Chapter Text
After months trapped in its coffin, it’s out. Breaking through a coffin lid with decayed limbs isn’t easy, but perseverance can get it out. It's out. Free at last. Full of dirt, still wearing its funeral suit, ruined after digging through soil and stones. Starving. It hasn’t eaten anything in months. It starts wandering around streets that should have been familiar. It passes past a building, and momentarily stops. It feels important. It should have been, but the thought fades as soon as it comes, swallowed by an empty stomach. People don’t seem to mind a rotten kid limping around. Some wrinkle their noses at the smell, but most seem to think “what a great costume”. No one reaches out. It makes its way to an alley, where exhaustion finally catches up with it. Leaning against a wall, it hears a squeak nearby. Hunger doesn’t care about what it is. The rat is food. The body doesn't even try to catch it, because the animal pads towards it by itself. Apparently, it's hungry too, and rotten flesh is appetizing. The rat finds a bare spot on its leg, and starts nibbling at the skin. Before it can manage to eat a chunk, the body grabs it. The rodent screeches, twisting its body in the creature's grip. It brings the rat to its mouth, and bites. The taste is awful, like a dirty carpet soaked in blood, but it doesn't care, it just keeps eating until the rat finally stops moving.
Footsteps. A woman wearing a white dress approaches. She's an angel, with her plastic wings and yellow halo.
“Are you okay, kid?” she asks, but it doesn't reply.
The dead rat slips from its fingers, landing in the puddled water with a soft thud. It tries to reach for its meal, but she stops it. Carefully, she helps it up. It can barely stand, but her grip helps.
“Where are your parents?” she tries again, with the same result.
The creature leans against her, something she misunderstands as a child seeking comfort. She pats its back reassuringly, but the kid wasn't seeking soothing; it was still hungry, and now it had something way bigger than a rat. It bites again.