𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

The Alleyway

"Oh my God."

I stumbled back and hid behind the dumpster in the alleyway.

The honey-brown-haired girl paid no attention to the noise and only dug deeper into the victim's chest. Her head lifted up and I covered my mouth with my hand, desperate to silence my own being. To my relief, it was not me, but a fly that had caught her attention. Her blood-covered digits stilled for a moment before lashing out and capturing the insect. She picked it up by its wings, the fly squirming, and ate it whole, still alive and full of terror.

She went back to her meal, making the well between the girl's rib cage vaster as she pulled the flesh away from the corpse. You could tell that the 11-year-old girl was still alive when the other female had started to devour her. Scratch marks surrounded the dead one, and her face was swollen with tears.

Just as I arrived at the scene, I could hear screaming and howling, begging anyone—anything to save her. Of course, by nature, I was curious about what the ragged noise was. But when I materialized, it was something I would never expect. A girl my age—thirteen—being eaten alive as she yawped for mercy.

I took a glance and my body stilled in horror. The cannibal had peeled off her shirt and had a hand in the skin just below her breast. It was the same spot that she had eaten out from the younger girl. Her arm was halfway into her body when I spotted the slowly stretching skin on her throat. It was her fingers pressing against the inside of her throat. Then her hand suddenly fisted as if she had caught something, and she slowly pulled her arm out.

The skin of her arm was drenched in blood.

I glimpsed at her hand and in it, she held a black and slimy string that attached to her body. She slowly pulled it out of her corpse until she went limp and the thing stood. The unidentifiable thing slowly crawled into the other girl's carcass, shaping itself enough to slip in.

As the dead one, now inhabited, raised herself to her feet and looked up, I startled and shoved myself up against the dumpster. And, well, unfortunately for me, the dumpster decided to be empty and move, causing a just grand noise.

The thing looked over at me and we shared eye contact just before I darted. I stumbled, running full force without any intention of stopping. The gravity of the situation had finally hit me, and I didn't want to stay a second there. I could hear the terrifying noise of shoes hitting the pavement and my own echoing around the long ally.

I turned a corner, grabbing onto the brick wall and flinging myself forward. Just as I turned the corner I collided with a old trashcan. I tripped and the contents spilled all over me, but that wasn't my concern at the moment. I tried to scramble back up, but my hands slipping on the garbage and my panicked state wasn't working out well.

Just as I pushed myself up, I was shoved right back down. I struggled and thrashed, screaming for help as my captor whispered for me to shut up in my ear. I was flipped over to face the 11-year-old girl. Her face was sweet and kind, but she wore it in a way that made it seem like anything other than that. Just as I begged her not to do it her eyes flickered into something darker and deeper, her pupils dilating.

She smiled and dragged a finger up my jaw. "Do what, my love?"

I sobbed pathetically as I messily chanted, "please don't eat me." I turned my head from side to side, attempting to escape her grasp.

She laughed and grabbed my chin and pulled my head up. "Well, I don't normally switch bodies so soon, but I can make an acceptation," she told me as her hand slipped downwards. Her fingers bordered my shirt's edge before wrapping around my neck. She leaned close to my face and shuddered as she whispered, "but you probably saw, what am I supposed to do besides this?"

Just as her hand slid down to the hem of my shirt, something violently jerked her back. It was a detached and see through hand that reeled her back and slammed her body into the wall. I gasped before throwing myself up off the ground.

I ran and ran and ran. Both my body and my mind never stopped running. Memories replaying over and over as my lunged begged for air. I busted through the door and scared my younger little sister who was eating some watermelon. Although I did not stay long because of what my mind showed me. I knew it was just my sister, but the way she ate the watermelon reminded me so much of the cannibal from earlier.

The way she ate was animalistic and messy, not in a hurry to wipe of the juice that ran from her mouth to her neck. She left evidence wherever she went, a trail of liquid and small, sticky fingers that always loved to touch everything. She wolfed down the watermelon, opening her mouth to the fullest and continuing to put food in her already full cheeks.

It reminded me so much of the previous scene that I didn't hesitate to run to my room as my older brother and mom called after me.

Day after day, I passed by that ally on my way to school, but I had become accustomed to darting past the string of fading darkness. Every night my mind would pass over the same images, keeping me up days on end.

But tonight I wasn't going to turn on every light in the house and quickly run across the hall so I could go to the bathroom. I wasn't some kid that was afraid of the dark.

As I was swiftly creeping back to my room I jumped when a hand grabbed my arm. My mouth snapped into a scream but made no noise as I saw the face in the shadows. It was my brother, no doubt coming for our monthly talks. He would come to my room late in the night to discuss his crush, Jamie Bridler, a popular boy at school who played soccer, had "smooth, cocoa-like skin," and "curly hair of perfection," as James said. He normally talked about it with his friend and their girlfriend, but he went on a trip to Europe and his girlfriend came along, so I was the substitute.

I sighed before motioning him in. As soon as I closed I heard a click, but paid no attention to it.

I looked back at him and asked, "paper?" He nodded and turned away to shuffle through my desk. "Honestly, I don't know what's so great about him. Didn't you have a crush on that girl in your social studies class?"

That was when I heard the sound of ripping fabric and a coldness that's resonated through my body, starting at the middle of my back.

I shouldn't have looked down.

But I did.

I could see James' hand pierce through my back like a dagger. My vision went blurry as I tried to contain myself, but all that ran through my head was what is happening.

"Me neither. What is so special about him. Did James like him a lot? I'm just trying to get into character." He whispered in my ear. My mouth opened and empty, silent words covered in blood fell out of it. My head turned to look at him, desperate to believe in anything else other than this. But his eyes told it all. They were the same eyes as the one from the alleyway.

He yanked his hand out from my back and I crumbled to the ground. I started to breath unevenly and cry as my vision lessened.

I slowly watched him unlock the door and open it before turning and saying, "tonight was a good talk, but I don't think we need to have them anymore since no one can attend. Goodnight."

My last vision was of James, but I knew it wasn't him.