Page 33 of Eat Me Alive
“Mothers are supposed to protect their children.”
Something pierces my heart at this. I feel it in my eyes, my throat, so I look away. “She’s not evil…just strict and rough around the edges. She grew up from a much stricter family.”
“I do not like that you are excusing abuse.”
Abuse. Is it really? I remember when father died, she had a boyfriend who became her husband. He always liked to sneak into my room at night. It’s why I don’t like being touched when I’m unconscious. I don’t even know if I’d been actually violated, just that I’d sworn off intimate contact my whole adult life. I’m afraid to find out. Xiaoyu, The Avoidant.
“Anger is a generational curse. You can sever yourself from it anytime. You are human. You are capable of change, are you not?”His tone reeks of arrogance, and I get the distinct feeling he despises humans. Someone like me.
It makes me feel smaller than ever.
“Healing is not that linear, Datu.” I want to speak my piece. That humans are so much more complex than that…but even now, I’m terrified.
Terrified of what, Xiaoyu?
“Just so you know, I don’t appreciate you looking down your nose at us. Like we are subhumans.” The beat of my heart triples, and I think Datu might actually eat me right now.
Instead, his brow twitches and he throws his head back, laughing.
“Sateva said the same thing.”
Relief feels triumphant. “Well, you should take her advice. She seems like a smart lady.”
“Hmmm, she is quite a cunning, vindictive one. Do not fool yourself into thinking she has innocent, straightforward intentions.”
“How can you say that about your sister?” I scoff, offended for Teva.
He shrugs then curls his arms around my waist.“I jest. Let me take you to the east village before daylight.”
Shit! Crawling and begging actually worked.
I almost forgot about that. “I don’t want to rough out the forest naked. Got clothes for me, right?”
He sighs, saying,“Such a shame to cover such beauty now that I see you.”
“Oh, quiet, you flirt.”
Those eyes, however, say otherwise. He isn’t flirting. He’s luring.
Datu
The conversation with Xiaoyu left me much to think. I will never change my feelings for the humans, but Iloathethe thought of her going hungry. Starving herself because it’s what her mother wants.
From what little I know about them, mothersarecaretakers. Nurturers, even fierce protectors. What Xiaoyu described was…abhorrent. I will never starve her, and yet it sheds light into my large-scale hypocrisy.
The sense of irony in it is a painful stab. The females left behind starve in my land. I cannot tell for how long now. In desperation, they resorted to cannibalizing the males who still thrived through sunlight and water. It is why the males went dormant.
Contrary to what Xiaoyu believes, the males were forced into dormancy because they were being eaten alive by females, not because of the drought.
I think it is me coping when I shove fruits into her satchel.
“Hey! You got my bag.” She smiles, digging her hands in and fishing out a bottle.
This one, I know. It’s the same bottle the human males used to drink from. She twists the cap off and drinks. I watch her throat bob up and down, her neck, her…
Embarrassingly, a cilia audibly snaps underneath my loin cloth. Her eyes widen, and her gasp does not make it any better. It is as if every sound she makes slices something open in me.
“I’m not sure if it’s polite to ask, but what is behind that?” She points at where my slit is.
