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James Dorr's The Tears of Isiswas a 2013 Bram Stoker nominee for Fiction Collection. Other books include Strange Mistresses: Tales of Wonder and Romance, Darker Loves: Tales of Mystery and Regret,
and his all-poetry Vamps (A Retrospective). A several-time visitor to the pages of Daily Science Fiction (this is his 4th tale for DSF), Dorr invites readers to visit his blog at jamesdorrwriter.wordpress.com.
***Editor's Note: Adult Story, Mature Themes***
The last decision Ashleigh made under the influence of Rocky Road ice cream was to spike her hair and dye it bright blue. That and her turning to cannibalism. The combination seemed somehow right to her--people already thought her a freak, or at least a bit odd. And it solved the Rocky Road ice cream problem rather well too.
Cannibalism did have its down side, though. For instance, the night she ate her boyfriend. She felt badly afterward, and not just the tummy ache from over-gorging. No, the hurt she felt was deeper within.
That put a cramp on her sex life as well. It wasn't that she couldn't get new boyfriends. Fair of face and shapely of figure, she bordered on gorgeous in most men's eyes.
And the hairdo enhanced it--it made her stand out.
But other parts of her were starting to bloat out too, her stomach and thighs. Ex-boyfriends made rich fare. And "waste not, want not" was ever her credo, so, while defunct boyfriend flesh could be wrapped and stored in her freezer, its delicate flavor was dulled in the process. In short, what she killed was best eaten while still fresh.
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There also was the awkwardness of trying to explain why the men she dated were rarely seen by their friends again. Excuses wore thin, though she reveled in the delightfully creepy suggestion that some in her circle made, that she seemed to bear some resemblance to creatures like black widow spiders.
In fact, she ran out to the tattoo parlor to have a red hourglass shape superimposed over her belly button.
Still, she decided, she had to go on a weight loss program. Besides, the police were getting suspicious too.
She made an attempt to be more inconspicuous, something difficult for her to do because of her outgoing personality. Her bright blue hair did not help in this regard either. So, knowing her secret would probably come out in any event, she decided she had to confide in a friend. A girl friend, that is--she was not the type who would eat her own sex. She was quite straight in that way. Nevertheless, with her friend's advice, she decided she must try to change her lifestyle.
She started by going to the beauty parlor and, wincingly, having her spikes combed out, then getting her hair dyed black. Framing a naturally pale complexion. She began to affect slinky evening gowns, black as well, and cut plungingly low in front. She almost never went out now except at night.
As for her figure, it regained its litheness, fitting sveltely within her tight dresses, the result, she said--her teeth glinted as she did this, sharp and pointed--of having switched wholly to a liquid diet.
The End
This story was first published on Monday, September 1st, 2014
Author Comments
This came out of one of those challenges to write a story starting with a supplied first line, so the opening sentence on ice cream and hairdos is by someone else. I added the second sentence on cannibalism, and everything after that just seemed logical.
- James S. Dorr
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