Cannibalistic - book one

3. Tell Them Stories

She was shaking, the sound of the chain connecting the two of them was clinging. He smirked and pulled her along and sat down on a fallen log, it was circled by wooden chairs, stumps, and highchairs; the children and the teens sat around them. The younger ones sitting with the older ones. The toddlers were running around the small homestead. Jace was the oldest of the group and they looked up to him. He pulled her into his lap. Their positioning was uncomfortable due to the way their wrists were connected. "Stories?" Asked a younger boy, he looked a lot like Jace. Possibly Amin.

"How about you tell them a story." Jace said pushing on her shoulder. She nodded slowly and opened her mouth to speak, she was unsure of what to say to them, what story would entertain a group of bloodthirsty cannibal children. She looked to him and he squeezed her shoulder. "Go on tell them a story it can be anything." His eyes flashed with a warning. If she messed up or told them a story they did not enjoy she might be punished in some horrible way. Was the punishment for a bad story a ripped out tongue, if running away could end up with lost toes or broken bones, that had to be the punishment.

She nodded slowly letting out a wavering breath. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden, her name was Ella; Ella had lost her parents to a great sickness, before her father passed he remarried a vile women named Lady Tremaine. Lady Tremaine had two daughters, Anastasia and Drizella. These girls were horrible to sweet Ella. They made her do all their chores while they laid around and yelled at her all day." She stopped for a moment to look over their sweet faces. She was still shaking, would they enjoy the ending that was to come or should she make it creepier. She looked to Jace he nodded to tell her to keep going. She continued the tale of Cinderella. "One night a man came to their home to announce the king was holding a ball to find a wife for his son." The younger children had joined them, their eyes full of wonder. They were so sweet she couldn't scare them with the real ending.

He squeezed her shoulder again and she continued. The step-mother and the two sisters began to dress in beautiful clothing and Ella begged to join them at the ball. Evil Lady Tremaine took a bucket of bird seed and dropped it all over the floor. "If you can pick up all these seeds before the carriage arrives you can join us at the ball." Ella happily got to work she was excited to have a chance to go to the ball. She began to sing, and birds came to help her clean up, she got all the seeds back into the bucket in an hour. She ran to her step-mother and told her she had cleaned up all the seeds." The children's eyes were wide and full of wonder. "Sadly the evil women told her that she was unable to attend the ball because she did not have the right clothin-"

"No that isn't fair!" Yelled one little girl. "She cleaned up all the birdie seed. She should be able to go."

"Yes I agree," She replied back. "Sadly the evil women knew that Ella was much prettier then her own daughter and she did not want to loose the chance of having her daughters dance with and possibly marry the prince." She replied back still shaking. Her stomach was still turning with the idea that she had eaten human meat. She watched the children talk amongst themselves. "Would you like me to tell you how it ends?"

"Does anyone die?" Asked the second oldest boy Max. His hair was swept to the right and was as black as obsidian. His twin sister had blonde hair, the contrast startling. Her eyes looked as if someone had trapped the ocean in them, while his looked as brown as mud.

"Depends on the version, would you like to hear that version?" She looked over the young children their eyes grew bright with interest at the mention of death. She was still shaking, Jace's free hand snaking up around her waist. Her eyes were full of panic. The children nodded and in a unanimous voice said yes, the younger children babbled in agreement. She took another deep breath. "Well before we can get to that you need to know the middle. Ella was left home alone, she had a few little mice friends who brought her a dress they had made. You see these mice were magic, they joined her in the courtyard as she cried. With the sound of bells a women appeared and she offered to allow Ella to go to the ball. She agreed after some hesitation, the mice turned to horses, a pumpkin turned to a carriage, a lizard and frog turned to the coachman, and from the rags Ella wore a beautiful dress took its place. She spun in excitement but looked to her feet. "No one will love me if I wear shoes that are so dirty." They had once been white, but after cleaning so much they had turned black. The godmother smiled and with a wave of her wand her shoes turned to glass. Ella was away to the ball with one warning. At the sound of the bell, when midnight hits, all that was will return."

The children were talking amongst one another, speculating when the death will happen. She gulped trying to hide her disgust. If she could just pretend to enjoy ow they lived even just for a few days and earn their trust she could leave in the middle of the night. She began again soon after. "She danced the night away with the prince, as midnight hit she ran down the stairs and her glass slipper was left, the prince decided he would go around the kingdom and attempt to have every eligible maiden try on the shoe."

"Wait you mean to tell me that first, the glass shoe doesn't go back to the nasty one, and secondly he didn't ask her for her name, or wont be able to recognize her?"

"Well yeah, I suppose. This is not my story, it is the story of Cinderella." The children giggled and the teens shook their head in confusion but continued to listen. She was surprised they had never been told this story before. She kept on telling the story, skipping over the boring part of her being locked away. "When it was Anastasia's turn to try on the shoe her mother cut off her ankle in attempt to get her to fit in the shoe. When Drizella was to try on the shoe her mother cut off her big toe, and still they did not fit."

The children's eyes grew wide with excitement, the blood was driving them to hear the rest of the story. "Now Ella tried on the shoe and of course it fit. The prince took her to be wed." She gulped, she knew that she would have to make something up to have them be killed rather then just harmed. "The prince put Lady Tremaine to death, her head was removed. Anastasia was blinded by the birds that helped Ella pick up the bird seed, because of her blindness she fell into a river and drowned." She saw the look on their faces, bloodthirsty ready for the last death. She gulped and felt Jace squeeze her shoulder.

He leaned closer to her ear and kissed the lobe. "You are doing well just finish the last death, make it good." She nodded and gulped again.

"Drizella was the worst to Ella, she was sent to the torture chambers of the princes castle, she was cut apart slowly, blood pooled around her and then once she was almost dead her neck was snapped." She had grabbed a twig on the floor, as she said the word snapped she broke the twig its snapping noise echoed through the homestead.

She saw a few of them jump, but when she was done they began to clap. Max and his twin Lia looked Jace over with twisted smiles. "You got yourself a good one Jace." Lia said patting her shoulder. "Cant wait to get me my husband, and meet my sister in law once Max gets his wife."

Anika was still shaking, she felt bile threatening to escape her throat, the thought of her actually eating someone had finally hit her. She had eaten a person. She began to wobble and Lia noticed the cold sweat that was covering her forehead."Hey uh.. Jace your girl looks like she might be sick."

Jace stood quickly helping her towards the house, he led her to the bathroom and removed the handcuffs. He held her hair back as the contents of her stomach were removed. He smirked. "You lasted a lot longer then I had expected." Jace said as he handed her a washcloth and a cup of cold water. "I mean after I told you we were cannibals you hadn't even budged." He rubbed her back. She crawled to the corner of the bathroom.

"Please let me go.." she begged.

"Oh come on honey, the kids love you, I love you. I am sure the adults are going to enjoy your help." He smiled and rubbed her arm, he kissed her neck then her lips. "Please don't hate me." he whispered.

"You are sick, you eat people." She punched his arm hard. He smirked and kissed her, she clawed at him but he did not budge.

"You already ate someone. Half of that meat you ate was a person." He said with a small smile.

She felt hot tears running down her face. All she wanted was to run, to hide and be left alone. He picked her up and carried her up the stairs. He handcuffed her to the bed. "When I come back I want an apology, a good apology. Nothing stupid like the im sorry. I want a good one, a really good one. Like a kiss or something, maybe more, just give me a good apology."

Her brain was racing, what did he mean! A good apology, there was no way in hell she would be kissing him. She was pulling on the handcuffs, her wrists burning, blood began to bubble. She was crying hard, her body convulsing. He had left a bucket beside her, as well as a water-bottle. She wanted to be left alone. If she died here she would rather starve then be killed. She would fight against them, she would, she had to. "Make up stories, you are good at stories." She thought to her self. She could get out of there, hopefully.