Looking at the ceiling while in Domi's bed, he thought.
'Darn it, I can't stay alone with this secret... Show is real for sure, but if he can harm me, so can he hurt Domi, or his family. I don't want to wear this burden alone. I can't keep that for me, that's out of question, but can I tell mother about Show? That's not even his real name...'
His head ached. He placed his hand on his forehead and continued his inner monologue.
'How to tell her, should I begin with something like ...hey, someone's here to abduct me with your early consent... She'll go rampage again. That's for sure, I don't want to, I don't want to. Maybe I'll meet him again in my dreams tonight. I'll see what to do after our next consultation.'
Alas the night passed, and the next one too. And so on. Yet he was indecisive on his thought.
There was a long period during which Keith had his mother more often driving insane, he became used to sleep at his neighbour's house.
On the sixth night, Keith escaped Domi's room by the window. His hunger was back at full force and so he went to see the nest. Next to his house.
He cautiously moved toward his house, looking for the wandering Randi or another night patrol around, but he saw no one. Once he reached the tree, the shadow was next to it, holding the two last birds.
The youngest one was dead, but the mother was still lively and fighting for her freedom.
Keith grabbed the chick and gulped it down, to have the same texture as its siblings except for a more important stiffness and coldness, The bird shared the nest with her dead last chick for a few days before her daily life was interrupted with a gigantic black hand grabbing her.
Show lifted the second bird too high for Keith to grab it, he lowered his head and pointed one finger out, toward the sky.
'A condition?'
"Alive."
'I know. Saying no isn't an option with you.'
After gulping down his saliva, he grabbed the bird and looked sharply at the shadow before doing his hardcore truth-or-dare. He first tried the full grown feathers with their flexible rachis and soft vane tingling his throat. He chose to bite a leg.
The small scales covering it and its claw didn't last long as he bit the second off. The bird bled, and screamed. Its wings stirred the air around him but Keith's hand was locked on its neck, it could hardly breathe, let alone squawk.
The warm blood fell on his hand, he licked it and he had a spasm. The warmness and its light metallic feel lit up his hunger.
Show was still looking at him, he could clearly see the kid accelerating his pace, devouring the partridge alive, he knew about the hunger. But the kid's comportment was off, even to him.
Keith had a glimpse of his blurry surrounding, A silvery lining was tangled around his head, around his hands, each bite he had made more appear between his hand and his mouth. None disappeared, on the contrary, they multiplicated.
It broke when it touched him, but it never detached the charred corpse.
Keith wasn't controlling himself any more, he engulfed his jaw in the entrails and ate the organs, He sucked up things he could, slurped and swallowed as if he had not time to spare.
Then he began to chew the cartilaginous thorax, its half crunchiness was easy to torn apart.
He liked the arms and legs joints as much as the bone and its frothy texture inside, a semi-solid paste filling it. He continued with mouthful of joy.
Finally when he ate the head of the animal, its wide open beak stabbed his upper gums, but with a finger he arranged the posture of the small skull between his teeth and continued to chew until there was nothing left in his mouth.
Looking at his hands, his legs almost flinched, he had no idea how much time had passed with him staying in that position. He lift his head to look at Show, the monster held a thread between his hands.
"Cat."
He said.
Keith looked at both ends and with no spare time for a second thought, he ran toward the thickest side of the line. His over-dilated pupils enhanced his sight and allowed him to see way better in the dark. He wouldn't stumble upon any obstacle.
His trance state didn't bother him, it wasn't slowing him down at all. The darkness of the night was an ally, he was just another form under the moon's light.
A few hundred meters away, he saw the cat sleeping under a pile of wood.
He had developed more than just envy on this animal, it flew away more than once and it had been a fierce opponent until now. Show did not help the kid to catch it. It simply waited behind him.
Keith used the sandiest path to walk toward it without disturbing its sleep. His body tensed up while he got closer, he could hear his heart beating in his ears, in his neck, in his brain.
'You are mine. Mine! MINE!'
He grabbed both hind legs and its forelegs at the same time and while the animal woke up in a cheer panic, Keith had his lips and teeth sank into the cat's body. Blood drops fused on his face, dripping from his forehead, into his eyes that wouldn't blink.
The poor animal's howls were quickly interrupted with the squeeze it had over his lungs.
The meat's warmth spread into Keith's body, the cat's muscles continued moving, spasming, but the cat couldn't escape. It twisted its body impossible ways, his organs gushed out of the little space there was between his jaw and the wound.
Bones shattered, its cartilaginous ribcage didn't last much either.
When its paws relaxed he allowed himself to let go of the legs with one hands and help himself shoving the food inside his mouth. His finger passing between the muscles and the skin helped him holding it even though it was very slippery.
The cat stopped spasming a few seconds after this moment. Keith went for the head. He beheaded the cat by pulling as hard as he could, he then instinctively shoved his tongue at the base of the spine to eat the brain first.
It contained a lot of fat and its mushy texture pleased him.
The blood had already began to dry on his face and hands, giving him an arid feeling over his skin. The cat's tongue was full of spines and chewy, its fangs broke easier than expected, its eyes had a rough jelly sensation.
Its claws hurt his mouth but that did not stop him at all, the pads were a kind of delicacy even if they were a little bit dusty.
The skin and the fur was the driest part, but its softness was something he liked as well.
Finally he ate the spot he began a few days earlier, it had scab and the beginning of an infection all around. But it did not matter much.
Almost a whole hour had passed since he caught the cat. He was still standing between barracks, looking for any leftover but he couldn't feel nor hear Show talking to him.
"Hide."
His mind was blank, devoid of reason and reflection.
The shadow touched him and tried to force him moving his legs, or push him but nothing worked. He couldn't touch him.
"Fuck."
It said. Before hiding into Keith's now brownish and sticky shirt.
There was someone standing behind the kid, the man said.
"You are outside at night again? You didn't listen back then? I can give you a lesson."
Holding his bow, the man asked.
"Turn around!"
He noticed the wide dark stain under the boy. After approaching cautiously, he put his hand on Keith's shoulder.
The kid turned his head and bit off Randi's pinky.