Silence ensued.

The silence was long. It felt like it would eternally envelop him.

The silence was deafening. It drowned out any other sound, even the rain that just started.

The silence was heavy. It crushed him underneath its weight.

The silence was suffocating. It filled his lungs, not letting a single breath in.

The silence scared him... because he didn’t know what would follow its inevitable end.

Understanding his reluctance, Marianne decided to end the silence for him. “If you can’t answer that, it’s fine. As I’ve said, I already know the answer.”

In response Alpheus...

“No... I don’t NEED to eat meat.”

... attempts to deny the truth. It was a pointless effort.

“I can eat other food, too. I mean, I ate the berries and- “

“Yes, you can eat them, but they only provide a temporary relief. It is nothing more than a distraction. What it cannot provide is the nourishment your body needs.” This is not the time to play around the bush, so she doesn’t grant him the opportunity to find excuses.

She can’t afford that now.

As expected, he is on the verge of tears, barely holding it together, while he sniffles faintly and attempts to wipe away the moisture leaking from his eyes.

“He is quite the crybaby.” Marianne thought absentmindedly. However, tears were ineffective against her, for they could never sway her from conflicts she deemed necessary.

“I’m not...” Pitifully, he attempts to refute it one more time, and once more, Marianne cruelly cuts him off. Her voice carries none of the warmth that she usually displays.

“Alpheus.” Her stern voice disintegrated any more room for this pointless back and forth.

He fell quiet, looking down in shame. After some time, he gathered the courage to look at her again. He finally recognized what Marianne held in her hands. He knew it from the beginning. He recognized the smell immediately after all.

It was meat.

“I apologize for using it without your permission.” She looks to her right side, and he finally notices the knife she laid beside her.

“Moving on from that, we should eat now.” Marianne places several pieces of meat she skewered on sticks beside the campfire.

“I’m glad that it started to rain now. It will be much harder for the smell to reach potential predators. It’s not only humans that we need to look out for.” She mumbles mostly to herself.

She finally turns around to look Alpheus straight in the eye. He felt intimidated and immediately retreated by avoiding eye contact.

“Now then, while the meat is cooking, we have all the time in the world to talk.”

He kept looking away from her.

“I have many questions, but I’m quite certain you’re not willing to answer any of them, correct?”

The silence served as a cue for her to continue.

“She is disgusted with me. She’s scared of me.”

“That’s what you’re thinking right now, right?” Alpheus flinches. He looks beyond shocked at her casual remark, as though his innermost thoughts have been uncovered.

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At times like these, she is reminded that he is indeed a young child. They are naive because they don’t realize how bad they are at hiding their feelings. They really are like an open book.

“So then, you’re nothing more than a lowly beast. A man-eating monster. Something dangerous.”

He doesn’t respond, but it is obvious that she hit the bullseye. The one-sided interrogation starts to grate on her nerves. She also has limits to her patience, so she says the words that will surely end that.

“Does that make me one, too?” She asks.

That certainly got his attention as he finally lifted his head to look toward her with utter confusion. And so, she continues.

She turns around, and Alpheus's eyes follow her gaze until they finally land on the fire.

“I killed an animal in this area to acquire this meat, after all. It was a squirrel that claimed the water as its main habitat. It bore many characteristics of a regular fish.”

“Now I ask you. Do you think I’m a monster?”

“N-No!” He finally managed to get some words out, and so she continued.

“But I killed a living being. Don’t you believe that only lowly beasts are capable of doing such a thing?”

He didn’t understand what she was getting at.

“But... but you did it for me. It’s because I’m... I’m pathetic.” He truly deems himself pathetic.

It is pathetic to live inside a body that can only live through committing such a vile act.

And it is pathetic to force her to commit that act in his stead.

“You’re right. I did it for you. But I also did it for myself.” She cut down the line of thought he was currently heading toward.

“After all, I want you to survive. However, much like you, I also hunted it to eat it. We need to eat to survive Alpheus. Unlike you, I may survive without eating meat, but I still choose to do so because I must. To survive in this environment, I must supply my body with what it needs, not just the bare minimum.”

“And so, I ask you again. Am I a monster?” By the end of her speech, he falls completely silent, so once again, she waits for him to respond.

“No...” He mutters it hesitantly, but he still doesn’t get her point. “Of course, you’re not a monster! You’re a human, but why do you- “

“So then, if I’m not a monster for doing so, why does it make you one?” Her questions confused him to no end. He simply couldn’t comprehend what she was getting at.

“Because you had to and- “

Again, she cut him off.

“Yes, I’ve had to, and because of this, I chose to do what had to be done. I decided to survive. You face the same decision for the sake of survival. Where does the difference lie?”

Once again, she asked him a question he couldn’t comprehend the intent behind.

“But... but...” Overwhelmed, he stumbles over his own words. He can barely keep his composure, moments away from crumbling entirely.

“But you should survive! I don’t need to!”

“And why is that?” She does not let up. They can't move forward to reach his innermost thought behind it all. So, she can’t let up, no matter how cruel it might be to him.

“Because you’re a human! And I’m... I’m...!”

“... I’m not!”

“I’m just a goblin!”

He shouted the words as though he was coughing them out. He felt out of breath and couldn’t think clearly.

“I see.” That was all she said. Her words harbored neither hostility nor pity. The lack of either thing confused him as though it negated the significance of everything he declared.

“Well then, I would like for you to survive. Is that so wrong?” Her question continued to bewilder him.

“What?” Those were the only words he was able to utter in response.

“I want you to survive. I don’t give a sh-“

She shouldn’t swear in front of children. Since becoming a grandparent, Marianne has learned to keep herself in check. Whenever she is agitated, though, it is a different story. She couldn’t count how often she almost slipped up around the children.

“Forgive me.” She says, coughing to collect her thoughts again. Alpheus looked incredibly puzzled.

She really ruined a good moment, didn’t she?

“Anyways, I don't care about whether someone deserves to live or not. It is a pointless thought to be stuck on. I act according to what I want and not according to what I think is "right". What I’m trying to get at is... I want you to live Alpheus.”

He fell silent at those words, and so she continued.

“I want you to live. I want you to live and be glad for doing so. It’s ok if you can’t forgive yourself. If you can’t, I will do that for you instead. However long it will take until you find the strength to do so yourself.”

“But why... why for me...” The tears he wiped away threatened to spill out once more.

In place of words, Marianne took out one of the meat skewers, which was just about done cooking. She held it before him as though this was the response to his question.

“Because I want to live. And I want to live with you.”

Those words dealt the final blow.

“Do you want to live with me, too?” The voice that asked this question finally emanated the warmth he had grown accustomed to.

Instead of responding with words, he silently took the skewer she held into his own hands.

After a long moment of silence, he took his first bite.

And then another.

And just like that, he couldn’t stop himself anymore. The messy noises of his chewing were accompanied by the soft sound of his whimpers.

Soon enough, he was sobbing uncontrollably. He lost all sense of control and gave in to his desires.

His desire to eat.

His desire to cry.

His desire to live.

Marianne didn’t utter a single word afterward. She simply sat next to him.

And so, the night continued for the two souls, who fervently wished for survival.