I kept circling it, heart thudding, trying to find a logical explanation that didn’t involve calling pest control or a biohazard team. It looked fragile but sinister, with darker patches that made it seem like it was decaying. I didn’t want to touch it, but leaving it there felt worse, like inviting something unknown to stay. Finally, with a wad of tissue as my only shield, I reached out and pressed.
It didn’t squirm. It didn’t resist. It simply collapsed, soft and harmless. That tiny moment of contact snapped everything into focus: the color, the texture, the fibrous interior. I suddenly remembered a snack, a careless moment, and a piece dropped and forgotten. In the warm, damp air, it had transformed into something grotesque. It wasn’t a parasite, or mold, or anything dangerous at all. It was just a piece of banana, warped by humidity and my own imagination.
