Broken

Hunger

The smell of my last catch giving me headache, I cannot focus on what I am doing. Instead, I wonder what her name is. Who was she? Who abandoned her and left her in this cruel world? I can't tell how old she is. I have not seen someone as young as her before. She looks about six to ten years old. Everyone in this world is badly malnourished but she looks fine. Clean even. Her skin free of scars.

Looking at her gives me hunger, but I cannot find the will to eat her. After so many years, human flesh became, surprisingly, accepted in my mind. She reminds me of me as a child. Her brown hair making a fan underneath her. Where did she come from?

I look at all the books. Years ago my mom would bring me here to read and escape reality. The library became a second home after my dad died. I bring in the people I murdered, I feed off of, and dispose of carelessly in here. I grab a history book off one of the shelves and go to the table where the only stream of light illuminates the whole room. I sit there. I open the book and read about the past. There were wars. There was love. Love such a foreign word. Only found in fairy tales. I wonder what it feels like to be in love. So many years just rage, jealousy, sadness, emptiness, and fright have coursed through my body, I don't even remember true happiness.

I look at the body. I can't leave her there. I wonder, would she have survived like I did? Or, would she die a horrible death like the others, possibly drinking the water carelessly and poisoning herself. This might be the best outcome. I have no idea how much she suffered, but this means she does not need to lose herself, until she can't recognize the horror she has become. A ravenous beast that cannot be tamed, this is what many become. I saved her precious humanity, by allowing her to die. She has saved me, by allowing me to live.

Now that I look at her like that, I hunger for another taste of her. I crouch down beside her and touch the fan of hair, her face drained of color, and I smile. Hunger overwhelms me. I need a taste. I gently caress her face. In the moment I hear the pitter patter of water on the roof. I rip my eyes away from the body. I run out into the breaking concrete forest. The rain is landing on me, cleansing me of my sins.