I wish I was built with the extraordinary capability to save everyone, but somehow everyone keeps slipping through my fingers, right into the Eater’s mouth.<\/p>\n
The Eater is a rather misunderstood creature.\u00a0 He eats memories and feelings, but most importantly he eats away at people.\u00a0 Whenever people are gone or whoever they used to be are gone or you forget something, it’s the Eater who has eaten the Gone People.<\/p>\n
He’s this force that is constantly chasing behind you, begging at your feet like a large dog underneath the dinner table.\u00a0 Eventually, he will eat something, even if he has to knock off a few plates.\u00a0 Sometimes, he’ll even break the table.<\/p>\n
I have seen him eat person after person, as they fall into his mouth like a stale french fry.\u00a0 And then the person who I was grasping onto to keep from falling is gone, they’re a Gone Person, and there’s nothing underneath be to keep me from the falling, falling, and falling…<\/p>\n
You can’t come back from the Eater.\u00a0 You can become a different person and still be alive, but the person you were before is gone.\u00a0 That’s a Gone Person.<\/p>\n
He’s always there, waiting to Eat you.\u00a0 Sometimes, it can be a good thing.\u00a0 If you don’t like who you are, you can fall back into him like a cocoon, except with teeth and stomach acid.<\/p>\n
The truth is that he’s lonely, and he’s misunderstood.\u00a0 The Gone People keep him company.\u00a0 I have many versions of myself doing so.<\/p>\n
You can save people from him, but sometimes you aren’t Enough.\u00a0 And I wish I was Enough, I wish I was bursting with such Enoughness as others do.\u00a0 Trying to save people hurts.\u00a0 I am hurt.\u00a0 I wonder why I am not Enough.<\/p>\n
Why am I not brimmed with it so that it topples over when I walk?\u00a0 I want people to come licking up behind me, thirsty for the taste.\u00a0 They’ve never seen such Enoughness before!\u00a0 Amazing!<\/p>\n
Why am I so empty, so see-through and paper-thin without the Enoughness, that people slip right through my fingertips?<\/p>\n
Sometimes I hate the Eater.\u00a0 I hate him for hurting me like this, but it’s not him.\u00a0 It’s them who led themselves down this path, all the while holding my hand just so I can watch them dangle.\u00a0 It’s a slippery slope down the chair legs, right into the waiting dog’s mouth.<\/p>\n
It doesn’t matter.\u00a0 I am still hurt.\u00a0 They are still Gone People.<\/p>\n
Who is the Gone Person you speak of, Zoe?\u00a0 People may ask.<\/p>\n
Why, I say.\u00a0 It’s me and you and it’s everyone.\u00a0 The Gone is this virus that we breath and we spit and we kiss, it’s in the cracks of your lip and the juice of eye.<\/p>\n
We’re all Gone People.<\/p>\n
But I forgive you, Eater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wish I was built with the extraordinary capability to save everyone, but somehow everyone keeps slipping through my fingers, right into the Eater’s mouth. The Eater is a rather misunderstood creature.\u00a0 He eats memories and feelings, but most importantly he eats away at people.\u00a0 Whenever people are gone or whoever they used to be … Continue reading “The Eater”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1122"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2019,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions\/2019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}