Page 70 of Eat Me Alive
Guiltily, I eye everything around me. There are no walls in his altar, only a circle of thick trees with phosphorescent violet leaves, a hammock, and a throne.
“Stay with me.”
Xiaoyu
A memory of a dream
Pine trees dripping like wax and stalactites is an awe-inspiring display. Cut-outs of various species of fungi and trees across a sky of plant cell division under a microscope. These have always been my go-to background for arts and crafts. The fact that I can’t nurture my own plants has made the hobby go haywire.
It looks a bit like a trippy scene, but it’s what happens when you say too little, and want too much. It shows in what you create. If someone pasted my whole aspirational scrapbook right across a scene, it would be this.
Unnatural, it’s what it looks like. And yet, it gives that cozy, warm feeling of seeing someone’s hard work come to life. The grass crinkles, sounding like crumpled paper. The air smells distinctly of old books.
Spinning around, I’m amazed at the detail put into the artificialworld.
“Absurd someone would take time to make this.” I shout into the heavens, knowing I would eventually summon a few paper birds and planes.
I watch the view expectantly, but a few seconds pass, they don’t come. Instead, veins of black seep into the eukaryotic cells like an infection. A chill runs down my neck, and I know I’m being watched.
In my dreams, I’m always brave. So when I turn to confront my intruder, it hides behind a cut-out.
It’s my friend.
I barely remember its visits, but it’s become more frequent recently. I’ve been more down as of late, maybe that’s why. It always comes to cheer me up.
Walking forward, I coax it out. “I know who you are. Come out.”
Slowly, it peeks out. I have to hold back a gasp when it finally reveals itself. It’s…unbelievably tall. Wide. Like a black swirling hole sucking me in. It has rings of sharp teeth that shimmies as if in greeting.
When it sees my shock, it hides behind a tree again.
“No, come back! I’m sorry, it’s just the first time I’ve actually seen you in the daylight.”
It takes more persuading, but it eventually steps out again. This time, its shape vibrates until the ground below me quakes.
“Is that you?” I ask, eyes frantically looking around. Are we okay?
Gradually, deliberately, its form pulses into something else. Not a chaos of black snarls, but this one, an approximation of a man’s shape. Not entirely human, not entirelyother, too.
I smile, holding my arms out for it. “You sure you’re a guy? Or are you pretending to be one? I don’t mind either way.”
Phosphorescent violet eyes blink open. For a moment, I think there are way too many eyes before shifting back to two. He’s still continuously molding himself to be this vague male form with rippling muscles.
I can’t help it. The call of his body is hypnotic. My gaze skims down his form, and I recall that this isn’t really him. It’s just what he wants to look like for me. There’s something growing between his legs. A heavy, thick cock that pulses with my racing heart.
Before I can say anything, he closes the distance between us and tilts my chin up. He points at his two eyes.
“Eyes up here,” he says.
I bite back a grin. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what got into me.”
“I know what got into you,”he teases me, running sharp-tipped fingers over my cheeks.“You are only answering your body’s call. It calls to me like mine does yours.”
My hand wraps around his cold wrist, and his form shudders—almost fading.
“It’s not just my body. I miss you when you’re gone.”
He leans down and presses his face to mine. It’s not a kiss, more like a face-snuggle. I burst out laughing, finding this too cute.
