This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/GeneralP123 on 2024-09-09 12:44:45+00:00.
You’re probably familiar with the feeling of opening your fridge and finding only one or two different kinds of food inside of it, then you just think of plenty of different meals to make by using the same couple of ingredients.
Unfortunately, this feeling is far too common in my case.
Let me start from the beginning…
It was a boring day as usual, I was just walking back home after a quick trip to the nearby grocery store, I quickly got to my house and started unlocking the front door, however, before I could open the door, someone lightly tapped me on my right shoulder, I quickly turned around in confusion and saw a man in his late twenties or early thirties, he was smiling and seemed to be wearing an expensive black suit with a matching black tie, his eyes were hidden under a pair of gold plated sunglasses, everything about him was screaming “high class”.
“Hey! Take this!” the stranger said while slipping a bag into my hand, I instinctively looked inside of the bag and saw five lemons, they weren’t your average lemons you find at the supermarket, these were twice or almost three times the size of the ones I was used too, even the color was amazing, I could’ve sworn they were glowing.
Temporarily, my mind was in a state of shock, as soon as I looked at bag it was like I was hypnotized, instead of asking the man for any sort of explanation I could only mutter a simple “thanks” before I took the bag and entered my house.
I locked the front door and took another look at the bag of lemons, whatever was on my mind before the encounter with the stranger was quickly replaced with the urge to make a lemonade.
I took one of the extremely large lemons and swiftly cut it in half, the juice immediately started bursting out of it, it seemed to be succulent and full of flavor.
Before I could move on to the next step, the same mysterious man I saw earlier appeared right in front of me.
I was frozen solid by the instant mix of fear and shock, “How the hell did you enter the house if I just locked the front door?” I thought to myself, yet I was unable to ask him that question, it was like the particular aura this person had rendered me unable to speak.
“You must be confused, let me explain!” he spoke with a cheery tone.
“You see, we’re not the same, I won’t bore you with the long and unnecessary explanation of what kind of creature I am, instead, I’ll just tell you the most important part, your sustenance is food and water, mine is human suffering.” he spoke with the exact same cheery, yet flat tone, I could only listen while slowly processing what he was saying.
“That being said, I must find a way of making humans suffer, then I feed off that suffering. As simple as that sounds, it’s an absolute pain to accomplish!” he says with a slightly annoyed expression on his face.
“Sure, I could just take a hammer and break your bones, that would make you suffer, right?That’s the worst kind of suffering, the boring kind. Think of it this way, a raw egg and an omelette are basically the same thing, but you won’t just eat a raw egg, the omelette tastes better and it also has no chance of infecting you with salmonella.” the stranger says as he giggles.
“So, in other words, I have to raise the quality of the suffering before consuming it! That’s why you’re gonna be my test subject, with a bit of luck, you’re gonna produce a completely unique type of suffering for me!” He explains while pointing at me.
"I just put a curse on you, the only way to undo the curse is to last at least twenty-one days while under the effects of the curse.
Here’s the rules you’re going to follow strictly from now on. Don’t leave your home, if you try to, I’ll just teleport to back to your living room, you also won’t be able to communicate with anyone, if you try to, I’ll make the person you tried talking to disappear. You’re only allowed to consume lemons, actually, I’ll be a nice fellow so I’ll allow sugar and water as well.
While you’re under the effect of the curse, consuming anything other than the items I just listed will immediately kill you, however, if you’re still alive after the twenty one days pass, I will come and devour the suffering you accumulated, then I will remove the curse, after that I will make sure you can finally start eating something other than lemon meals." He finishes the explanation.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Even though your food and drink choices are limited, I made sure to give you unlimited amounts of lemons, water and sugar, every time you open your refrigerator you will notice that it’s full of fresh lemons, ice cold water, white and brown sugar.” he says with a smirk.
“Good luck! I believe in you!” the stranger instantly disappears without a trace as soon as he finishes the sentence.
I start doubting if what I experienced was real, but soon enough I realize the severity of the situation I am currently in.
I open the fridge, exactly as the stranger said, Inside of it I find dozens of huge lemons, glass bottles of almost frozen water and bags of sugar. I take one lemon and one bottle out of the fridge and close the fridge door, then open it, once again, as expected, the two lemons and one water bottle are instantly replaced by an identical copy.
Out of desperation, I tried leaving my house to no avail, every time I touched the door knob, I would temporarily go blind like I was falling asleep, then when my vision returned a couple of seconds later, I would realize that I am now in my living room. I could either try thinking of ways to survive three weeks on a diet consisting of only three things or I could try leaving my house again and again until I die from exhaustion or starvation.
Obviously, I chose the first option even though I knew my chances of survival are low at best. My first couple of days on this new diet went fairly well, the main meal was lightly sweetened peeled lemons, I would snack on those almost all day even though I got tired of them after like five bites, beggars can’t be choosers, right?
Around five days passed and I was already beginning to feel the side effects of eating only lemons, even though I was almost constantly chewing on my signature peeled sweet lemon snack, I felt like that wasn’t nearly enough to kill my hunger, in fact, my stomach was grumbling so much that I could barely even sleep.
I changed my strategy, since eating just peeled lemons wasn’t enough, I tried drinking as much water as I can to trick my stomach to think it’s full, I drank so much that I had to bite on raw lemons to stop myself from vomiting, I started using the lemon peels as well, I found a couple of easy candied lemon peel recipes so I started eating those as well, the taste was somewhat different so that was an improvement, as I was getting sick of the same old sweet peeled lemons.
Two weeks passed and the ulcers started, I guess eating just highly acidic fruit for weeks isn’t something my body was built to handle, because of my inflamed and bloody lips covered in open sores, I avoided looking at myself in the mirror. Eighteen days passed, even though I was so close to my goal, I was almost sure that I wouldn’t make it.
My mouth ulcers became so bad that eating a lemon or even drinking lemonade became impossible, it was like pouring salt on an open wound.
To avoid any additional pain, I completely stopped eating lemons, my new diet consisted of only drinking cold water which barely helped me soothe the the jolting pain.
Finally, it was the twenty-first day, I felt like my life could turn off like a light switch at any moment, I was severely malnourished, my energy levels were fully depleted, I could barely make two steps before I felt like I need to go to sleep, yet when I tried sleeping, I would immediately get woken up by a burst of pain or I’d start choking on the blood dripping from my swollen lips, I stopped keeping count, but I bet I didn’t sleep at all for at least five or six days.
Even my vision detoriated, I would constantly drop my water bottles because everything was getting simply too blurry to see, they would shatter on the floor and I just ignored them because I didn’t have the strength needed to pick up the glass fragments and throw them out, after about an hour or so I’d forget that there’s glass shards on the floor so I’d step on them and cut my feet, which wasn’t too bad, because it at least helped me forget about the ulcer pain which was much worse.
I didn’t want to give up, but my body was too worn out, I collapsed on the glass covered floor, the shattered glass pricked and cut my dry skin, I couldn’t get up on my feet, so I decided to just accept my fate and wait until I perish, this whole ordeal was suffering far above anything I could ever imagine, death was my only saving grace, I was eagerly expecting it.
Suddenly, the stranger appeared in front of me, he placed his hand on top of my head and proudly said “Congratulations, you survived!”.
No longer than three seconds passed and I felt all the pain, exhaustion and hunger leave my body, not only did I not feel any discomfort, I felt great, better than I ever felt in my life, it was like I was reborn.
The stranger moved his hand away from my head and said "Thank you, as I expected, your suffering was delicious, far better than anything I’ve ever tasted, as you can see, you’re already completely healed, yet I didn’t remove the curse yet, I’m in a bit of a hurry so I will fully remove it tomorrow, then as we discussed earlier, you’ll be able …
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