The TV crackled to life in the small living room, a gnarled bunny chased the jack rabbit on the screen as the child watched the cartoon play. The little boy unwrapped another delicious sweet and popped it into his mouth as he drowned out his parents arguing from upstairs, the occasional sound of a loud thump and a gargled scream would make him turn his head from the cartoon. Instead of worrying about what was happening upstairs he ignored it like usual and continued to watch his show with slight disinterest. His heart pounded within his small bony chest as the father stomped his way down the stairs and made his way into the kitchen nearby for yet another bottle of booze.
"Jake, get your ass up and go help your whore of a mother fold the laundry" his father belted at him as he took a swig from the green bottle, the little boy glanced over at his father with the candy swirling in his mouth and without a word peeping from him he made his way to the stairs and ran up them to his mother. The mother leaned against the bed post for support with salty tears trickling down her cheeks, the dusty windows of the bedroom allowed just enough sunlight to gleam through and touch what they could with their rays. The room wasn't the best bedroom for a master, but it had just the essential furniture you'd need to survive. A queen size bed adorned with silk sheets and the ever so thick comforter that reeked of cat piss and cigarette ash, a second hand dresser with some old scratches and tear, the cat scratch tree that was supposed to be thrown out a year ago, and a slightly ugly makeup table that had to be held up with a newspaper under one leg to stay balanced, it was a gift the father gifted the boys mother for her birthday last month, it was probably found in the dumpster nearby.
"Come here, sweety" the boy's mother beckoned him over with her shaky hand that was littered with old scars and the newer cuts from previous fights a day or so ago. Poor woman married her high school sweetheart after she became pregnant at 17 years old, but little did she know he was an abusive man who hated her from the beginning. The boy shook his head to make the thoughts go away as he hobbled his way over to his mother, grabbing her hand and allowing her to shakily put him on top of the bed to sit down. His nose wrinkled in disgust as the putrid smell of the sheets wafted up and invaded his nose. After a few minutes to an hour of watching his mother finish folding the tattered laundry the boy popped another sweet into his mouth and smiled brightly as his mother picked him up into her arms for a hug and carried him back downstairs so he could continue watching the cartoon on TV.
As they walked down the carpeted stairs to the living room the boy glanced around the room with his dark blue eyes. The living room had peeling green striped wallpaper covering the walls, brown carpet floors, and some ratty second hand furniture that kind of resembled the ones in the bedrooms upstairs, but this was home for them. His mother sat him down on the floor to watch cartoons on the TV as she joined her husband in the kitchen, the father sat upon the dining chair sipping away at his beer with a Playboy magazine sitting in front of him on the table. The magazine was one of many monthly subscriptions he paid for. "Dear don't you ever get tired of that magazine?" the mother asked with fear, lacing her quiet words, she shouldn't have said anything. The boy continued watching the bunny on TV run after the jack rabbit, a gruesome smile plastered upon the bunny's face and a beat up bat in one hand, he ran after the jack rabbit until he caught his prey and beat him with such force it broke the bat.
The father glanced up from his page of the magazine with a frown etching his bumpy face, he scooted the chair back and stood up with a slam of his hands against the table. "The fuck did you just say, woman?!" he yelled, the words echoed and boomed through the tiny house, the little boy jumped slightly from the loudness of his fathers words but didn't move an inch. As the boy watched the cartoon he drowned out his surroundings, instead of sounds of fists hitting his mothers face he heard the jack rabbit screech, and instead of the sound of his mothers pleading he heard the gnarled bunny laughing. A few minutes passed till only the sound of the cartoons could be heard from within the house. "Don't ever grow up to be like that bitch" was all the boy heard when his father sat down in the recliner behind him and watched the cartoons with him. He couldn't hear his mother nor did he want to see the aftermath of what went down in the kitchen a few minutes ago. The boy popped another candy in his mouth as he watched the cartoons with his father, but this time the candy tasted a bit odd and was crunchy, but he paid no attention to it.
4 Years Later
"Jake, come get your stuff from the table!" his mother yelled from downstairs. The boy, possibly around 12 years old, got up from his desk and bolted his way through the hallways and down the carpeted stairs, his mother turned around from cutting the vegetables and smiled at him. Candies were stacked in a bowl on the dining table like usual and the kitchen smelled heavenly of food his mother was making. Without speaking a word the boy grabbed a candy and popped it in his mouth and swirled it around with his tongue, the taste of copper coated his mouth and he smiled with joy. "Stop eating those! You're going to hurt your stomach" his mother reprimanded him as she shook her head, the brown curls bobbed as her head shook.
The boy ignored his mother as he went and took his place in front of the TV again and watched his daily cartoons, the gnarled bunny was once again beating the jack rabbit with the broken bat. It was so quiet in the house except for the sound of chopping vegetables, his mother humming to herself, and the sound of the cartoons could be heard. The boy once again popped another candy in his mouth and crunched away, the copper taste coated his tongue and a shiver of euphoria wracked up his spine. A crooked smile etched his face as he continued eating candy after candy and the taste of copper getting more and more stronger by the minute. Pain began to crackle through his lips, cheeks, nose, and his throat as he crunched on another candy. The candies lay in a pile near him as he ate one by one.
CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH the candies crackled under his teeth and sliced their way down his throat into the pits of his stomach. Blood trickled from the boy's teeth as he couldn't stop eating the candies and no matter how much his mother yelled and screamed he kept eating them nonstop. "He's doing it again" the father grumbled out from the recliner as he flipped through his magazine, the man's eyes were surrounded by black circles and he reeked of body odor. The mother came over to the boy with tears trickling down her cheeks as he pleaded for the boy to stop, but to no avail he continued to chew on the candies and tear his small mouth up with the candies. "Please stop eating the glass" the mother pleaded with the little boy.
The father rolled his eyes from the recliner and huffed to himself as he read the old magazine, the pages were torn and stained but he didn't care. "Please honey, I promise I'll get rid of the body as long as you stop eating the glass" the mother pleaded with the boy as she shook his shoulders and sobbed away. The boy ignored his mother as he continued watching the cartoons and he continued to chew away at the broken stained glass. "It was an accident" the mother reminded the boy as she took the pile of glass away from him and hugged the boy softly, her curls brushed his cheek and her tears dripped onto his head as he glanced over at the recliner.
Yes the body of his father lay upon the recliner with flies slurping away at his eye sockets. Maggots slithered their way under the dead skin and sometimes you could see them poke their grimy heads out to find another area to eat away. His odor wafted around the room as the flies buzzed away, the old magazine sat on top of his bony lap with its pages torn and stained. Candies could be seen pouring out of the man's unhinged mouth and onto the floor around him, the boy smiled to himself with happiness as he licked his blood covered lips. The mother glanced down at her boy and at the body with sadness, it's been a few years since the boy murdered his father and yet he acted as if he was still alive. Her son never spoke a word even before her husband died, he just watched his cartoons and ate glass as if they were candies.
With one last hug to her boy the mother let go and headed over to the body to examine the mess. She covered her mouth and nose with the palm of her hand as a candy plopped down onto the carpet and rolled towards her foot, the pink swirls were so beautiful and yet so dangerous. "Promise me you'll never do this again, Jake" the mother asked as she plucked candy by candy from the body's open mouth and gathered them into her hands, the boy didn't say a word but instead crunched away at the glass he thought were candies. The mother sighed to herself as she unwrapped one of the candies and plopped it in her mouth, the taste of copper coated her tongue as she crunched away at the glass, that too wasn't a candy but instead a piece of glass.
