There it is. There's that couch that was in my dream. I never moved that in. This is already a bad sign.
- Carmen
Carmen begins to check all the rooms, one by one. "One," she counted one on her index finger, "and two empty rooms." Carmen walks back into the living room and stares at the couch wondering if sleeping on the floor is worth it.
I mean, I'm already tired. I'm probably just being paranoid.
- Carmen
Carmen walks over to the couch and sets her glasses on the windowsill next to her. She lets out a sigh; looking down at her twiddling thumbs.
I may as well make myself comfortable.
- Carmen
Squinting, Carmen sees a vertical smudge of pink surrounded by light. She sits up on the couch and tilts her head to the left. "I remember placing them right over.. Nope, no black smudge on the windowsill," she says.
Wait... this is my dream! And that means... Laura has my glasses.
- Carmen
"Hey," announces a voice to her right. Carmen stops in her tracks, eyes darting from the floor of her apartment up to her roommate Laura standing in the doorway, dressed hat-to-heels in pink.
"Laura?" Carmen exclaims.
Good thing I recognize her voice.
- Carmen
"Guilty as charged!" Laura replies as she closes the door, smiling. Clop, clop, clop, clop. Laura jogs over to Carmen to give her a side hug, heels clacking on the wooden floor. Looking down, Carmen sees a suspicious looking black smudge held by the tips of Laura's acrylic nails. Out from under her palm slides Carmen's glasses.
"Looking for this?" Laura rhetorically asks, cocking her head to the side, grinning the same sinister smile I had in my nightmare.
- Carmen
Unsure and scared of what would happen next, Carmen lashes out with a preemptive strike, taking hold of Laura's waist and slamming her onto the floor.
My glasses... my glasses! I can't have lost my glasses. What was I thinking? Ah, there's a black smudge on the floor.
- Carmen
Carmen picks up her glasses and is greeted with an unwelcoming kick to the gut from Laura. "You know, I felt like something was off about you," Laura says.
"Why, is it because I'm not as 'fashionable' as you? Huh, what is it that's off about me, Laura?" Carmen asks, becoming increasingly hysterical as she steps into the kitchen.
"No, no. It's not that, I swear!" Laura insists.
Carmen reaches for the kitchen's island and picks up a scrapbook. "I'm sorry, it's just..." Carmen struggles to express her feelings, so she opens the scrapbook... revealing a live human heart. Laura lets out a shriek.
"How is it still beating? Whose is that?" Laura screams.
"This is my sister," Carmen says.
"What? You told me you don't have a sister!" Laura pries.
"My sister, she died when she was only 6 years old. But then, I met someone called 'The Revamper'. He gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. "He said all I need to do in order for my sister to be revived is eat and chant 'for The Revamper', it gives him energy to bless my family for a while, but every now and then I have to feast," Carmen licks her lips. "And I've been feasting for years," she says.
Goosebumps cover Laura's limbs. "Feasting?" she asks, trembling.
Carmen reaches her hand back out to the island, and Lauren lets out a gulp. Carmen pulls out a butcher's knife and screams "On hearts!" Carmen carves open a hole in Laura's chest and peels off the top layer of skin. Laura cries out in pain as the heart of Margaret pounds harder and harder. "There's no time to lose. I'm sorry it had to be you, but your heart is young and healthy. I'll try to make this quick," Carmen taunts, prolonging the process. Crunch, crunch, crunch. "Mmm, the skin is my favorite! Isn't it yours, sis?" Carmen says, looking over at her sister's beating heart within the book, transforming into a human-like form. "Did I tell you how my sister died?" Carmen asks.
"No, you didn't," Laura cries in a delirious state.
"Blood loss," Carmen muttered before lunging at Laura's heart and eating it whole. "For The Revamper," she says.
It hasn't been easy being an only child. I know I ate my sister, but Mom and Dad abandoned us in a shelter with no food. What did they expect me to do in a family full of cannibals?
- Carmen
