My gut demon

So it was about 11:00 pm last Sunday and I was feeling fine. By fine, I mean healthy. Throughout the day I had eaten a strudel, some leftover chicken from El Pollo Loco, pop, mashed potatoes, and then three carne asada tacos. No sign of what was to happen later on.

Sometime around 11:30 I decided I was still hungry enough to eat two bowls of cereal (Rice Krispies) and a banana. Afterwards, I was full but still feeling alright. SWAT (the movie) happened to be on so, wanting to wait out my big meal, I stayed up to watch it. At 12:30 it was over and it was time for me to sleep.

I stood up and felt an uncomfortable growling in my stomach. I did eat a lot so I guess my body wants to poop something out. After a trip to the bathroom, I changed and lay me down to sleep. The long growl in the pit of my stomach was the second sign something was wrong. I stayed there staring at the streetlamp light filtering through the window. No matter how hard I concentrated to fall asleep the movements in my panza continued. Then the demon inside got angry and I squeezed myself into the fetal position. It wanted to force itself out of my throat.

At that point I calmly got up and walked to the bathroom. Once I got a hold of the sink, I blew chunks everywhere. Rice Krispies, milk, and some meaty matter splashed onto the bowl. It felt good. But the relief didn't last. No.

It was 3:30 when I lay back down. That was all I needed. Just had to vomit and now I can go to sleep. But it wasn't the end, was it? I couldn't shut my eyes. When you can't sleep you just lay there like a zombie. My gut demon was still angry and I could feel my innards moving. Trying to deal with whatever was torturing me. I rolled around hoping that gravity would help my guts process this faster.

It was 6:30 and I was back at the sink. The puke was pink now with bits of digested food floating in it. Like an unholy soup. I still hadn't slept and now walking was a pain. I dragged myself downstairs to drink water. Hoping that it was out of my system. Again, I tried to get some precious R.E.M. sleep before the rising sun looks into the window.

The demon continued to hate my guts and now I had to deal with sleep deprivation. At 8:00 am, I make my way back to the bathroom and become a vomit dragon one more time. This time nothing but a yellow bile burns my throat. My teeth get stained with its taste and my stomach tries to push itself out. Everything I ate the previous day is now down the drain. This has to be it. I dry heave some more and rub the side of my head. I don't care if it's daylight now, I want to sleep.

I had spent all night vomiting. It was like the aftereffects of a party but I never went to one. My gut demon laughed at me and spent the remainder of the day resting in my belly. Monday was spent lying in bed and having only two glasses of water to "eat". I wake up during odd hours of the night again and Tuesday morning I awake light-headed and wanting to eat and vomit at the same time. My body feels purged of my gut demon and I can finally walk upright during the day. With a light meal, I recover from my sickness although dazed and feeling slightly zombified.

The rest of my family feels these symptoms at different degrees of intensity. But none of us could figure out exactly where these gut demons come from. Our biggest suspicion is that the chicken from El Pollo Loco was not properly cooked. I now can't eat there again. And that's the story of my gut demon who forced me to empty out my tripas and hated that I slept at night.