The Caregiver's Flies

Breakfast at Benvolio's

Surrounded by piercing white walls as usual, I was casually reading like I always do. Seemed too bright to not squint at first but I got used to it being contained in here for years. My little blonde boy waddles his way in the living room, almost too plump, ready to burst. “Mooooom, I’m hungry,” Benvolio said.

“That’s the spirit! You’ll be in the academy real quick.” He beamed excitedly as I grabbed the old fashioned telephone nozzle and spoke into it ordering a double pounder hamburger.

Naturally, the food came down the delivery chute that was built right next to the phone. Immediately his grubby hands grasped the burger tightly as he practically inhaled it. I smirked, a bit disgusted at his animalistic eating habits, but also very satisfied. Once the burger was finished, the red light above the shoot turned green. It was his time.

“We did it sweetie! You can go to the academy!” He attempted to hop up and down in excitement but his massive body weight didn’t permit him to leave the ground. Such a huge blob of human fat and meat mass my son was.

I put a bookmark in my novel, setting it down and grabbing his sweaty chubby hand. Leading him to the bare white wall opposite the room. “This is it, honey. You’ll go to the academy and get to know other fat children. You will be set for life.”

“Will I see you again, mommy?” I solemnly nodded, lying to him without shame and put my hand up near the wall. The hologram door knob appeared before me and I turned it, opening the hidden door a notch before getting down to Benvolio’s level.

“I love you, Benvolio,” I said, my arms holding onto his shoulders. “I love you, too!” I gave him my famous kiss on the forehead, my lipstick leaving a mark, then impatiently shoved him out the door, closing it quickly.

A light and familiar ding! sounded from across the room and there she was. A new baby swaddled up in a pink blanket in a tiny white cardboard outline that kept her from rolling when sent through the delivery chute. The green light had turned red once more. I walked over and pet her rosy cheek with my pinky finger then kissed her forehead. “Here we go again,” I whispered with a sad smile.

I’m not sure why I was so accepting of this occupation. But it just felt perfect for me. I worked for one of the most famous and esteemed factories of the modern age. Wasn’t surprising since they prepared and sold the sweetest meat: human. In this day and age, human meat had been put into the market. Of course it was shocking at first but now, to me, it’s second nature.

I’m not sure exactly how the world came to this. I know that there are too many people who love having unprotected sex but don’t want to pay the price. Overpopulation, not enough animals left to control the hunger of Earth. So what did the government and world rulers decide? Cannibalism is the most efficient way. Get rid of the children who were once sent to adoption agencies.

And here I was. A mother to those children, raising them from infancy until they are big and fat enough for slaughter, similar to pigs and other livestock that had gone endangered.

I burned all the pictures he drew. Precious Benvolio practically dying in the furnace in my bleached living room. Grasping the last picture he had drawn, I walked to my bedroom slowly, unlocked the very bottom drawer to my white plastic dresser and set it in with the others. The other drawings from all the other children before him. I kept one from each child so they wouldn’t completely die.

Locking the drawer securely, I walked back out to the living room and picked up my new baby girl. I decided to name her Jane after Jane Eyre, the book I was currently reading. I rocked her back and forth gently as I sat on the couch.