HUNGER || #Wattys2018

Chapter 2 'Carnivorous'

MOTHER had not suspected anything unsual as she kissed me on the cheek and waved goodbye to me the next morning, saying, "be safe! Don't talk to strangers!"

She'd ran out of the house in her nightgown, without her face made, and waved at me until I had passed the hill. Poor mother, I could see it in her eyes, how frightened she was of being in that big house without me.

At lunch, Skyler Thimble and I sat by the trash cans like the day before. And like the day before, we talked about many cool things Skyler knew that she was willing to teach me - her new apprentice, her partner in crime.

Things liking making out, and orgasms, which have nothing to do with the science of life surprisingly.

All the while, I could feel their judgemental eyes upon us, soaring our flesh with their scornful glares. Looks like the freak show has come to town. They laughed, picking apart pieces of their lunch meat to throw at us and saying: "C'mon, girl! C'mon! Be a good girl, eat up!"

Yet I tried to ignore them for I knew a lady must always remain calm and docile but I could feel my fingers curling at my sides and, I have to confess, the morbid thought of my fist pressed up against Lily-Rose's pretty doll face did cross my mind for a fleeting moment.

Always this rage bubbled inside me, threatening to spill out.

Breathe.

Just breathe.

It was fleeting. This was the word I would use when they forced me to talk to a therapist about my homocidal fantasies, whatever that means. So fleeting I barely registered I had thought it. And then I would smile, my bright white-beaming-sun smile, that put everyone at ease.

Her? A killer? They would say.

But she wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Do you want me to kill them?" Skyler growled lowly, leaning in towards me until I could feel her breath tickling my earlobes. She was gripping onto the edges of the table, blood dripping down her chin from the raw duck meat she'd eaten. It was her favourite lunchtime snack.

"I can make her head snap like a squirrel!" She yelped, twisting her hand around to make a snapping motion as I watched wide eyed, in horror.

And she laughed, her wild hyena laugh that made me believe she could do all the evil in the world, before retreating back into her seat like a python slithering away after capturing its prey.

I looked into her beetle eyes and blinked. She could do it, would do it if I gave her the chance, I knew. And a sick part of me almost wanted her to do it.

Secretly I imagined Lily-Rose was Humpty Dumpty. I imagined Skyler pushing her off the wall. I imagined her head popping open like an egg. Crack. But instead of egg yoke, there would be sticky blood and pieces of her empty air-filled brain scattered about.

"No, she's not worth our time." I said, picking at invisible fluff on my checkered dress to distract myself from their cruel jabs.

Skyler was disappointed but she only shrugged, tapping her fingers maniacally against the cafeteria table whilst her head twitched to the side. She had a tick. Tourretes, I think it's called. "Your choice, kid."

Skyler was talking about the establishment now. About the masked men who control us. We can't let them control us, she said.

They were everywhere apparently. "Shape shifters, the masked men are." She whispered, looking around the cafeteria like any one of them could transform into a black eyed monster and devour us.

Then, the bell rung. She had instructed me to meet her in the first floor bathroom after my medication. Whatever we were going to do, I didn't know. I was either in or out - there was no middle ground.