Sensitive Skin

Flash Fiction

Tendrils of thought…mostly, annoyingly, about skin, since that was what its pre-ultracentrifuge liberated embryonic cell self was supposed to develop into…flitted through its only intermittent consciousness.

What, oh what, have I become?

A human approached, perceivable as a cacophony of sound and smell, but mostly light distortion due to his white lab coat and air displacement proportionate to his width and height. Then it was all about sound because he made a very loud one and suddenly moved farther away.

Another human, this one female, joined him quickly. “What the fuck is wrong with you? That scream sounded like one of the simple cells we’re torturing with our experiments morphed into a monster and… Oh shit!”

It could hear, but not understand. Both the humans were now moving away slowly.

Its consciousness flickered.

Tendrils of thought again: air displacement over skin this time, caused by abrupt twitching as both male and female humans made very loud sounds now. Skin rash from splatterings of some of their internal liquids.

Tendrils of something new: a feeling: satisfaction.

It did something it didn’t fully understand, but it appeared to intensify the twitching and loud sounds.

More satisfaction…so warm…so nice.

Still have to work on thinking less about skin. But what I have become is every bit as sensitive, if not more so, than these humans.

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