In a place far away, isolated by the overgrown trees of a forest, was a house perched at the edge, near a running river. The house had a barn but no horses or livestock. There was a fence that neatly squared off the land surrounding the house to keep away curious tourists.

This was the home of two girls, identical twins. So identical, you would think that one was a mirror that just reflected light a bit differently. They both sounded the same too. They had a tendency to speak the same thing at the same time.

They had loving parents that didn’t think of their daughters' similarities as weird or off-putting. Maybe because they were peculiar themselves. They had odd rules that the girls had to follow.

They should never leave the compound of their house.

If they are hungry, they could only eat the food that’s at the barn.

Finally, they should never enter the dining room when their parents are eating.

The girls never questioned their parents and followed these rules diligently. It was almost as if they knew why they should, even more than their parents did.

Until one day, the barn ran out of food, and their parents were eating in the dining room. The girls were at a loss. What would they do? They couldn’t possibly break the rules. So, what did they do?

The girls looked at their fingers.

One said, “We could eat them,” and the other agreed.

Since the rule stated that they could only eat the food that was at the barn, the girls decided to take a grating knife that was in the shed and head to the barn. Over there, the girls would cut 3 fingers each from themselves and eat them.

As they bit into the flesh, their teeth hit the bone and severed it clean with much effort. It was hard to chew at first, but it was delicious. The blood that seeped into their tongue with the tender flesh’s inherent saltiness was a flavour that the girls enjoyed. This meal satiated their hunger that day.

It satiated their hunger more than the food at the barn did.

That night, during their routine bedtime story, one of the twins told their parents what happened that day, that the barn ran out of food and what they had to do.

Their mother smiled and said, “Good job, darlings.”

Their father laughed and said, “Look at our geniuses!”

And sure enough, the next day, the barn was empty again, and the girls ate 3 of their fingers, but their hunger was not satiated at all. So they ate more of their fingers, 4 to be exact.

The next day it was 10 toes, the next half an arm, then a whole arm, 2 whole legs, and they gnawed at their flesh until it could satiate the hunger they held. Even with their shrinking bodies, their hunger only seemed to grow each day.

And like a ritual, every day, during bedtime, the girls would tell their parents what other body part they had eaten that day, and their parents would only smile and congratulate them.

8 days later, only their heads remained. It was Wednesday, 17th June. Their parents smiled at them and said, “Today we are breaking the rules, children, because today is a special day.”

They each cradled the heads of their daughters and brought them into the dining room. The table had a yellow tablecloth laid out. On top of it were two plates that had roasted chicken, cherries, french fries, buttered peas, olives, and celery.

Right in the middle of the table was the head of a girl that looked exactly like the twins, but it was half decomposed with crawling maggots.

The twins spoke chorally and chirped, “What a lovely meal!” The twins had their heads placed on top of the table next to the other half-decomposed head.

Their parents sat down and chanted, “ Earth maker and Lord of all creation, we are mindful that this food before us is a gift from your bountiful hand. We thank you for providing for our needs and for allowing us to gather together in fellowship.”

They ate in complete silence with just tears rolling down their faces. Slowly, with each bite, the twins’ heads started to bleed from their eyes, noses and scalps.

They started to gasp for air and yell, “Mother, father, help us, help us, help us, please,” over and over again. Their parents started to shake with tears, but they didn’t stop eating.

Eventually, the screaming stopped, and the parents took their last bite. They prayed once more and cleared the table, putting the three heads on a cabinet shelf and covering them with a black cloth.

That day, during bedtime, the parents went to their daughters’ room and sang a song, “My little dove, you will be here, for until our end is to come. My little dove, we will love you so, no matter how many of you; it’s a blessing so. My little dove, you are what we love, so return to us.”

The next day, the parents could hear voices call for them. They came out of their room to find their identical triplets smiling and, in a chorus, chirping, “Daddy, Mommy, what’s for breakfast? I’m hungry!”