Bogleech.com's 2016 Horror Write-off:

Peeling Paint

Submitted by Retro

The signal blares, everyone groans. Ugh. Another one, really?

I haul myself up, grab my supplies, and make my way to the job site. Really, can't people leave well enough alone?

I ride with the others, drowsing the whole way. All-night painting and repair work. Sure, it seems weird, but I promise you, pal, you've seen us before. But you never NOTICE, do you?

Eh, no one does. Spend all this time making sure everything's all pristine and nice and repairs are underway, but thanks? Nada. Zilch. None.

And there we are, the latest stop. Ugh, what a MESS. There's shreds of paint everywhere, like a wild animal's been at the place! Don't you people ever learn? This is what, elementary school stuff at this point?

Our boss, all dressed in white, always pristine, barks out the orders. A bunch of us reds are already up there; I'm just another painter, waiting my assignment. We go topside and start working.

The floor's always the same, just different colors. Brown, tan, beige, a whole spectrum. Nasty 1980s office colors, right? Spongy, hairy carpet. Ugh. I just want to get done and go back down, stop looking at all this mess.

There's the repair job, with a bunch of us already patching it. Strips of carpet and meat, red paint and fluids and so many cells you'd wanna puke if you could see this, buddy. I pull out my brush, start laying down a new coat of platelet and red blood cells, watching as they oxidize.

Can you cut the screaming? Yeah, you, the guy with the blood under his nails! Ain't you ever seen a paint and repair crew before? Now let us work. And stop picking your scabs!