By Lucas Gutiérrez and Jon Amarillo. From the creators of “it’s just a pill,” today we bring you: “it’s just a prick.” Drama, a real Shakespearean drama with hints of Tennessee Williams. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been getting blood drawn for over nine years; every time I have to get blood, it’s a soap opera. At 37 Capricorn years old, I’ve already reduced the terrifying thoughts of the broken needle and air going in instead of blood. I no longer think about all the urban legends or calculate the risk of fainting so I don’t hit myself. You could even say I’m an adult. But I see kids coming out with their arms pricked, a little annoyed, and a lollipop, and I’m terrified, sitting two benches away, a million light-years away. I want to write a manifesto about the vulnerability of knowing that this blood draw will kick off the stressful process that will later tell us how our immune system and viral load are. Right now I'd talk about the body invaded by the needle, about the blood they take from us, I'd string together reflections on the body at the disposal of who knows what science. But no, the truth is simple: I have an immense fear of needles. In an adrenaline rush during the blood draw, I speak three times faster and with a torrent of incoherence. I break out in a cold sweat. Emotional drama. And suddenly: "All done," and I'm like, "Really?" and a festival of exaggerated thanks and empty promises like "Next time I'll be more relaxed." The "little prick" is part of that creepy liturgy, those many rituals that have become part of our daily lives over the years. And even though we've normalized it, it's still hard to swallow. Like the Azithromycin pill, which is huge and still bothers us. Just because we don't complain doesn't mean it doesn't bother us. We always go for the cure. (And for lollipops, because they give us "adults" awful machine-made coffee.)

Visit Presentes every Thursday to find a new installment of Bicho and me.

Bicho and I #26: Bicho and I: Debts and progress 35 years after HIV

Bicho and I #25: #LivingWithHIV Bicho and I: From Words to Deeds

Bug and I #24: In the medical world, containment is everything

Bicho and I #23: “No one is obligated to say they live with HIV”

Bug and Me #22: Until the cure, always!

Bicho and I #21: Take a hug 

Bicho and I #19 go to the movies: 120 beats per minute

Bug and Me #18: Your question is annoying

Bicho and I #17: “Yes, I live with a strain of HIV”

Bug and I #16 “It’s not contagious!”

Bicho and I #15: #8M Three women living with HIV explain why they stop

Bicho and I #14: #LivingWithHIV “Where is Bicho?”

Bicho and I #13: “We are not carriers”

Bicho and I #12: “How can you not tell me you have a Bicho?”

Bicho and I #11: HIV and AIDS are not the same

BichoYYo#10: Bicho, me and medication: “People with HIV are much more than a pill”

BichoYYo #9: We urgently need our medication

Bicho and I #8 The Dangers of Activism

Bug and I #7 Superpowers for an X-Men cover

Bicho and I #6 “Happy New Year!”

Bicho and I #5: “Nine years with Bicho”

Bug and I #4: “The scapegoat”

Bicho and I #3 “Without Grindr there is no paradise”

Bicho and I #2 “The best thing about medication”

Bicho and I #1: the comic strip that tells in the first person what it's like to live with HIV

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