I wake up and see nothing around me. Lights are off, no light shining in. However, I am so wide awake that I feel as though I could go to work totally fine. I roll over in my bed, grab my phone and push a button, igniting the lights showing me it was 3:07, obviously in the morning, as it is completely dark outside. No chance I overslept so bad that it is in the afternoon anyways. At this moment of confusion, I realize why I am awake. My feet feel like they are on fire. All the way up to my calves. As I reach down to grab them, I feel tiny little bumps all over, obviously swollen bites from the bugs that were in our tent in the Keys. I put on the tallest socks I own, and just pray that they will quit itching and I would be able to get back to sleep before I turn my legs into a bloody mess. After what seemed like an hour, I finally got into a comfortable position. Instantly, I woke up to the sound of my alarm. Thankfully, I had gotten back to sleep and rested the rest of the night without interruption.
While they didn't feel so bad when I woke, I still could feel them under my socks, waiting for the slightest bit of irritation, giving them an excuse to start itching again. How was I going to get socks and shoes on without hitting them just right? I just did it normally, and told myself not to scratch. Not as easy as you would wish, but I succeeded.
Through the day, I started feeling more and more bites making their way up my legs and into my back. It seemed as though there was something in them, helping them spread across my body. While that would be horrible, I am sure it is just the same bites, only taking more time for them to react, making the "itch" appear. I remember feeling them bite all over my body, even though my feet were the only bites visible with a bump or red mark.
I went to school, showing the people I work with, all my little bites and asking for advice of what to do to make the itch go away. While no one knew what to do, they all were very impressed with how many bites could possibly fit on my calves and feet. By the end of the school day, I had visible and painful bites up my back, stomach and across both arms, as well as the first ones on my legs and feet. The itch will not go away, yet, just get worse with each touch. Finally, my principal, who is an M.D., got a cup of vinegar and told me it takes the sting away. Being desperate, I dump it all over my legs and go to practice. It cant possibly smell worse than the sweat and dirt that mixes in the air during football practice.
I went through practice trying not to irritate them a bit. However, this was the worst part of the day. Sweat would slowly drip down my legs, getting into the bites that I had scratched enough to open the skin. This, caused my legs to naturally lift up and rub the other one on the calves. Well, wearing some athletic shoes with velcro, I lifted them, and started dragging the show down one leg. The open velcro (rough part) hit my bites, scratching the crap out of them. This made them light up like crazy, leaving me no other choice than to just lay into them with the velcro, rubbing them and scratching them hard. My self control finally had left me.
Practice never seemed to end, but eventually did. Driving home gave me time to not think about them, and not scratch them, as I would wreck. By the time I got home, I had forgotten about them, and went to shower. What happens when a powerful shower hits something? It almost itches it. With my body covered, the shower was like a power washer, or sand blaster as it felt like my skin was being ripped off. At this moment, I start to think about my room mate Erin again, as she had so many bites yesterday. I went to her room, and found her scratching her legs. She too had thousands of mounds protruding off her legs and looked much worse than mine. This is the moment I knew that I was going to live! Thank God. Maybe this is punishment for rubbing my camping experience into those I know in the snow and sleet. However, I still prefer this I think.
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