The Food Preference

This was like a daily ritual. He would bring a new girl in the evening. He was six feet tall, barrel-chested, handsome man with hypnotic eyes. When he walked the thick, heavy wooden floor creaked under his weight. I was supposed to keep the place speck less and tidy. There was no television in the house. No newspapers, magazines or the likes. I used to prepare dinner for him but have never seen him eating. But the food was never left in the plate that made me guess he eats it with the girl inside the room. After sitting in the drawing room, the girl would be asked - ‘coffee or tea?’ with his lady killer smile. She would opt for one. I would prepare the stuff as per the choice and put his magic powder in the girl’s cup.
Even before finishing her drink, girl would complain of not feeling good. He would stand up and offer her a glass of water himself and in doing so he would touch her on the side of her neck or open shoulder or back. She would take the water, drink it but would not let him go away. The magic powder started its effect in seconds. Now girl would feel ecstatic where ever he would touch her. Slowly, and then on girl’s pleading, things move faster a little further from touching to fondling and that was the moment I was supposed to leave the room. He would bolt the room from inside and I could only imagine what would be happening behind the closed doors. In the morning only he would emerge from the drawing room’s front door alone. That means he had seen the girl off through the door in the backyard sometime during the night as usual. I had never seen him doing so but heard the noise of the drawing room’s back door to a gallery - that in turn lead to the backyard – open and close. I could never understand this strange way of seeing off your guest.
I can’t dare peeping through the key hole. Yesterday only I had made that mistake and lost my left little finger. This was the punishment to play peeping Tom on him. He was very caring and loving if you obey him like a slave but he was a monster if you trespass. I was peeping through the hole but I could see nothing except his legs without boots. The door creaked and he came out of the room like a ghost, holding a small axe in his hand. I ran. He threw the sharp little axe on me. To defend myself I had nothing but my bare hands which came in front of my face as a reflex action. The lethal axe heading towards my skull, cycled through the air with a faint swoosh and took away the little finger of my left hand. It was blood – thick, hot, sticky, red blood all over my shirt. I had never seen so much blood ever in my life and started screaming hysterically more with horror than pain on seeing my own, gushing through the wound at the terminal spot of missing finger. Missing did I say? No, finger was not missing; it was lying on the floor in a small puddle of blood. Horrified, I pleaded him for pardon. He cooled down and warned me not to do this ever again or he would cut my head and feed it to dogs.
Today he had gone out as usual in the morning. I had buried my finger in the corner of the backyard. He never had time to tend the backyard. It was a place filled with food cans and other domestic dry waste, most of it dug and buried into the ground. You can’t remain in backyard for more than a few seconds. The filthy smell of the dirty place will not let you. I wasn’t allowed in the backyard without his permission but since he was not at home I went there to bury my finger. After the burial ceremony I came into the living room and lied down to sleep as usual. There was nothing to do for me except keeping the place clean, cooking and sleeping. He didn’t talk to me unless necessary. I don’t remember for how long I had been with him. Sometimes I used to wonder whether he was my father or elder brother may be. Today I was finding it hard to sleep. I was caressing the wound which I had nursed myself. There was still time in his returning home. He had never returned home before evening. Whole day he used to hunt for the girls. I had never seen him bringing in the same girl twice. Something pesky was hanging on my head today. Something, which I could not put my finger on. My irksome mood was making me restless. What is it? Why am I feeling distressed? Why am I sweating? I stood up and started strolling inside the large living room. I recalled yesterday’s incident and shivered. I could never forget that faint ‘swoosh’ sound that the axe had made in the air before hitting me. What would have happened if I did not bring my hands in front to defend myself? The sharp edge of the axe would have stuck deep in my cranium. Another cold shiver bolted down my spine. I would have died a horrible death. He wanted to kill me. That thought froze me in my tracks. I stopped strolling. Seeing him making love with a girl without her consent by doping her was not that serious an offence that he tried to murder me. And he knew that from the keyhole, in fact, nothing could be seen then why did he try to kill me? He could have beaten me, punished me in some other way but killing me? Too much of a punishment for such a small offence.
And afterwards why didn’t the girl suspect of her rape? Something strange is there that I didn’t know. There was still time so I decided to go into the drawing room. I went there and looked around. Nothing strange or out of place! Then I saw the aquarium that was kept in front of the closed cupboard over a wooden table covered with a white cloth. What was there in that cupboard? I had never seen inside that cupboard. The heavy aquarium was kept touching its closed doors. It was opened on the top. Probably there was nothing inside the cupboard. But my curiosity was too much for that reasoning so I decided to move the aquarium and open the cupboard. I could replace the aquarium in its original place long before he would return. I caught hold of the wooden edges of the table. All the fish inside the aquarium seem to be staring at me saying – ‘we will tell him what you had been up to’. I smiled and exerted little force on the table. It didn’t budge. I tried again. No result. Frustrated, I gave a hard push. Water inside the aquarium jolted as if a little tsunami has struck inside. A few fish dropped off with a splash of water. The fish started gasping and rolling on the floor. The cloth on the table top got wet. Panicked, I picked up the fish from the floor and dropped them back home. I prayed that the cloth will dry before he comes. I noticed that my whole body was sweating profusely out of terror. He will definitely hack me with his axe if he finds out what I had been up to. I decided to drop the idea of this trespassing when I saw that table was moved up to a distance away from the cupboard so that cupboard’s doors can be opened. I opened the doors. Inside there was a huge camera. So he used to make dirty pictures of the girls, blackmail them for money. That is why he was living so lavishly with no other means of earnings and no bank account even. I carefully replaced the table and came back to the living room. Where did he keep the films? In cupboard there was single partition and there was nothing except the camera. He sure kept the films somewhere else. Not in this house. There was no place in this house known to me where he could hide the films. Even then I searched the whole house but discovered not even a scrap of a film.
He returned with a tall and slender girl. Her hair and eyes were as black as starless night sky. She was all smiling and chattering with him. I heard him calling her Lovely. Lovely was in her late twenties and was wearing a low-waist jeans under a low cut top revealing enough flesh that could drive any sane and able man go crazy and drool all over her. He was also responding in the most pleasant gentlemanly way he used to do. He asked me to prepare tea and went into the drawing room almost dragging her along with him. This girl didn’t seem to be requiring the magic powder. She was all game by herself. But I could not take that risk so I went to the kitchen and started preparing the tea. Then I added the magic powder as usual. I was pouring the tea when he entered the kitchen, again soundless, like a ghost and came over my head. His eyes were burning red with rage. I swallowed hardly. So he had seen the wet cloth. His one hand was behind his back and in the other hand he was not holding the axe. I took a silent breath of respite. At least I was not going to die. Slowly he brought his other hand up from behind, in front of me. There was hanging a small, red, dead fish in his fingers. I shivered with anticipation of what was to come. My legs felt to be turning to jelly when he growled like a hungry wolf – ‘I found this under the table’.
It seemed that I had swallowed my own tongue. It didn’t feel anywhere in my mouth. Turned into a cold stone I stood there staring at the fish as if it would resurrect and fly back to the aquarium.
It happened so swiftly that I didn’t see it coming. My mind dived into a recess of darkness. Even before I could understand that he had probably slapped me, I fainted.

I was sitting on a wooden chair. My left side of the face was throbbing with pain where I took his slap that made me faint. I tried to move then I found that my legs were secured to the chairs’ with a duct tape. So were the hands behind the back of the chair. The place was dark and damp. A yellow bulb was giving a losing fight to the darkness with its pale yellow, twinkling light. The place was reeking of a strange kind of filthy, unbearable smell. The walls were smeared with huge patches of black paint. I tried my best to focus in that faint light. Then I heard a sound - a strange sound that made my hair on the neck stand straight. It was a sound as if a starving dog is hogging on food. The slurping and chewing sound was coming from right in front. What I beheld made me wretch instantly. I felt as if my intestines will turn out through my mouth. My heart sank deep into my ribs and eyes got soggy with tears.
He had already finished Lovely’s stomach and thighs. Now he was chomping on the calf. He was holding her hacked off lower leg by ankles and busy tearing on soft flesh of the calf. Lovely’s partly eaten corpse was smeared in blood. Blood was actually all around. He himself was sitting in the pool of her blood oblivious to everything around except stuffing his mouth with Lovely’s calf flesh.
I wretched again with a loud and painful scream. My front of T-shirt was wet with my lunch that I had taken. My head started throbbing with an unbearable ache. He looked at me with his face covered in Lovely’s blood, lips sticky with drying blood, smiling and a beastly savage look in his eyes.
My whole body was shivering looking at the horrifying scene, terror and anticipation of my gory death.
He is not a human being!
He is a monster!
A cannibal!
I have been living with a cannibal!
So this is what he used to do! He used to eat a new girl every day after raping her. But why did he not eat me? He was fond of girls only. But now I knew who he is! I am soon going to end up into small pieces by his axe. I noticed his axe in his right hand. So he used to enjoy the victim then killed them with his axe and eat them. Then I noticed another faint movement. Lovely’s corpse was moving in small jerks. It was not copse. Lovely was still alive. She was half dead. So he did not kill the victims. He used to eat them alive. That explained the carpet of blood on the floor. Lovely must have crawled for her life over the floor when he slowly and sadistically handicapped her of her leg. She might have screamed and pleaded him to spare her. But he was a monster. He played with his game around while eating her in parts. It was horrible to witness the poor girl watching herself being eaten alive to slow, painful and horrible death. It was not black paint on the walls. It was the blood of his earlier victims. That strange stench was of dried blood, decomposing body parts strewn around on the floor and dampness of the huge hall. Suddenly he brought his axe up and chopped off one of her fingers. Lovely was not even screaming now. Her soul was just clutching her to depart any moment. He picked up the finger, stood up and came over to me. He dangled the finger in front of my face and hissed – ‘eat’.
‘no’ – I said in the voice of a stranger.
He grabbed my nape and stuffed the finger forcefully in my mouth. ‘eat’ – he repeated with his axe trained over my head. I did. Who wouldn’t? I vomited once more and fainted again.
This went on for whole night. He made me eat Lovely’s ears, nose, fleshy parts of her chest and seat. I ate, vomited, fainted, came round, vomited, ate, vomited, fainted, came round, ate……
By the break of dawn my condition was filthier than a pig. I was drenched in my own vomit and Lovely’s blood, stench had become the part of my existence and I was moving like a zombie. He had finished most of Lovely except the bones. This time he was busy cracking her skull with his axe when I saw a huge knife lying on the floor. This he might have used to chop out the flesh from parts like thighs. I picked it up, slowly tip toed towards him behind his back and plunged its whole eight inches long blade in his spine with all my strength. He screamed with agony. His body arched like a bow and he swung around with his axe in his hand. His hand struck my face and I fell down. He threw the axe and tried to grip the knife which was stuffed behind. His hands could not reach the knife. He was growling in pain and anger. I ran for my life towards the single door in the ceiling. The door was at the other end of a stair case that was going upwards. So, it was a basement. I came out of the basement into the drawing room. The basement was never in my knowledge earlier. I closed the iron door in the floor of the drawing and replaced the carpet over it. The first thing I needed now to clean myself thoroughly.

The giggling laughter woke me up. I was sleeping in the city park under a dried shrubbery. It was a young couple sitting on the park bench. It was very late at night but I had no idea of the time. Their conversation told me that the man was a bachelor and girl was living alone in her apartment somewhere in the town. They were more than friends and less than husband-wife. I needed some source of money and shelter. This girl could be that. Their conversation also informed me that girl’s car was parked outside somewhere and they were planning something interesting. Stealthily and swiftly I went out of the park, located the car and tried the boot. Luckily it was open. I hid myself there and waited. After a few moments I heard them outside. They were talking and laughing. Then they entered the car. After sometime, car started shaking with a rhythm. So, they were making love. I could hear the girl still giggling sometime. Suddenly I heard a harsh voice. This was a policeman on beat. A little argument ensued, followed by apologies by the young couple and warnings issued by the policeman. Finally, the car started and ran off. After about half an hour, after taking several turns across the city roads, car stopped. I heard them come out of the car. Slowly, I opened the boot cover and peeped outside. The car was in a bungalow compound. I carefully came out and hid behind the car. I saw them at a distance embracing tightly and kissing each other. The girl seemed to be more turned on as their escapade in the car had been spoilt by the policeman. After a while they went inside. I tip toed towards the backside of the building and managed to slip in through an unlatched window. I found myself in a bathroom. I carefully came out of the bathroom and stepped into a living room. I heard girls’ giggling from one direction. I followed it. It was a bedroom whose door was ajar but I could see them inside. They were busy having fun. I waited patiently hoping that the boy will leave after some time. But after one hour he was still in there enjoying unstoppably. I was feeling hungry. I searched for the kitchen and found milk, ice-cream, fruits in the refrigerator. I wolfed down whatever I could. I didn’t like the taste but hunger took over. Satiated, I returned back. They were still rolling on the huge bed. Suddenly I strained my ears. Did I hear something? The noise came again. Someone was entering the house quietly. I slipped behind the huge almirah and held my breath. Someone was approaching from the semidarkness in the living room. Then I saw him approaching towards the bedroom. He was a man with a small handgun in his hand. He slowly opened the door of the bedroom and entered. I heard the scream of the girl. The man was shouting. From their argument I learnt that the girl was actually married, the man was her husband and the boy was the current time pass of the girl. Suddenly the man shot the boy dead. Girl was screaming hysterically now. I looked around and saw a metal vase on the table. I picked it up and stole behind the man inside the bedroom. Man’s back was towards me but the girl could see me. The boy was lying on the bed, dead, his blood soaking into the mattress. Girl’s eyes spread with horror and surprise. Man turned around when my hand holding the vase swung with a brutal force. Heavy vase fell on mans head. His skull caved in and he dropped with a thump on the floor. The gun clattered below the bed. Man was not moving, probably dead. I checked his pulse, definitely dead.
Now I looked at the girl who was standing like an idol with not a single strand of cloth on her body. I gave her a second, slow, scrutinizing look then she realized her condition and quickly fumbled for her clothes. Having covered herself she asked me who I was. I told her that I was an orphan and broke into the house for some food. She gave me an incredulous look but at this moment I had saved her from her almost definite death.
She brought a hoe and a spade. We dragged the corpses into the backyard. Against whatever I had already been through yesterday this was a cool breeze. But still the sight of blood aroused a strange feeling in me. We dug graves in the soft ground and shoved the dead men into them. Then I splashed sufficient amount of kerosene over them and showed them a burning matchstick. Finally, we buried the charred bodies. This all took us more than 3 hours. We came back to the bedroom and cleaned it thoroughly. Another 2 hours. Both of us were panting with exhaustion. She told her name Sita.
What a bloody contradictory name!
When she asked I told her that I was 17. Her eyes started sparkling with desire again. That girl was a crazy nymphomaniac. She made us drinks and we got drunk. Quickly she entered the bathroom into the shower and signaled me to join. I removed my clothes too and entered the bathroom. She giggled and spread her arms. She was more than double of my age. This was a new and interesting experience for me.
Was it a reward of the hell I had been through yesterday?
I moved towards her slowly.
My first bite tore off the thin skin of her soft neck. Shocked, horrified and agonized scream bellowed from Sita’s throat. She grabbed her throat and tried to run out of the bathroom by pushing me aside. A fountain of blood gushed from her wound, ran down her naked body, blended with showering water and streamed like a pale red serpent towards the drain. She failed in her effort. I grabbed her and chewed off her left cheek. She fell down on her back rolling with acute agony and unbearable shock on the bathroom floor.
That bloody monster had turned me into a monster too!
But strangely, I was not repenting or complaining. Rather a beastly smile was playing on my lips. I grabbed her as if embracing her and started eating her.
She was far more delicious than Lovely.
*************