Joseph plopped into bed and turned out the lights. While he was sleeping he felt something sting him. He swatted at his face to kill the pest. He woke up and found the remains of a smashed bug on his pillow. With the back of his hand he swept it off his pillow and onto the floor. He flipped his pillow over and went back to sleep.

The next morning he woke up and felt a swelling above his right eye. He checked his bathroom mirror to see how bad it was. Just above his eyebrow was a lump the size of a grape. He put some hydrocortisone cream on it. After taking a second look at it he decided to take the hydrocortisone cream with him to work, just in case.

Joseph worked as a temp. Lately, he had been filling in at a petrochemical lab. The lady that usually worked there was out on maternity leave. There was a lot of down time at his job, so he spent a most of his time playing solitaire or minesweeper on the computer when he wasn’t answering calls or making sure reports were filled out correctly before they were filed. Most everyone at the lab had been there for years. Joseph kept to himself, he knew the position was temporary and there wasn’t much point in getting too chummy with people when he’d have to move on in a couple of months.

“What happened to your face?” His manager asked.

“I got stung by a wasp or something. I’m not sure what it was, I smashed it before I got a good look at it.” Joseph said.

“Are you sure you can work like that?” He asked.

“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt. I put some cream on it. It should go away in a few hours,” Joseph said.

“Right…I’ll leave you to it then,” He said.

Joseph went to the bathroom room to check on the lump. It couldn’t be that bad. In the bathroom mirror he saw that the lump had grown to the size of a mandarin orange. He prodded the lump with his finger tips, but he couldn’t feel it. He got out the cream and slathered on as much as he could. He doubled checked the tube to make sure he grabbed the right one. It was the right one and it specifically said that it was for bug bites. He went back to his desk and started working. By lunchtime the lump had grown to the size of a grapefruit.

“I appreciate your commitment to work, but this is getting ridiculous. I can’t let you work like this. Go see a doctor. Don’t come back until you’ve got it sorted.” His manager said. Joseph nodded in agreement.

He went to the urgent care clinic near his apartment. He didn’t want to go, because his insurance with the temp agency hadn’t kicked in yet. He had a month left before it would. Money was already tight, as a temp he wasn’t sure when his next paycheck would come.

The nurse practitioner took one look at him and told him to go to the emergency room. By then, the lump was cantaloupe size. Begrudgingly, Joseph left the urgent care clinic. Why do they even call that place urgent care, if they can’t take care of urgent cases.

At the emergency room they made him fill out paperwork work. It was difficult for him to do with the bulk of the lump covering most of his vision. It was dark outside by the time the doctor saw him.

“Why didn’t you come here right away?” The doctor asked.

Joseph lifted the lump away from his lips so he could speak clearly, “I did. I went to urgent care. Then they sent me here and I’ve been waiting for hours,” Joseph said.

“Well there’s no reason to be rude about it. We’re here to help,” The doctor said.

Joseph sat there silently, clenching his fists and imagining how long he would go to prison for beating a doctor to death with his own clipboard, and if prison food was as bad as they say it is.

The doctor’s phone rang.

“I have to go. A patient is coding. Someone will be with you shortly.”

Joseph stared at his lump. He could feel it growing heavier and heavier. He tried to lift it away from his face, but it was too heavy. He rested his lump on the exam table so he could breathe. His breath smelled like coffee. His stomach growled. All he had was a cup of coffee and a banana for breakfast. He closed his eyes as he knelt next to the exam table. His knees ached, but he was too tired to care.

The warm splash of blood on his face woke him. A pair of familiar eyes smiled back at him.

“What are you?” Joseph asked.

“I’m you,” The lump replied.

Joseph felt his stomach drop.

“Help! Somebody!” Joseph cried out.

The lump covered Joseph’s mouth with one hand and gave him the sign to hush. Joseph tried to yell, but Lump choked him with his free hand. And just like that Joseph was no more. Lump stripped him of his clothes and put them on himself. He dumped Joseph’s body on a gurney in the hallway and covered it in a sheet.

A nurse saw Lump leaving.

“Sir, are you ok?” She asked.

Lump looked down at his blood drenched shirt.

“Oh, I’m fine. It’s not my blood,” He said.

“Alright.” She said as she scrutinized his every move.

“Really, I’m fine.” He said. He lifted his shirt for her to see.

“Ok, the bathroom is down that hall and to the left if you need to clean yourself up.” she said.

“Thank you, but I think I’m going to head home. It’s my birthday.” Lump said.