I. Don't. Eat. People.

It started with a blinking street light.

I’ve never minded the dark. It didn’t scare me. Or at least that’s what I said, but that night I was alone and there was no one to be brave for. No one at all.

I first heard the footsteps when I reached that light at the intersection. It was a freaky light. It barely gave off the faintest orange glow, but if you stuck around long enough it would suddenly flicker to life with a brief flash of greenish-white. Like it couldn’t quite decide whether it wanted to die just yet.

I was some mega nutcase to be walking out there alone, but Megan — my ride home — left the party early and I certainly wasn’t going to call my parents to pick me up. I was supposed to be at Megan’s house studying for the exam Monday. Jesus, didn’t I wish that was where I was when that light did that bizarre flickering thing again and I heard those footsteps.

I looked behind me. Nothing was there at all. I was just imagining it then?

I stood there under that faint orange glow. Of course the bizarre half-dead light was the only one on that whole street. Lotta help. I looked up waiting for the light to flicker into blinding existence. Then I’d run the length of the street, but not when it was dark.

The footsteps sounded again behind me and in the darkness I saw nothing but the faint outlines of dark most likely empty houses. I was seriously freaked now. What was up with that light? It was taking too long to resurrect its self.

“Come on,” I hissed, glaring upward again.

The wind howled through the nearby abandoned houses. Whistling through busted windows and dilapidated fences. The tree in front of one of the few houses I knew someone lived in, swayed as if dancing to that nut-job freaky wailing. I felt goose bumps crawl up my arms. My long skirt was flying around my legs like a flag of surrender. I began to sway back and forth on the balls of my feet. My boots crunched in the broken glass littering the road. Damn light. It was usually so predictable. You counted to one-hundred and there it went flaring back to life in it’s eerie way. But of course not when you wanted it to as bad as I did right then.

Crunch. That was so not my boots. I was practically quaking by then. The wind whooshed my hair into my face as I peered blindly into blackness. I stepped back and stumbled thumping onto the cool asphalt. My glasses went flying. I was panicking by then. I scrambled on my hands and knees my skirt tangling around my legs. I couldn’t find them!

Crunch. I jumped to my feet. Really blind without glasses. The light flared.

I didn’t move though. I didn’t need glasses to see the blur of a massive person in front of me.

The light should have given it away. Perfect start for a horror movie. Not a movie though, dude. Life. In life when the horror movie begins you can’t just walk out the theater when it gets to be too gruesome.
My horror movie had just started.
No walking away.

He grabbed me and Jesus Christ. It hurt. He dragged me off the street. I was trying to scream. I couldn’t tell if anything was coming out of me though. He had me so tight I could barely move. My brain was going insane. I couldn’t remember any of that self defense crap I’d been learning for the past three years.

I was either gonna die there and then or become some sobbing rape victim. But he dropped me. It was dark where ever we were even if I had my glasses I wouldn’t be able to see a thing. I think I was sobbing, but I still couldn’t tell. I heard something though — at least I thought I did. He still had my shoulder in a hurt-like-hell death grip, pushing me against a wall. Felt like brick. Smelled like urine.

And then he was on me. I know I screamed then and I tried to kick him, but he was like iron. I felt him grab the sleeve of me shirt and rip it off in one jerk. He bit down then. I shrieked in agony. Blood oozed down my arm and then his mouth covered the wound. Cold and wet. Pain seared through me. I was just one mound of agony writhing and wailing. I wasn’t anything else. There wasn’t anything else. My thoughts were pain. My body was pain.

One thought finally got through. He’s drinking my blood.

I’d become a freaking drinking fountain!

I felt my vision swimming worse than ever. I became that stupid undead light clinging to my existence. Trying to keep my glow no matter how faint.

Then he stopped suddenly like something had pulled him away, but I wasn’t all there anymore.
Noises.
Scrambling.
Swears.
PAIN!

I began to drag myself away from the noise. My filthy hands clutched at the dirt until I found an opening in the brick. I squeezed underneath it and when I was far enough into the blackness for the noises to be muffled I let my light die.


I could never understand people who said stuff like “it hurt so bad I just wanted to die”. I figured that was the thing about pain. We didn’t like it ’cause if it was bad enough it was probably already getting close to turning to death, right? So I had always thought to myself when I broke my arm or busted my head through the glass door, It just hurts. That’s all. Not like I’m gonna die. It’ll go away. But this was different. I wanted to die. I wanted to die bad. It was the worse kind of agony that anyone could feel. It was in every part of me. There was no escape. I wished I hadn’t dragged myself to freedom I wished more than anything that I had sat there nice and quiet while he drained me dry. I’d gladly take that kind of pain than this one.

They say child birth hurts. That’s gotta be a walk in the park compared to this.
Nothing hurt like this.
Nothing real.

This was unreal pain and I wanted to die. But I freaking couldn’t move except twitch and scream face down in the dirt under that stupid house.

It lasted forever.

Whole eternities.

Eternal pain.

I couldn’t think of anything else. I couldn’t be anything else.

But then I noticed it getting better. If you couldn’t say that it was better at least it wasn’t getting worse anymore. I started to be able to move my fingers and shut my eyes. I wasn’t screaming anymore. I felt tired. Something else besides agony. It was gradually fading to a dull ache and my body was becoming numb,
                  exhausted...


When I woke up it was because something was barking in my ear. But when I got up all I saw was the underside of  the house I’d crawled under. I could still hear the barking though. It was loud, but not in my ear. I groaned as I moved. I saw a rat run away at my movement and I could smell it. I could smell the meat and the blood pulsing through it’s tiny rodent body. But worst of all it smelled good. Like food. And I was freaking starving.

Shaking my head to clear myself of that sudden insane hunger and smell, I began to crawl toward the opening in the lattice that lined the gap between the house and the ground. The smells around me hit hard. The dirt, the must, the rodents and insects, iron and rotting wood from the house, stagnant water coming from somewhere, and sewage coming from under the ground. I smelled it all.

As I crawled toward freedom I was trying to figure it all out. I didn’t know why I was under a house or who I even was. All I knew for sure was that I was hungry. So so hungry and food was somewhere near.
I could smell it.

Imagines.
      Things I didn’t understand.
                                          People.

Hunger clutched at me as I forced myself through the hole. I grabbed the lattice and yanked it away effortlessly slipping out the hole. As soon as I was out in the dark little alley I could smell dried blood. Like rotting food.

In my mind I could hear remembered-cries screams. I flinched remembering pain. The pain was what had brought me to my little hideaway. I crouched by the blood stained mud and sniffed.
It was mine.

I knew it then. I remembered being attacked.

But why?

By who?

I looked at my filthy arm caked in mud and more dried blood. But there was no wound. No cut. No scratch. Nothing, but pale, pale skin. Was that normal? I didn’t know. Nor did I care. I was freaking starving and something smelled yummy.

I crawled out of the little alleyway. Squinting as I came into brighter light. It was overcast. Massive fluffy gray clouds loomed above and yet everything was so bright. My eyes couldn’t adjust to it.

Smells. Food.

Ignoring my burning eyes I began to stumble forward toward the road and a tall light post. Faintly, I could here some kind of horrible screechy noise and realized it was music. Music I recognized. How did I recognize that horrible sound?

Images.
      Things I didn’t understand.
                                          People.
                                              Smells.
Yummy.

Something crunched and I froze, squinting down at the glowy black top and my muddy bloody boots. I was standing on a pair of glasses. Oval glasses with cracked lenses and purple frames.

My glasses?

I blinked.

I didn’t need glasses though. I could see just fine if that freaky retarded glowy sunlight would freaking go away. Completely.

And then I knew.

They were mine.

People zoomed past my vision. Images and places. Voices. Gwen. That was my name?

That was my name!

Somebody hurt me. Hurt me bad.

I was new now and everything was glowy.

I wasn’t dead. Death wasn’t glowy was it? Why would they have my glasses in the land of the dead? Screechy music wasn’t in heaven and was it in hell then? Why was I so hungry? Hungry. Hungry. Why was I smelling?

Smells. Smells.

I wanted to find them. I was frozen though. Couldn’t move. Weighed down by freaky images. Memories? I winced. That was me screaming. My blood. My glasses. Stupid street light. Two seconds too late. Horror movie.
           
Hungry Hungry Hungry.
                                What smelled so good?
                                        People. Images. Smells.
                           Yummy.

FOOD!
Wafted toward me. Smells. Coming from the houses all around. Hungry Hungry.

And then the clouds broke.

I screamed. A horrible piercing banshee-like wail.

What the hell!

Glowy had turned to freaking blinding ultra-light and it burned like sticking your whole body in a pot of boiling liquids. One million and thirteen times worse than a really god awful sunburn. I continued to wail in horror squinting down at my hands sure they were burning to a crisp. There wasn’t anything wrong with them. EXCEPT THEY HURT LIKE THE WORST KIND OF THIRD DEGREE BURN!

People.

I gulped.
Banshee wailing ceased into murmurs of... smelly people. So that was what smelled so good...

I was standing there burning and the smelly morsels were staring at me from windows and doorways. I blinked at them shuddering. I sank to the ground barely able to hold myself up. The burning was draining me. What was happening to me? Had I escaped from some kind of psycho ward?

I was Gwen. I remembered now.
I was a person. Who was a vegetarian, by the way. Not a freaking cannibal!

But they were smelly. Yummy smelly.
Hungry Hungry.

No!

I wore glasses.
I like screechy music. Rob Zombie. System of a Down. Nine Inch Nails.
I played screechy music.

I was Gwen.
Sun didn’t burn me.
I was naturally tan.
I wore glasses.

I clutched at the broken glasses whimpering as yummy people still stared. Coming closer.

I was Gwen. Human Gwen. I was one of them.
I was in a band.
I liked funny colored skirts and playing it cool, noisy parties and older guys who had nose rings and liked to read angsty fiction and drive awesome looking cars. I like classics. 1957 Oldsmobile Starfire 98.

I DON’T EAT PEOPLE!

But they were yummy and I was hungry and weak.
So weak and tired. Felt like my body was turning to jelly.

Hurt.
Bad.

The yummies were coming closer and closer.
Just a bit farther and I could take a snap.
                                                             Nice
                                                             little
                                                             snap.

The were all unaffected by ultra-light walking closer. I growled as they murmured. They drew back again and I crushed my glasses to a pulp furious with myself.

I scared away the yummies! The food!

Why did I hurt?
Why was everything going foggy?
I still had strength enough to drag myself away, but I didn’t move even though the ultra-light was burning the hell out of me and I was going blind.

I was afraid to move.

The yummies were all around.
I could just take my pick.
Smells so good.
Yummy.
Hungry.
Hungry.

And here I knew myself. Here I knew my name and knew I wasn’t really going to eat those yummies.

Just maybe one little taste.

And then one yummy came close.
            
Can’t eat yummies.

Gwen doesn’t eat meat.
Gwen isn’t a cannibal.
Gwen likes annoying screechy sounds and those wheelly things that rumble and roll. Cars!

I forced out another growl pulling back my teeth. I ran my tongue over my top row of teeth.

Ouch!
Were my teeth always so pointy?

Yummy was coming closer though. My growl didn’t scare him like the others.

I giggled excitedly even though I could barely breathe and the burning was getting worse. But brave smelly Yummy was gonna make it better.

One taste. Just one.

But he didn’t smell as good as the others.
Why didn’t he smell as good?

I wrinkled my nose painfully. It was like one rotten tomato among a whole sack full of sweet yummy delicious ones.

Oh well. When you’re starving you’ll eat anything. And he didn’t smell that bad.

“She’s fine. I know her. I’ll help her. She’s just having one of her spells,” said Brave Yummy to the other murmuring smelly morsels.

The yummies were going away, but I was focusing on Brave Yummy. He crouched beside me and my sore face twisted into a painful wide grin. I felt my pointy teeth cold against my lower lip.

I had enough energy left to lunge as Brave Yummy scrutinized me.
The fool.
If he’d backed away like a smart yummy with the sound of my merciful growl than I wouldn’t have to go and eat him and mess up my memories of Gwen.

Gwen doesn’t eat people.

So what? I was hungry and Yummy was stupid.
He deserved it.
I prepared to lunge.

He’d taken something out his coat pocket and turned to me grinning. I squeaked and turned away as ultra-light shone off his face briefly. I glanced back at him warily through narrow eye slits. I was angry now. I was sooooo going to eat this yummy!

But then I saw it.

He was wearing a nose ring.

Gwen likes nose rings.

Gwen doesn’t eat people.

“That’s right. I wouldn’t think about it if I were you,” he said quietly as I blinked at him paralyzed. Staring in fascination at his nose. “Even if you do eat me you won’t get far with all this exposure. You’re lucky I got here in time before you really did some damage. Why did you just sit here like that? It must hurt like hell.”

I was dumbstruck. This wasn’t such a stupid yummy after all. He knew things.

He reached out and I snarled. But he snatched my hand and I looked away as ultra-light shone off the thing he’d taken out his pocket. What was the deal with all this evil freaking shiny stuff!

It was a needle.
I yelped, but before I could summon up the energy to yank away. Or eat him. He shoved the evil shiny into my flesh and it hurt worse than the ultra-light.

I screeched, but was too weak and drowsy to do anything. I caught sight of him smirking and snarled furiously before flopping onto the asphalt and closing my eyes.

Bye-bye ultra-light.
Bye-bye brave evil freaky bad smelling Yummy.

Gwen. Doesn’t. Eat. People.
         
But.

Freaky Gwen
wants
to.