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When someone scratches an itch, they find a mysterious message in the itchy spots

God I am itchy. So, so, so itchy. Why did I decide to run after my niece? She wasn't in danger, she just wanted to play but my fastest route to her was to run through a patch of poison ivy and so here I was, itchy.

I wanted to scratch myself so badly, but I knew I wasn't supposed to. Although, as I thought about it, I didn't know why I wasn't supposed to. Would I scar? Was that it? Would it spread? Is that how that worked? I thought of a few more possibilities, but I realized I couldn't remember anyone telling me why I shouldn't scratch my rashes.

Well, not having a reason was no longer good enough for me. I scratched my rash and God it felt good. I should've been doing this all along instead of staying in my itchy Hell. After a moment, I went back to typing on my laptop. I had decided to work from home today so as to avoid a bunch of questions about my my legs looked like that.

After a few minutes of getting no where on my proposal, I looked down at my legs. I thought I'd see evidence as to why I wasn't supposed to scratch myself. But, instead, it looked like my itchy spots had shifted. I swear they were in different spots before. Maybe I was getting delusional with cabin fever. I scratched myself again and went back to my proposal.

I made a little bit of progress, but the itching got to me again. This time, when I looked down at my legs I saw that the spots had definitely shifted. They looked like they were beginning to form letters. But I couldn't quite see what they were yet. I scratched myself again and then watched intently as the spots shifted into the word:

HELLO

Well, that can't be good. I must be hallucinating things now. Does scratching a poison ivy rash make you hallucinate? Was that why I wasn't supposed to scratch it?

But the itch wasn't too strong now, so I scratched again and the spots shifted again:

FINALLY SOMEONE SEES OUR WORDS

Boy, I had too many spots if they could spell that out. Hesitantly, I scratched again and the spots shifted once more.

WE WELCOME YOU

Welcome? I haven't moved, have I? I looked around myself and I was still in my own bedroom, sitting with my laptop with a boring grant proposal half-written on it. Where were they welcoming me to? And how do I communicate back to my spots? Oh dear, I must be hallucinating if I was thinking about this.

WE ARE A PART OF YOU

That didn't sound good. I scratched again and the letters shifted.

NO NEED TO SPEAK

Hrmm, I didn't really like that and so I scratched again.

WE CAN READ YOUR THOUGHTS

Great. My rash can read my thoughts. This couldn't be good.

WE COME IN PEACE

No one who comes in peace actually says that, right?

WE APPRECIATE YOUR SACRIFICE

I hope the spots are just referring to being itchy and nothing else.

THE NO-SCRATCHING PROPAGANDA STOPPED US FOR A TIME

I had way too many rashes. Also...I guess this is why I never knew why I wasn't supposed to scratch. I just had been raised to know not to scratch poison ivy rashes without question. It was a pretty effective propaganda campaign...but it had to have a reason.

BUT NOW WE HAVE A WAY TO SPEAK

Just speak, okay, that's not so bad.

TAKE US TO YOUR LEADER

Now I knew I had to be hallucinating. Besides, how I was I supposed to get my rashes to anyone?

YOU HAVE TWO DAYS.

Welp, I better take some pictures.

(Prompt by me)
Photo by Jonnymccullagh.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chickenpox_leg.JPG

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