May 10^th 9:58 pm

I was brushing my hair when I noticed the top part of my head was tender. When I put my fingers through my hair searching for the tender spot, I stopped and felt the bump the size of a dime. For some reason I had an urge to pop it, like a pimple, so I did. When I squeezed the bump, blood ran a straight line down my neck and what was left was a small stone in my hand. I took a shower of course. I am hoping to schedule a doctor’s appointment tomorrow.

Before that, I was having one of my depressive episodes. Thank God I live alone even though I have my cat, because who in the world would keep up with the messes I leave around the house? I fed Salem in the morning and laid around all day watching reruns of Community. I don’t know what I am doing with my life, and graduation is around the corner. I hate that Sammy broke up with me only two months in. I was hoping she would be my future or at least I would have her a part of that.

May 11^th 5:58 pm

I scheduled a doctor’s appointment and was able to get something at 3pm. When I checked in, I sat in the waiting area by a TV with sounds from a recent episode of SpongeBob. I glared at past text messages from Sammy and decided to shoot her an update. I know she said she doesn’t have feelings, but there’s always a chance. Wouldn’t she want to know about the part-time job I got? In all honesty I shouldn’t have sent it, but I did.

The doctor had my blood taken and is supposed to call tomorrow if there is a chance I have cancer or something. She asked if I did drugs or alcohol to which I said no, but then she asked if I drank caffeine, and I said I did. She looked at me like I murdered someone even though tea and coffee are the one joy I have in life. She suggested I cut back on so much caffeine and said that the hole in my head should heal up soon. She also was in much disbelief when I said a stone came out of my head. Perhaps she thinks I do LSD. She did ask very carefully if I did drugs.

May 13^th 6:45 pm

Sammy didn’t reply to my texts for a while. I kept saying that we should talk and asking why she was pushing me away. When she finally did respond, she sent something short and simple. That she is sticking to our agreement of not talking for a while until she gets her shit figured out. I should probably get my shit figured out.

The doctors called and said there is no sign of cancer in my bloodstream but I am low on iron. I am not sure what that means or why a rock came out of my head. Just yesterday, I found another tender lump in my armpit. This morning I popped it and this time the stone was as big as a quarter. The doctor suggested I take iron pills, so maybe there is some correlation? Who knows, I am not a doctor. I am just a music major.

Speaking of which, I haven’t been doing good at being a music major. I haven’t been practicing much and I haven’t been inspired to write music. With graduation around the corner, sometimes I wonder if it was a terrible idea to do music. The job outlook isn’t too great. I guess I could be a teacher. Backup jobs are always teaching at some middle school, because the world will always need more teachers. People keep asking me my plans after graduation. If these stones don’t stop coming and I die from them magically, perhaps there won’t be any future.

There is this guy Brian I work with at the gas station. He’s a smoker and always knows what each regular prefers when they check out. Brian used to also be a music major but ended up as the manager of the gas station which worries me.

Working at the gas station, you see a lot of people that are reflections of the broken systems in society. You start to feel pretty terrible handing a forty-year-old man his tenth lottery ticket for the day around lunchtime. Or the woman who just bought a whole box of cigarettes.

Anyways, these stones that keep coming from my body feel like a relief.

May 14^th 9:00 pm

There’s a handful of repeat customers who buy lottery tickets. They go and scratch off and come back with less money than they had and start the process all over again. They don’t even say hi at this point like some normal human would. They just go to the lottery board and point at the numbers they want me to grab.

But it turns out I handed out a winning ticket that ended up becoming $141,000. The lottery guy came in and told me. I was nervous since there were rumors I was going to receive a $1,000 tip. That would definitely help. I had a stone at the tip of my thumb, just a small one that’s all, but I could feel it was ready to pop. The guy ended up giving me 50 dollars. When he did, I gripped the money too hard and the stone popped out right into the lottery guy’s hands. We both just looked at each other.

May 20^th 11:45 pm

Wow, it’s been a while since I have updated. I usually jot something down every day or two.

The problem is that I have been busy. The stones have been growing from my body at an astounding rate, and I probably look pretty ugly from them. Sammy would never take me back. I have a little bucket in the corner of my room full of them. Salem tends to keep away from them and always hisses when she gets near. I have wondered if there is some correlation to kidney stones, but the last two appointments have found no correlation. The doctors left me with no answers and a huge hospital bill, so I have decided not to go back and to deal with this problem on my own.

Maybe the stones are growing because I want them to.

I don’t smoke or anything nor have I ever bought lottery tickets, but these stones, although they might sound scary to you, are a way for me to cope sometimes. It’s almost out of compulsion, the way people pop a zit and find it satisfying. There is no pain and little blood from my scars. One time after an angry customer argued with me, I went to the bathroom to pop a stone from my elbow and it felt so good.

I guess you could say I wanted this to happen.

I want something, anything, to happen.

Amanda Parrack is an undergraduate at Missouri State University and works at the writing center as a writing consultant. She lives in Springfield and spends her free time out in nature.