Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 7

Rita stared at the small, bloodstained photo in her trembling hand. What had she done? What had she become? The man that pleaded for his life the day before laid on the floor at the foot of her bed. Fear still etched on his face.

And in his lifeless eyes.

Rita quickly covered the man's body with her bed sheets and leaned against her bedroom door. She didn't mean to kill the man. When Joseph had brought Brian in the day before, he demanded Rita eat and left the apartment. He said feeding would make her feel better. Make her stronger. Rita did what she was told. Not because of Joseph's demand, but because she was compelled to do so. She had seemed to be moving on autopilot. Rita had wanted to consume the living human being standing before her. The smell of living flesh was intoxicating. The beating heart had caused animosity. The human that had stood before her needed to be exterminated.

Devoured.

Brian's pleas still echoed in Rita's head. "Please. Don't kill me" he had said desperately as he fumbled through his wallet and pulled out a small photo. "I just had a baby girl. Her name's Bri-Brianna. I-I'm Brian". The man failed at hiding his fear behind his nervous smile as he pleaded for his life. But at the time, Rita didn't care about the man's life. Or the life of his newborn daughter. All she cared about was quenching her rabid hunger.

When Rita had finally taken her first bite into human flesh, it was nothing short of ecstasy. The most exhilarating feeling in the world. She frantically tore deeper and deeper into Brian's gratifying flesh. Nothing else in the world mattered at the time. Not the life of the man. Not the life of his newborn daughter. Not even her own morals.

Rita crumbled the bloody photo of baby Brianna and sunk her face in her hands, trying her best to repel the memory of her first kill. She wanted to cry but she couldn't. What had Joseph done to her? What had he turned her into?

Rita felt that the man she had murdered was staring at her through the bed sheets. She quickly made her way into the living room/kitchen. Her apartment was a mess. Dirty dishes had migrated into the living room. She hadn't even considered cleaning since Nicole went missing. But that was the least of her concerns. What Rita needed was a long, hot shower and a means to kill herself. The wound that she had caused the day before had fully healed. Knives weren't going to work.

Rita was about to enter her bathroom to shower when vigorous knocks came at her front door. Each knock was like a baseball bat to the head.

"God, what is it now!" she shrieked, her hands over her ears.

"Your rent," Rita heard from outside her door. "You're late. Again."

Rita suddenly grew anxious. She had to get her landlord away from her before the monster within her returned.

"I-I'm sorry, Carlos. I don't have it now," she called through the front door. "Come back some other time. Please!"

"Harper, I've been very lenient with you since you moved in. I hope you're not taking advantage of me, hun."

"No, of course not. I'm just . . . struggling at the moment," Rita replied. If only Carlos knew what she was struggling with. Rita had placed her hands over her nose, but the smell of Carlos' flesh continued to stimulate her.

"You know," Carlos started slowly. "There are . . . other ways you can pay me."

At that moment, Rita felt a surge throughout her body. The same surge she felt right before she had ripped into Brian's neck.

"Oh, really?" she called, making her way towards her front door.

"Yeah! I mean, sure. If you know what I mean." He lowered his voice before adding "My wife's at work now."