Kenny wasn’t at school that day either. The whole day was so boring. Nick asked the school office where he was but they just said that he had called in sick. “They didn’t care.” Nick thought. Kenny didn’t really have any friends except Nick and it was all lies anyway. The teachers only pretended to care.

On the bus ride home, Nick sat in the front seat and asked to be dropped off at Kenny’s stop. It was only a few blocks from his own house, but it would be quicker than getting off at home and walking back. The bus driver said: “No way,” but Nick jumped off anyway. Silly old bus driver. Too slow for Nick.

He ran to Kenny’s house and rang the doorbell. No answer. He rang again and banged on the door, still no answer. Weird. No lights were on. Nick decided to walk home when he heard his name being called. “Nick!” A voice called from the second floor.

“Hey man, you sick or something?” Nick called up. It didn’t sound like Kenny, but maybe he had a sore throat or something. He could see the window open, but didn’t see anyone. “Kenny!?” He called. No answer. Just the wind on the curtains. Double weird.

Mom wasn’t home again so it was time for surgery. In the mirror, he checked out where he had popped the zit.  He still had a band-aid on it, so he peeled it back to take a look… And wished he hadn’t. It was gross. A yellowish black spot that looked like it was getting bigger was now in place of the red welt.

Youtube again. So, apparently, there might be a hair stuck inside there causing the infection, a couple of videos had told him. Tweezers and nerves of Superman was all it took.

He got to work on the bathroom sink. Using the same needle (sanitized with more Hydrogen Peroxide of course), and the rest of the “face kit” he went to work pulling off the old scab. More black ooze came out but he got it all, and none got on his hand this time… Whew.

Now that the scab was off, he thought he could see the little devil buried in there. If it was a hair, then it would come out and everything would be well. Or it could be a bot-fly. He freaked out a little when he watched one of those being pulled out of a guy’s head. But that guy had gone to the trash dumps in India… This wasn’t India, so he should be safe, right?

After what seemed like five hours, but was only twenty minutes, he gave up. He had made the hole larger and all that showed underneath was a greenish spot. No hair down there. Nothing. It was really weird. Just some grayish puss and a bright green spot.