𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 (𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱)

Track 02 | 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗯𝗮𝗹

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The opening chords to "Cannibal" by Tally Hall—my favorite band of all time—played loudly from my phone, disrupting my peaceful sleep. I stirred in my bed, groaning from the sudden noise. It's one of my favorite songs ever (I have a lot), but when it interrupts your morning, you begin to form a grievance with it. I hoped that it would help me wake up quicker since I adored it so much, but it just turned out to be annoying.

Either way, I began to mutter the lyrics with my face stuffed into my pillow.

"Looking for a cavern... A place where she can stay..." My voice was slurred and hoarse, but I didn't care. "Waiting for the darkness... When she leaves obsessed to make her way to me..."

I pressed my paws onto the mattress and lifted my head from the pillow, doing a yoga pose of sorts to stretch out my limbs. "Because it's getting to the time when she will need to feed..."

I turned around in a blaze of glory and threw the blankets off of me, exposing my bare dirty-brown fur.

"And I am..." I jumped up from the bed, grabbed a hairbrush off of the bedside table, and placed it towards my mouth, signifying a microphone. "...the willing victim of a CANNIBAL!"

Never mind what I said before, I still love this song. I began to jump around on my bed, making a mess of the already disorganized pillows and blankets. I shook my head back and forth rapidly, enough to give me head trauma, shouting off-key vocals into the hairbrush. "She rips out my bones just like I'm an ANIMAL!"

I jumped off of the bed, landing on the wooden plank floor with my bare feet. I had slept in my jeans, which was uncomfortable, yes, but I was insanely tired last night, so I threw off my t-shirt and hit the sheets the moment I got home. "And right when I'm feeling like my blood is drained... she calls it a game..."

I looked around the bedroom, admiring the view of it. "But the wound that she leaves is unmistakable..."

Some people would think my room had an ugly color scheme, but I thought the many browns and grays suited my personality and my fur. The walls were painted those exact colors and adorned many posters, displaying my favorite bands; such as Tally Hall, Nirvana, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Regrettes, Daughter, Tame Impala, Roar, The 1975, Cage the Elephant, and much, much more. Music was my way of seeing the world and I grew up with the sound of guitar strings and drum snares constantly ringing in my head. I wouldn't be who I am today without these bands.

"I am not the only one that she has come to see..." I opened the door to my room and walked out into the hallway, my phone in hand with the song still playing. "Dig up the skeletons of men who thought that they would be the one like me..."

I barged into the bathroom to see my twin-coyote sister, Rosie, a towel around her chest and her head. She's one year younger than me but very short in height. I think she got that trait from our mom. She turned around from the sink instantly, a toothbrush in her maw. "What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted, toothpaste blocking her jaw from opening wider.

"Like they could be the ones to make her believe..." I kept singing, ignoring her. I began to unzip my fly and pull off my jeans, much to Rosie's dismay.

"Ew, what the fuck, Harvey?!" She screamed, covering her eyes and racing out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

"But for now..." I placed my phone on the sink counter, turning up the volume as my voice got higher once again, ready to sing the electric chorus that I had memorized for so many years. I stripped down naked and clasped the handles of the shower, turning the water back on. I jumped in, shut the curtain, and shouted, "I am the willing victim of a CANNIBAL!"