TW: Disturbing themes…of course
-You come across a fresh carcass in a
field. You decide to come back later when in the hopes that you will
find it skeletonized. You return a year later. The carcass has not decomposed; it is in the same state as how you left it.
-You bury five skulls over the summer.
When you retrieve them in the fall, there are seven skulls.
-You find a dead pregnant goat on your
friend’s farm. With the friend’s permission, you open up the goat in
the hopes of extracting and preserving the fetus. Upon dissection, you find that
the goat was hosting three clearly human fetuses.
-You see a roadkill fox on the side of
the road, and make a note to get some gloves at home and pick it up
later. A mile closer to home, you see the same roadkill fox on the
side of the road. Every mile you see the fox again, and you never
make it home.
-You accidentally get some
high-concentration hydrogen peroxide on your hands. You can see a
small splash of capillary embolism on your fingertips, turning them
white. You know it will go away in a day, but then it doesn’t. The
embolism grows, and by the end of the week your entire body is as
white as a spectre.
-You want to buy an animal but aren’t
sure if it’s legal in your country, state, or city. You try to look
it up but can’t make sense of the convoluted laws on ownership,
transportation, and methods of obtaining remains. By the time you
figure it out, everyone you’ve ever known is dead.
-Someone posts a picture online of the
albatross skull they took home for their collection. You tell them
that collecting migratory birds is a violation of the MBTA. When you
return later to see how they responded, you find that the post has
mysteriously disappeared.
-You see some of the most disturbing
porn of your life on your Tumblr dashboard, and the more horrific the
post, the more notes it has. You post a picture of an animal skin and
are banned for a gore violation.
-A family member chides you for touching
dead animals, insisting that it is dangerous and gross. Each
criticism is spoken between bites of pork ribs.
-Flirting with someone at a dinner
party. They ask what you like to do in your spare time. You open your
mouth to answer, but think better of it and just walk away.