A note on the spiral epidemic

There exists certain spirals tucked away in corners forgotten. Under the staircase of an old estate, behind a quiet family-run convenience stall, and sometimes even in the spaces between your apartment’s floorboards.
Some spirals spin in an uncontrolled wrath. Count to five and it would have exhausted itself to a whimpering whisper. Not these though.
These spirals only get stronger with time. They begin with a pull so subtle you might not even know that you’ve walked into one. The pull is ever so slight and you shrug it off. That would be your first mistake.
Once you’ve walked into one of these, you only notice it’s existence when it begins to have some kind of a stranglehold on you. At this point when you try to pull away, you would only be fueling it while draining yourself on both ends. It’s already too late and it’s hold at this point is almost magnetic.
Unlike most spirals powered by wild ambition, these spirals are dangerous because they are patient. They do not try to overwhelm, instead, they bide their time, controlled and organized.
Victims of these spirals can be seen spinning on the spot. The ones in thier later stages have been spotted spinning on the exact spot for days on end.
Families and friends take turn to visit, matching the circumference of their circular spin just to feed them. They usually use a bamboo pole to maintain some distance from the spiral but that means they have to move much quicker than the spiralee. It’s not an easy task and sometimes they stumble or get too close and are caught in it. It’s not a rare sight to see entire sidewalks where entire families are spiraling in sync.
The only solution really is the same breed of spiral spinning in the opposite direction. Most spirals spin clockwise but these rare mutations spin anti-clockwise. The counter spin brings spiralees back to equilibrium but these mutations are rare.
We have been trying to cultivate an artificial growth of these reverse spirals for a while now. It’s not easy. In fact, my lab was once caught in a reverse spiral storm. They had to bring in spiralees into the lab to set of some kind of equilibrium dance between my lab staff and the spiralees. The only downside of that is that spiralees and reverse spiralees now have to be paired for life because extended distance apart will trigger them into their own rotation again.
I was affected too and have been paired with a spiralee for life as well. Our dance is in equilibrium and I’m grateful for that but my only gripe is that he refuses to wear pants.
Stories at 90km/h (sometimes 0km/h)
is a series where I free-write on my train rides.
Rule #1: It stops the moment I exit the train.
Rule #2: No editing or adding on after the ride.
Expect half-finished things on most days and very finished things on days when the train breaks down.
