So, I haven’t posted on the site in awhile, and It’s unadvisable to return with a wall of text, but I wrote an in-universe short story, and I’d love to know what y’all think.

presenting, an uroboros short story:
sap symptoms
Dr. Richard Lemony stepped into the medical center. It was one of the emptier days, the only other persons in the waiting room being the receptionist and his coworker, Jame. He walked up beside her, tugging at the tie and loosening it slightly for comfortability. He spoke directly, his throat sore from the days past. “Who’s hurt?” Jame walked beside him, giving him the details as quickly as he could as they walked. “A guy fell into a coma on the street. We found three massive lacerations on the forearms, like marks- but we can’t identify where they’re from. Not an animal, and not done by himself. The wound has some weird properties, and we’ve discover massive abnormalities in his brain activity, bloodstream and bones.” Lemony stepped into the room, looking at the man. A guy in his mid-forties, short, curled hair. Skinny, frail. “He’s been malnourished, and we’ve found that he has severe early onset dementia, symptoms in the brain activity showed up very quickly.” Jame said. Lemony looked the guy over, still mostly stoic. “Dementia at forty. Must have had some unhealthy habits, eh?” Jame took his remark very literally. “No, not at all. This is Runner Monaghan.” Lemony began examine the wounds. “So?” “Runner is a fitness instructor. The only unhealthy thing about him, up until this point, was his beard.” He looked at his beard. It was uncouth, but that wasn’t what Lemony was focusing on in the moment. Lemony gave Jame a love punch, and she gave him a very confused look. “Why’d you punch me?” Lemony gave her a look. “You made a remark. That’s character development.” Jame was disappointed. “This isn’t a show, Lemony. This man has something going on in his system that no one has seen before.” Lemony looked at his veins, popping out around the wound. “His blood is orange?” Jame nodded. “Abnormalities in the blood, like I said.” Lemony was concerned, looking at the comatose man before him. He was one to voice his thoughts. “What the fuck is up with him?” Jame shared the worry. “By all accounts, he was fine the day previous, spotted for a man at the gym just fine. This is sudden death, Lemon.” He nodded. “I can see that. Why’d you call me? You could’ve gotten someone with much higher authority on the subject of medical shit than me.” Jame nodded in agreement, which hurt Lemony’s ego slightly. She took a moment before she spoke. “They all hung up when I described the symptoms.” They both shared a moment in silence. “So, what is this?” Jame shook her head for no apparent reason, now trying to ease the information to Lemony. “It’s a disease, Lemony. These are all caused by the wound, something communicable through injuries.” Lemony was silent. He could feel his heartbeat. There was something about this situation, everything. It made him feel scared for his life, a deep, primal dread. The static in Lemony’s ears grew louder, everything began to muffle. “Lemon!” Jame slapped him lightly on the side of his face. “Keisha’s calling us. Are you okay? You looked like death for a second.” Lemony didn’t know how to respond, or what to think. They walked into the main room, Keisha, the receptionist, still on the phone. “Y’all be prepared, we got another dude coming in.” She said. “For what?” Jame asked, curious to know what they’re dealing with. Lemony dreaded her response. “Someone fell into a coma on the side of the road.”

And that’s it. Tell me what you think!