They lie in bed, slowly falling into a deep slumber. The indigo tint of daybreak envelopes the room as two bodies lie still. Silence. 

Then discomfort. Disruption. The woman jolts awake from the bed clutching her stomach tightly. Her face is green. Weariness. She stumbles across the room breathing hard. Panic. She runs for the bathroom. Crab Meat. It’s all coming up. Nausea. Revulsion. Crab. The toilet. Crabs. Crab Meat. Disgust. Dinner. Vomit. 

Crabs. Crabs. Crabs.

She pukes out the entirety of her dinner into the toilet bowl. Over and over again, the pale yellow meat spews out of her mouth, each regurgitation more painful than the next. She gets it all out. Heaving hard, she sits on the bathroom floor, exhausted. 

Revolted by her curiosity, but tempted nonetheless, the woman peers into the toilet bowl and is absolutely horrified to see a plethora of MAGGOTS. The crab meat is not crab meat. It is a sham. It is a betrayal. Millions and millions of miniscule maggots morph and move, a universe of imitation crab meat. They weave and tangle and fold into themselves. They move with an intensity that portrays stillness. A never ending picture.

She stares at it, appalled. Before she can vomit again, she shuts the toilet seat and flushes it. She flushes it twice, washes her face, brushes her teeth and with slow, deliberate steps, walks out of the bathroom.

When she looks back at the bed, the woman finds an empty space replacing her husband. Confused, she moves closer to the bed to inspect. 

She pulls back the white duvet and finds in place of her husband - a bright red crab. Small, but still tough looking as it- It? He? Him? The crab crawls with slow but purposeful steps, inching closer and closer towards the edge of the bed.

Appalled and sickened, the woman stumbles backwards, bumping into furniture. She stays back, taking in the sight of the crab, the imposter who took her husband. She stands there, mouth agape, unable to do anything.

All of a sudden, an unexplainable temptation takes over her. An urge to do and to feel, the same primal instincts that she felt when she ate just a few hours prior. Before she can stop herself, she lunges towards the animal on the bed, fingers stretched wide.