Grave Matter

by Karina Halle

“Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others” DOSTOYEVSKY

taking the key and inserting it into the lock. It turns with a click that I find very satisfying.

Vibe: satisfied

“If you wake up to screaming, it’s probably the goats,”

Sus

He’ll also be your psychologist,”

Well thats an ethical violation

“He is not a fungi,” Munawar says, using air quotes around “fun-guy.”

Aw we love him

Don’t eat the walking ones, don’t eat the talking ones.

Don’t trust any of them. They’re all lying to you.

“Amani,” I say, scouring the area. “She has a pink hijab. She wasn’t in the class, but she was on my plane.”

I'm Putting money on ghost or hallucination spurred on by being dosed with spooky mushrooms. Ohh what if the mushrooms they found cause long term hallucinations?

“Hey, I think we got off on the wrong foot,” he yells after me.

Boo hiss

not to mention he’s rolled up his sleeves to his elbows. The trifecta is complete: his forearms are magnificent.

Rolled sleeves agenda!!

He unfolds his arms and picks up a textbook from his desk, taking out a pair of dark-framed glasses from his shirt pocket, slipping them on. The movement reveals a tattoo peeking beneath the edges of his sleeves, something like black feathers. My heart leaps.

Slutty glasses and tattoos??

Don’t you know about folklore? Don’t answer things that yell for you in the woods!”

“The forest can play tricks on us,”

V scientific there doctor/professor/therapist

It says Morely Grey with a picture of a morel mushroom. “Get it?” he asks. “Like morally grey characters.”

I grab the knob. Pull it back.

This is how you die during horror movies bruh

What a tragedy that is.”

Ah yes, nothing worse than being poor /s

to give yourself to the foundation, to leave your mark on the world?”

Red flag!!!

The two go hand in hand.”

Do they tho?

“As punishment, I’m making you breakfast, and you have to eat it.”

Yes Daddy

Are we flirting? Is he aware that this whole exchange would be considered highly inappropriate, especially since he knows why I lost my scholarship?

Yes and yes my dear. The things we do for hot toxic men.

“Don’t you want to know what we were doing in the dreams?”

Messsssssy

Fuck me for actually having feelings for my goddamn psychologist.

But I still need you to trust me.”

The audacity of this man

But he’s not using me. I know he’s not.

Do you babes? I think you are thinking with your vagina

he a gaslighter, too?

Bruh. No shit.

“You knew!” I scream.

Bitch you should just LEAVE. The kinky sex aint worth dying for

“There’s no reception here. The storm is causing service dropouts from the satellite,”

Of course there's no reception . Fucking run bitch!!

All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again. I had argued with Wes one night, here on the boat. We were fighting. We weren’t together anymore, but we were fighting. Things got physical. I pushed him, and I think he shoved me back. Yes, he pushed me. I fell right here. I hit my head on the corner of the table. And that was it. That was where my life ended. That was when I died.

The man has been put through the wringer, accidently killing his ex-girlfriend and then seeing her brought back to life in a myriad of failed attempts until the one that finally sticks.

Why are you worried about his feelings ??