Within and Without
By Supernova

A commissioned work

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Jens shivered, thinking of how nervous his girlfriend -er- fiancé must be if even he felt high-strung over the looming contest. Even though she was half-a-world away, he knew how much the eating competition meant to her and how truly crushed she'd be if she didn't finish near the top. It was a time of firsts: the first time she’d compete internationally, the first time she’d compete with this kind of food, the first time she competed without him there to cheer her on, and the first time they’ve been so far apart since the relationship began. Sighing, looking at his watch, he decided to go on an evening stroll through the streets of New York City.

His heart pitter-pattering as he slouched, he would stare at his shoelaces bouncing off of his new, black Converse All-Stars. Just out of grad school, he knew that his outfit was a little bit immature. He started to feel the need to act more grown-up, if not for him, for his beautiful fiancé Astrid. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl” thought Jens as the grey sidewalk passed under him, the yellow-tinged street lamps hanging overhead.

Ruminating over this, he desperately wanted to give her a call. He didn’t want to appear too clingy, but, given that they’ve been in a relationship for over eight years, he knew that his concern was unwarranted. His heart still kept pounding though, able to think of nothing else.

Extremely proud of her, Jens attempted to justify a sense of confidence, remembering all the competitions she won in the States. Though he thought her choice of competition was strange, he followed her through her several victorious hot dog eating contests, a hamburger eating contest, and even a competition that involved eating pickled quail eggs. He’d never had a pickled quail egg, but if Astrid was to be believed, they were extraordinarily hot and not easy to go down. Still, knowing she was on the verge of getting a sponsorship from a large food company, the event was still stressful. He sighed in an attempt to feel some sense of ease by hoping that her experience would win her the day. 

Looking down at his watch, he noticed the time. 9:28 PM. It was already “tomorrow” for Astrid. “I should call her and wish her good luck. Ugh! I should have already called her and told her good morning!” 

Wandering the streets long after the sun has gone down has been a habit for Jens since he moved there with Astrid two years ago. Able to afford rent in the neighborhood of Chelsea through Astrid’s substantial salary as a computer programmer with a large tech company, Jens felt extra lucky to have such a talented wife-to-be. They even worked in the same building, but Jens was in a lowly position of tester, tediously de-bugging any programs before release. He was technically outsourced, but he was hired in-house thanks to Astrid knowing the head of the company. They both agreed that he was not the nicest person, reminding them both of the nasty bullies they both dealt with as they grew up together. Nevertheless, Jens was grateful to be so close to Astrid every day.

Prone to bouts of insecurity, Jens always felt as if Astrid was too good for him. Knowing her since they were both in middle school, Astrid always towered over him and would protect him when the dickheads in the hall or on the bus would push him around. She’d be shit-talked by the girls for being tall (and, in his mind, beautiful) and he’d be bullied for being short and scrawny. Because of this, he always felt like she was his partner, even long before they began an official relationship in high school. It has always been a comfortable symbiosis that made Jens feel as if they were made for each other.

“What does she even see in me?” He said to himself, kicking a pebble down the sidewalk. “I barely make half what she does.” Now feeling a lump in his throat, he mused upon the fact that his request to see Astrid compete in Japan was rejected by his domineering boss. Another point in what Jens viewed as a long, exhausting pattern of bad luck. “I wish I could just help her. In a real way. I want to make her proud for once. I want to be there with her!” He never had any qualms about talking to himself when he was alone, though he could feel the stares of passers-by burning upon him.

Taking out his latest-model iPhone from his pocket, he scrolled through Twitter, growing more depressed as he read the latest news. After closing the app, he decided to open “Photos” instead. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw an entire gallery composed of almost entirely Astrid. Her long, blonde hair was so shiny it was almost luminous, her thin, muscular build that she kept in shape through daily cardio. He also appreciated, and stared at, her, uh, assets. Jens blushed as he zoomed in on one picture that really flattered Astrid’s already sizable D-cups. He noticed how much he loved that top on her, the one picture of her soaking wet near the pool, sad that she didn’t bring it with her. 

“I should call. I should call. I should call.” He felt as though his anxiety was forcing him to say it over and over as he scrolled through picture after picture. Noting that the images were almost exclusively either Astrid or a selfie with Astrid, he felt somewhat strange thinking that neither had any other friends to speak of. “I should call. I should ca-” The phone’s screen lit up and his heart rate exploded. The special Taylor Swift ringtone he picked out for Astrid, whenever he heard those first few notes his mood always abruptly improved. Without even thinking, he swiped on the green circle and answered.

“Babe! Hi! I miss you! How’s Tokyo? How are you? What’s going on?” Jens couldn’t stop himself from sputtering out everything that has been floating around his head. Hearing her giggle on the other end immediately caused his mouth to burst into a beaming smile.

“Oh, you!” Astrid’s high-pitched voice chimed in from the other end. “So many questions already! I’m fine! I’m a bit nervous, though!”  

Jens felt a feeling of bravery overcome him. He wanted to give back. He wanted to give her all the confidence she’d ever need.

“Astrid.” His voice was deep, almost commanding. “You are the light of my life. Whatever you put your mind to, you will always be successful. I am so, so sad I can’t be there right now, but just know that I’ll be with you, close to your heart, as you will be close to mine. Always.”

Jens pursed his lips and blushed, hoping that didn’t sound too corny or over-the-top. “Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeens!” A happy, high-pitched squeak came from the phone’s speaker. “You are the sweetest thing! I love you so fucking much!” 

“I love you too. You won that chicken wing contest in Buffalo. You won the Pizza contest downtown. You even won the loose-meat sandwich one in Iowa! I still don’t even know what loose-meat is!” Jens exclaimed.

“I’ll tell you what it is! It’s gross!” Astrid replied as they both laughed.

Jens was almost skipping down the street, his slouch had disappeared. “I miss you, Astrid! How are things in Tokyo?”

“Things are kind of chaotic here. I just woke up like an hour ago, isn’t that weird? This jet lag made me sleep so late!” Astrid said. “I’ve already got this big tee shirt on. Way, way too big for me, Jens! It’s, uh, unflattering! To say the least!”

“Oh, I’m sure it looks great on you!” Jens said, smiling so much that it affected his vocal inflections.

“No, Jens, you don’t understand! They’re so conservative here. Surprisingly so!” Astrid responded. “This shirt, like, goes down to my knees. I have my own number though! 25!”

“Go number 25!” Jens responded.

“No, but for real.” Astrid sighed. “I’ve never done an event like this before! There are three phases! It’s like three contests in one, almost! And I know for a fact that a lot of people drop out before phase two, even!”

“You’ll do fine!” Jens said.

“Oh, you’re too sweet.” Jens could tell Astrid was smiling too.

“What are these phases? It’s not just one food, like usual?” Jens asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Oh, no. It’s like a three-course meal. First phase has these ramen noodles, like we get all the time. I’m fairly certain they’re just going to be plain, with chicken broth or something.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad!” Jens replied.

“Yeah, but after you’re done with the giant bowl, then it’s on to onigiri!” 

“Onigiri? I think I’ve heard of it. What is that?” Jens asked.

“You’ve totally had it before! Don’t you remember? We’ve lived in the city for so long, of course you’d have had Japanese-style rice balls before, right?” Astrid asked, with a quizzical tone to her voice.

Jens laughed. “Oh, right! Rice balls. Like in an anime or something.”

Astrid giggled, almost in unison with Jens. “Exactly! They’re going to have that nori wrap. And nori is seaweed, Jens.”

Smiling, Jens responded “I know that one! Sounds super heavy, though! Do you know how many you’re going to have to down?”

“I’m not entirely sure, actually. It won’t matter to me. I’m not going to be counting.” Astrid replied.

“Good on you! Eyes on the prize, babe! But I have to ask, what’s phase three?”

Jens could tell Astrid was smiling. “Sushi! Isn’t that exciting? Not sure what type, but I know it’s going to be quite a bit of it.”

Jens, still smiling, now had his eyebrows arched high in amazement. “That’s a lot of carbs. You got this, babe.”

“I got this! I honestly feel better now that I’m talking to you, Jens!”

Jens felt his heart flutter, knowing the love of his life was comforted by his words.

“So what are you doing now?” Asked Astrid. “It must be getting kind of late!”

“Oh, you know, I’m doing my thing. Pacing around.” 

“Jens!” The tone of her voice quickly became more concerned. Darker. “It’s late! You don’t want to get mugged again! Don’t go wandering around any dark alleys!”

Feeling himself blush with embarrassment, he responded in a flustered way. “Oh, uh, it’s fine. I’m, uh, going to try to find something to eat!”

“You better! I’d just die if you got mugged again! I don’t want anything bad to happen to my baby!” Astrid said, the worried tone not leaving her voice.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m looking for somewhere nice. I’m honestly super far downtown. I’m in the East Village, actually. I’ll be fine.” 

Astrid sounded relieved. “Oh, okay. Don’t go out getting drunk alone or anything. I don’t want to be concerned during this contest!”

His chest gripping, not wanting to be a damper on her chances. “Oh, of course not! I will be completely safe! I promise! It’ll be all good!” He tried anything to calm her down, though he felt as though his frantic exclamations might make her more concerned.

“Okay, sweetie. I trust you!” Replied Astrid. 

“Anyway, babe. What time is the contest? It’s like 9:40-ish here right now, maybe?”

“It’s at noon! An hour and twenty minutes! It’s actually taking place in the convention hall of this very hotel! Downstairs! Not much of a walk for me.”

“That’s so cool! When’s it going to be do-”

“Oh! Oh my! The manager of the event is calling! I gotta go! I love you so much! I’ll talk to you later!” Astrid exclaimed, sounding earnestly concerned.

“Bye! I love yo-” Jens was interrupted abruptly as Astrid cut the call short.

Sighing, he figured Astrid was right. He shouldn’t be wandering around all night without a goal. Thumbing through the maps app on his phone, the conversation made him crave some ramen. Constantly amazed that he could find any number of restaurants within walking distance, he just chose the nearest one and the app made a trail for him.

Now no longer walking aimlessly, he quickly realized how much he wished to talk to Astrid again. “Should I call her before the contest or after? Would I throw off her groove if I talked to her shortly before start time? Is there anything I can do to help her?”

Continuing his stroll, he passed by a strange-looking indie bookstore that seemed to focus on astrology and mysticism. Pursing his lips, he considered walking inside, wondering if anything there could give Astrid good luck or something. “Do I really want to do this?” Scanning the windows, they were covered in both advertisements and print-outs with strange, unrecognizable, esoteric symbols on them. In his mind, it seemed as legitimate as it could get for this kind of business. Almost at the vestibule, he could see a sign pasted on the open door that read “READINGS AND BLESSINGS DONE HERE! CHEAP!” He didn’t even believe in this kind of magic, but he couldn’t excise the thought of possibly helping Astrid from his mind. The scent of patchouli wafted from the store’s entrance. “Just another hipster joint” he muttered to himself as he walked past.

As he entered the ramen place, he sat with his front to the window so he could watch the people pass him by on the sidewalk. “People watching” with Astrid was one of his favorite things to do. They’d often point out random walkers and create elaborate backstories for them before they’d leave eyesight. He’d vividly remember both of them sitting on a bench and pointing at someone and saying something like “That one is talking on the phone with aliens! He’s going to summon Godzilla!” 

Thumbing over the menu, a single laminated piece of printer paper, he considered the indie joint. The witch store? He had no idea what to call it, so he thumbed through the maps app on his phone yet again, looking for it. Zooming in on the exact address he passed earlier, he thought it strange that it didn’t have a listing. Looking to the side, his brow furrowed, Jens thought that the absence of it on the map made it all the more intriguing. He read some scientific paper about prayer helping those who were sick in the hospital, so could some strange “Blessing” at a shop be useful to someone trying to win an important contest? He had some extra cash in his pocket, Astrid had given him some pocket change before she left, so he put the menu down and decided that, after he was done with the ramen, he’d try for one of those “Blessings.”

Upon ordering an extra hot bowl of freshly prepared ramen, Jens thought about all the preparation Astrid has to go through to compete in one of these things. A strange thought came upon him, the fact that she likely hasn’t eaten a single thing since she was with him in New York. She must almost be in agony at this point, having nothing to eat for over a day. As he slurped the bowl, he wondered if he could finish the entire time, thinking about how Astrid would have to down many of them. He felt proud of her, but he couldn’t deny that he was somewhat disgusted by the whole concept. 

He was raised on always eating what was on the plate, but, being rather short and skinny, he never felt the urge to overeat or snack. Even finishing meals was somewhat of a chore for him. He felt a connection with Astrid in the fact that she’d always finish what he was eating. She’d even steal fries right off of his plate, but he never minded, as she always had room and he never had enough. He felt as though they were always in a perfect balance. Staring at his phone again, he considered calling her. 

“She sounded somewhat frantic when she hung up,” he thought. “What if I am annoying her?” He shook his head. He wanted to think of his own problems. He spent a few minutes wondering if his obsession with Astrid was healthy. If it was an indictment that he didn’t have his own life to live and was instead living from within hers. If, maybe, he should get his own hobbies as opposed to living vicariously through another person. His rumination became more dark as time went on. 

He was so close to her for almost as long as he could remember. His entire life was almost dedicated to supporting her. Now that there was an entire planet between them, he wondered if he could pick up a hobby without her. Maybe she could support him? He could have his turn as the high-achiever. He could learn to rise the ranks and get transferred to the main company working in the building, perhaps being equal to Astrid. Then they’d be true co-workers as opposed to just being close to each other. 

Jens sighed. He realized, again, that even his own dreams revolved around Astrid. Her shadow continued to loom large over his entire life. As he clicked his chopsticks together, he tried to free his mind, separating it from Astrid. He could learn the flute, he knew how to play “Hot Cross Buns” in the third grade, before he met her. He cringed. “Am I living in a codependent relationship?” He thought. He ruminated over the fact that, even on his social media accounts, there weren’t any pictures of anyone else but him and his wife-to-be. “Is this weird? Is this really the life I want to live?” 

Thinking about how to make new friends, he scrolled through different tags on twitter, wondering what things he enjoyed that Astrid didn’t. His heart dropped as he couldn’t think of a single thing. Astrid got him into computers. Astrid got him his job. Astrid encouraged him to finish college. Astrid Astrid Astrid. He pounded the table. He deeply loved her, but he wondered if he really loved himself. He wondered if he was really separate from her or if he was, in some macabre way, just a part of her. 

“I love her, but do I love myself?” He twisted his legs together, wearing a pair of blue jeans over his black Converses, completing the look with a black tee shirt, he slouched. “Maybe I could get into fashion?” Jens always thought he dressed like a slob. Maybe fitness? He could improve his scrawny stature and gain some muscle. He truly did feel as though he was empty as a human being. “As empty as Astrid’s stomach right now.” 

He winced as he reflexively compared his existential contemplation to his fiancé. Now that his bowl was half-finished, he wondered if his foul mood was simply a result of being away from her for so long. If only his fucking boss had allowed him to leave, maybe he wouldn’t be having an anxiety attack. Thinking hard, he knew that these intrusive thoughts were going to stay with him until Astrid returned, which he knew wasn’t going to be for several days. He discussed with her all the details of the trip and she wanted it to be as quick as possible, given that they’d be separated.

Thumbing through the photos of him and Astrid yet again, he thought about how consistently kind and supportive she’s been throughout his life. He felt a warm feeling of love in his chest knowing that he could talk to her about these negative feelings about his direction in life once she got back. In all of their years together, Jens couldn’t think of a single time they fought. He felt as though his emotions regarding the relationship were justified and he knew that Astrid would encourage him to improve his position. He smiled, now wondering how fast he could finish his ramen so that he could walk over to that strange shop and, perhaps, improve her position as well. 

After slurping the final remains of his meal, he paid with some cash Astrid gave him before walking back down the street. He knew better than to take any shady shortcuts, in no small part thanks to Astrid’s constant reminders to stay safe. As he passed multiple potential routes to the next block, he thought back to the time he was robbed by those four guys as he walked through a narrow alleyway. Two from the front and two from behind. They didn’t even have to show any weapons, one of them just walked up, put his hand out, and Jens placed his wallet in the man’s hand, as if it was a planned business arrangement. It was quick and not as terrifying as Jens thought a robbery would be, but Astrid almost lost her mind when she heard what happened. “Don’t take such risks! You don’t want to get your ass kicked! Do you want to end up in the hospital next time?” Though he loved her concern, Jens thought that her constant reminders could wear thin very quickly. Now, whenever he was out on his own, he had to hear her worries. 

He sighed again as the scent of patchouli entered his nostrils. He looked down at his phone and noted that, sure enough, he was at the mysterious place with no address. Craning his neck upwards, he saw the shop’s banner. “Witch’s Brew: Astrology and Astrological Accessories”. Raising his eyebrows high, he realized he didn’t even know what Zodiac sign he was born under. He hoped that wouldn’t be a problem as he crossed through the doorway, surprised the store was even still open at 10:30 PM.

Blasted by the thick scent of essential oils of all types, not just patchouli now, he looked around various corners to see rows upon rows of bookshelves, giving the store the illusion of being much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. Everything was painted in a strange shade of dark blue with oddly precise star-patterns drawn on with a unique-looking glow-in-the-dark ink. Jens’s eyes widened. He had never seen any store like this. This wasn’t any old hipster store, it almost seemed as if it was owned by actual crazy people. 

“Uh, hello?” A high-pitched voice squeaked from the back. Jens peeked over one of the bookshelves to see a very short teenager sitting behind a large, official-looking wooden desk. “Can I, uh, help you?” She placed down an immense tome on the desk with a loud thud. As Jens walked over to it, he noticed that the text wasn’t even in a language he recognized, the symbols even seemed alien to him. He thought about what the characters could be, as they definitely weren’t Asian or Sanskrit.

“It’s alchemy!” She said, smiling, wearing a comically-sized witch hat with a brim that was so long it almost drooped over her face. Her face turned beet red, before showing a horrified expression. “I wasn’t reading your mind! I promise! I was, uh, I… um! I saw you looking!”

Jens appeared flustered. “Reading my mind? Uh, I wasn’t…” 

“Accusing me of anything?” The blonde girl said before slapping her hands over her mouth, as if she was trying to keep herself from talking. “Sorry! I’m new! Today’s my first day, actually. And I get the graveyard shift.” She said, sinking back into her chair. “Anyway! If there’s anything that piques your interest, tell me and I’ll totally try to steer you in the right direction!”

Jens smiled, trying not to betray his discomfort with a strange facial expression as he said “Okay!” Turning around, he felt his anxiety overtake him, thinking that this was a stupid idea. Heading for the exit, he walked between a few bookshelves as he saw the young woman standing at the end of one of the aisles on the complete opposite end of the shop. Wearing a black tunic with oddly garish black-and-white striped stockings, Jens would have thought it was funny how much she looked like a stereotypical witch if she didn’t just appear to teleport across the room. 

The teenager cocked her hips to the side and exclaimed “Really! We have all sorts of things for your astrological or magickal needs! And remember, it’s spelled m-a-g-i-c-k!”

Jens felt his heart sink. He now felt thoroughly freaked out. With the disconcerting, uncanny feeling overtaking him, he stood and thought. Maybe this feeling spoke to the efficacy of what she was selling? If this store really was this freaky, what could the “Blessings” advertised on the storefront truly offer?

“Yeah… m-a-g-i-c-k. I got it.” Jens muttered. “Actually, I am interested in something!”

The blonde girl walked up to him, her hat’s brim bouncing up and down with each step she took. “Yeah? What’cha lookin’ at?” Jens tried smiling in a real way, noticing that the teenager running the shop must not have even been five feet tall.

Feeling his heart flutter, he felt a little embarrassed even admitting he was interested. “I, uh… What about those blessings? The sign on the door says you sell blessings? What’s that about?”

The girl’s face twisted into a concerned look. “Oh, uh, yeah, about those…” She traipsed over to the large, wooden desk in the back of the store and dragged open one of the drawers with a grunt. Kneeling forward, Jens could hear her grunting as she shuffled through papers before she lifted up a massive, ancient, brown book.

“Unf!” The blonde girl said as the book left her fingers and landed on the desk with an even louder thud  than the alchemy tome. “The Book of Blessings! The BOB!” A line of sweat dripped down the side of her face as she leaned on the pages, staring at Jens with a strangely smug look on her face. He could see her eye was slightly twitching.

Jens tried to stay polite, but he knew his smile was fading as he became more anxious with the situation. “So, uh, what is a blessing, anyway? As in…” Jens put his thumb and forefinger on his chin. “As in what can they do? What do I have to do to give one?”

The blonde girl smiled. “Ah! Well, they can do all sorts of stuff, and you have to pay $20!”

“Okay, is that, uh, upfront or?” 

“Yeah! Upfront!” The girl gave a big, toothy smile.

Jens rolled his eyes as he thumbed for his wallet in his back pocket thinking “I didn’t even have to go to an alley to get robbed.”

As the girl cocked her head to the side, she placed the crisp $20 into one of the large desk’s top drawers. “Oh, please, I’m not robbing y-” She put her hand on her mouth yet again. “Sorry, I know I’m not supposed to do that!” Turning around, she found a small, wooden stool. After passing it to Jens, she said “Okay, for this to work, ya gotta be sitting down, so here!”

Feeling his knees arch upward, he felt as though the seat was a bit low for him, but, after scanning the room, he noticed it was the only available place if he didn’t want to use a pile of books.

“That’d be disrespectful to the books anyway, Jens.” The witch said. “Wait… you did say that one, right?”

Feeling a pang of anger, Jens replied “Look, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here, but… wait… I didn’t tell you my name!”

The witch’s eyes widened far. “Oh um!” She gulped. “Yes you… did?” Her voice’s inflection rose two octaves on the last word.

Jens let the lie slide. He had no idea what was going on, but at least her apparent mind reading gave her an air of legitimacy. Biting his tongue, he plainly stated “Anyway. Blessings.”

“Blessings!” The girl responded as she cracked the book open widely, seemingly to a random page. “So, uh, do you mind describing the nature of the blessing you want?”

“You didn’t even describe what a blessing is! Or does!” Jens shot back.

“Oh, right, um. It’s complicated!” The witch smiled.

“Okay. Give me the basics.” Jens replied.

“Well… I need to know the exact situation in which the person, object, animal, or idea is blessed, I need to know why they, or it, is being blessed, I need to know the kind of blessing it is.”

“How about this. What kind of blessings are there? Let’s just start with that.” Jens crossed his arms.

“There are blessings of the heart, blessings of the stomach, blessings of the brain, and blessings of the soul. Or any kind of mixture. It depends deeply on the mood and thoughts of the person who wants the blessing.” The witch said. “I told you. It’s complicated!”

Jens sighed. 

“Look dude, just tell me what your deal is and I’ll see if I can make it happen. Okay?” The witch responded.

“My girlfriend, er, fiancé, is about to compete in a very important contest in…” Jens looked at his watch. “Twenty minutes. And I just want to, uh, bless her, or whatever. Like I want to give her good luck.”

The witch pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow. “I can’t just outright make her win… whatever it is she’s competing in. Which is also super important. I also can’t just outright give her good luck.”

“So what can you do? You charged twenty dollars for this!” 

“It’s complicated!”

“You said that twice already!”

The witch leaned her head back, seeming frustrated. “I can… I can make it seem like you’re right there with her. Cheering her on. Like, she’s your fiancé, right? I can have her feel the subtle sensation of you being right there with her. That’s what I can do.”

Jens’ apprehension melted away. “Really? You can do that? You can make her think I’m right there?”

The witch put her finger up. “No. It’s not that overt. I can change her emotional state so that she feels as though you are near her in a supportive role. That’s it.”

“That’s perfect!”

“I just need some more information about this contest. It’s for the type of blessing. Like, what exactly is she competing in?”

“Oh, uh, it’s an eating contest.”

The witch stared at him wordlessly, a confused expression on her face. “... an eating contest.” She stated flatly.

“Yeah.” Jens responded.

“Are you for real?” The witch asked. “I thought that those were only in cartoons. Are they really a thing? Like in real life?”

“Uh, yeah?” Jens looked at her just as confused as she did him.

The witch flipped a few pages. “Well, uh, in that case I guess it’s a blessing of the stomach because it has to do with food, a blessing of the heart because there’s love involved, and a blessing of the soul because it’s technically a competition. Three blessings in one. Awesome.” Her tone of voice betrayed the sarcasm as her finger scanned over the lines of near-indecipherable text. Along with the strange letters, what looked like math equations were scattered within, written in what appeared to be gold leaf. She stared, concentrating hard at each line, biting her lower lip, leaning over the tome, her eyes darting back and forth.

“Okay, I think I got it!” She said, a smile abruptly beaming on her face. “It looks like a simple hand-to-hand transferral. Easy peasy!”

Jens’s smile twisted into what looked like a forced grin. He didn’t much believe in this kind of witchery, but he thought that merely the positive “Vibes” he’d be sending her way would be enough. If anything, he could just tell Astrid about this after the contest itself, about how he did whatever he could to help her from afar.

“Now… hmm…” The witch cocked her head to the side and placed her hands over the desk, palms facing upward. “I hope I have this right!”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Jens thought as he stared at the blonde woman’s small hands. He wondered if he was doing this for his own benefit, if his desire to make Astrid feel better was selfish, as this long-shot chance of giving her some marginal aid was just a placebo to assuage his own insecurities.

The witch moved her thumbs over her palms and looked straight into Jens’s eyes. “I want you to place your hands directly over my thumbs here so the center of your palm presses down on the knuckle of my thumb. It’s complicated, as I keep saying.”

Jens had to reach very far forward, as the tiny stool was very short, feeling as though the blonde girl was much taller than him. The witch continued. “I need you to think of your fiancé. I need you to think of what she looks like. I need you to picture her in your mind exactly.”

Jens did so. He imagined the picture he was staring at in his phone earlier, the one where she was wearing her adorable tube-top when she went swimming, showing pool water glisten off her feminine six-pack abs. 

“Whoa there, tiger” said the witch. “She’s a hottie!”

Jens pursed his lips, still deeply uncomfortable about how she knew. Maybe she was just playing around?

“Now.” The witch continued, staring deeply into his eyes. “I want you to picture how you feel about her. How you really feel. This is the blessing of the heart. It will help you to get close to her through her heart. It’s about connection.” 

Thinking about Astrid, his heart felt like it was lighting up. She was beautiful, kind, loving, and protective. Yet, he still felt the darkness from his anxiety attack earlier. He felt as though she was much bigger than him. As if their lives were one, as if she were surrounding him. Smothering him. 

“Okay. Interesting. Great.” The witch continued. “This will do.” Now squinting really, really hard at Jens, she said. “One last thing. I need you to picture where she is and what she’s planning on doing. I want you to get really close to her. I want you to picture this, uh, eating contest and I need you to picture her winning it. This is the most important part. I want you to picture yourself close to her. Close to her heart. Really close to her hea-” 

Jens could feel his heart beating extremely fast as his vision began to blur. He smelled something odd.

“Oh! Uh! Uhhh!” The witch exclaimed, sounding scared. “AIYEE!” She screeched as complete darkness overtook Jens.

Within the astrology store, the witch sat with a shocked expression on her face, with no one across from her except for a puff of white smoke, which quickly rose to the ceiling before dissipating. Jens was gone. Her eyes wide, her lips pursed, she gently closed the tome before whispering to herself “I think I might need more practice.”

---

Astrid’s heart was pounding. She had never felt so nervous before a competition in her life. The absence of Jens was like a hole in her chest that was only now filled with anxiety. It was ten minutes until the contest and she truly felt as though time was slowing down. Each minute felt like an hour as she stepped forward towards the long table where the food would be served. There were thirty contestants, so she counted five backwards from the end to find her spot at the twenty-fifth seat.

As she sat down, she couldn’t even turn to either woman next to her for a few polite words before the contest, as she quickly learned she was the only one among them who could speak English fluently. She felt so alone, completely isolated despite being surrounded by dozens of other women and an audience of what looked to be at least two hundred. These kind of contests didn’t really garner huge gatherings, but this crowd size was quite large in comparison to a few of the ones she attended in the US.

She sighed and gulped in anticipation, feeling a small lump slide down her throat. Chalking it up to nervousness, she sat upwards politely, crossing her fingers together, waiting for the first bowl to be served.

---

Jens felt his world spinning. Feeling completely blind, a sense of nausea quickly overtook him as he re-emerged in a world of darkness. Thick, gooey slime covered his whole body and a quick, rhythmic pounding shook his bones. “MMMMMMF!” He screamed, finding the environment to lack air as a bubbly liquid filled his mouth. 

Confusion overwhelmed him as a slimy, slick tube guided him downwards, he felt a sensation of descent grip his chest. A frenzy of thoughts flooded through his mind. What was going on? What did that witch do? Where was he?”

Wet, squelching sounds clipped against his ears as an incredibly deep groaning emanated from below. He tried to squirm, but the immensely strong walls enclosed upon him.

“MMM! NNN!” He couldn’t even scream as he felt a slithering sphincter of some kind slide over his feet, his ankles, then his thighs. His own mind lacked the very context of what might be happening at that moment. He felt truly disgusted and terrified as the sphincter glided over his torso and shoulders before depositing him into a dark, gooey, wrinkly chamber.

“AHHHHGHHH! What’s going on? Where am I?” Jens dove forward as he felt fleshy, slimy wrinkles undulate and contract under his squirming body. Hot, bubbly slime covered his body as the wetness soaked into his clothes, making them heavy. Screaming, he felt the heavy liquid bubble around his mouth, tasting strongly of snot with an after-taste of vomit. Pitch blackness surrounded him on all angles. As he reached into his pocket, he could feel the ooze slide away from his hand as he attempted to grip his phone. Pressing the hot, gooey, slimy wrinkles away from him, he shouted as they gently slid right back into place. He screamed as he tried to turn on his phone, finding no illumination. It seemed to be completely broken. A sense of hopelessness grew within him, forcing him to feel as if he was going to cry.

Trying to tread in the pulsing environment was almost impossible. The wrinkly sack he was trapped in gave him several literal hurdles he couldn’t climb over. A range of thoughts entered through his mind as he suffered through the relentless, wet heat. “Did that witch curse me somehow? Did one of the bookshelves fall over and kill me? Is this Hell?”

Each breath he took was an agonizing labor. He shivered after each time he filled his lungs with the foul air that surrounded him, as if it was inundated with some kind of toxic mist. The scent itself burned at his nostrils and caused his eyes to tear up. “Help me! Please!” He shouted as he lunged forward and fell over one of the warping wrinkles. Finding one of the walls of the dark, slimy chamber, he tried pounding, but he only succeeded in covering himself with the gunk that lined it. “Please! Anyone! Help me!”

---

A bowl landed in front of Astrid with a clink. Scanning the environment, she just noticed how far above she was from the audience. On a rather tall collapsible stage usually meant for musical performances, she saw that the hotel’s convention hall was now completely packed, the rest of the audience must have poured in just before the event started. She counted far more than two hundred. Her heart continued to race as her stomach groaned, as if it were already preparing for what was about to come.

Thirty seconds until the competition started. She closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. Feeling her heart rate decrease, she knew she needed to get “In the zone” to achieve any kind of success. Thinking of Jens and how much she wished he was there to support her, Astrid reminded herself exactly why she was doing this. For Jens. She wanted to make him proud. A determined look crossed her face and the nervousness melted away. Ten seconds.

---

The thumping around the chamber that trapped Jens was relentless. Knowing it sounded like an incredibly immense heartbeat, the tiny blonde man wondered if that served as some kind of clue as to where he was. 

Beyond the sounds of the heartbeat was the distinct noise of breathing. For several seconds, the rhythmic breathing slowed to a crawl, coinciding with the heartbeat slowing. “Am I… Am I inside someone? Something?”

A terrible stillness clutched his chest before an abrupt, tremendous shaking and a cacophony of disgusting, wet slurping sounds blasting from above.

“Wh-wh-what!” Jens screamed as his entire body was quickly covered in a sea of what felt like wet, slithering ropes. Kicking and shouting, trying to swim in his new environment, he noticed the ropes were falling from above, along with a torrent of water that, to his horror, tasted somewhat like chicken broth. “Oh my fucking God!” Jens thought. “I’m in someone’s stomach!”

Whipped in the face with a falling wet rope, Jens was forced to taste what was landing upon him. Spitting out the chunk, he tasted what was clearly a gigantic ramen noodle. “P’too!” Attempting to push it away, he succeeded only in forcing himself under what quickly became a writhing ocean of clean, unchewed noodles. Now tangled in the squirming mass, Jens screamed in horror as he tried his best to keep his head above it as the sphincter above squirted them out like a terrifying waterfall. Breathing the noxious fumes, Jens could feel himself become dizzy, his ears started ringing, he could feel his eyes begin to lightly sting. “Help! Help me!”

---

Astrid always found the beginning to be the easiest part. As soon as she heard the referee’s fake gun blast, she easily slurped down the first bowl of chicken-flavored ramen. “Effortless” She thought, as she didn’t even feel remotely full. She felt proud of herself for finding a tactic for slurping down noodles quickly and efficiently, it was as if she were a vacuum for them. She didn’t even feel her stomach expand yet. Not paying attention to any of her fellow competitors, she focused exclusively on the food in front of her, which she worked on as quickly as possible.

She adored the sound of her own slurping. With so much on the line in this contest, she didn’t care about how messy she was being, or how impolite. She deftly handled the chopsticks and just poured the mass of noodles into her mouth without even chewing. Feeling the broth splash on her face, she knew that she must have been the fastest one so far, as she clinked down the empty bowl and was quickly presented with another. Without even thinking, she dug right in. Beef flavor this time.

---

“Ack! Ack! Let me out! Please!” Jens shrieked as the torrent of falling noodles stopped for just a few seconds. Breathing the toxic, heavy fog, he coughed as he tried to keep afloat. The dizziness mixed with the sense of blindness caused him to dry heave. “Stop! Please! No! Stop this!” He flailed in a panicked frenzy as another blast of noodles began falling from above. Feeling the ropes below him begin to break effortlessly as his feet kicked, he came upon the horrifying realization that the stomach he was apparently trapped in was beginning to break down the food that was landing on him, making him wonder when he’d start to break down, himself.

The sounds emanating from all sides filled him with a sense of horrific disgust. As if someone were chewing food right next to his ear so close that he could feel their body heat. “Please! Someone!” His panicked mind couldn’t form sentences, only desperate pleas as his hands and legs caused him to swim in what was now a sea. Now inhaling a more distinct, acrid scent of vomit, he began to weep, refusing to accept how hopeless his current situation was.

Jens tried to swim in any direction within the deepening sea, but he could barely keep himself afloat. His mind continued to twist as he wondered how this situation he found himself in was even possible. Trying to find something to grip, he found himself completely separated from the fleshy floors and walls he was only very recently stumbling against. The noodles continued to rain down upon him, of which he brushed aside as they slimed over his tiny body. The torrent from above stopped. He could hear one or two more noodles slither from the hole above, but the consistent ooze had ceased. 

Flopping his way across the surface of the wormy, warm pool of swallowed noodles, Jens found one of the walls of the mysterious stomach that now trapped him. Still just as slimy, the wrinkles had now shrunken down as the chamber expanded to allow more food to digest within it. Now pounding on the stretched-out wall of flesh, he was met with a thunderous vibration, a tremendous belch that shook him to his core. The watery ocean of noodles shook, sending speckles of vomit-laden broth up into the already humid, misty air. In the sea of relentless heat, Jens felt his blood go cold. He recognized that belch, he’s been to plenty of eating contests.

It was Astrid. He was in Astrid’s stomach.

---

“Urp.” Astrid let out a small burp after the first phase of the contest ended. She tried her best to disguise the sound, but even letting out such a tiny note was seen as uncouth, which led her to blush in embarrassment. As the other contestant’s bowls clinked on the table, she breathed a sigh of relief. So far, she was in first place. Shaking her head, she knew she couldn’t allow herself to become complacent. It was still her big break.

Gritting her teeth, she stuck her tongue behind her lips to swallow a few scattered pieces of ramen noodles to clean herself for the next phase. The onigiri phase. She pursed her lips, knowing this phase would likely be the hardest one. Near-pure rice appeared to be the most plain dish in this contest. Though the seaweed gave it a small contrast, she wasn’t looking forward to the heaviest, most flavorless part of the whole competition.

Immense plates of dozens of rice balls were placed in front of each contestant. Astrid looked down and her eyes widened. She knew she could ultimately eat them all, but she truly did feel a sense of intimidation.

She heard the shot that accompanied the second phase and, in less than one second, swallowed one of the rice balls completely whole.

---

Jens grit his teeth as he heard rumbling from above. Knowing he was trapped within the love of his life caused him a sense of delirious grief. He knew what she was doing. She was competing. She was trying to stuff as much food into her face as possible, thinking of nothing else. The last thing she’d want to do now is vomit. Jens was forced to reckon with the concept of his own death. This would be the last thing he’d ever do, swim in an oceanic tempest of digesting food within his fiancé’s body. 

He heard a ball of food splutter in from above, sounding, and feeling, completely different from the ramen that he now swam within. Rice. He tried wiping it from his face, but a steady stream of it continued to ooze down from above. A relentless fire hose of swallowed onigiri. As he kicked and thrashed, he could feel the texture change below his flailing body. The sickly hot vomit he was now trapped within was becoming more difficult to thrash within as he now noticed a stinging sensation between his fingers and toes. Trying to not lose contact with the wall, the lightly rippling undulations forced him away for seconds at a time as he lunged forward. 

His voice changed, his dizziness became more severe. His pleas for help were tinged with a more desperate tone. “Astrid! Astrid, please! Help me!” Jens could hardly hear his own voice over the chaotic mash of quick breathing, a fast heart rate, and the wet squelching of Astrid’s innards. Thrusting his hands upward, he could feel the top of the chamber as cords of mucus oozed down from above. Jens felt such terror that his tongue felt swollen as blood quickly pumped through his veins. As each agonizing minute passed, he could feel the ceiling getting closer and closer as a consistent stream of rice flooded from Astrid’s stomach entrance.

“That witch! That fucking witch did this to me!” Anger spiked within Jens. What he thought would just be a harmless exercise in mysticism turned out to be a deadly ordeal. Now outright bawling, his tears began to feel like molten metal stinging his eyes. He couldn’t stop crying. His chest felt heavy as despair began to overtake him. Almost losing the will to keep afloat, his arms felt as though they were on fire. The soreness in his muscles worsened with each splash. Rice and ramen continued to flow over his tiny body as Astrid’s stomach ceiling grew closer and closer. Finding himself in an air pocket near the stomach’s entrance, Jens wondered how much time he had left as the space was quickly filling up. Spitting out a soft, over-sized grain of rice, he felt the stinging spread from his toes to his feet, then to his ankles. His genitals felt as though they were on fire. Astrid’s body heat continued to pound away at him from all directions. Spitting out another wad of his fiancé’s vomit, he felt himself become tired. Almost out of breath, his face nearly smearing against the surface of the immense stomach, Jens punched the wall as hard as he could, immediately regretting it, knowing that it ultimately was Astrid.

---

“Phew” Astrid held back her belch, feeling a pocket of gas within her stomach. Looking left and right, she saw that her competitors still had a way to go, but she was completely finished. They even left scattered grains of rice on their platters, but hers was completely bare. Smiling, she leaned back in her chair, giving herself time to digest as her competitors caught up, waiting for the next phase. “This is almost too easy” she thought. Being first in both the initial phase and the second phase almost guaranteed a victory for her, as the rules of this particular contest were unique. The times for your completion of the three phases were all added up at the end and whoever had the lowest time won. A “Time Attack.” At this point, unless one of her fellow competitors was a sushi-eating master, she knew that she had this competition in the bag. 

As the final contestant swallowed her last onigiri, Astrid rubbed her now-swollen belly, thinking of Jens and how she’d work her hardest to eat as much sushi as she could. Having never been in a sushi-eating contest before, her heart fluttered in excitement. It still felt so gourmet. It wasn’t simple hot dogs or hamburgers, but something that she viewed as much more satisfying and delicious. She pondered if she made the trip to Japan just for the sushi portion, but given how much was on the line, she quashed that thought fairly quickly. “Maybe I could convince a sponsor to bring one of these Japanese-style contests to the States!” She thought as she licked her lips, watching the largest sushi platter she’s ever seen in her life placed before her.

---

Within Astrid’s stomach, Jens wiped off scattered bits of rice from his face. Smelling, tasting, and feeling nothing but his fiancé’s vomit, his feeling of dread continued to grow. He knew that he was closer to death with each minute that passed. His fingers, now burning, grew wrinkled and sensitive. The clothes he was wearing chafed painfully against his skin. 

He couldn’t weep any longer. Jens just experienced ultimate existential despair as partially-chewed masses of sushi entered the gut that surrounded him. “At least I’ll be spending the rest of my life with her” thought Jens as the slimy, sloppy sounds continued to echo through the stomach yet again. Feeling the walls, the wrinkles had almost completely vanished, the edges of Astrid’s stomach now feeling completely taut as it stretched to its maximum capacity. The tiny man had no clue how deep the sea of food was as it pulsed underneath him. 

Now able to breathe only a tiny pocket of air through a cluster of slimy bubbles, Jens knew that his time was limited. A fierce soreness now conquering both the inside of his muscles and the outside of his skin, he still held on to a sliver of hope as his face smeared along Astrid’s stomach lining. His brain didn’t allow him to give up, even as the last bubble popped and he felt himself unable to find any reprieve whatsoever.

Jens’s brain didn’t allow him to comprehend that it was the end of his life. That he’d die sinking in an unfathomably deep pool of Astrid’s vomit. Lashing his limbs in every direction, he could only feel the chunky slop ooze against him as he lost every sense of direction in the pitch darkness. Unable to tell which way was up and which way was down, he found himself drifting, wasting his last few moments before his lungs ran out of air.

Jens couldn’t take it. Hearing the stomach continue to rumble as sushi continued to pour in, he knew it was the end of the line. Strings of ramen slithered past him as he felt whole grains of rice, usually very soft, feel like sandpaper as they slid over his face. His heart beat out of his chest as he gripped his throat. Airless. 

His brain cracked into a level of insane misery as he instinctively inhaled a lungful of Astrid’s vomit. Jens entered a universe of anguish, feeling his life slipping away as his lungs burned. In his final moments, every single pain receptor in his brain fired passionately and rapidly. His skin, eyes, and lungs all imposed a level of agony into Jens that he didn’t think was possible until this moment. His body twitching, his last experience was that of a merciful numbness as his brain began to shut down.

---

She did it.

A full sixty-two seconds ahead of the second place finisher in total time, Astrid dominated the contest, shattering the old record.

Her knees jiggling as she stood, she looked down and giggled. She noticed that, despite the tee-shirt she was forced to wear being so oversized, her bloated belly still very much made it look as if she were pregnant. Shaking her head out from the daze, she realized the audience was clapping for her. Feeling a sense of relief and accomplishment flow through her, she thought of Jens as the referee and contest presenters beckoned her over to give some kind of victory speech.

As the presenter gave the translator a question, Astrid blushed. “Wow! Your stomach looks quite round for such a skinny girl!” 

She grabbed her round belly and shook it. “Oh, this ol’ thing? It’ll be completely flat tomorrow, believe me!” She giggled. “My metabolism is as fast as a race car!”

“Is that what helps you win these contests?” Asked the presenter, through the translator.

“Actually.” She blushed again, turning a deeper red. “My fiancé Jens. He’s the one who helps me. He’s in New York right now but I just knew he was cheering me on from half-a-world away.”

“That’s so sweet!” The presenter responded, with a big smile on her face. “Anyway, I’ll let you call him! Let’s all give another round of applause for our victor! Go Astrid!”

The blonde woman’s smile was beaming as she heard the thunderous applause. Hobbling down the side of the stage, she talked to a few of the presenters and contest organizers to finalize her scores. She felt as though this part was boring and even a little painful given how distended she felt, but it only took a few minutes before she could take the elevator over to her hotel room for her traditional post-contest nap. She knew that Jens had work the next day and didn’t want to bother him late at night.

Within Astrid’s stomach, Jens’s corpse floated with the rest of the food. His skin now softening to a more easily-digestible form, his hair was already beginning to detach from his scalp as his body drifted with the current of vomit. His lungs, eye sockets, and stomach all full of acidic vomit, the sheer amount of food within Astrid’s gut diluted the pungency of the enzymes, preserving Jens much longer than he would have otherwise.

As Astrid laid down on the bed, she tried letting out a burp, but quickly realized that it wasn’t gas she was feeling, it was just sheer bloat. Closing her eyes, she didn’t even have to cover herself with a blanket. She passed out almost immediately, knowing that she succeeded in not only one of the hardest eating contests in the world, but also one of the longest. Because of her distended stomach, she knew that any gastric peristalsis within her would slow down to a crawl and she made it a point to sleep through this slow process.

Jens was now unrecognizable. His eyelids now washed away, his eyeballs were exposed to the chemical etching that surrounded him. Astrid's thundrous heartbeat slowed as she lost consciousness. His skin now a sickly green color, his fingernails broke free one by one as Astrid’s body gradually positioned him to be swept into her stomach exit. Her rhythmic breathing provided the backdrop to Jens entering her duodenum, rubbing against the sides of the tube-like organ, as his skin was covered in bile. The ramen, now almost completely liquefied, provided an excellent means to thrust his wrinkled, twisted corpse into the long, twisting maze of Astrid’s small intestine.

Barely digested, as his skin remained mostly intact, the bloody remains of his lungs and guts poured from his mouth, leaving his frayed, split lips. This broken-down protein mixture was quickly absorbed by the lining of Astrid’s small intestine, carried away into her bloodstream. As the hours passed, Jens oozed slowly down the meters of coiling guts, sliding along the sides of the intestine, missing a few fingers, his left ankle completely twisted backwards. Still completely wrapped in the clothes he put on earlier in the day, they served as a protective barrier, preserving the majority of the skin on his torso and legs from being washed away. The cartilaginous part of his nose, forcefully rubbed against the surface of Astrid’s intestine for over two hours, had now been scraped away, causing Jens’s face to resemble that of a skull. Gas bubbles began to form over him and the digesting carbs.

Two hours later, Astrid slowly opened her eyes and noticed that her belly’s bulge had already partially subsided. Sitting up slowly, she felt her gut droop shortly before letting out a series of quick, staccato farts. “Ugh” she said as she covered her face with her hands. Ripping off her tight-fitting pants and the oversized tee-shirt, she put on a modest top and some running shorts. Feeling drowsy, she knew that the best solution to this would be to visit the hotel’s gym. 

After walking downstairs, she waved to a few people who recognized her from the contest earlier, which caused her to smile as she stepped on the treadmill. Always treating herself gently after such an intense contest, she put the machine on a lower setting and decided to speed-walk for a few miles.

Within her intestine, Jens bounced around slightly within the chunky mixture, his skin peeling off with the gentle motion of Astrid’s gut. Now almost completely bald, only a few chunks of blonde hair remained attached to his head, the rest sloshing around the soup undigested. As her heart beat faster, the motion of her gut forced the digesting mass forward at an increasing rate. The pitter-patter of her heart softly vibrated Jens’s corpse as gas bubbles continued to form in him and around him. With the remaining enzymes stuck in his lungs, one bubble left his mouth, dislodging his jaw, causing it to slack.

Astrid, now blush and sweaty, wiped her face with a towel before walking back upstairs. Stripping naked, she entered her shower and felt the electrifying chill of freezing cold water blast her body, loving the harsh sensation.

The sounds of the shower water beating against her skin was very apparent within her small intestine, where Jens’s eye sockets were completely filled with partly digested ramen noodles. Booming sounds of Astrid releasing gas accompanied several thrusts forward, Jens’s body now completely discolored and softened.

Now drying herself off with a very high-quality hotel towel, Astrid felt as though her day was finished, despite it only being mid-afternoon. Laying on the bed, she scrolled through her phone, looking at Twitter, marvelling at the weird stuff going on at such an early hour in the US.

As time passed, Jens’s body squelched through the warm tube of his now ex-fiancé. Now part of a consistent mash of digested food, Astrid’s body began to treat him as though he was merely a stubborn, indigestible bit and prepared for his corpse to become waste, clothes and all. At around 10:00PM, Astrid let her hair loose and put her pajamas on just as Jens was flushed into her large intestine with a loose river of what was soon to be human feces.

Once Astrid lost consciousness, Jens began his journey through the triangular passageways of her colon. Surrounded by a flowing lake of brown fluid, Astrid’s body effortlessly caused him to ooze deeply into her large intestine. The fleshy walls slurped up any excess liquid from the digestive process, recycling it back into Astrid’s body. As his corpse slid along the inside, the walls themselves absorbed the water from his mangled body, causing Jens’s skin to crack as it wrinkled up.

Hours passed. Jens was now, in totality, a piece of Astrid’s feces. The soupy mixture, once a free-flowing liquid, now hardened into a rounder log of brown slop. Clumped together with a cluster of brown, soft nuggets, Astrid’s body positioned Jens at the edge of the log, forcing his body to continue to slide along the inside of her intestine as she slept. Her calm heartbeat pulsed softly as the log of shit entered the blonde woman’s descending colon.

Groaning bubbling pulsed from all around the thickened log of shit as it poured into Astrid’s rectum, forcing out a long, loud fart as she was asleep. Sleeping through the morning, feces forced its way into every one of Jens’s shredded orifices as Astrid formed a massive log of shit behind her anus. Still unconscious, she clenched her ass, causing Jens to be squeezed tightly, bound within the muddy trap.

Astrid didn’t set an alarm, waking up at 1PM, surprising even herself. Groaning, she could feel how much she needed to let out the contents of yesterday’s contests. This was always one of her least favorite parts. 

Picking up her phone, she felt a pang in her chest as she noticed how many notifications she had. After peeling away her pajama pants, she sat her bare ass on the toilet bowl, making sure her cheeks were spread far apart. 

Gently exhaling, she began urinating a long stream of hot piss as she felt her anus relax and the inevitably huge log of shit began to crown. Her ass now spreading widely, she could feel the brown, stinking cylinder of feces slide against her asshole. Longer and wider than usual, she felt as if her entire body was being split open as the stream of shit poured out from her rectum. The sensation of the shit being dropped from far up inside her ass was always very strange, but she only had to tolerate it the morning after large eating contests. As she finished pissing, she noticed that this log didn’t even have the courtesy to leave a big splash, as it hit the water before it even finished leaving her anus. Jens, after rubbing against the side of Astrid’s gaping asshole, gently sank into the yellow-stained water on the bottom side. His jeans were stained completely brown, but the blacks of his tee shirt and shoes remained relatively unstained. 

Astrid let out a series of loud farts so the last bits of her large contest meal could leave smoothly. Once she felt sufficiently emptied, she sighed in relief before wiping the brown, gooey residue from her ass.

Looking down into the toilet bowl, she was unsurprised to see it looked like a cartoonish pile. It was so deep that the brown mash almost replaced the water within the toilet itself. Completely consistent, at least she didn’t have to deal with any diarrhea or other digestive issues. A lot can go wrong in competitive eating, but she was just thankful everything passed through well this time. Flushing the toilet, she smiled at how efficiently the well-renowned Japanese toilets took care of her business before she thoroughly washed her hands.

After stretching and yawning again, she picked up her phone to finally check whatever notifications were waiting. It was Jens’s boss! What does that asshole want?

Astrid’s heart sank. Four messages, very impolite, about how he didn’t show up for work. Even one saying how he’d be fired if he went to Japan with her! She didn’t have the capacity for anger at that point, she only felt fear. 

Her face twisted in horror. Immediately tapping her “Favorite Contacts” list, she quickly found the only entry: Jens. Her heart raced as she called him as quickly as possible. She wanted to scream as it went straight to voicemail.

Astrid felt as though she was going to cry. A flood of questions entered her mind, hoping he heeded her advice to not take any shady shortcuts. Shaking, wanting to get back to New York as quickly as possible, any positive emotion she felt about winning the contest was quickly replaced by concern for Jens. What if he’s gone for good? What if he got himself killed?

A sense of emptiness washed over Astrid. Forced to contemplate the worst, she bit her lip as a tear ran down her face. “Who am I without him?”