The Slizzers

A first-person narrator theorizes that parasitic creatures live disguised among people and sustain themselves by siphoning an elusive life-substance released during human joy and triumph. While at a poker game he experiences an intense elation that a companion inexplicably absorbs, revealing inhuman eyes and elongated hands and exposing a pattern of furtive, controlled feedings at social gatherings. The narrative alternates between speculative reflections on why humans age and close observations of the parasites' methods, leaving the narrator disturbed by the ease with which ordinary kindness and celebration can be exploited.