Julia was around 11 the first time it happened. She let herself into her dad’s apartment in Malmö, Sweden, dropped her schoolbag and flopped on to the sofa.
She switched on the TV and turned to her favourite channel in time for the cartoons.
The screen filled up with a cartoon man with a huge head. On his chin, in place of skin or a beard were huge cracks.
Suddenly, she felt like she was going to throw up in disgust. She screwed up her eyes and fumbled for the button to turn off the TV.
Every three or four months or so she’d see something that she just couldn’t stand. Something that made her feel utterly disgusted and terrified. Sometimes it was cracks, but other times it was patterns of holes or dots, or scenes from underwater nature programmes showing things like groups of barnacles. She’d shake, pour with sweat and end up lying on the floor in tears.
One time she was chatting on the phone when she saw something so awful she threw her mobile across the room. No one else she knew seemed to have this strange reaction. What was going on?
Then one day, when she was living in London in her early 20s, her then-boyfriend came bursting through the front door after work.
“Julia!” he shouted. “I know what you have!”
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