Page 19 of Eat Me Alive
Datu’s mood shifts abruptly and playfully shoves her away, the heaviness in the air receding. These two were giving me whiplash. She rolls her eyes and stands to leave. Ingar is building a pyre a few yards away from us. He smiles, embraces Teva when she approaches him. It’s…sweet. Too intimate that I turn away immediately.
A feeling scratches inside my chest, bothersome and it fills me with discontent. I actually envy Teva and Ingar’s relationship. They’re so different and yet so in tune with each other’s emotions. I can’t help but yearn for something like what they have.
Datu nudges me and gives me that sharp-toothed grin. I’m not sure if he can see yet, but he’s looking straight into my eyes. The pale coloring should appall me, but it makes him look more fantastical. Unreal.
He pats the grass behind me and pushes me down so I’m laid on my back, facing the night sky. I gasp at what I see. There’s no moon, but the stars, the constellations…they smatter like iridescent glitter across an endless black sheet.
Datu, laid beside me, makes a self-satisfied grunt like he knew all along I would love what I see. I can feel him looking at me right now as I keep my gaze skyward. I’m not sure what he sees, but I hear a deep fluttering, much like my heart.
“I can see Centaurus from here,” I break the silence with a fun fact.
In my periphery, he rolls over to face me completely, listening.
“It’s a group of stars that are just shaped in some sort of way. People—humans—like to put meaning and names to everything. That one is called Centaurus after Chiron, a half-horse, half human creature. He’s very wise and trained in natural medicine.He can heal countless others, but ultimately died because he couldn’t heal himself. The paradox.”
He nods as if he understands what I’m saying. Datu sweeps his hand across the sky. I see the trees sway in unison with him. Ominous and majestic.
“It’s called outer space. There might be other creatures out there.”
He taps a finger to his chin, pensive.
“It does make me feel small, insignificant.” I’m not sure where that came from.
He smiles and pokes me, shaking his head. He’s telling me that I’m not insignificant. It hits something deep in me, and before I can thank him again, Ingar calls me.
“Lin! Get over here.”
My irritation spikes, but I hold my tongue.
“Come with me,” I tell Datu, but he politely declines. I grimace and awkwardly wave bye to him. I doubt he sees it at how his gaze is entirely too focused on Ingar. For a blind guy, he seems to know where everything is.
I jog toward them and inhale the delicious smell of meat. God, when had I last eaten? I watched as he roasts what looked like an enormous insect with metallic flesh. It looks like a mix of a centipede and a scarab.
“This is Teva’s. We have our own food. I have to get to the cache, it’s not too far.” He tells me.
I’m absolutely terrified of asking for food—a fear Mother had cultured until it festered—so I acquiesce silently.
“I knowyou’re hungry, but just wait for me. Don’t eat anything from here.”
My brows pull together. “Why?”
“I hear most of the edible shit here is psychedelic. Don't want to risk it.”
My mouth clamps shut. “Oh, that’s…kind of dangerous.”
“You don’t know danger until you see someone having a psychotic trip and tries to kill everyone.” He tells me gruffly and I get the feeling he’d seen exactly that.
“So, about this work…it’s guaranteed I can go home, right?”
“If you do the job right, I guarantee your safe trip back home.”
I’m beginning to feel weak and sweaty as I reply, “I was hand-picked for the job. Of course I can do the job right.”
Ingar looked away, and I swear a look of guilt crossed his face.
“Of course, you were picked because of your professional achievements and accolades.”
Interrupting his brooding, my stomach growls—loud and insistent. I’m terribly embarrassed but I’m glad he doesn’t say anything about it. Ingar tosses me something long wrapped in brown paper.
