Growing Strong

by Kai Delmas

Sammy found the body in the woods. We didn’t believe him at first, but he led the way and showed it to us with a proud smirk.

Mushrooms were growing from its eyes and ears. Some fat and brown, others poisonous, red with white dots. We should’ve stayed clear.

But Daryl dared me to go up to it. I wasn’t afraid. The body wouldn’t do nothin’. But when he dared me to touch it, I refused.

Then he double dog dared me.

I made sure to touch him back the next day when the first ‘shrooms sprouted from my fingertips.

Kai Delmas

Kai Delmas loves creating worlds and magic systems and is a slush reader for Apex Magazine. He is a winner of the monthly Apex Microfiction Contest, his fiction is forthcoming in Zooscape, and can be found in Martian, Etherea, Tree and Stone, Wyldblood, and several Shacklebound anthologies. If you like his work you can support him at:patreon.com/kaidelmas and find him on Twitter.

Twitter: @KaiDelmas