Eat?!

  The word repeated in my head as I tried desperately to make sense of it. It took me a while to understand why their eyes reflected hunger and bloodthirst.

  They ate humans!

  No.. No I don't want to be eaten...

  My head throbbed.

  But the thing that concerned me more was the fact that something about all of this felt very familiar, however I couldn't quite grasp what.

  "..hehehe.. Ah the tender meat... It's making me excited by just thinking about it. When I grabbed its ankle I could tell. Its meat is 'Lun Gourmet' material, she wasn't lying when she told us it was high quality meat.", the man started sharpening the knife with another one.

  "It's too soon to claim that! Until we cut her up we can't tell.", the woman responded.

  I had somewhere accepted with certitude, my death, however the idea of people eating me was another level of horror.

  Cannibalism...

  I wasn't foreign to this notion, in fact I had read quite a few books on it, maybe that's why everything that had been happening felt oddly familiar.

  Wait, 'The Lun gourmet'. I had read that somewhere before... Yes, It was related to one of the pages of gibberish I wrote yesterday.

  People there have wings like those of early aircrafts, they float on the clouds and...........

  ...............................................and they eat humans. |

  The notes I randomly typed weren't just my thoughts and ideals, they were often paraphrased abstracts of obscure unpopular books with low ratings. As to why I had that kind of hobby I didn't know, just the curiosity of why it would be a bad book was enough for me to read it.

  One such book was called 'The People of The Sky'; an intriguing book about flying humanlike species called 'Caenubes'.

  The author of this book was a controversial one. Not only did his view contradicted popular beliefs it was also smeared with distrust of the government and the general public. He had gone to the extent of calling ordinary people government's lapdogs and that he was a saint because he had broken free of such brainwashing. Therefore, his repeated statements of the book being a documentary, not a fiction, drove people to call him insane and mentally disturbed. It never impacted him, probably because of his unpopularity and this was his only published work.

  But a more baffling question was the banning of the book soon after its release. The ban according to authorities wasn't due to the author's beliefs but due to the books disturbing contents about cannibalism and human hunting. However, there were many who wrote books with disturbing contents what made this book different for it to be banned?

  In the book the author mentions a private elite auction where delicacies, meat, skin, eyeballs, rated according to their taste, rarity and difficulty in hunting, were sold to the highest bidder. It wasn't sold just for the sole purpose of eating but also as luxury possessions. These included other parts such as nails, bones, hair and any unusual pieces like polydactyl hands.

  This famous auction was called 'The Lun Gourmet' and mentioned countless times in the book.

  I suppose the imminent danger to my life had made me forsake all rationality, thus making me think that my situation was something related to them.

  " ...Caenubes..", I mumbled. I suppose I was right as the couples ceased their bickering and stared at me. Those vicious gazes sent chills down my spine, making me flinch, and shake in fear.

  The man stopped sharpening the knife squatted down, one hand holding the knife, tilted his head and glared at me with his face filled with grimace.

  "Huh, did it just call us...", he started dangling the knife left and right.

  "Caenubes...?!", the woman startled, started backing off, "..a lowly.. Creature... how could it?". "Such a sacred name... by this filth..!"

  Filth? Sacred?

  I couldn't quite understand but I knew it had shook them intently.

  " ... you people ... live... in the ... sky, right?" I tried to buy time. Yes, I needed to relax. Getting scared would only get me killed. I needed to calm down. My body slowly went numb to the pain, while my head commanded me to wait.

  "Hey, I think it is saying something!", but the woman seemed to be in a state of utter disgust and confusion to listen to him.

  "How dare it... a mere human.... a mere fodder-", she grabbed her hair and kept mumbling. As soon as her back hit the counter she slid down to the floor, "how dare it... to a sacred name... even we don't... how dare IT!". she started panting.

  What was this disproportionate response to a name? Almost like a cult member.

  The man felt like the situation was getting out of hand. He turned around and tried to calm the woman, "Hey! Calm down!"

  My body started to feel hot, and I felt the blood rush to my head. Incomprehensible voices kept chanting, while my ears were ringing.

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  "Hold your temper!!", the man screamed at the woman.

  Yes, I had to do something! I had to survive somehow...

  "You are overreacting!", he continued.

  I think they shouldn't have underestimated me, if they hadn't they would...

  "It's just fodder!", the women's voice quivered in disgust.

  ...probably be alive...

  "We are gonna slice it and sell it in Lun Gourmet, remember?", the man tried calming her down with his words.

  ...and I probably would have been dead...

  I found myself sitting upright. The man was still facing the woman trying to stop her from losing it, while the woman was too busy crying insults at me.

  So I thought, if fate had death for me....

  I grabbed the sharp end of the knife.

  "huh?", the man felt a force pulling the knife out of his hand. He turned to look at his hand, empty.

  Blood started pouring out my hand but it strangely didn't feel that painful. I guess the adrenaline was running high in me.

  The man looked up at me confused, "The knife-".

  The one holding it now was me. My head was throbbing. Did he really think I wouldn't try to escape? He wasn't even holding it tightly. HeHe.. wHAt a FoOl..

  "How did-", he couldn't finish his line.

  With a swift movement I thrusted it into his wide stomach.

  Sqwelp!

  "Huh!-", he stared as his blood gushed over my hands.

  HAhA this....

  I slowly pulled it out. I watched as the man looked at me a bit baffled, a bit in pain and abit confused.

  Sqwelp!

  Before he could react I thrusted the knife into his stomach but on the other side.

  ...THis Is nOT Bad At aLL!...

  He felt the pain because his mouth opened only for me to slowly pull it out. "Stop!.. WAI-T-t...", he begged as the knife went through him again and again.

  ...YoU deSERve ThIs!...

  All the while the woman stared in disbelief. The puddle of her partner's blood puzzled her. To her, this wasn't supposed to happen. It was only when he fell to the ground writhing, did she break out of her trance.

  "HOW DARE YOU!" she screamed. "I WILL KILL-"

  I stood up and stared at her.

  She looked at me and I watched the blood drain from her face.

  "..How...wait...no..." she mumbled..

  My hand, all bloodied, approached her. What made her think I would let her go?

  "...wait...", she looked up at me with fear, backing away until she hit the lower cabinet. I stooped low to the ground, looked at her scared eyes and-

  Shunk!

  -stabbed her

  "Arh..ghh...", she looked at me unable to speak.

  Huh?

  Did you really find me that helpless?

  WhY aRe you loOKing aT me liKe you aRe the vicTIm?

  Hey, You must have enjoyed all this?

  If fickle fate had death for me...,

  Hehe...

  ... you are going to die first!

  ...Plorkk! Sqwelp! Shunk! Plorkk! Sqwelp! Shunk! Shunk! Plorkk! Shunk! Sqwelp! Sqwelp!..

  ***

  After a while, the fleeting sensation of pain and exhaustion caught up to me, as the effects of adrenaline wore off. My hand ached heavily, my head throbbed, and my body pained me. I had been blankly staring at the ceiling, sitting with my knees bent, legs facing either side of my body. The dizziness, pain and metallic smell made me vomit.

  Blergh!

  Before I knew it I emptied all my stomach content on the lifeless woman in front of me. Her eyes were dilated and her mouth open.

  Ah Right, she was dead...

  And the man; he too laid next to me, soulless, eyes wide open.

  Oh, they were dead, I ...

  My heart pounded heavily.

  I killed them!

  What?.....

  No...

  NO!

  Oh no, what had I done!

  Were they really dead? The answer was obvious but my mind wasn't ready to accept the truth!

  I looked at the floor, the pool of blood I was sitting on was still lukewarm.

  No this couldn't be, " ...! Noo!....", I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to!

  It kept repeating in my head. The more I tried denying it, the more clearly reality slapped me. Everything felt like jumbling across, I vomited some more.

  Had I stabbed them until they stopped moving. I did that?!

  More than anything, this sensation of blood around me felt repulsive, and this scenario felt familiar.

  No It was self-defence! But then I stabbed them mercilessly! What was going to happen to me?

  The fear of the unknown future crept in me and tears rolled down my cheek. I looked around, yes, I needed to get out. I pushed the ground trying to get up but I couldn't.

  I need to get away from these bodies!

  I pushed myself away from the bodies until my head bumped the kitchen cabinet. My reflection on the semi translucent cabinets, on the other side, looked pitiful. Covered in blood, it was hard to tell if I was the victim or the assailant.

  Isn't that funny?

  HeHehehE

  I started laughing hysterically. The laughter, tears and blood, made me look like a maniac.

  Ah! Asra....Nothing changed...

  The disgust I felt for me made me queasy.

  Blergh!

  I heard a familiar noise.

  Click!

  Someone opened the front door.

  "Hehehe! Your carelessness knows no bound Flory! See, how anyone can barge in-", everything went silent.

  Oh no, he is here, no... what now? What should I do?

  I heard his footsteps at the entrance of the kitchen. It abruptly came to a halt. My eyes followed the blood till it could see his tidy shoes. I raised my eyes up to see his tall stature. His face in utter confusion tried to comprehend the situation.

  "Asra... I-", I stammered, but my vision suddenly blurred and my body felt heavy. I think I was going to faint.

  "FLORA-", I watched Asra's scared look as he rushed towards me.

  Asra... What should I do?

  But my voice didn't come out. Everything got swallowed into darkness. I had blacked out.