Chloë Joan López
chlo'jo'lo'
Degradation

Loverett is deteriorating. I tried talking to him. He didn't move. Nothing moved. The room stood silenced but for the hum of his breathing, and even that did not move. I called out to him, but he only made incoherent noises. I lifted his mouth open, and I saw that the area around his tooth was distended and inflamed. Something is very very wrong. I fear he may be gone gone gone.

The salamander's curse continues to spread. If I look in the mirror, I can see something living behind my eyes, a scintilla of a lurid ruby glow. But oddly, I'm not worried. Maybe that's part of the curse as well. I will somehow stare it down, I feel. Salamanders are known for their wanton destruction, so I ought be more vigilant, but I'm taking an odd comfort in this process of monstrous disfigurement. My thumbs continue to bleed, maybe worse than they did yesterday. My left side burns and quivers.