Home / Damn, Those Shrooms Got Me Good / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of Damn, Those Shrooms Got Me Good: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

My name was Ruthie Winslet.I had been kidnapped when I was three years old and spent the next 15 years growing up in a welfare home before I was finally found.The Levine family spent three months confirming that I was their biological daughter. At long last, they sent a driver to pick me up from the welfare home.After spending four months with them, my biggest thought was that I would have been better off never coming back.Lorraine Neal was my birth mother. The first thing she said when we met was, "You've grown so much."The second thing she said was, "Thally is two years younger than you. As her older sister, you should give in to her."Jacob Levine was my younger brother. He was 15 years old, precisely the age when one was most rebellious and unruly. On my very first day, he rummaged through my suitcase and said everything I wore was garbage.Thalia Levine was the adopted daughter. On the day I came back, she linked her arm through mine and called my name fondly. Then,

Chapter 2

Even if this was hell, shouldn't the creatures here at least look decent?Half an hour later, I sat at the dining table. As I stared at the tableful of monsters, I was lost in thought.If this was hell, then the King of Hell had terrible taste in decor.The crystal chandelier looked like it hadn't been cleaned in 800 years. There were sauce stains on the tablecloth that I'd no idea who had left behind. The edges of the plates were chipped, too.I looked at the maid who brought over the soup.The health bar above her head was so short it looked like a phone with only 1% battery left. Her face was crooked, so one side looked higher than the other. Fish scales covered the back of her hand, and when she held the bowl, I saw the green grime beneath her fingernails.I stared at the bowl of soup and quietly put down my spoon."Why aren't you eating, Ruthie?" Thalia asked, sitting across from me.The three snakes around her neck were all raising their heads, hissing as they flicked the

Chapter 3

The pig-headed man stood there with his mouth hanging open for three full seconds before he suddenly shot to his feet.The chair legs screeched against the floor."What did you say?" Dwayne roared.He slammed his hoof onto the table, rattling the bowls and plates. His nostrils flared as wide as they could. The hot air blasted out so hard it hit me square in the face.The health bar above his head kept dropping with sharp little clicks, turning from red to black, like he was a phone about to shut itself off.I went on, "I said you're ugly. You're ugly on the outside and on the inside. You have a pig's face and a greedy heart. It's a perfect match, honestly."The pig-headed man trembled with rage, his ears sticking straight up and shaking wildly. "I dare you to say that again!""I can say it ten more times. You—""Ruthie!" Thalia cried, hurriedly standing up. Her snake tail whipped behind her as she swayed over to stand between us, reaching out to pull me back.She said, "Dway

Chapter 4

"Are you mentally unwell?"Behind me, Jacob, who had been silent ever since getting slapped first thing in the morning, finally couldn't take it anymore.I said bluntly, "I'm afraid of snakes, and I'm afraid of pigs." Thalia lay on the floor crying, the snake heads drooping from her hair, their hissing noticeably weaker.Dwayne was sprawled on his back, flailing all four of his limbs three times before finally managing to get up. He looked just like a slaughtered pig lying helplessly on its back.I stared at the sight of the snake lady and pig tangled together on the floor. Then, my stomach churned again.Lorraine's demonic face came closer. "Ruthie! Why did you push Thally?"I took a step back and said, "I didn't push her. She lost her balance herself. I just dodged the snakes, and she fell."Lorraine shrieked, "How dare you still argue? Snakes? What snakes? Where are they? What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"Another face came closer.I turned around and saw a man

Chapter 5

My eyelids felt unbearably heavy.It was noisy. There was much chattering and buzzing, like a crowded marketplace."It's all your fault! If you hadn't insisted on taking the whole family to that stupid gala, would Rue have eaten any random food she could get while she was home alone?""Now you're blaming me? Have you taken care of her at all in the four months since she came back? You didn't even know she was staying in a guest room!""Alright, stop arguing. She's still unconscious…""Shut up. You spend all day doting on that adopted daughter of yours…"My head was pounding from all the noise. I wanted to cover my ears, but I felt something stuck in my wrist. It was cold, and a needle was lodged in my vein.I opened my eyes.The ceiling was white. It was so white that I was dazed for a moment and thought, "So this is what heaven looks like."Then, a face moved toward me.I saw eight tentacles. Suckers covered them densely. On top of its round, bulbous head were two tiny black

Chapter 6

On the second day of my hospital stay, Lorraine stood guard outside my hospital room.Her demonic appearance hadn't changed, but her eyes were swollen and red-rimmed. There were even traces of tears that hadn't been wiped clean clinging to the tips of her fangs.I watched her through the glass in the door from my hospital bed and thought, "Even after crying this much, she can still look so terrifying. I guess the heavens really did bless her with a special kind of talent."Thalia came to bring me soup. When she pushed open the door, the three snakes on her head rose as high as they could and hissed at me in unison.But Lorraine was still standing outside. With her facing the room, Thalia wore a gentle, warm smile. Even the snakes seemed to behave a little tamer.Thalia said, "Ruthie, I made you some soup. Eat a little."Lorraine nodded from the doorway and turned around to answer a phone call. The moment she turned her back, the smile disappeared completely from Thalia's face.S

Chapter 7

The next morning, the hallucinations started distorting wildly.When Jacob came in, his frog face and human face kept switching back and forth rapidly. Lorraine's demonic appearance flickered in and out. When Thalia glanced through the glass, the snakes on her head sometimes coiled together and sometimes came loose.A few days later, the octopus guy disappeared.That was when I finally got a good look at my attending doctor. It turned out he was just a young guy in glasses.On the day I was discharged, Lorraine came to pick me up.Her demon appearance was gone. It had been a long time since I'd seen my mother with such a normal face. I stared at her for quite a while before finally looking away.I got into Chester's car.On the drive back to the Levine residence, he drove while I stared at his side profile through the window for a full five minutes.Sunlight streamed through the car window, casting the shadow of his brow ridge across the bridge of his nose. Those little stars I

Chapter 8

Three days after Thalia left, the house became much quieter.Lorraine showed the most obvious change. She turned Thalia's old room into a study and spent every afternoon sitting inside reading cookbooks.She used to never lift a finger around the house. Now, she was learning to make soup with Emma every day. There was almost always a pot simmering on the stove, and whenever I came through the front door, I was greeted by a warm, comforting aroma.When she served her first pot of soup, the whole family went silent."It's salty." Jacob frowned after taking the first sip.Lorraine's hand froze around the spoon."But it's good," Jacob added quickly, lowering his head and gulping down the entire bowl.Lorraine's lips pressed together, and she tried to keep it neutral. But in the end, she couldn't hold back a smile.I sat across from her, holding my bowl. The soup slid down my throat, warming my stomach.I looked up at Lorraine. She was wiping water off the counter with a paper towe

Chapter 9

Jack lowered his head and finished his soup. When he was done, he simply said, "Not bad," before getting up to leave.That night, after I finished showering, Chester was waiting for me in the hallway. He handed me a cup of hot milk, exactly like he had on the day I was discharged from the hospital for the first time.I took the cup and drank it."Next time you say something like that, can you at least give me a warning?" He leaned against the wall and looked at me."Why?""I wasn't prepared.""What do you need to prepare?"He looked at me as the hallway light cast a warm glow across his face."My heart," he replied.I stood there holding the cup of milk and suddenly felt hot. I raised the cup to cover half my face."How are you still so good at this after your glow disappeared?""You taught me well."…Our wedding was set for six months later.Lorraine had started getting anxious by the third month. Every day, she held her phone and searched for wedding-planning tips.A

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