt and passed it to his friend, who didn’t seem interested in me one way or the other. There were people around, but no one seemed to notice or care about them smoking.

“Long Island, we just got here last night, actually.”

The fat guy nodded and motioned for his friend to let me take a hit whenever his friend finished his second puff.

“What brings you guys down here?”

His friend coughed violently and passed me the blunt.

“We’re hoping to find work. And less snow.”

I inhaled a single hit and coughed it out instantly. It had been a while since I had anything that passed for good weed and my diaphragm seemed to have forgotten what to do with it. I passed it back to the fat guy, who accepted it and took a hit with ease.

“That’s not too hard, as long as you don’t mind bussing tables or telemarketing. Most of the restaurants around here are endlessly hiring and firing their staff for being wasted. My name is Frank, by the way. This is Jake.”

The quiet man with the shoulder length black hair nodded and waved to me.

“Avoid Absurdi-t café, they’re always hiring because the owner is a psychopath and no one wants to work there.”

He said this with an incredible level of severity, as if my application to the place would otherwise be inevitable. Frank nodded in agreement, his chins mashing into each other like the ridges of an accordion.

“Most of the jobs down here are pretty shitty, but if you pick something up and get some cash, I’m always here.”

The fat guy lowered his aviators and winked. His skinny business associate had noticed a skinny addict standing anxiously on the opposite side of the parking lot who he went to attend to with a small brown baggy of what looked like heroin. I smiled and nodded, beginning to realize the legends of Florida’s extremely lax drug enforcement may have been true.

“I could definitely go for some bud. How about a twenty?”

I only had four hundred in my life’s savings account and was determined not to spend wildly until I had gotten a job, but anyone would be in the mood for a joint after a cross country road trip and that was some seriously fire shit. He handed me a small bag with what looked like more than twenty worth and I headed back to the van. Happy to know a local supplier, I was glad when I noticed a small business card with only his name and number inside the baggy. I dozed off next to Todd inside the van for a few hours until Stacey got back from her job interview at about 2:30 in the afternoon, when the heat and humidity had long since conspired to make the van uninhabitable.

“It’s not a career, but we’re closer to getting a legit apartment!”

She explained that the job paid $500 a week, including training, for some kind of god awful phone scam. Even if it was only a single week, it was something that might help, so I mentioned that I would apply too, in addition to bussing jobs. Todd had stumbled out of the van, but it seemed that a night and early morning of exploring had taken its toll; he was more exhausted than he had been during the road trip. His eyes were red and he looked at us both with a confused, surly expression. He had taken off his soaked clothes and replaced them with dry ones, but was still holding something bunched up in his wet shirt. I wondered if he had scored some weed after all.

Rather than join us on a drive to the nearest Publix for groceries we were now confident we could at least temporarily afford, he mumbled that he wanted to stick around and explore a little more. He hopped out of the van silently and we drove off, discovering the glory of the Publix sub firsthand and enjoying the hell out of the afternoon. We got enough food for a week and some valerian root and melatonin, to help us get into a decent sleep schedule. It was during that delicious sub that I discovered what was a strong pressure in the morning had turned into an ample problem. A strong bite into the sub and one of my molars screamed out in pain that turned into a low, steady throb when I rinsed my mouth out in an attempt to undo whatever that bite had done. I would have to look into dental clinics later.

“This place is kind of amazing.”

Stacey mumbled while staring out the front window of the van when we pulled into the parking lot. The sun was beginning to go down when we got back at about six, turning the sky into an absurd tapestry of variations of turquoise, white and pink. We were used to the sleet grey winters and blandly hot summers. The air of the park was filled with aromas, from fish, citrus and the sea breeze and it hit us like a refreshing hammer when we opened the doors of the van to look for Todd.

“I don’t even want a rental apartment yet; I just wanna live here, save money and buy one of those expensive assed condos.”

She said while we began a walk up the pier area towards the hulking concrete stairs.

“Your also blue haired neighbors would hate you right back you know”. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of her constantly quarreling with old biddies over playing shitty hipster music at high volumes during pretentious cheese and wine based parties. She chuckled right back.

“I think I might actually enjoy it” She grinned wolfishly. “I can picture it now; they make new rules at some condo committee meeting and I retaliate by getting a small yapping dog and a loud muscle car.”

We climbed the massive concrete stairs in wonder; each step would be large enough to make a tall man just slightly uncomfortable stretching to. It was funny to see Stacey launching herself at each one, as if to prove that she belonged here. When we got over the stairs we turned north up the only road on the island to the bridge over the inlet, where we saw two very amazing things. The first was the sun going down, pulling the color from one end of the sky to the other and condensing them into darker and more desperate shades of purples, pinks and blues forming a silhouette of the Floridian coast. The second was Todd, who was once and again on the isolated island off the northern parking lot. He seemed to be wandering through and inspecting the trees aimlessly while checking the ground as if he had lost something.

“You think he found more seagrapes? Maybe a ripe mango!”

Stacey exclaimed more than she asked. I didn’t know how Florida’s seasons worked, but I doubted that we would find too much more even in what I thought was incredible weather. Nature had a way of not giving a shit about humanities needs during certain times of the year no matter where you lived, I had always assumed.

“Maybe? How the fuck did he get out there to begin with? Did he seriously swim out there?” Even from the distance, it was pretty obvious that he would have to, but why anyone would even try to make it through that current was beyond me.

“I guess? I hope he’s ok”. Stacey mumbled.

“Should we go talk to him?”

I searched my weed and alcohol scarred memories for any lingering hint about Todd having incredible swimming skills in the past, but came up empty handed. Stacey didn’t answer, but seemed concerned. We didn’t bring it up again, but instead explored the other side of the inlet, with its massive pier stretching out into the darkening ocean and the exterior of what turned out to be an inlet pump station. Once on the pier opposite of the parking lot and island where Todd searched, we noticed some people stretched out on the beach down the way and I wondered if there was an abandoned house or something we could sneak into. We enjoyed a bowl at the end of the pier as the water and sky around us changed rapidly from dark blue to perfect black, but I wanted to save the lions share for when we inevitably smoked with Todd. It was time to celebrate making the right choice. That and I didn’t want to give myself too much of an opportunity to hit on my friend. I noticed her rubbing her jaw carefully as we finished the bowl and I made a note to myself to bring up going to a dental clinic in case she needed help too.

When we got back to the van, Todd had finally come home and was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. His newly soaked clothes were stretched over the hood of the van, a practice we had found efficient. He was wearing black shorts and a dark purple t-shirt for a bar he had probably never been to before in Maine. On his lap, he had a small wet bundle with what looked like a small plate inside. He shot us a concerned, surprised look when we opened the van’s sliding door and entered.

“Bro, it is time to consummate our relationship with the great state of Florida. Put down that sammy, we got snackums and weed!”

I was feeling worried about my tooth, but couldn’t keep down my excitement. I was confident that moving to Florida had been a good idea. Todd grinned and happily put the sandwich aside.

“Not so bad so far, huh?” Todd asked.

“Fucking amazing! And we find this perfect crash spot right away? It’s made for us. The entire fucking state. I’m convinced.”

Stacey fired out the words in the most optimistic review in the history of Florida quickly, as if there wasn’t enough room in her mouth for them. Instead of a j, I decided to pack a bowl in the pipe we had already used. We went through round after round until the inside of the van was foggy. We eventually saw a young blonde cop going through the parking lots, some kind of making the rounds, but he seemed to ignore the obvious weed smoke, instead making some jokes with a fisherman he seemed familiar with.

“The. Entire. Fucking. State.”

Stacey reiterated confidently, pausing after every word after she saw this.

We drifted off to sleep after taking a dose of melatonin and valerian root, launching me happily into horrifying nightmares about the powerful current ripping through what was originally island just feet away from where we were sleeping.

When I woke up, my mouth was throbbing so badly I could feel my pulse through it. I could taste copper in my mouth and wondered if whatever had gone wrong in my mouth was now bleeding, but I couldn’t see I the dark to check anyways. I was still feeling sleepy from the Valerian root and would have gone back to sleep, but I noticed the door quietly moving shut. It was still dark out so I checked my phone and it was three thirty in the morning. I used the phone light to scan the van, only to see Stacey’s sleeping face contorted unhappily, staring back with eyes squeezed shut. Where Todd had been sleeping, the reflective surface of something shined back. I didn’t want to check and see if he had added anything else to his collection. Todd had left and I could hear his footsteps walking away from the van, towards the staircase.

When I woke again there was absolutely no doubt about it, there was a lot of blood in my mouth. What was once a single molar now felt like the entire region, and when I ran my fingers on the inside of my mouth I felt irregular, hard bumps in the gums directly over several of my teeth. I shot up in the van, realizing that its other occupants had already left. I maneuvered into the passenger front seat, where I used a mirror to take a look.

Along the ridge of gums in the top left portion of my mouth, there were three massive pimples above my molars. They were desperately swollen with yellow pus and deep red with inflammation. I spat out blood and it tasted disgusting, like copper and feces. I opened the passenger door and stumbled out of the van and into the morning light. I’m sure it was really beautiful outside but I didn’t give a shit, I was horrified that I might end up losing some teeth. Stacey was sitting on the seawall in front of the van, rubbing her jaw carefully again.

“I need a dentist…”

I fished, hoping that we weren’t experiencing the same problem. She nodded, but didn’t say anything. She had a shocked, frightened expression on her normally bold face as she spat some blood on the ground. We both began to survey the parking lot to see if we could find Todd. Frank and Jake were in what was presumably Frank’s car, so I decided to see if the locals could be counted on for hospitality as well as selling cheap weed.

“Morning bro.”

I mumbled unhappily.

“Morning New yawkuh!”

His imitation of a New York accent was absurd, but he dropped it when he saw my face. I guess it was a little swollen, because both Frank and Jake seemed genuinely concerned.

“Dude, are you alright?”

“My mouth hurts.”

As I got closer to his car, he and his friend got out to inspect the new development.

“No shit dude…”

Jake said with wonderment. He looked to Frank as if for advice, and Frank sagely took off his aviators and motioned for me to come closer.

“Bro, maybe you need to get out of here, go to a hospital, you know? Do you need a ride or something? That looks seriously fucking bad.”

The look of concern on his face seemed genuine, especially after I spat out some blood.

“Fuck, yeah, lemme ask my friend if she’s ok.”

I nodded to Stacey, who was standing a few feet back from the exchange.

“Do you wanna go to the hospital with us?” Frank asked her directly.

“I…I don’t know. Let me go find Todd…I can’t find him.”

She seemed confused and I wanted to drag her along, but she was already walking away. I guessed that Frank probably made her feel uncomfortable, but I couldn’t imagine not wanting to see a doctor in her state.

“Stacey, are you serious? This might be something bad if something is happening to both of us. We should go!”

She turned around and cringed at me.

“I’ll go to the E.R. later, shit Chris. Todd is missing. I can’t find him.”

She spat the words unhappily out, while Frank shrugged wildly and motioned to hurry things up.

The dopey tone in her voice made me hesitant to leave her, but this was Frank’s offer. His time was money, and heroin dealers weren’t known for being so generous. We headed to the nearest E.R., where the two waited for me in the lobby patiently. The doctor looked horrified and flat out told me without needing an x-ray that these were abscesses, and particularly bad ones. He asked me how long I had let it go didn’t seem to believe me when I said only a few days. He prescribed a surprisingly large amount of painkillers and told me I might need to ration them since the E.R. didn’t do pullings and the free clinics didn’t give painkillers.

Frank was more than happy to help me cash those in, and only took ten of the Percocet’s for his time, leaving me with fifty. I took three and prayed that they would kick in, but I realized that I could swallow without pain when I took them. I felt a little better just being in a hospital. We all drove back to “Frank’s office” as Jake described it. I apologized profusely and thanked him repeatedly, it wasn’t normal for a stranger to take four hours out of their day; especially a drug dealer and I guessed that his time was worth a lot more than the percos he took.

“Shit, man, I hope you feel better. Let me know if it gets worse.”

Frank told me, as he got his car back into position. It still wasn’t afternoon and there were five people waiting who looked very excited to see him pull up. I was surprised to see Jake spring out of the car with a small backpack, and into the passenger seat of a forest green Rolls Royce drop head coupe, which would be conspicuous for a drug deal anywhere other than this particular island.

Stacey had seen us and was walking towards us, Todd nowhere in sight. I got out of the car and walked towards her, giving a last wave goodbye to Frank as I went. When I got close to Stacey, I noticed that her mouth had gotten worse. Her jaw was swollen and her lips bright red from blood.

“Are you ok?”

She asked cautiously, knowing that whatever was wrong with me was probably wrong with her too.

“Yeah, kind of. We’re going to need to go to a dental clinic, but I have antibiotics to make it stop swelling and painkillers.”

The relief in her eyes was monumental. In less than twelve hours the pain had quietly ratcheted up from non-existent unless eating something to excruciating. Her mouth looked worse and I could only imagine how she was holding up. She ate both the antibiotics and all three of the painkillers I gave her right away, but winced when she swallowed.

“Where did you last see him?”

I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“I didn’t, he was gone this morning. Checked the beaches, both sides of the park, I even asked some cops. Wherever he is, he has the keys, in case we need to get something from off the island.”

She sounded hectic and miserable. It wouldn’t be that weird for him to disappear for a few hours, especially in a new place, but I felt the same pressing need to find him, if only to see how his mouth was doing.

“Ok, let’s find him and see how he’s doing. Maybe we all need a trip to the vet’s.”

She nodded quietly in response and we set out again to find him.

I didn’t see any more drying clothes, so I wondered if Todd had gone for a swim to his favorite island again. I made a beeline to the other parking lot across the inlet and Stacey followed me, without saying a word this time. I imagine the pain made it difficult to talk. When we got there it became clear why we hadn’t spent any time there earlier. Even in the middle of the day it seemed isolated, with only a couple cars in the lot and the hill leading into it made for an awkward walk. The angle of the inlet seemed to make it feel cramped between the water and the wall of an expensive home directly adjacent.

“I saw him go here before.”

I motioned to the island and Stacey shuddered.

“I had a horrible fucking nightmare…that fucking valerian root always gives me nightmares, about this place.”

I had the sense that she interjected the part about valerian root to convince herself and not me. We walked to the edge of the lot and looked over the powerful currents of water. The water in south Florida is normally a nice shade of turquoise, but in this inlet the unnatural depth of the water made it appear jet black and cold.

Once we looked over, we saw him immediately. He was in the middle of the trees, and we could clearly see everything below his torso, which was obscured by a palm frond. He was facing us but made no effort to see us when we shouted.

“Hey! Todd! Hey!”

I shouted repeatedly to try and get his attention, but he didn’t make a move.

“Well…at least we know where he is.”

I tried to say this reassuringly, but I could tell she wasn’t having it.

“Right. Let’s…let’s just get out of here, for now. Let’s go back to the van.”

She had already backed away and was clearly nervous. This parking lot seemed way too familiar and I didn’t hesitate to follow her. I sent Todd a text asking if he was alright and got a surprisingly long one back almost instantly.

“Bro, I’m fine. I’m going to be a little while, why don’t you go back to the van with Stacey? I found something that could really help us. Smoke whatever we have left, relax a bit. This won’t take long. You’re going to love this!”

I showed Stacey that I had gotten a response from him, but she only nodded. She was staring at Todd, who was still standing perfectly still. We went back to the van and carefully smoked the last of the twenty as well as any and all resin, before popping a couple extra pain pills Stacey promised she would reimburse me for. We passed out around noon or so. While sleeping, the only thing I clearly remember was the face of that mask, rising out of the water of the inlet and moving towards me.

When I woke, the pain was un-fucking-believable. Before even thinking I took five more painkillers and swallowed them through the excruciating pain. It was dark out and I could feel my mouth filled with what tasted like copper and bile. I looked around the van, hopeful to see Todd, but he wasn’t there. Stacey sat at the edge of the van in a ball and stared at me. Even in the dark van I could see the blood trailing down from her mouth onto her shirt.

“Chris…we need to go…we have to go…”

Her words were barely recognizable, she sounded like she had just come out of a boxing match.

“I’m gonna text that guy from earlier, maybe he could help?”

I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but I knew we would need a doctor and that these weren’t abscesses. The words came out in a mush, my own mouth and throat so swollen I could barely squeeze the words out. I texted fat Frank and offered him everything that was left of the pills.

“Holy shit, r u ok? Yeah, I’ll swing by.”

“He’s coming. He can help us get out of here.”

I couldn’t clearly see Stacey’s face, but I imagined she probably felt better hearing that.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Part of me thought we should wait for Todd, but most of me was saying “Fuck that, actually”. Stacey slid open the door and cautiously entered the parking lot lights.

Her face was a wreck. He mouth was swollen and blood and pus were leaking out of the twisted corner of the left side of her mouth. The bulges of her “abscesses” were visible through her skin and there were a lot more than I had. She had a look of horror and pain on her face. I gently took her by the shoulders and starting walking her towards the entrance and exit of the park, determined to wait by the side of the road rather than wait in the van. I noticed that many of Todd’s things were gone, including the small wet parcel that I feared looking for. We left the van doors open as we walked towards the concrete steps that were now much more difficult for Stacey.

“We’re gonna be ok…”

I told her, and she nodded, tears forming in her eyes. Something had disfigured her horribly and there was nothing I could say that would make that better. When we finally reached the top of the stairs we turned and started walking away from the inlet.

“Hey! Guys!”

Todd’s voice sounded unfamiliar but happy. We turned and saw our roommate, on the opposite side of the bridge, walking towards us. He was soaking wet from head to toe and in one of his hands he held the beige barnacle covered mask. He waved to us and we both saw that his mouth was fine. Stacey waved back slightly and took a confused step towards him, but I held her shoulder.

“We’re going to the hospital!”

I shouted to him, hoping that he somehow wouldn’t catch up. I turned and started walking, praying to God that Frank was a speeder as well as a heroin dealer.

“We need to go to the E.R.! Lets go!”

Stacey shouted in a voice that sounded badly mutilated. I felt the pain in my mouth reach a fever pitch and dropped like a sack of potatoes. I could barely move, but managed to look over to Stacey. The trick of blood had turned into a steady stream. She had dropped, and was splayed out on the ground but was trying to use her arms to push herself back up. She was whimpering, and the whimpering was turning into a slow but steady moan. Todd was walking up to us casually with the mask in hand. Inside my mouth I felt one of the pimples on my gums pop and fill my mouth with blood and pus. I heard a horrible crack inside of my own mouth and felt unbelievable pain.

Then I felt something move inside of my mouth.

At first it tickled. I could feel something gently prod the gums where the infection had occurred. I could feel blood rush out of my mouth and tried to get back up, to get away from Todd. I pulled Stacey up and used every ounce of strength in my body to ignore the pain, when I suddenly felt more movement. Something was in my mouth. I felt thin light legs find my tongue. I heard another terrible crack and opened my mouth to let out the blood and felt what could have been a small beetle moving around in my mouth, trying to force my mouth open wider. When I did, what appeared to be a molar hit the ground. It seemed to crack in half, but the two halves of my tooth spit open and thin black legs spread lazily from them. A moan escaped my swollen mouth as the thing began to move, slowly, but then confidently, and then towards Todd.

Todd was only about six feet behind us now and didn’t look concerned at all. He bent down to the ground and placed the mask on the ground. I could see the glistening white barnacles moving. Stacey suddenly screamed in pain.

“Please, stop!”

Was all I could understand before the blood started coming out. I watched as my tooth reached the mask and squirmed into a position on its surface. The sound of wet celery being broken in half seemed to come from Stacey’s mouth. Her screaming intensified and I saw headlights coming around the bend from where we were. I didn’t give a shit who it was. I tried to pick up Stacey, but she didn’t move. Her tiny body was limp, which made her impossibly heavy. Blood poured out of her mouth and I heard cracking as shiny white insect like creatures began to leave Stacey’s mouth and make their way to Todd, who was sitting cross legged behind the mask, waiting patiently. The things marched dutifully out of her mouth, briefly covering the red pulp that used to be the bottom half of Stacey's face. Dozens of them, each covered in gore but still glistening, their spindly black legs moving quickly, swarmed down Stacey's neck and towards the ground. A pair of headlights began to approach us, slowly at first, but then confidently.

The screaming stopped and was replaced by a horrible limp gurgle. Her mouth opened absurdly wide, like a snake trying to eat something bigger than it, but her eyes didn’t look like they were in pain anymore. She was limp, and most of the bottom part of her face and jaw was ragged meat. When Frank’s convertible roared up all I heard was “Holy shit!” and the threatening gurgle of Ford’s 5.0 before I felt Jake’s hands pulling me up and in. I felt Stacey’s body land next to me on what felt like a cushion of air, and then the wind ripping through my hair. I would later learn that Jake had spent years of experience in leaping into and out of the convertible to sell packets of heroin, which almost certainly saved my life.

When I came to, believe it or not, my mouth actually felt a lot better. I was in a hospital room and I felt a massive plastic thing in my mouth. I tried to take it out and felt it all the way down my trachea, so I decided maybe I would breathe through it for a minute and wait for a nurse. When she came, she told me that Stacey had suffered severely from falling off the bridge. I didn’t feel like trying to explain what the fuck had happened, so I only nodded as she spoke. Stacey had survived losing every single one of her teeth and a lot of the mandible bone too. I had suffered severe damage to my mouth as well, but not nearly as bad. The x-rays and MRIs revealed damage from horrific infections that seemed to have had years to spread, but the doctors were clearly baffled as to what did this and not at all appeased by our claims that it was a slip and fall. The police came by and asked us the same questions 500 times, twice for Stacey who they assumed had been assaulted.

We never went back to that park, or saw Todd again. The swelling receded, and eventually Stacey and I both got dentures. We also started crashing with Frank when we got out, just for a little while, who, despite being a crass heroin dealer, I have come to love as a very dear friend. He told us that it was best to lay low in Florida if you happen to see something weird, but that he had heard of some missing people before at that park and that he would be packing a weapon in case he ever saw Todd again and that he would just make up an excuse after the fact. Love that guy.