The cave trembled with twin burps, loud enough to shake loose a little dust from the ceiling. Sephiran clutched his stomach and laughed, while Maddy wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, trying to look dignified.
Sephiran rubbed his bloated stomach, as if he was about to launch an Air Shot.
"Mother... that al was the best! I could eat those field frogs every day, and that spicy sauce? Sent straight to heaven!"
Maddy slouched in her seat, barely able to move.
"Those frogs were just the start, sweetie... we still have the Dire Drake premium at soaking in those spices. You might forget your own na when you taste it."
Sephiran chuckled.
"Co on, brother! Wake up faster so we can devour that dinosaur—as in... right now!"
Maddy couldn’t even manage a proper laugh; only a small, breathy chuckle escaped her lips. The weight of fullness made her mind float, and this feeling, eating not for pleasure, but just to survive another day pulled her vision askew. Slowly, her consciousness slipped into the deep, dark well of mory.
The sounds of the cave were replaced by the heavy drumming of a cold downpour against a gray city.
It was a cold, relentless rain. Twelve year old Maddy, her hair plastered to her forehead and her oversized clothes heavy with filth, knelt in the muck of an alleyway.
She held a rusted, dented steel tub. Her small fingers, numbed by the cold, dug frantically into the wet earth. With a triumphant gasp, she pulled a long, thick earthworm from the silt, its body thrashing in her grip. She threw it into the tub.
Nearby, a common bullfrog croak loudly. Maddy’s head snapped toward it for a second they both stared at each other’s eyes until Maddy lunged, her feet slipping in the sludge.
Splat!
Her face slamd into a puddle, the taste of tallic city rain and dirt filling her mouth. But she didn’t cry. When she sat up, her muddy hand was clamped tight around the squirming frog.
She laughed, a small, breathless sound, and tossed the prize into her tub. That muddy, soaked body felt insignificant compared to the massive at she was carrying... or so she thought.
She ran, her bare feet splashing through the gutters, toward a sanctuary made of discarded life: leaning cardboard boxes, rotting plywood, and a blue tarp held down by scavenged bricks. Inside, it was cramped but it was dry.
She set the tub atop a makeshift stove of three flat stones. She poured in bottled water she’d saved from a half empty trash bin and threw in a handful of dandelion greens she’d plucked from a crack in the sidewalk. With trembling hands, she struck two pieces of flint together over a nest of dry lint.
The orange glow of the tiny fla danced in her wide, hungry eyes. As the water began to boil, a savory, earthy steam filled the cramped enclosure. Maddy didn’t see a "disgusting soup." She saw sothing that could ease starvation.
She reached into a tattered pocket and pulled out a single, crumpled paper packet of salt. She sprinkled it over the brew with the grace of a chef in a five star kitchen.
When it was done, she ate. She first drank the boiled broth, then slurped the worms as if they were fine Italian pasta, tearing into the boiled frog with the fervor of a girl devouring a roasted chicken. In that mont, it was the most delicious thing in the world.
When the tub was empty, she lay back on her pile of rags, her belly protruding and tight. She stared at the tarp ceiling, a weary smile on her face.
"I’m full... I’m finally full."
She touched her bloated belly, relaxing to the sound of rain hamring the cardboard roof.
But after just a minute, a new pain set in—not hunger, but a sickly, twisting ache. It started dull, then sharpened into an agonizing knot. Her stomach rejected the feast. The "noodles" and "chicken" had been a lie; the bacteria and parasites of the gutter were claiming their price.
The world began to spin. Maddy crawled out of her box ho, the rain lashing her face once more. She felt heavy, her legs barely supporting her. She reached the end of the dark alley, the neon lights of the main street blurring into streaks of red and blue.
Her vision failed. She collapsed, her small hand reaching out and grasping a dark, wet fabric.
She looked up through the haze of rain. A young boy, about her age, stood there, clad in a heavy yellow raincoat that shimred under the streetlights. He looked down at the muddy, shivering girl clinging to his boots.
"Help..."
Maddy’s eyes snapped open in the cave. She was shivering, despite the warmth of the hot spring.
"Mother? Are you okay?"
Sephiran asked, his hand on her arm, his face full of genuine concern.
"You went away for a second. Your eyes... they looked sad."
Maddy looked at her son, her beautiful, demonic ogre demigod son. She looked at her powerful, divine body and the fortress she had built. She reached out and pulled Sephiran into a tight, almost desperate hug.
"I’m fine, Sephiran. I was just rembering... that I used to be very, very hungry. And that I never want to be that hungry again."
She touched his face gently.
"I want you to know that eating is a privilege. Not everyone gets to eat sothing this tasty—or even have a family... so please, be kind."
Sephiran smiled and nodded.
"Yes, Mama! Always be kind and MAX CRISPY!"
Maddy laughed. That rascal of a son had a way of washing her sadness away with his simple humor and bright smile. But that smile... it was the sa one she had seen on that young boy in the raincoat—the smile that had lted her muddy, broken heart when she thought her life was worthless, a pile of trash.
And the sa smile... that had once beco fangs and ended her life.
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