It had begun in the night. Or rather that's when she consciously noticed it for the first time. She woke up in the cozy darkness of her room to find he felt hot. She had a fever. In retrospect, the hunger had started before then. In fact, she'd been hungry for quite some time before that - she'd practically gone to bed hungry. She ate enough to tide her over, and went to bed… but the hunger hadn't actually abated. By now she felt ravenous, but she'd just eaten… twice. The last time she ate she didn't even want to. She had no interest in the food.
The footsteps on the porch forewarned the door flying open, but not by enough. Light filled the room, and shrill laughter hit her ears like a ice water on a sunbather.
“…cheater, cheater house is out-of-boundzies!” squealed her daughter.
“Christopher ! Take it outside. Carly, close the door.” Tanya growled at her children.
They immediately cowed.
“I’m sorry Mommy.”
“Close the god-damn door!” She yelled, holding her hand in front of her eyes, though it only dampened her pain.
Carly stood in the front hall, un-accustomed to her mother treating her brusquely. Not knowing how to respond, she burst into tears.
“Oh for Christ ’s sake.” Tanya barked. “Would you just shut-up and close the door!?”
Carly howled louder.
The noise rattled down Tanya ’s spine and back up again hitting every alarm bell in each direction. She leapt out of her chair and leapt across the room at the doorway. As she stepped into sunlight, it felt like a thousand needles sunk into her skin and she recoiled into the comfort of the shade.
Noises, light – both made him irritable. He developed a constant and increasing fever and he was always hungry, but wouldn’t eat. Then he went crazy and…
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