Hannibal in a Cage

The Letter

River came up much later, calling out the names of the teens that had come over. “Hannibal,” she asked him. “You don’t know where the others went, do you?”

“Who? Those pathetic beings you call your friends when they doubt your sanity?” he asked. “They are not pathetic, Hannibal!” River exclaimed.  “They are my friends… I think. But do you know where they went?”

“They said something about going home to rethink their lives,” Hannibal responded, not missing a single beat. He burped, covering his mouth while doing so. A fingertip flew out of his mouth and onto the floor in front of River. She looked at Hannibal, horrified, while he kept a calm and collect face.

“You ate them,” she whispered. Hannibal said nothing. She stared at him, horrified. She backed away from the cage. “But you can’t get out,” she said, “You can’t get out…” At this, Hannibal stood up and slid through the cage and walked over towards her. He reached his hand out towards her neck, before feeling something hit him across the head, and blacking out.

He woke up in a darker place, with nothing but a single light bulb, hanging from the low ceiling. After further examining, a small cat flap was in the one the walls, and had a note over it. It read:

Hannibal,

 I am moving your accommodations because it was not safe for anyone. I hit you over the head with a metal rod, by the way, and I think you had a concussion, so I put a bandage on your head. I hope you feel better!

From,

River.

Hannibal yelled and hit the wall, hurting his hand. He held it, and something stabbed him in the side. He remembered that he put the letter from the kitchen counter there before he ran back to the attic. He opened it up and read it. What was on it shocked him, and he felt a pang of sorrow for River.

The letter was an acceptance form for a juvenile hospital for the insane. It read:

Dear parents/guardians of Molly Rivers,

We have received your application to put your daughter in our hospital. Sadly, she has passed the qualifications to apply. We will collect her Thursday 21st at approximately 9am.

The Men In White Coats.

What day was today? Hannibal did not know. What time? That he did not know either. He would ask River when she came up.

Luckily, it wasn’t too long a wait, for River came up quite soon afterwards. When the plate and glass was pushed through the flap, Hannibal called her. “River, what day is it?” he asked. “Thursday, the 21st. Why?” she answered, curious to see where this was going.

“What time is it?”

“Six in the morning. Why are you asking these things?”

Hannibal pushed the letter through the flap and waited. He heard River open it, and suck in her breath. “Where did you get this?” she whispered, so quietly that Hannibal barley heard her properly.

“On the kitchen counter, maybe a few days ago, I don’t know.”

He heard her slump against the wall of his prison, weeping quietly. 

Suddenly, the walls started to melt away like candle wax, until they were entirely gone. He was now sitting in the middle of the attic, with nothing confining him. He strode over to River, with intentions to take his revenge. He was about to snap her puny little neck, but she turned around to face him, her eyes bleary and her pupils dilated. She looked so innocent.

“Kill me now Hannibal. Please,” she begged, voice wavering. “Kill me then leave. Leave and be free.” Hannibal grabbed her neck, and tried to snap it, but couldn’t. He didn’t have the will to do it.

He sighed. “A life is too precious a thing to take, River,” he said, and climbed down the ladder. River looked after him, then shouted, “That’s such great advice coming from someone like YOU, Hannibal!” He left, leaving her to weep in darkness.