Darling, Worm. You Promised.

Darling, Worm. You Promised.

His eyes were cold, like everything in this place. They were gray and placid and unmoving and they stared straight through Daniel. The mouth hung open in abject horror, face contorted in throbbing anguish, and hand still white-knuckled around a pistol that could no longer protect him. Daniel knew the stranger had died terrified and most definitely screaming.

His body had been ripped in half by the land mine, though it hadn’t done the courtesy of killing him instantly. Part of Daniel felt sorry for the man. Part of him felt jealous. This man had died painfully, dreadfully, but when both legs are gone, death follows shortly after. Not like Daniel. Daniel was going to die slowly, blood trickling out of an infinitely small yet infinitely large bullet hole in his leg, dripping like molasses. He’d die in this landmine crater covered in the gore of another man, unable to even claw his way to the only thing that offered him respite, still clutched in the dead man’s hands. He’d die here hoping for the charge that would bring one front to him. It didn’t matter which side. If it was the allies he’d survive or he’d die on a cloud of painkillers. If it was the Germans… Well they'd never been known to waste medical supplies on P.O.W.s.

The only reason he hoped at all was for Sarah's sake. She was alone. The baby was probably crying, Sarah was probably crying with it. He’d told her he’d make it home to her. He promised. He’d never broken a promise to her before. Hopefully, she could forgive him for breaking this last one.

The mud was caking his leg now, burrowing into the bullet wound like a worm. He wondered if it was a worm. Wondered if it wanted to prod around in his body and see how he ticked. He’d heard of the sick medical experiments the Germans were doing and wondered if this worm was one of them. The worm would travel to his heart and start pulling wires, pressing buttons, and clogging pipes, just to see how quickly it could kill him.

“Interesting..” The worm said, marking something down on his clipboard as he filled Daniel’s aorta with smoke.

“I don’t want this,” Daniel cried, tears running tracks down dirt-crusted cheeks.

“Interesting…” the worm said again, scribbling more violently on the clipboard.

“I’ve got people who love me. If you mess with my heart I’ll.. I’ll kill you.” Daniel said, anger mixing with terror.

“Interesting…” It said again. Daniel had half the mind to smash the thing’s skull in with that damn clipboard. That is, if worms had skulls. The worm continued to toy with his heart and Daniel had a paralyzing fear that if the worm plucked the wrong artery or blocked the wrong valve then Daniel might forget Sarah. He couldn’t have that. Sarah was the only comfort he had in this place, the only hope, the only clawing ache that reminded him that he was more than the pain in his leg.

So Daniel did what he had to. He plunged his hand into his chest and pulled the worm out. It hurt, but what didn’t in this place?

“Hey!” the worm shouted. “This is a blatant violation of all experimental procedures! I’ll be telling my supervisors…”

“You won’t be telling anyone about anything,” Daniel said, feeling something other than terror for the first time in… in… in a long time.

But then the worm smiled, or it looked like a smile. As much of a smile a worm can smile seeing as worms can’t smile. Or maybe they could and Daniel had just never seen it. Either way, the worm looked happy, smug. Its lab coat and clipboard grinned with it.

“Not if I dig into your brain and start ripping.” Then without warning the worm jumped out of Daniel’s closed fist. It jumped onto his face and began moving up it. To Daniel’s surprise, it didn’t go for his open mouth or his nostrils or ears. Instead, it began slithering up his face towards his eyes, ignoring all other entrances.

In a way, it made sense that the worm would go for the eyes. Daniel had heard that there was a type of brain surgery where the tool entered through the tear ducts. In boot camp, they had even trained him to go for the eyes if he ever found himself in hand-to-hand combat. “Quickest way to the brain,” Colonel James had always said.

For a moment Daniel thought about letting the worm in, letting it eat his brain and make him numb. Then he remembered Sarah. If the memory of her had not been in his heart then it was surely in his brain and this worm sought to destroy it. Daniel was certain the worm’s entire purpose was to make him forget her. Daniel wouldn’t let it. He wasn’t dead yet. He wouldn’t let this worm destroy the only good thing he had in this place. Wouldn’t let it take her from him. He wouldn’t let it break his promise. He couldn’t.

Daniel managed to rip the thing off his face just before it started to burrow into his tear ducts. Then Daniel squeezed. The worm gasped, begging for air to fill lungs that it did not have. And Daniel enjoyed it, watching it suffer. Though it did seem to have enough air to force a few words from the mouth that it did not have.

“Even if you make it back to her, she will not recognize you. You’re a monster now” It smiled it’s not smile at him. “A worm.” Then it was dead. Daniel made a new promise then, to survive this hole, this hell, for Sarah. He’d make it back to her, he’d prove the worm wrong because she loved him more than anything and he loved her. He would see those brown eyes again, he’d run fingers through those black curls and across those polka-dotted freckles again. He’d love her with all he had and he’d make sure that years from now, warm and happy from a life well lived, her voice would be the last he heard. Not the worm’s. He wouldn’t let the worm have that satisfaction. He’d see Sarah again. He promised. And he’d kill every worm that got in his way.

Days, weeks, years, centuries later Daniel heard the tall tale signs of another charge. He wasn’t sure which side was attempting to advance, but it didn’t seem to matter. He screamed with every ounce of strength he had left in him, praying to god that someone would hear it over the gunshots and countless other screams.

Then there was an explosion off to his left and he was certain that was it. It’d kill him like the man next to him, leaving nothing but a rib cage for poor Sarah to bury. That is if there was enough left of him to identify.

But it wasn’t the end. Dirt peppered his face but the lights stayed on. The only difference now was that there was another man in his hole. Daniel began inching towards the gun.

“Halte!” The man shouted, terrified. But he didn’t sound terrified. He sounded like a worm. “Halte” He shouted again, over and over. The man was hurt, missing an arm, but he had something Daniel didn’t, semi-working legs. The man jumped across the pit and onto the gun.

“NO!” This time it was Daniel shouting. And before the man was able to pick up the gun Daniel jumped on him with an effort that sent pain through his entire body and made white static cloud his vision. He nearly passed out from the pain, Sarah’s face being the only thing keeping him from giving into that sweat escape.

Daniel managed to pin the man, gun still buried somewhere beneath them. The man screamed, pushing Daniel’s face away with his one good hand.

“Meine Tochter! Nein! Meine Tochter!” The man shouted. Silly man. Daniel thought. Worms don’t have daughters. Then Daniel dug his thumbs into the worm’s eyes.

Daniel heard voices overhead. Let it not be another worm. He begged. He was still lying on top of the other one, too close to death to move. The worm’s blood mixed with the blown-up man’s blood, mixed with Daniel’s blood, mixed with the blood of the earth, mixed with Daniel. He wondered if it might camouflage him from the thing up there that undoubtedly wanted to hurt him. Everything wanted to hurt him.

“Found one!” A voice came from above. It was in English, a good sign, but Daniel got ready for a fight regardless. He used every fiber in his being to turn his face to where the voice was coming from, still lying face down from when he killed the worm.

“Blimey! Is that you Danny?!” The voice shouted. Daniel couldn’t make out the face of the man, silhouetted behind the bright sun, but he knew it must be Sergeant James, a British soldier who only ever called Daniel “Danny” or sometimes “Danny boy” if he was particularly drunk. The man got on Daniel’s nerves often but right then Daniel had never been more happy to see Sergeant James. Or was he a colonel? No definitely sergeant. Or… Then Daniel passed out.

The leg hurt. It wasn’t there anymore but it still ached like it had when he’d first been shot. The doctor said they had no choice but to amputate. The leg was so infected and putrefied that the doctor had been surprised that it hadn’t rotted off on its own. When the doctor said this he’d looked at Daniel and smiled like he’d made some sort of joke. But Daniel didn’t laugh, he just kept screaming.

But no matter the pain he’d made it. He’d gotten out of that hole and made it back home. He would see Sarah again. He kept his promise. She was feet away from him. He could hear her voice through the thick wood door. She was right there. He’d finally see that smile again. Hear that laugh. Feel the warmth of her skin. He could trace the lines of her face with shaking fingers again. Dance around the living room with her again. Smile down at their child with her again. She was everything he’d ever wanted, the culmination of all the love he had in him. She was the world. The sun. The universe. Then why was he so scared?

Daniel pushed the feeling aside and lifted a trembling fist, knocking lightly.

“One minute!” Sarah called. He heard the baby fussing as she set it down and strained to hear the whispered reassurances Sarah gave the child as she left to get the door. She opened it, not looking at him as she dusted bits of food off of her apron.

“Sorry, the house is a dreadful mess..” She began, then her eyes drifted up to find his. For a moment all either of them could do was stare.

“Hello, darling…” Daniel began sheepishly, beginning to wonder if his fear was justified. If the worm had been right…

Then Sarah jumped on him, nearly knocking him off his crutches and down the steps of the front porch.

“Oh m-my god.” She whispered as sobs began building in her throat. “You're alive. Oh my god. Daniel, you're alive.” She cried hysterically. Daniel couldn't help the light chuckle he let out.

“It’s alright darling I’m alive.” He said, running fingers through her slightly unkempt hair. “I’m alive.”

“They, they told me, told me you were m-missing.” She spoke, speech broken and interrupted by sniffles and gasps. She lifted her face and Daniel saw her red-rimmed eyes, puffy and heavy with bags. “I didn’t know if, I, I thought, oh!” She sobbed again burying her face into the crook of his neck.

They stayed like that for a while, Sarah sobbing and ranting and Daniel whispering sweet nothings into her hair, holding her like cracking glass.

“I’m alright darling.”

I’m alive.”

“I’ve got you”

“I kept my promise darling”

“I’ll keep you safe, promise.”

Then they heard the baby coo and some semblance of themselves came back to them and they headed inside to greet little Charlie. And for a moment, they were happy.

That night Daniel dreamed of the hole. He dreamed of the worm and the dark and the blood and the dead man with no eyes. He dreamed of how soft and malleable and wet those eyes had felt under his thumbs. He dreamed of the blood that flowed lazily out of the dead man’s arm, covering Daniel and providing him with the only warmth he’d known in that place. He dreamed of the white-hot pain in his leg as he was shot and the frigid anguish of falling into that hole, hitting the ground with a crunch. He dreamed of the worm, its words repeating in his head over and over and over again. The fear had been worse than the pain in those moments. It was a maze with no end, a night sky with no stars, an endless forest with no path. It was infinite and crushing and dark. He’d been paralyzed with it and as he awoke he found himself paralyzed with it again.

The worm sat on his chest, clipboard in hand as it wiggled it’s upper lip where a toothbrush mustache sat.

“A remarkable recovery, Daniel. I’m impressed.” The worm began, looking over his spectacles at the clipboard like it held every detail of Daniel’s life. Maybe it did.

Daniel tried to lift his hands to crush it but they wouldn’t move. He was stuck. Trapped, like he had been in the hole.

“Please leave me alone,” Daniel said, though no words came out.

“No, sorry I can’t do that Daniel. More tests need to be run.” The worm gave him a look of almost pity, masked with a professional malaise. It was the exact expression the doctors had given him when he’d come in bloody. crusted in mud, and screaming.

Then the worm began crawling towards Sarah. Daniel screamed again, silent.

“Please not her.” He begged. “Please, take anything, everything, just don’t take her. Let me keep her. P..Please.” No audible words came out but he knew the worm heard him. “She’s all I have. She’s all I am. Please.” He begged. It didn’t listen.

Sarah didn’t wake, did not even stir, as the thing burrowed itself into her tear duct.

Daniel knew what he had to do as soon as the worm was out of sight. He had to get the worm out. He had to protect Sarah. He had to make sure that thing didn’t destroy her brain. He had to keep her safe. He promised.

“Daniel..” She called as his movement finally woke her. “Daniel, what are you doing?” She asked groggily as he climbed on top of her despite his missing leg.

She screamed as his thumbs dug into her eyes. She cried and begged and pleaded. She scratched his arms until they bled, dripping blood that mixed with her own. Daniel wanted to stop. But he couldn’t break his promise. So he pushed his thumbs deeper until the crying stopped.

Charlie struggled less even if he did cry louder.

It had been years. Or maybe hours. He wasn’t sure but he knew he was cold. Cold like the hole had been. Was he back there? Had he ever left?

No, this hole was stronger somehow. Concrete surrounded him and left him feeling hollow in an empty room with nothing but a cheap cot and a toilet.

At least, Daniel thought, no worms can get me here.

He slept like he had in the hole, feverish yet deep so there would be no escaping his nightmares. He dreamed of the war, stumbling through the same fear and pain and dread over and over and over. It hurt. It tore at him and left him raw. It suffocated him, mouth full of dirt and worms. All Daniel wanted was for it to end. Then it did and all Daniel wanted was to go back.

“Good work, Daniel. Good work.” The worm said, not meeting his eye and scribbling furiously on the clipboard.

“LEAVE ME ALONE! Was taking Sarah not enough for you!” Daniel screamed, anger bubbling up in his chest though no words bubbled up from his throat.

“No, unfortunately, I can’t leave just yet. I’ve got one more experiment to run.” Then the worm smiled that not smile that he should not have been able to smile.

Daniel had tried to close his eyelids but even they seemed useless in his paralyzed state. The worm burrowed into his tear duct without little such resistance as a blink.

Sarah stood over him then, scornful and judging. Nothing like the bright and kind Sarah Daniel knew. But that Sarah was gone. Daniel had made sure of that.

“You know what you have to do, darling. You promised.” She said with faux sympathy. Daniel just stared at her, begging her to reach out and comfort him. To hug him and take away his pain, to whisper in his ear and tell him she loved him.

“You promised.” She repeated, unmoving. She was right. He had promised. He never broke a promise.

The warden had puked when they’d found Daniel’s body. There had been a story about him in the paper that day. “G.I. WHO PLUCKED OUT EYES OF WIFE AND BABY FOUND DEAD WITH OWN EYES MISSING!!” But the story only ran for a day and the world moved on to more grizzly horrifying headlines before anyone had the chance to… blink.

Daniel was buried in a mass grave with other prisoners who had died with no one to claim their bodies but the cold earth and the worms.

In the end they got him.