Franz Kafka's Bed Springs

Origin
Franz Kafka was a German author regarded as one of the top-tier figures in 20th century literature. His most famous novels and short stories consist of The Metamorphosis, The Trial and The Castle, which follow protagonists who suffer from unexplained afflictions and society punishes them for their misfortune. During his stories, characters would try to understand the bizarre and strange predicaments they found themselves in, while the reader navigated feelings of isolation, guilt, hopelessness and frustration.

Kafka drew upon his great well of unhappiness to breath life into every detail and character he wrote. Born in Prague to a Jewish family, he worked as an insurance claim writer just to put money in his purse; his true passion was writing. Although fascinated by the devotion eastern orthodox families placed on their faith, he never found himself fully satisfied with his own adherence. Throughout his life, Kafka had a constant friend in law student and writer Max Brod, whose publishing work helped Kafka ascend to notoriety. Outside of Brod, he had few constant friends and never married, as his extreme negative self-image prevented him from finding a lasting relationship. When reflecting inwards, he considered himself to be ugly in both mind and body, even though others described him as calm, humorous, smart-minded and handsome. He wrestled with depression, anorexia and suicide when he was low and never considered achieving fame as important. Only after his death at the age of 40 did his body of work start to make waves as literary genius.

Effects
Touching directly with the skin or any object the springs are connected to will cause the user to initially pass out for a brief period with no recollection. When they awake, they will slowly experience freak accidents, aggression by strangers, palpable sickness and random injury. The effects will worsen each time they doze off, causing strange physical malformations and active punishment by societal watchdogs. Each occurrence is the twisted result of the user’s own self-pity, feelings of worthlessness, anxiety and other dissatisfactions they carry with their mid. Only through accepting or defeating these negative emotions will the user be able to return to normalcy.