Bewitch My Entrails

Chapter 1✓

A good friend

"Can I play with you?" asked the little boy named Roscoe with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Go away! You're a freak, we don't wanna play with you."

As a teenager, Roscoe already experienced the cruelty of life. He lived with his grandfather in an old house that people were suspecting to be haunted and maybe that became the reason why the kids in their village avoided him.

His grandfather was part of the armed forces and now became delusional because of trauma after the war.

"Roscitti, come here," his grandfather called him

"What is it, grandpa?" Roscoe asked curiously.

"I have a present for you." He smiled and his grandfather handed him a jar. His eyes widened in shock when he realized what it is.

"I saw you outside and it seems that your friends don't like to be with you so I gave you a friend."

He was out of words when he looked at the jar intently. It's a brain, floating in an unknown fluid and along with it are eyeballs that were no doubt from a human.

"During the war, I don't have a choice but to fight for my country and because of that my dream to be a doctor never happened. After defeating the enemies, we usually searched for their belongings like guns, clothes, and food. While searching I found something that caught my interest. A man's head was broken and already separated from his body. The brain seems fresh, it's almost fascinating. When I secured that no one was watching me, I carried the head and brought it in my tent, I inspected it like an artifact and put the brain aside for it to remain as to how it looked like for a longer period. I made a fluid that will surely preserve its kind."

"Why are you doing that, grandpa?" Roscoe became more interested in the old man's tale.

"I am always troubled by people's judgment that's why I build my audience. A mind that cannot judge me when I pour out my deepest thoughts and eyes that can see me are unable to show distaste and disapproval. They are better friends than humans who were indeed living but waste their time minding other people's business," his grandfather explained with longing in his voice.

"Can I keep it?" Roscoe asked once again

"Before that, do you wanna play hide and seek?" Roscoe nodded. His grandpa faced the wall and counted. Roscoe managed to find a place to hide.

After a while, he heard footsteps approaching towards where he is.
"Come out, come out wherever you are. . ." The voice of his grandpa echoed and he shivered in an unknown fear.

"I know where you're hiding. . ," his grandpa sang those lines as if it's a song in a child's play.

His grandpa suddenly grabbed him from where he was hiding and strangled him. The eyes he saw earlier were far different from what he is seeing now. His grandpa has gone crazy again and he's running out of breath. He extended his hand and poke his grandpa's eyes enough for it to free him from dying.

The old man shouted in pain, the jab resulted in him blurring his vision for a while but he still managed to pull Roscoe's feet and punched his stomach.

Little did he know that before he reached for his grandson, the boy already found an ax in his side. Roscoe cut the old man's face in a measured aim that can't affect the inner organ but enough to lose the old man's consciousness.

He stood up assuring that the body was not moving anymore, he cut the head from the body and brought it to his grandpa's room calmly like he was not engaged in a life-threatening brawl minutes ago. He did it gracefully without living any trace of the old man's existence.

With all the pieces of equipment, he started his experiment. Using a knife he carefully removed the skin to slowly pluck the eyeballs out, cleaned it and he pulled out the brain afterward.

While humming a lullaby song, he mixed all the liquids like how his grandpa used to do. He put the organs inside a jar and pour the liquid inside. He chose the most vintage and elegant jar to make his grandpa proud. The old man had no idea that Roscoe watched him all this time doing his old habit to entertain himself.

"So this is the hide and seek you were saying? You're indeed a good friend." He grinned while looking at the shelf with all his so-called friends along with the entrails of his grandpa who started all this stuff.