Chapter 5: The rubber hand
"Ugh, ahhh, Izumi!!!" Dekim shouted as loud as he could.
"It's piercing my hand, it's climbing my arm," Dekim added as the insect crawled up his arm.
Izumi took off his belt to help his friend, only to be attacked by one of the insects that extended its limbs and pierced his right hand. Izumi quickly rushed towards Dekim, placed his right hand in Dekim's left hand, wrapped the belt around their arms, and they began to pull the belt in the opposite direction for each of them, aiming to prevent the penetrating insect from reaching the brain...
"Pull the belt towards you with all your strength," said Izumi.
"Okay. Let's go," replied Dekim, as the shouting filled the surroundings.
They continued pulling the belt for a while, the color of their arms changing due to the difficulty of blood flow, and the insect disappeared, no longer visible to them.
"Let go of the belt," said Izumi.
"Strange! It has vanished," said Dekim after releasing the belt.
"It doesn't hurt me or anything," Izumi said, his pale complexion evident.
"Neither does mine," Dekim replied as he moved his arm.
"But it's a bit numb," Dekim added.
"Ah, run!" Izumi said as he prepared to dash away, noticing the remaining insects crawling toward him while others moved in different directions.
"The bag!" Dekim shouted.
"RUN!!!!" Izumi yelled at him.
The boys ran away without stopping, and neither spoke to the other.
As they neared home, Dekim moved ahead while Izumi followed. They stealthily entered the garage, then the basement, and finally climbed to the room. Dekim lay on his bed, spending a long time staring at his left hand, wondering about the fate of the insect that had penetrated his body. Izumi was lost in thought, questioning whether that strange creature was truly in his arm...
"Oh no, we failed!!! This is unfortunate," a strange voice echoed in the room after the boys had fallen asleep.
Morning arrived after the boys had an unforgettable night. Both families sat at the breakfast table, waiting for Dekim and Izumi after calling for them several times...
"Don't you dare try to tell anyone what happened yesterday," Dekim said, giving instructions to Izumi.
"What's the reason for the delay, boys?" Albert asked, looking at his son Dekim.
"Video games are to blame, right, boys?" Takashi added.
"Ah, no, no, it was a quiet night," Dekim said, while Izumi nodded in agreement.
After both families enjoyed breakfast in a cheerful atmosphere, the boys remained unusually quiet. It was time for Takashi's family to leave after having spent a somewhat good weekend...
"The next time, it will be my treat, my friend," said Takashi as he shook hands with his friend and patted him on the shoulder.
"I'm grateful for your invitation, we'll come when we get the chance" replied Albert with a smile.
Without saying much after what happened and avoiding the details, Izumi said to his friend, "I'll see you in class."
In the morning of the next day, Izumi was still asleep in his room, but his right hand!!!
was a few meters away, busy browsing through the magazines on the shelf. It had a rubbery appearance, with one eye in the middle of the palm. Just below it was a mouth with sharp, saw-like teeth and a sticky, protruding tongue swinging from it. At the tips of the middle and ring fingers were two additional eyes, with pupils that were larger. The index finger ended in a small hand with fully formed fingers, and the same was true for the little finger. As for the thumb, it resembled a sharp tool akin to a sickle, with a serrated end.
The alarm rang, and it was time to wake up. Izumi reached to turn off the alarm with his left hand, but when he looked again, he realized that his right hand seemed endless. He put on his glasses and took another look at the end of his hand, discovering the strange creature that his right hand had become.
Izumi pressed himself against the corner of the room, terrified by the scene before him.
'Ah!' Izumi screamed.
'Who are you?" Izumi said, his voice trembling from the horror of the sight.
After hearing Izumi's scream, the father and mother headed towards the room.
'What's wrong, Izumi!!! What are you doing?" the father said, bursting into the room.
'What's the reason for your scream?' the mother asked.
"Ah, it's nothing, I had a nightmare, it was terrifying" Izumi said, clinging to the corner of the room.
'What? A nightmare, at this time!!! Oh my God" the father was shocked by Izumi's words.
"I told you over and over not to watch those scary movies" the mother said hugging him.
"Of course not, I no longer watch that kind of movies," Izumi said.
"Come on, go take a shower and then come for breakfast before you go to class" the father said, leaving the room with the mother.
"Strange! How did it return to normal? It doesn't hurt or anything like that. Could it be ****?" Izumi said, looking at his right hand.
Izumi turned towards his desk, took a pair of scissors from the drawer, placed his right hand on the desk while holding the scissors in his left hand, in a scene where he intended to stab his right hand with all his strength, drops of sweat falling from his forehead onto his hand...
"Are you even my right hand? I'll check on you, and you'd better not move," he said, raising his left hand as high as possible, ready to bring it down onto his right hand.
Hesitant, he lacked the courage to go through with this step.
Suddenly, his right hand transformed back to the way it was when he woke up.
There was one eye in the middle of the palm, and just below it was a mouth with sharp, saw-like teeth. At the tips of the middle and ring fingers, there were two additional eyes with larger pupils. The tip of the index finger resembled a small hand with fully formed fingers, and the same was true for the tip of the pinky finger. As for the thumb, it was a sharp tool resembling a sickle with a serrated edge.
"Such a pity, I am the right hand... I failed the mission, I failed..." the right hand spoke, struggling to articulate the words.
"I... I failed!!! What about my right hand?" Izumi exclaimed, astonished and sweating profusely.
"I... I ate it," the right hand replied.
Izumi turned his gaze away from the deformed hand for a moment to surprise the right hand with a stab from the sharp scissors he was holding. The index and pinky fingers acted as a formidable barrier, blocking the stab and shattering the scissors in his hand, leaving him with only the plastic part, leaving Izumi in a state of astonishment at what had just happened.
"I'm not a good speaker yet, Izumi," the right hand said, struggling with its words and speaking in a stutter.
"Teach me to talk like you all," the right hand added.