Ally

     Who the hell does he think he is?

     To invade her dreams was one thing.  But to just assume that she would just agree to whatever apocalyptic Romero and Juliet thing he had in mind, well he had another thing coming.  She might not have been woman of the year but she wasn’t going to be the reason the world ended.

     I am insane, Ally, you are completely mental.

     “Ha!” She snorted and covered her mouth as a passerby looked at her like she was well, mental.

     That does it. I am going back to the orphanage,  packing my shit, and checking myself into the closest asylum.

     “This is all not happening. You are just a fucking nut case! See your talking to yourself.” Shaking her head, she kept walking.

As she approached the orphanage she noticed it was dark not one light lite the sidewalk.  Maybe Miss C was up to her normal birthday shenanigans and had the kids all hiding in corners of the common room to jump out and scream “SURPRISE!”

Smirking she took two steps at a time up to the front door, which was cracked open.

“Miss C?” Ally pushed the door open.

Walking over the threshold her nose was met with the smell from this morning.  The enticing smell of the best steak ever made.  Her eyes burned.

Fuck. Not now…really.

She covered her eyes with her sunglasses.  She would be able to explain wearing glasses inside easier than her liquid tar, non-human eyeballs.

“Miss C? A.J.? Alright guys you can come out now!” she tripped making her way through the hall to the common room.

“Damnit. What's the house rule about toys guys!”  She fumbled for the light switch.

All at once the smell made sense.

All at once she had never been more numb and more angry at the same time.

The Happy Birthday banner was dripping with blood.  There was splatter all over the walls and the floors.  It looked as though some psychotic version of Van Gough had come in with a bucket of red paint and decided to forget the brush.

Though the blood was everywhere there was no bodies.

There’s no bod—

The toy in the hall she tripped over in the dark.  She was terrified to turn around.  But, she was not shocked to see that there was a pair of shoes, connected to a pair of legs, sprawled limp in the hallway.  There was a trail leading to those shoes.   She couldn’t make out who the legs belonged to as the rest of the body was out of her sight in the kitchen.

Was it bad she wanted it to be one of the no names?  Someone she wasn’t close enough to that she learned their name?  Feelings of dread came over her and she could feel her heart in her throat.

Ally knew when she flipped the switch there would be another birthday surprise she wasn’t going to be able to handle.  She flipped it anyways.  Another great masterpiece painted by the late Leonardo da Vinci creeped into her mind, Last Supper, but the Rob Zombie edition.  The birthday decorations where all still there. In fact, someone took great care to arrange all of the bodies in the chairs.  Some were wearing party hats, other had noise makers in their mouths. Looking at the floor she saw Jeremy’s hair tousled and matted with blood.  He was missing his arm, the one that sent her over the edge this morning.  He was so talented in shop. What a waste.  That is what she would name this scene if it were a painting “What a Waste”  But, this wasn’t a painting it was real.  She only knew Jeremy out of the group of bodies set up like mannequins.  She let out a sigh of relief that she didn’t see Mandi, Aj or Miss C.

Thank God.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  Which was the worst thing she could have done at the moment.  She hadn’t taken a step closer to the table because she was disgusted with the fact that it smelt like she had walked into Golden Buffet.  She knelt down without thinking and stroked her hand over where Jeremy’s arm had been.  It felt no different than touching a New York steak cut.  She ran her fingers into the puddle on the floor.

So much blood.  I’ve never seen so much blood.

Her eyes burned.

This time her stomach burned too.  Her mouth watered.  She felt something uncontrollable pulling at her from the inside.  Her fingers where back at Jeremys amputation. She could feel the bone, and a little fibrous piece of tissue hanging from the bone.  She used her finger nail to rip a piece off. She raised it to her face with her eyes still closed.

What are you doing Alyssa?  Call the cops. Yell for help anything!

“But, I just want a taste.” She rubbed the little piece of flesh across her lips.

She had never been tempted by anything so bad in her life.  She licked her lips and all of the tension left her body.  She shoved the piece of flesh in her mouth and started chewing.  She had never been to an expensive steakhouse but she figured this is what it was like.

Don’t think about it, just get another piece.

And she did.  This time she was not modest.  She had lost her virginity under the bleachers last year to one of the jerks on the swim team.  He was dared. She was curious. She took control of that situation and figure out what the big deal was, so long as she had her way.

This.

“This, is better than sex.” She smiled.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. You’re just not having it with the right person.”  Drake stood in the door way, shoulders leaning on the door jam.  He was holding a handkerchief and tossed it down to her.  

His smile. God. His smile. 

How could he be smiling? He’s smiling when I am clearly falling apart. He’s smiling when he just completely ravished through an orphanage.  What kind of animal is this guy? What kind of animal am I?

In that very moment his smile was the only thing she tried to cling to.

Complete terror washed over her. 

“I am a cannibal!” For the first time since walking in the door she felt emotion. 

She felt, dread, fear, sadness, disgust and anger.  It all welled up and overflowed and she began to sob. She felt the warmth of his body cradle her on the floor.  Looking over her shoulder it had been the first time she saw any look of concern on this man’s face.  His eyes though dark gave her comfort.  His shirt was soft against her skin and he smelt like that store she always walked past on the way to theater.  The one where all the male models looked like they were carved from some stone in Europe.  She found comfort in his warm embrace and familiar smell. She melted into him and the tears continued to run down her face.