Story #1: The Head
Synopsis :
This is the first story in the collection of short stories. This is about a head that randomly emerges from a toilet seemingly out of nowhere one day. The main character is a young woman in her 20s and is absolutely horrified when she discovers it one day while using the toilet. Much to her dismay, the toilet calls her “mother”, and tells her that it wants to experience life with her. It also tells her its origins, which come from all of the things that she has dumped down the toilet. The woman immediately flushes it down the toilet, hoping that it’ll go away. However, this backfires, and the head grows bigger and bigger throughout the years, until it turns into a whole body. The woman has a child of her own, and is terrified that the head is going to harass her daughter. She complains to her husband and child about the head, but they both seem unfazed but it’s existence. At one point, she even plucks the head out of the toilet, and throws it in the dumpster. But the head kept on coming back, no matter what she tried to do to it. Meanwhile, the woman lives a sad and lonely life, with a cold husband and a daughter who has grown up and left the home. The story ends with the head (who has turned into a body) confronting the woman for ignoring her all those years, and successfully climbing out of the toilet. The new body looks like a clone of the woman, except for the fact that she looks much younger. The younger woman tells the older woman that they are going to switch roles, and pushes the older woman down into the toilet.
Meaning:
At first, I was so confused. I had absolutely no idea what it meant. Upon further inspection, I thought that perhaps it was about discrimination, because the head felt neglected by its “mother”, while the real daughter was doted upon. A direct quote from the head says “I may have been birthed a different way from that child, but I, too, am your creation, mother.” When I searched it up, it was said that the meaning of this story is that the woman wasted her youth by failing to explore her passions, and ending up in a loveless marriage. The head represented her conscience that was bothering her, and her hopes and dreams to be young again and to not make the same mistakes.
Rating: 5/5!
I loved this story. The element of horror combined really well with the message of the story, and I don’t think I’ve ever read such a gross book. The plot is absolutely captivating, and the writing style is very easy to read. I have no complaints, so it’s a perfect 5/5.