When Her Fingers Brushed That Hard Lump, Everything Stopped

Her hand froze in her child’s hair.
Not a tangle. Not a toy. Something else.
Hard. Oval. Stuck. Wrong.

In that split second, every fear surged at once. Skin growth? Buried bug? Something worse? The pale, bloated shape clung to the scalp like it belonged there, yet looked horrifyingly foreign. As the truth slowly clicked into place—a fully engorged ti… Continues…