“Well, this is an interesting turn of events indeed. Not a death wish, and yet completely resigned to what most of your ‘civilised’ society would call a horrific fate. She certainly was a pleasant surprise. Not too unlike my delicious aunt.”

I find myself at what may well be end. Trapped, alone, waiting for the Reaper to take me to my final resting place, and yet my mind keeps returning to her.

“Please, sit back,” I say to whoever may be listening in.

“Allow me to tell you the story of when I met a tasty little treat named Cherry-Pop.”

It was a few weeks after my dear little sister led the law to my humble abode. Such a shame, I had a freezer stocked with enough meat to make it through the winter too. Ah well, what can a man do?

Well, she was a lovely little thing. A bit younger than my normal age, but still above the usual cut-off. A more mature body has a better flavor in my opinion. As well, with how delicious my dear aunt and succulent mother had been, I was certain my dear sister would be just as savory. I had to have her.

I had been watching her for a while. Learning her ways, observing her in her element, noting every little thing she did. I had to know it all. Her schedule, her habits, her cycles and nuances. I learned everything about her.

I chose a time when she would go for a walk to the mail box for the moment I would take her. Everything was going as planned, until it happened.

A vehicle, weaving as if operated by a drunkard, clipped her, sending her flying a few feet away and crashing with a catastrophic hit to the head against a cement curb.

The breaks squealed and the driver quickly stumbled out, it was a child! Well, not an actual child, but she was young, a teenager. She hit my sister, and trepidatiously stepped back as the blood pool grew.

Did she scream? No. Did she rush to find help? No. Did she call emergency services from a personal phone? No. She ran, stumbling, back to that car and took off. She left my sister dying on the curb.

I was stunned. So many weeks of planning only for someone else to steal her from me and leave the carcass. I’m not an animal, well, not a carrion eater, I have principles. I will not lower myself to consume road kill. That’s just so unsanitary and rather putrid a thought. A meal I had been looking forward to was ruined thanks to some nobody brat who couldn’t control a vehicle.

The sound of some other vehicle caught my attention. Had someone else seen what happened too and alerted emergency personnel? Most likely, I had to make a run for it myself. I swore I’d find that little twat and make her pay pound for pound.

It didn’t take me long to find the little wench. She had crashed at the nearby park and was stumbling about. I do loathe foolish teenagers, though I blame parents for a lot of their spawn’s antics. My adoptive parents raised me well, genetics are about what, thirty-percent of the personality?

Well, it was rather easy to creep up on the girl and render her incapacitated. What a pity, there was barely any meat on her. What are they not feeding these kids? She was skin and bones. I may need to fatten her up, was my thought at the time, but I also wanted to hurry her along to the ferryman.

After bringing her back to my new place, securing her to a beam by a rope, being a teenager I didn’t quite feel right about using the meat hook yet so I used rope, I put on one of Fankie’s records. How I do love my Sinatra...

Well, she began to wake up around the time ‘My Way’ was mid-way through. The sound of vomiting stopped me from singing along and I looked over at her. How strange, most don’t vomit immediately, usually it takes me telling them what I’m going to do to them before they actually vomit.

I guess the vomiting shouldn’t have surprised me, what did surprise me was the actual cause, but we’ll get to that in a moment. I grabbed a towel and began to wipe off her nude, hanging, body. She really was small. Mosquito bite sized tits, no ass, I could almost count her ribs. Is this what kids these days strive for? I’m happy being an adult.

“Welcome back.” I said as her eyes began to focus on me. Her pupils were large, despite the room being well lit, they weren’t shrinking. I also noticed her breathing was slow and shallow. “Well fuck. You weren’t drunk, you’re under the influence of drugs.” What a pain. I don’t have a lot of naloxone hydrochloride left, but I also didn’t want her to die on me ... yet.

A few minutes after administering a dose she vomited again, looking a little more alive now than earlier. I gave her another dose, just in case. My last dose. That shit is pricey too. At least her breathing evened out as much as it could while she was hanging by her wrists. Her pupils were responding appropriately too.

For a moment she just stared at me, like she was confused. She looked around the area. There weren’t any bodies yet, I had already fully processed my last catch and cleaned the area. Originally I wanted everything to be pristine and perfect for my sister. Well now it was pristine and perfect for this little shit.

“How much?” She asked. The question was confusing. Was she still too heavily influenced by whatever drug she took?

She stared directly into my eyes. Don’t think I’ve ever seen such icy blue eyes before. It sent a chill through me, but I’d never admit that to anyone alive.

“How much did you pay him?” She asked, a little more insistent this time.

I pulled up a stool and sat down, looking up at those bright blue eyes, “The hell you mean?”

She sighed, “He caught me, obviously or I wouldn’t be here. So how much did the auction get to? How much did you pay to get me?”

“Pay to-?” I was starting to get a bit of an idea of just what was going on. I wanted to be sure though so I had a few questions of my own lined up for her. “What are the last few moments you can recall little girl?”

She looked up thoughtfully before answering, I could tell she was thinking pretty hard too. Drugs can be a nasty thing as far as one’s recall goes. I didn’t envy the girl her apparent pain. She finally looked back at me with that piercing gaze.

“I-I hit someone,” Her voice cracked a little, she was actually remorseful, “I was being chased by him, and I kept driving, I’d never done that before so I know I wasn’t controlling it well, and ... and...” She winced in pain.

“And you crashed. That’s where I come in. I pulled you from the vehicle. What’s your name?”

“Cherry-Pop.”

The hell kind of name was that? Who names their kid after a drink? Shirely would have been better! Hell, I’d take Brandy, or even Henny! Cherry-Pop?! Her parents had to be addicts. No wonder she was drugged!

“Who’s chasing you and why?”

“My brother. He wants to sell me to the highest bidder.”

The look on my face must have betrayed my disbelief. She turned a deepening red shade of embarrassed before adding, “I’m still a virgin.” In a cowed voice.

“Bullshit. Spread your legs.” I pulled the stool closer as she complied with my order. She was rather obedient and oddly enough, not complaining or pleading or anything. Most people in her position are all kinds of freaked out. This was a nice change, not as great as the time with my aunt, but still nice.

I helped her a little by holding up one of her legs under the knee and took a look. To my surprise, she still had her hymen intact. Quite impressive. Though, I was starting to get a much better picture of what was going on.

“So, your brother was pretty much just raising you to be sold off as a virgin. Did he often keep you drugged?”

She was pretty red when I looked back up at her, she didn’t return my gaze. I don’t know if it was out of embarrassment or shame, I didn’t really care either. Instead I stood up, held her chin in a gentle grip, and guided her attention back to me.

She shook off my hand but got the unspoken order and made sure to look at me while she explained her situation. “Yeah, drugged and starved from the day our parents died. He saw me as a cash-cow. He already sold my twin sister. I couldn’t do it. It would have been a fate worse than death.” She took in a sharp inhale and looked around again. I think she noticed the meat hooks hanging from the main beam. It seemed like realization was dawning on her.

I grinned, “I see. Well, I had originally planned to bring my sister here. I was looking forward to sampling her meat, and everything else she had. Then you ruined it.”

Dry swallowing hard, Cherry-Pop tried to put on a brave face. Her brow began to bead with sweat and the adrenaline rush began. I just knew that fear was rising within her. I liked that look on such a young lady.

“What’s it like?”

Another ... interesting ... question. Again, my face must have betrayed my confusion.

“Human. What’s it like? I didn’t get much to eat for the past several years. Let alone meat. If I got any meat it was usually a chicken nugget or fish stick. So, what’s human like?”

Was she salivating? She was. I could see a little saliva collecting at the corners of her lips. Her hunger must have been overriding her fear response. This was interesting indeed.

A plan began to form in my mind. I didn’t like young meat. I didn’t like that she was practically skin and bones. She wouldn’t make a good meal at all. Now, I prefer female meat, but I’ll eat a man just as easily.

“Would you like to try it?”

Shaking her head, she answered quite readily, “Yes!”

I nodded, “Alright, alright, settle down little miss Cherry. I have a proposition for you,” I began while I went to retrieve her clothing I had stashed not far from that spot.

“You see, a little thing like you, there’s no meat on your bones. Also,” I began to re-dress her, starting from her feet to work my way up.

“I don’t like youth either. Human is a lot like wine and cheese. You need it to age to a point for it to be good. Mature meat. Thirdly, virgin just doesn’t taste as good.”