Living Hunger

Frederique avoided the mirror the next morning.

She showered with the lights off, the water scalding as she scrubbed at her skin...at the dried blood beneath her nails, the lingering ache in her stomach, the phantom taste still clinging to her tongue.

Raw meat.

The thought made her gag, but nothing came up.

Her body felt different. Not just the gnawing hunger...there was something wrong with her. She felt... sharper, heavier, like her muscles were coiled too tightly beneath her skin. Her reflection haunted the edges of her mind. The eyes. The teeth.

And the voice.

Hunger.

But the voice had gone silent since last night. Now there was just an emptiness, deep and aching, like she'd been hollowed out.

She dressed slowly, her uniform hanging looser than usual. She hadn't lost weight...had she?

The hunger didn't feel like starvation. It was deeper than that, older.

It felt like something else was feeding.

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School was a blur.

The whispered insults were still there. The same laughs. The same sharp, cutting words.

"Freddy Freezerburn!"

"Hey, careful—don't stand too close, she might eat you."

She gritted her teeth and kept walking. They didn't know. They couldn't know.

But something was different today. The words didn't sting as much. The hunger flared when they whispered, a low burn under her skin...but it was less painful.

Like it was... waiting.

Watching.

By lunch, the ache had turned unbearable again.

Frederique sat at the farthest table, isolating herself, forcing food into her mouth as fast as she could. A sandwich. An apple. Two cartons of milk. A full serving of pasta from the cafeteria. She barely tasted any of it.

Still empty.

Still hungry.

Her gaze drifted toward the other students. The noisy cliques. The ones who always made her feel invisible. Or worse...like a joke.

They were laughing again.

At her.

A hot spike of emotion twisted through her stomach.

Not food. But close.

No.

She squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her hands flat against the table.

"Stop it," she whispered under her breath.

The ache surged.

' You're stronger than them. They should be afraid. '

Frederique clenched her fists. Her nails dug into her palms, sharp enough to sting.

The hunger flared..sharper, brighter...until she could almost taste their fear.

And then...

*Crack.*

Her tray split down the middle.

The sound was sharp, loud enough that a few heads turned. Frederique blinked, staring down at the plastic. Her hands had crushed the edge of it, snapping it in half like dry wood.

She hadn't even felt it happen.

Someone whispered nearby.

"What the hell? Did you see that?"

"Dude, she broke the whole tray..."

Frederique's breath caught.

' No. No, they couldn't know. '

She shoved the broken pieces aside and fled the cafeteria, heart pounding so loud it drowned out everything else.

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The bathroom was empty when she staggered in, bracing herself against the sink.

Cold water. She needed to calm down.

The mirror loomed above her, but she didn't dare look yet.

She turned on the faucet, splashing icy water onto her face, gasping as it shocked her senses.

' Breathe. '

' Calm. '

Her reflection was waiting.

Slowly, she raised her head.

The girl staring back...

Her eyes were still wrong.

The pupils had thinned, more like slits than circles. Faint shadows clung under her eyes, and her skin looked paler than usual.

But what caught her attention most was her mouth.

Her teeth.

They hurt.

When she parted her lips, she saw why.

The canines...just barely...looked sharper than they should.

Not fangs. Not fully.

But... close.

She stumbled back from the mirror, her breath ragged.

' What's happening to me? '

The hunger pulsed.

And for the first time, it spoke clearly.

" You're changing. "

Frederique's hand flew to her mouth, muffling the gasp that escaped.

The voice...it wasn't her own. But it was coming from inside.

" I am you. "

' No. '

" You wished for this. You wanted to be better. Stronger. You called to me."

' I didn't... '

" You did. "

The ache twisted deeper.

" And now, you're mine. "

Frederique stumbled back against the wall, clutching her chest. Her heart was racing too fast. Her head spun.

'This is wrong.'

' This is... '

Eat.

The hunger surged again. A pressure. A command.

And then, the voice was silent once more.

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She didn't remember the rest of the day.

The hunger lingered, worse with every hour.

She barely tasted dinner that night. Plates emptied faster than she could control, yet nothing satisfied the ache.

And when the house fell silent, when the shadows lengthened, she felt it again...

The pull.

The presence.

It's awake.

And this time, Frederique wasn't sure she could fight it.