Renato Casals wasn’t
feeling good. Something sinister and hungry nestled in his gut. His body trembled
as if drained out of every ounce of fluid. For twenty years he ran Santa Coloma
town’s post office without a glitch, until today.
“Mr. Renato, are you
fine?” Lucy, his assistant, asked.
“Just need some air.”
Renato fumbled on his way out.
He shouldn’t have opened
that unnamed parcel, but then he couldn’t help himself too.
“Oh God, how these ants
got all over my body.” He ranted aloud on the streets.
The strange thing was
that Renato didn’t remember anything about what was in that parcel. The only thing
that mattered now was his hunger. Food. Only food could have satiated the
burning heat inside him.
“Hey Eloi, give me six
big ones of those.” He shouted at the Hamburger stand. People looked at him
alarmed though only for a brief moment before returning to what they were
doing, having their lunch.
“What happened, Mr.
Casals, skipped lunch today?” Eloi was happy to see his regular customer though
surprised at the yelling.
Renato gulped six
hamburgers with all the bacon and cheese, no chewing actualized at all, still,
he knew it wouldn't be enough. The burgers were just not adequate to fill the
gaping beak of the giant fledgling in his stomach.
He lumbered through the
late afternoon street leaving the wrappers behind like carcasses. People looked
at him with disgust, except everything was second-rate before his primal urge
for food.
Conesa Entrepans - One of
the best restaurants in the Santa Coloma for calming those late afternoon
hunger streaks. That day too it wasn't different - choked up to the brim. The
waiters were overwhelmed with orders, and it was unlikely that anyone would
have noticed the pale face of Renato Casal.
Oblivious to whatever
small amount of attention he was getting Renato worked his way down to the
menu. But it was way too cumbersome to pick and choose when all he wanted was
anything and everything that could be gulped.
“Get me everything that
is in the Kitchen. FAST.” His bark at the end of his order raised some
eyebrows, but evidently, it didn’t matter to him. Once he started eating eyes
begun to turn, and murmurings turned toward him.
“Look at that man. That
is so gross.”
“People should have more
respect towards their bodies.”
“How can someone eat like
that? That’s insane.”
“Look at that table
honey, no way a man could eat that much.”
But he could, and he did.
“Is everything
satisfactory, sir?”
“I want more. Get me
whatever you have. NOW.”
The more he ate, the more
his body demanded. The fledgling tore his inner boundaries. He ate with every
body part that could put food in his mouth but still, all wasn’t enough.
“Sir, your next order
will take 15 to 20 minutes.” The announcement from the waiter proved to be the
last straw that held his self-control. A terrible fear gripped Renato. He
looked at the waiter and then to the other tables. All eyes were on him.
“Get away from my table.”
The lady shrieked, but Renato wasn’t listening. He gulped the steak in one
shot.
“Somebody call the cops.”
But Renato had to eat. He
must eat. He had to kill it, his hunger somehow. Tablecloth. Yes, that could
work. He put a piece of the chequered table cloth in his mouth but he wanted
more and more. His face changed to a gaunt exterior, like a person who was
starving for days or maybe months. But he had to keep eating to alleviate the
pain, the pain of death.
Eat. Eat. Eat.
He had to eat.
Human flesh - if his body
wants it then fine. He wanted to live.
“Oh God, Joel, save me.”
The lady on the next table shrieked with pain.
“GRAB THE ANIMAL.” Joel
pounced on him as Renato tried to put his teeth on his wife’s hand.
“Jeez, look at his face.”
the waiter shouted.
Renato was on the floor,
motionless, his face turned a gaunt skull. His hands weak. An old starving
soul. DEAD.
“Weird, if I didn’t know
that this guy ate half the food of this restaurant, I would have said that he
died starving.” The waiter was baffled like everyone else.
“Christ, I hope this
isn’t infectious.” The restaurant manager said in hushed tones.
But the restaurant
manager didn’t have to wait much longer for the answer.
One thousand two hundred
sixty-seven more people in Santa Coloma got similar parcels that day, and for
some strange reasons, they were all going to open it. And that included the
Conesa Entrepans' manager also.
The total population of
Santa Coloma before that day almost touched a figure of two thousand five
hundred souls.
And the one person who
saw it coming was not in the town of Santa Coloma. He was sleeping 8000
kilometers away in a monastery in Ladakh, watching it all as it happened.
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