Page 67 of Eat Me Alive
“I’ll crawl and beg.”
“You’re a desperate, kinky fucker.”
“I do not mind being occasionally humiliated by you, too.”At this point, I think he’s just trying to make me laugh. Lighten my sour mood.
My stomach growls, and he hears this.
“Come with me. Say yes again.”
I don’t say yes, but I let myself melt into him. It’s answer enough for him.
The first thing he does is take his tooth from me. It’s the size of half my palm, and now that everything has calmed, I’m not sure how I would have made that an efficient weapon.
The sun is up, but we’re shaded under the leaves. My brain’s automatic reaction is to explain everything, but I can’t understand why a goddamn rainforest is in a drought.
He sits me in a weird lounge that snaps open. It’s not a seat. It’s a fucking plant with sharp rows of teeth. Its cushion is the cup of its lower mouth.
“I think you call them venus flytraps.”His voice is a whisper on my skin. He is a ghost right now, swirling in the middle of the air like solid tendrils of smoke.
It rings a bell.
“It won’t eat me, right?”
“The only thing eating you here is me.”
I got the distinct feeling I’ve heard the exact thing before. “Do I know you?”
“You call me Datu. We’re best friends.”It’s weird when I see smoke try to avoid my gaze.
That is a lie. “Best friends don’t do what you did to me earlier.”
He busies himself, obviously ignoring what I’d just said. With his strange hands, he picks up a water bottle. Is that mine?
“Here, drink while I get you something to eat.”
Taking it, I thank him and read the print on the bottle.Moriarty Organicswith a tree as its symbol. IknowI’ve seen this before. There’s an itch at the back of my head as I think harder.
“When do you think my memories will come back?”
“No clue. It will come back. Everything buried eventually does.”
“That does not sound comforting.” What an odd way to put it. “So you think my memories are just buried?”
He floats down the platform and—from beyond the forest—emerges a black panther the size of a car. My muscles tense, ready to run, but it looks tamed. Submissive. It’s carrying a fresh carcass, dropping it by the altar’s steps.
Patting the panther’s head, he thanks it,“I accept. My thanks. You may go.”
And just like that, the panther turns and prowls away. I blink repeatedly. “Why do the animals obey you?”
“If they don’t, they know I’ll eat them.”
Bruh. “One hell of a bargaining chip.” I say dryly.
His mouth spreads wide again, the smile a morbid sight.“It’s not so bad inside my mouth.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I deliberately shift my gaze away from him. “There’s no way you’re convincing me to come inside your mouth where it’s warm and safe.”
“My, my, you already know what it feels like!”He rips the carcass to little shreds as something lights up. There’s a firepit on the edge of the treeline. Curiously, I stand and stroll closer to him.
