I woke up on a seemingly normal day and got myself ready to go to school. I could hear my mom from downstairs yelling at me to hurry up. It was the second day of school and I had been late to the first day. My mom did not want a repetition of yesterday.

“Emma! Hurry up, you know you have to walk and I have to go to work!” My mom yelled.

Since I’ve been late already, my mom chooses to wait for me to walk out the door before she leaves, just to make sure I’m not late.

I finished brushing my teeth and getting dressed and was ready to go downstairs. I ran downstairs and grabbed a piece of toast that my mom had put out for me. She didn’t want me missing breakfast. I ran out the door and slammed it behind me. I looked back to see my mom watching me as I made my way to school. Once I turned the corner and I was out of her sight, I slowed down and started to walk the rest of the way.

As I was walking, a dog ran by me and it looked like it was running from its owner, but there was something wrong. The dog had something on it, it kind of looked like a zipper, like something on a jacket. I tried to double check but the dog was already running far down the street. I tried to shake it off as if I was seeing things, when a old lady came running past me. The lady had a leash in one hand and was yelling out to the dog that I had just seen. As the lady ran past me I again saw a zipper on her back. This time I was almost sure I wasn’t seeing things. But again I brushed it off and continued walking to school.

I was looking at my phone when I saw a toddler and his mom walking beside me. The toddler was holding on to his mom’s hand. On the toddler and the mother’s back were more zippers. The zippers on their back looked as though they were holding their skin together. Their skin was tight and the zipper looked as if it was going to break off. Since this time I knew I wasn’t absolutely crazy, I asked them about their zippers.

“Oh, the zippers? Everyone has them.” The mother told me.

I told her that I didn’t have a zipper on my back and she just laughed.

“Of course you do honey!”

She gestured me to feel my own back, so I did. I put my hands on my back and started to feel something. It felt like a bunch of bumps and they were huge. I then realized that I did have a zipper. How could I have not known? I asked myself. Goosebumps formed on my body as I began to realize that my zipper was tight too. As if it was going to pop any second. I looked over to the toddler and he was laughing while unzipping his zipper. His mom did the same and began to laugh and unzip hers too.

As they unzipped their zippers, I could see their skin beginning to fall off of their bodies. The only thing under their skin was flesh. My heart dropped when they grabbed me and started to unzip mine. I tried to push their hands away from me but was unsuccessful. I could feel my skin begin to loosen and fall off of my body. They then began to rip my skin off and tugged over and over again. Every time they tugged, it hurt more and more. I closed my eyes for a second then opened them. All of my skin was gone and I could only see my own flesh.

But I didn’t run home, I ran to school. I wanted to see if anyone else had the zipper too. Once I arrived I could see everybody. Everyone had no skin and they seemed fine. They acted like nothing had happened. I ran up to my friend and asked about the zipper. He looked at me and started to laugh, then he took something that looked like a towel out of his backpack.

“W-What is that?” I asked him.

But he kept laughing. He then took the towel in his hand and began to shove it in my face. Breathing became harder and all I could hear was him laughing. I tried to push the towel away from my face but it was too late. I was weak and I could feel my vision beginning to blur. The last thing I saw was his skinless smiling face staring back at me.