A man stands in the center of a cool, hard space in which nothing is seen but near-blinding whiteness. Focus on the man; the man is your focal point through which all else falls into place. Yes, his profile comes sharply into view; the white haze fades. He is pale and balding. He stands erect, top-heavy, knees locked into place. His eyes are wide open – almost ripping – with anticipation. He grins and then unlocks his jaw.

     The man stretches and lifts the heavy fold of his stomach to his gaping mouth. Ten shallow craters form under his fingers as they dig deeper into the compressible and burdensome flesh; his fingernails leave marks: pink crescent moons. To lift it this far from the viscera is a stand-alone feat; it took nothing but repetitive training of the skin to obtain such elasticity: stretch...lift...stretch...lift...bend the spine over and force it down. He cranes his neck, separating it from his shoulders, like a tortoise reaching for a leaf. Hunched over, his body assumes the form of a question mark.

     With a final, sweeping wave of effort, he squeezes the soft parts of his arms against the mass of his core, and gathers the folds of his abdomen inwards, and then upwards.

 

     Quick, it is heavy.

     Pause – he is near his breaking point, study him.

     Capture the wonderful contortion of his body; carve it from a block of marble.

 

     At last, he thinks, at last. His mouth widens further; lips recede over shiny pink gums; the sharp points of teeth sink into his stomach. He bites hard – deliciously – and salivates.

     The man stuffs his flesh into the empty cavity of his mouth – as far as it will go. The fat forms a blunted apex as it is squeezed to the entrance of his esophagus; his uvula is pushed backwards and flattens; he gags. Focus, find your breath, he commands himself, then punches the air out his nostrils. He takes a long and strained inhale – as if breathing through a straw – and bites harder with ravenous hunger and frustration. His body vibrates; the delicate veins of his eyes engorge.

     At once, his skin breaks under the tremendous force and bleeds. Tears flow in steady streams from unblinking eyes. They mix with blood and mucus and encapsulate his mouthful of flesh, filling the gaps; it is sealed. Salt and iron dance on his tongue. The pain slides into numbness: a far-away prickling sensation.

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     He eats.

     He eats himself.

    

     The inner corners of his eyebrows lift and reach toward each other. Crying, the man tilts his head to the vast whiteness above and thinks, how did it come to this?

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