4. Impossible Situation

Tamara came back over to the man eating all her food with a charm. This was a first test to if he was an evil being or not. She proceeded to slap the charm onto his shoulder. He jumped and was holding a leftover bowl of pasta. The fridge was nearly empty with containers and plastic all over from him tossing it. He pulled the bowl back to his side like she was going to take it. Then decided that she wasn’t and looked down at the piece of paper and ripped it off tossing it. He eyed her dangerously. Nothing happened though and that made her feel better. Okay so he was necessarily soulless and evil. Didn’t mean he was good, but it still made her feel better that the paper didn’t burst into flame. 

She went back over and grabbed a metal bowl and pestle. She poured some oil into it and went over by him and moved the pestle around the bowl making it sing. He winced like it hurt his ears, but that wasn’t what she was looking for. She said a chant and when the oil didn’t burst into flames she was again relieved. However the golden oil turned red and she had no idea what they would even mean. In the red a sudden black shape appeared and to her it looked like a grim, shaped like a wolf’s head. 

He was clearly finished with the fridge and stood up with more ease. She set the bowl down and he went to her cupboard right next to the fridge and opened that up. He grabbed the first box, ripped it open using his teeth and devoured the cereal in it. Okay, so he was eating like some kind of garbage disposal. She really hopped that this wasn’t something he was cursed to do and had been put in that sarcophagus to stop him. She still felt like it had to be a curse. Curses made people do things, impossible things. Like what he was doing right now, and surviving a trip in airtight stone box. 

“Look, I really want to get you medical attention.” She told him as he tossed the cereal box. He grabbed some uncooked pasta and started crunching that. 

“You aren’t supposed to eat it like that.” She said frustrated now and reached but he turned with it clearly not caring. She looked at his arms again, and even his back. Muscle was there where all she could see was ribs before. Okay, this was at the top of the list. She woke a man in a sealed stone slab who was eating everything in her kitchen and not throwing up but putting on weight. 

“Are you cursed?” She asked him as he tossed the pasta box and went for a brownie mix. That he struggled with as it was powered and tossed it. He did drink all the dressing that she had in there and the fridge. Including the jelly and mayo she had. How was he not fucking sick? She was pretty sure that jelly and Italian dressing weren’t the best mix, not to mention raw eggs and chicken. Along with two week old left overs. Talk about an iron stomach and at this point she was not cleaning up a vomited mess if he did hurl. She’d call a cleaning service.

“Can you at least speak!” She finally shouted at him really angry now that he was ignoring her. He winced again like her loud voice hurt his ears or something. He looked at her as he swallowed a mouthful of marshmallows. He bared his teeth at her, which were surprisingly white and she narrowed her gaze. She had no idea what to make of him slowly sticking his tongue out at her. It looked normal to her. He had some kind of tongue ring right in the center. It wasn’t a typical one she’d ever seen before, it looked like some kind of small blade or spike through his tongue. He stopped sticking his tongue out and stuffed more marshmallows into his mouth finishing the bag. What the hell was that supposed to tell her? He was weird.

“Is that a no?” She demanded and he looked at her like she was an idiot. Then turned back to the cabinet to finish off the goods in it.  She moved over, opened a drawer and took out her camera. She took a picture of him because she was going to document this. Another five minutes had passed. It looked like he’d easily put on forty pounds in the past twenty minutes. She looked at the picture and frowned, no one was in it. Just this blurry white and black shape. She tried again with the same result.

“Seriously you should see a doctor.” For the first time she got a response from a shake of his head. She pinched the bridge of her nose as he finished off things in her cabinet she had long forgotten she had. Tamara went over to her computer, booted it up happy that it worked and emailed Max that she needed to talk to him ASAP and he wasn’t going to believe what she received. She didn’t think she should put in details. When people were involved like this man seemed to be, it was the most dangerous.

“Maybe you should relax a little bit.” She told him coming back over he’d gained even more weight in the time that she’d been on the computer. She had no idea what to do with this situation. He hadn’t harmed her, so far he’d eaten all her food and that was about it. He was finished scrapping a jar of peanut butter with his fingers and looked like he was sniffing the air and then went to the freezer. 

“Whoa, hey. All of that is frozen, you really can’t eat it like that.” She hurried over as he opened a frozen bag of peas and actually ate them like he was drinking water. Good god, did the man even chew? It was like he was swallowing things whole. He grabbed a package of frozen chicken, put it in the corner of his mouth and ripped it open before starting to chew on it even with part of the package stuck to it. 

“Let me have it. You can’t eat it like that.” Why wouldn’t he listen? She reached up and took hold of the other end of the chicken package. He was going to break his teeth if he kept it up. She felt fear a moment later when he moved and was as fast as lightning. He had a hand around her throat and slammed her back against the cabinet. She gripped his wrist and let go of the food. The strength he had now was ten times what he had before and she felt a bit of panic. 

“Please let go, I’m sorry. I’m trying to help you.” She gasped out. He did let go and was growling with this deep tone she’d never heard a human make before. Yet the sound wasn’t normal in the volume. Like he forced it out through a medium. She rubbed her throat and he watched her like one watched an enemy or prey. She slowly walked over to the sink and put a stopper in it and the water on. Clearly this man had no social skills and couldn’t talk but seemed to understand. He was protecting his food like it was some kind of kill. She got all of this and now didn’t think that taking someone like him to a hospital was going to end well. Especially if he attacked her like that for just touching what he had. She needed to figure something out. She knew a special doctor that worked with trauma patients and those afflicted by magic and such. She might have to call him.

“Look, I’ll let you eat what you want. Clearly you need it.” She said moving forward and he started showing teeth as she came forward. He was more like a feral animal than a person to be honest. She needed to figure out his story and fast.

“You are struggling on that frozen chicken. It’s not supposed to be eaten that way. Trust me okay, I swear you can have it back.” He shook his head vigorously and it was pretty damn obvious by his look that he had no trust in him. Not just because he didn’t know her, clearly he’d been betrayed somewhere pretty severely. Might be how he ended up in that sarcophagus.

“Then you can do it and I’ll back off. You just need to put it in the water with the other meat to let it thaw a little. It will come out of the package better. You can eat all the other stuff in there while it thaws and then come back to it. We’re right here, what am I really going to do? I’m sure you could take it right back if I did anything to it.” She spoke logically and unemotionally. He looked over at the water and then the freezer. He moved over and dropped it in the now full sink. She quickly grabbed the other frozen meats and moved over. He grabbed her arm and she indicated the sink.

“I’m doing the same thing, and then I’ll back off.” He moved with her and his grip was painful. She dropped them into the water which was rather warm and when she backed up he let go of her. Watched her until she stood at the end of the counter and then went back to the freezer and proceeded to eat all of it. Including a gallon of ice cream. Which he clearly got a brain freeze but really seemed to be enjoying it and it was more like soup by the time he got to the bottom. 

He was a wild animal, plain and simple. The way he watched her and even the way he moved looked more like he prowled. His gaze was more like a predator and the sounds he made. She felt bad for him, whatever happened seemed to have definitely left a mark on him. She moved back over to the computer as he finished some frozen broccoli. Then found a couple pieces of fish she didn’t know were in there and ate those frozen as well. She looked at her email and saw on from Max.

Hey, we are being detained at the moment. Local authorities think we are stealing 

Artifacts on our dig. I’ll fill you in when I get back home. You’ll have to tell me

about your latest work later.

Hope to see you soon

Max

That meant he wasn’t in a place to talk and just in case they confiscated his phone for some reason or other then he didn’t have any evidence that he sent something somewhere. Exactly why he went to Lester. It was now only word of mouth and those they worked with on most dig sites knew to keep their mouth closed. She hoped he wasn’t kept long, because she didn’t know what to do about this man. She hoped that he could call her soon. 

The man moved over to the sink, and they were closing in on an hour of him being awake. She honestly couldn’t see the same man standing there. He’d put on substantial weight, which told her this had to be some powerful kind of magic he was under. What was happening to him was simply impossible in the real world. Nothing and no one put on muscle weight, or even weight in the magnitude that he was in an hour. There was defined muscle over his chest and abdomen now. His arms were thicker and she was assuming so were his legs, but she couldn’t see over the counter as she was at the kitchen table. 

He went to the sink, picked up the chicken which he easily pulled out of the package now and started to eat the partially frozen item. She got up and moved over to where he was from this side of the counter and he eyed her. No growling this time at least.

“See, I didn’t lie to you. It comes out of the package easier.” He narrowed his gaze at her but ate it and then went onto another package of chicken and then some of the frozen beef. He ate all of it before moving back to the cabinets and fridge for more and was clearly irritated that there wasn’t any more in there. He was sniffing the air and then walked through the house to her bedroom and she was following him looking him over.

How did anyone gain muscle weight like that even under a curse? His back had roping muscle now all the way down his backside and his thighs and legs too. She noted that the tattoos on him looked like chains that looped around his arms across his shoulders and then down his back and legs. On his back was a very detailed black sword that the chains were bound around and held tight. That had to take hours to do, it was so detailed.

“Look, I have no idea what happened to you. But I need to know so that I can help you. Can you write or anything?” He moved to her nightstand and opened it pulling out her bag of chocolate there. Wow what a nose this guy had. Clearly he was going to find food anywhere she had it. He ate them all including some of the wrappers. He turned around and she instantly snapped her eyes up to his face.

She was more aware that the man wasn’t wearing anything now that he wasn’t emaciated and looking near death. Impressive... 

Eyes up top Tamara. She mentally told herself again and he was looking around the room. Touched his stomach and even from here she could hear it growling for more. 

“Are you under a curse?” She asked and he shrugged.

“Can you tell me what happened. Write it if you can’t speak?” Shook his head and moved past her back toward the kitchen. 

“Still hungry?” Head nod.

“I can get more food here.” Because she wasn’t taking him to a damn supermarket. Instinct told her that he would just start eating whatever he found. He perked up at that and looked at her and pointed to the floor. It took her a second as he gestured a bit more aggressively. He wanted it now.

“I have to get it or order it, and it will take a little bit of time.” She couldn’t let this man out in the world until she knew what was wrong with him. This was now another job she had to solve. Max better compensate her for it.

“I’ll be back shortly with more if you promise to stay here.” She grabbed her purse on the counter and turned to go. She didn’t think with the way he was acting he’d suddenly run out of her house. He didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere. If he got agitated she figured he might. Not the first time she’d had to take a leap of faith and leave an inflicted person and hope they’d stay. Instinct told her he could be dangerous. He took hold of her arm again and she looked at him.

“I don’t have anything here and you can’t come. It would be dangerous.” She told him seriously and his gaze narrowed and he slowly shook his head. 

 “It’s fine, I’ll be right back with food I promise.” She winced when his grip grew more painful and tight.

No. He mouthed the word to her very seriously.

“I thought you wanted more food.” 

Yes. He mouthed and she gave him a confused look.

“Then I need to go and get it.”

No. He pointed to her and then toward the outside. No. 

“If I don’t leave I can’t get food.” He just stared at her, his silver eyes narrowed. She pointed toward the sink, clearly she needed him to see logic here. 

“I didn’t lie about that, and I’m not lying about the food. To be honest I’m more worried that when I leave you won’t stay here. You need help, a special kind that the rest of the world can’t give. You were locked in that stone sarcophagus. This is more serious than I know, but I’ve dealt with things like this before. Trust me, I promise I’m not lying. I’ll be right back.” He stared at her and seemed to be thinking.

No. He said again and that seemed rather final. She pursed her lips and set her purse down. He let go of her and she went over to the computer. Okay plan number two, she went onto the computer and sat down to order some food, and she wasn’t sure who she was going to find that would deliver food now to her. She managed to find a pizza delivery and went and got her cellphone which didn’t turn off this time and called to order. This was crazy, she should be getting this man real help, but here she was ordering more food so he didn’t take a chunk out of her.