Devoured

Although the sounds of tea cups and plates clattering, customers chatting, and beverages being sipped lightly was around the air; to his ears, none rang. All that played were her last words before she left, once, short, crisp and it was over, all that remained was serenity.

He remained seated, but not for long, he seemed in a trance perhaps or is it better to say his mind wasn't where his actions were, paying the bill he walked out, his eyes seemed as bright as always, almost as if nothing had happened. He walked home, the routine route seemed oddly desolate on the close of this day.

He had arrived home even before the sun had set, quite early for a Friday night. In his small but clean apartment he laid upon his bed, staring into the ceiling. Time passed by slowly as he would occasionally change position, perhaps lie on the floor, stand atop the bed, fail to attempt a handstand. The clock had ticked past 12 and the goddess of sleep seemed none the closer.

He had pushed up from the bed, grabbed a jacket and had gone out the door between the ticks of the clock. Cutting swiftly we see a scene of him walking towards the edge of town, treading upon a small cliff he came up till the tip, a few more steps and what awaited would be a tumble down into the sea.

He stood upon the cliff's edge as the night moved slowly, as the moon moved into a position where it shined the least light it had all night a pair of crimson eyes opened abruptly in the darkness, he seemed unsurprised at this harrowing scene. The eyes moved closer, till right next to the edge of the cliff and a certain darkness spread around him. He closed his eyes, as if in acceptance of his fate as the darkness slowly consumed him, the eyes seemingly staring right into his soul.

Shhhh

In the blink of an eye, the darkness receded, the crimson eyes nowhere in sight, he opened his eyes, again, seemingly unsurprised by the unexplained events, he sighed, hints of disappointment shone in his eyes for a second but were replaced by apathy as if they were never there

He walked back into town, having not eat anything in a number of hours he heading towards a cafe, the same cafe that this snippet of his life being shown to you began in. He chose a window seat, sat down about to order when something unexpected occurred. She walked in. But not alone, there was someone with her, she seemed quite cheerful with them, as if recent events never occurred at all, in that moment he seemed to tune out most everything, lowering his head slightly, staring blankly at the menu, deep in introspection and thought perhaps?

A minute or so later, he got up from his seat, leaving the menu on the table, and walked about slowly but with a certain determination to his step. She didn't notice him even as he left the cafe, whether intended or not, she seemed fully focused on her conversation with the other person, laughing and smiling more than she had in his recent memory.

As the sounds of cars and trucks driving back and forth played in his head, they began as if they were right next to me but slowly those sounds seemed to be moving further and further away from him, replaced by sounds closer to nature, birds and insects chirping and flapping their wings, but soon even these sounds seemed to disappear, it appeared that he was at the cliff once more, the sun seemed to have disappeared somewhere along his journey, replaced by an almost non-existent moonlight, a moonlight which soon hid behind deep invisible clouds.

Once again, crimson eyes opened themselves to him, holding what was perhaps a trace of surprise at the return visit. But without missing a beat, the eyes repeated their previous motions, moving closer to him and staring deep into his soul as the overwhelming darkness consumed his body. This time however, he smiled as the darkness took him, seemingly pleased by the cold and empty feeling it brought him. The darkness didn't retreat this time, simply consuming all of his vision, hearing, smell, taste, and feeling. He felt nothing, saw nothing, heard, smelt and tasted nothing. Perhaps this was what death was like, escaping existence perhaps led to nothingness, and perhaps some would find comfort in it as he did.

This nothingness however wasn't one meant to last forever. The crimson eyes appeared before him once more, now seeming much more defined and...predatory.

His body reformed, spreading from his centre as if food colouring dropped in water. As he reformed, his face showed an expression of calm acceptance and joy, a slight smile hung on his lips, as he floated in the endlessly dark void, he extended his hands out as if expecting to receive a hug, tilting his neck back as the crimson eyes seemed to lunge forward, horrifyingly sharp and massive teeth burning into existence from the darkness, clamped down on him as his own teeth emerged from between his lips in a deeper smile.

There was pain, not so physical, perhaps mental, or emotional, it was hard to tell. But the pain was also relieving, as if an injury slowly being cauterised, it was painful but the knowledge that he wouldn't need to worry about the injury any longer left him comforted.

His body twitched, as if the creature...no, the...entity with the red eyes was chewing on him, no blood was spilt, no guts were spewed out for all to see, no sound of bones being broken, there was a distinct silence in fact.

He stayed in this state, body twitching for some time, he couldn't tell if it was after mere minute or hours but at some point, he had fallen asleep. When he awoke, the sun had risen once more, he looked down upon himself and there shown, where his heart would be, a gaping hole filled with a dark nothingness. But a nothingness that was being refilled, his heart seemed to be reforming into existence, as the bones and muscles surrounding it reformed after, then the skin, and finally his shirt pocket.

It was over, everything was over, and this brief but impactful period of his life would fail to become a regret.