It had been 5 days since the boy's parents threw him into the basement as a punishment for disrespecting his elders and locked the metal hatch. It had been 4 days since a large fire blazed through the house, if it weren't for the stone and metal structure of the basement, the boy would have perished by now, and looking at how nobody noticed the hatch under all the rubble, he wished he had.
The boy sat in the cold, dark corner, looking back at his past mistakes. He couldn't help but wonder if he could have prevented this by not shouting back when Great Grandpa Theodore kicked his makeshift sword down the creek, or if he could have stopped it by apologizing when his parents gave him the chance. Perhaps he could have saved his parents if he had just yelled louder as he noticed the red glow from the basement window that night. A million thoughts raced through his head as he sat and wept.
He glanced down as his thin, pale arms trembled. He felt as if his body was about to collapse any moment now, despite already sitting down. He brushed his weak, boney hand against his eyes as he felt himself drifting into sleep. He laid against a hard, wooden crate as he drifted off.
He dreamed of fond memories from his childhood, he was at his birthday party 3 months ago. He sat excitedly in the chair as his school friends surrounded him, His mother's long, silky black hair flew into his face as she put 9 candles into the homemade chocolate cake. She smiled warmly as he pushed her hair out of his face, "Happy birthday, sweetheart!" She exclaimed as she set herself aside.
The boy gasped at the cake, it looked sloppy and the dark brown frosting was uneven but it was still a cake made with the love of his dear mother. He felt the love of his friends and family warm his tiny body as he blew out each of the candles. He pushed his torso above the large, birch table as he reached for the final candle.
Unlike the other 8 white candles, this 9th one was bright red. The boy heard a chuckle and turned to see Great Grandpa Theodore as he laughed, "It's as red as the poor boy's hair!"
The boy's face flashed red before his mother stood to speak, "Don't make fun of him! You say quite a lot for a man who should be at the undertaker's by now!"
His father began yelling at his mother for speaking to Great Grandpa Theodore like that but as he blew out the 9th candle, all the lanterns went out and everything turned dark. The boy looked up to see everyone's skin begin slowly melting off of their faces. He watched as the thin layers of skin slowly drooped onto the table like goo, leaving only the muscle, fat, and blood remaining. Everyone turned to stare at him with their cold, lifeless eyes as the once warm and loving room burst ablaze. They all began screaming for him to save them as their degloved faces poured dark, thick blood all over the burning house. He could do nothing but stare at their bloody, exposed faces as the fire swallowed them alive.
The boy screamed as he jolted awake. His throat felt extremely dry as he stared at the bright sunlight from the small basement window. He would do anything to reach the window and crawl out of it, even if he couldn't fit he would still be able to open it and call for help. He forced his weak body up as he limped toward the small jar of water he had collected from the sewer pipe, he quickly drank a small sip before setting it back underneath the leaky pipe.
He sighed to himself, "At least I won't die of thirst." He set his body down on the cool floor as he felt his legs giving up, He needed to get out and get some food. How long can an underweight human child last without food? It's been 6 days since he last ate. He began to panic as he realized this basement is likely to be the place he spends his final days.
He could feel his heart rapidly beating as his shallow breaths transformed into rapid, panicked breaths. He held his boney hands to his thin, bright red hair as he cried. He wasn't ready to die, he had barely just begun living and it was already about to end.
His whole body trembled as he heard a warm, gentle voice, "Sweetheart?"
He looked back and saw his mother standing in the corner of the basement. She was wearing a long, white dress with sleeves longer than her arms. She held her soft, tan hands out to him as her warm green eyes greeted him.
He instantly ran towards his mother but as he attempted to hug her, his arms phased through her and his body collapsed onto the ground. He turned around to look at where his mother was once stood and screamed as her skin fell onto the floor and he stared in horror while her raw face bled all over the basement. He watched as the layers of muscle, fat, and blood pulsated while she screamed, "WHY COULDN'T YOU DO SOMETHING?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BE SO AWFUL?!"
The boy could do nothing but sob as he whimpered, "I'm sorry..." repeatedly as his skinless mother continued screaming at him. He shut his ocean-blue eyes as he continued sobbing on the freezing basement floor.
He only opened his eyes once he heard the screaming stop, and he noticed his dead mother was gone. His tear-stained face fell to the floor as he attempted to rationalize what he saw, "Great Grandpa Theodore said people see things when they're too hungry. I'm not crazy, just hungry. If I eat, the scary things will go away. I just need to eat."
A putrid odor swiftly stole the little boy's attention as it fills his nostrils, he forced his body up as he searched for the rancid scent. His blue eyes darted to the corner as he noticed a slight movement. He crawled towards the corner as the stench grew closer and closer until he could see what the stench was.
He saw small maggots crawling and squirming around a small, blood-covered rat. Its skin was mostly intact but the stomach was fully exposed with its organs laying outside of it. Maggots and Flies were surrounding the deceased creature. He thought he could even see the maggots squirming around under the rat's skin as they ate it from the inside out.
He immediately flinched back, "Ew! Gross!"
His stomach disagreed with his words as it loudly growled. He remembered his father sitting with him on his bedroom floor, showing off all the souvenirs he had bought while telling the boy about his trip. The boy cuddled against his father's tall figure as his father laughed warmly, "Did you know they eat rats in Vietnam?"
The boy laughed, "Rats? You can eat those?"
The father smiled, "Yes! It's very common in certain cultures and while I was at a restaurant, I saw Rat on the menu."
The boy cringed, "You didn't! That's Icky!" as he scooted away from his father jokingly
The father frowned, "You shouldn't call it icky, Rats are actually a great source of protein and taste similar to gamey chicken or rabbits. You had Rabbit stew last month and loved it."
The boy's thoughts of one of the few decent interactions with his father were interrupted when he felt his mouth watering at the site of something potentially edible. He looked down at the decomposing rat as he sighed to himself, "I need to eat. It's just like a rabbit, nothing icky."
His hands trembled as he scooped up the rat along with the maggots on top of it. He gagged as the maggots crawled all over his arms and hands. His breath became rapid as the rat's skin began pulsating with maggots digging from the rotting insides.
He shut his eyes as he shoved the fuzzy corpse into his mouth. He chomped down on the fluffy, gooey rat as the maggots crawled down his throat. He cried as he continued chewing the vile excuse of a meal he managed to find. He was surprised at how weak the bones were and how easily they broke as he chewed through them. It almost took his mind off of the wriggling sensation in his throat as the maggots crawled around.
Eventually, he managed to swallow the rotting rat. He coughed as tears rolled down his cheeks. The Boy laid down as he attempted to comfort himself via humor, "That didn't taste like rabbit.." He shut his eyes, satisfied that he finally got some food and bought himself more time to escape yet disgusted he had to eat a rotting corpse.
He jolted awake, covered in sweat. His whole body was trembling and he felt incredibly nauseous. He stood as he began throwing up, the chunky brown liquid sprayed everywhere as he felt that same rancid taste return.
The boy began crying, "No, no, no no no no no no no! I need that! I needed to keep that down!" as he fell to the ground and began scooping the puke into his hands.
He shoved the disgusting brown chunks of vomit back into his mouth, He knew he needed to keep it inside his body if he wanted to survive. He felt the rancid, acidic chunks slosh around in his mouth as he continued scooping up more chunks. He shoved as much as he could in and swallowed before he threw it up again. The vomit stung his throat as it slowly went down and he couldn't do anything but collapse on the floor and cry.
After what felt like a few hours, he walked back over to the pipe and drank more sewage water as he recalled his mother telling him it was good to stay hydrated after vomiting. He chugged the entire jar of grey sewage water before placing it back under the pipe.
He sat on the wooden crate in the middle of the basement as he stared out the window, the sun was beginning to rise. He muttered, "It's day 7 of being trapped. I need to escape."
The boy looked around as he tried to think of a way to reach the window before the fact he was sitting on a crate he could use to reach the window finally dawned on him. He laughed, "I'm such an idiot!" as hope began returning to the young boy. He stood up and scooted the hollow crate against the wall.
He smiled as he stood on the wooden, hollow crate. He reached up for the window but as he reached out, the crate collapsed and he fell right before he could open the window. He screamed out, "No! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"
The boy curled into a ball as he began rapidly panting and sobbing, "I"m going to die down here! I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this."
The boy spent the next few days just sobbing and sleeping, he would only get up to drink the disgusting sewage water out of the glass jar. He eventually woke up and muttered, "I've been trapped for 12 days." as he sat up. He had begun to feel the gnawing hunger again and knew he was dying of starvation.
His hair was a tangled mess and his clothes were covered in dirt from sleeping on the filthy basement floor for 12 days. He hobbled over to the sewage water, and drinking the sewage water and chewing on chunks of wood were the only ways he knew to distract himself from the extreme pain in his stomach.
He picked up the glass jar and began taking sips until he noticed a spider on the jar and dropped it as he screamed! The jar shattered and the sewage water spilled onto the floor, he instinctually began picking up pieces of the jar until he cut his finger. "Ow!" he yelped as one of the shards pierced his index finger.
He stared down at his bleeding finger, he felt oddly enticed by the sweet copper scent of his blood. He stuck his finger into his mouth as the blood dripped out of the small wound. The taste was much more delicious than his last meal, his blood filled his mouth with a sweet metallic taste and he had a revelation!
The boy didn't know if the starvation and extreme stress were to blame for the actions he took next or not but he decided he wanted to survive. He wasn't going to let himself die and he just found a way to keep himself alive.
The boy grabbed a large glass shard as he realized what he needed to do, "Humans need food to live. Meat is food. Humans are made of meat. I need to do this to survive. All that matters is my survival."
He rolled up the long, white sleeve on his left arm as he laid it on the floor and grabbed the glass shard. He winced as his grip on the shard strengthened and he lifted the shard.
He screamed as he swiftly impaled his arm with the shard. He felt an intense jolt of pain run through him as blood gushed out. The boy dragged the shard out of his arm as he continued screaming in agony.
After pulling out the shard, he cried while staring at the large, jagged wound. He could almost see the floor through his arm. He repeated, "Humans need food to live. Meat is food. Humans are made of meat. I need to do this to survive. All that matters is my survival." as he lunged the shard back into his arm and dragged it across, attempting to sever his own arm.
After about an hour, he managed to cut off his own arm. He panted as he stared at the severed arm. Blood was still flowing out of it and he knew he didn't have much time to eat before he would pass out.
He grabbed the arm and began chewing through it like a wolf, the sweet blood gushed all over his face as he ate large chunks of what was once his own arm. He was surprised by the texture and taste. The meat felt similar to beef yet tasted like metallic, juicy pork. He didn't expect it to be so good compared to the disgusting rat. He just reminded himself this was for survival as he ate.
He continued feasting on his own arm, He wasn't even thinking about all the blood he was losing. He just kept violently ripping through layers of skin, fat, and muscle as he ate. He could feel how warm and fresh this meat was compared to the rat and was thankful he didn't have to eat something like the rat again.
Eventually, there was nothing more than a small layer of flesh still attached to the bones. As the boy calmed down, he began fading in and out of consciousness. He fell onto his side and into a pool of his own blood as he wept after realizing he was dying. He just sobbed, "No, I'm not even that hurt! It's just a little blood! I needed to eat! I did this to live, not to die! I don't want to die!"