The boy was hungry. He had been hungry for days and weeks and months and years. Honestly he didn’t know when he hadn’t been hungry. Maybe when he was born? He wasn’t sure. There wasn’t anyone to ask. The only others he ever saw were his food. So yummy but not filling. None of the people he ate filled him. And so he kept wandering, trying to find something to fill this... hole inside himself. 

It screamed to be filled.

Every waking moment it screamed at him.

And he found it hard to breathe when it did so. Although after some time he realised something. Whenever he watched her, it stopped screaming. The woman on the hill with the golden hair and eyes like the sky. She was very pretty. The boy didn’t want to eat her. He felt like it would be too sad to do that. So he just watched her instead. Like he was doing right now.

She was taking care of a little baby. The boy didn’t think it was her baby. She had golden hair but the baby didn’t have any hair so it couldn’t be hers right? Maybe she stole it. Maybe the baby was a thing like the boy who didn’t belong anywhere but somehow this woman found it and saved it. The boy wasn’t sure. He just knew that the baby wasn’t hers.

That thought got him wondering, because if she took care of this baby that wasn’t hers maybe she could do something to help him. Help him fill this hunger.

The boy frowned, cocking his head in thought. All the people he ate hadn’t filled the hunger, and he didn’t want to eat the woman, but what if she could fill it? She was kind and sweet and sang beautiful songs to the baby. Could it be that somehow eating her would fill this hole?

Could anything ever fill it?

He shook his head. No, he thought to himself, I have to believe something can end this hunger. 

Something needed to. Otherwise he would spend his whole life empty inside. Empty whereas everyone else was filled and full and happy. Happy. That was something he wanted too. The way they smiled and danced and laughed and hugged. He wanted that.

He tried to get it once. Some months ago he saw a family in the forest he called home. They had taken out a tent from their car setting it up right under the tree he slept in. And he had watched them from above, building a fire, preparing food, running about laughing and dancing.

And then the father looked around confused, “Hey,” The father said with a voice like thunder, “Has anyone seen the car keys?”

His family all shook their heads. No one had  seen it. But the boy had. He saw it fall out of the father’s pocket and disappear into the grass. His heart jumped in his chest. Hope fluttering about and setting everything ablaze. Was this finally the time to try talking to people and maybe be happy? 

Without a second thought he jumped down from his tree, running straight to where the car keys had disappeared in the grass. At his sudden appearance the mother had screamed out loud, the sound tearing through the forest. The children had stopped dancing and stared at him in shock. The father frowned at the boy, arms raised up and shouted at him to get back. Get away from my family you monster!

The boy felt his heart fall. He lifted up his hand, showing the father the keys. Tried to open his mouth and make the same words that they did. Nothing came out. Only meaningless babbles. The father had stared at him in confusion, not even looking at the car keys that had finally been found. Confusion wasn’t the only thing on their faces. There was disgust too.

The sight of it set the boys face flushing in anger. Why would they be disgusted when he was helping them? He hadn’t done anything wrong. He felt his heart twist in his chest, that smidgen of hope turning into something vile.

He felt a need unlike any ever before to eat that family. And so he did. But again, it didn’t fill his hunger. Nothing ever did.

So that’s why he came here today to watch the lady on the hill. He was hoping that looking at her would help him feel warm like that family had been before he ended it. However he didn’t expect there to be a baby here. The bald baby who definitely wasn’t hers.

Another thought hit him then. Would this hunger be filled if he ate the baby? He shook his head, dismissing the thought. How could something so small fill a hunger that had been screaming for days and weeks and months and years? It couldn’t. And so he made up his mind. He would eat the woman on the hill and maybe this hunger would be gone.

Before he could second guess himself he snuck into the house. The woman always left her back door open as if she was waiting for a guest to arrive. Today he would be that guest.

His heart thundered in his chest, body seized by the sudden thought that what he was doing was wrong. He was confused at the thought, he’d never had one like that before. He always did what he wanted and ate who he wanted, so why did he have that thought?

He pushed the thought away, determined to eat. The boy crept down the hallway and suddenly paused. There were posters on the side table. A stack of them. At the top in large red text were the words “MISSING BOY” with smaller text at the bottom with the boy’s description. “Reward for any information that leads to him being found.” That wasn’t what caught his attention. It was the picture in the poster.

A picture of him.

The sight had him stumbling back, knees weak. He was in the picture... WHY WAS HE IN THE PICTURE? He shook his head, stomach turning and he ran. Right out the door and back to the forest. Back to his tree, climbing up faster than ever before and clinging to the bark in comfort.

The woman on the hill had a picture of him. That means she knew him right? She had to.

The boy didn’t understand it all. How could she know him? No one knew him. No one spoke to him. All they did was scream in horror at the sight of him. How did she know him? What did her posters mean? That she was looking for him? That she wanted to find him?

Wait, the boy thought, does she really want to find me? If so, then... would she be happy to see him? That he was found? That’s what the poster said, they wanted the missing boy, him, to be found. He straightened, heart fluttering in his chest as hope made its dreaded reappearance. Before he could overthink it he was down the tree, running back to the house.

When he got there the woman wasn’t alone. There was a man in there too, and he was angry, shouting.

“You need to give up on this Mariah! It’s been twenty years! The boy is long gone.” The man yelled, face red.

The woman shook her head, “He’s not dead. He can’t be. I won’t believe it until I see proof!”

“Please Mariah,” The man’s voice grew softer, “You need to think of yourself, think of our newborn baby. This place isn’t safe anymore, you’ve heard the stories. There’s a monster in the woods, killing people. Killing children.”

A monster. Were they talking about me? The boy thought.

“I don’t care what’s in those woods! I’m staying here in case he returns! He would always wander through the woods and find his way back,” The woman bit back a sob, “You want me to just give up on our son? Our little boy? I can’t do that David, I just can’t.”

The man softened, face falling as he pulled the woman into his arms, “I know. I miss him too. I wish he could come running through those doors again, grass stained and sweaty, but it will never happen. He’s gone. And we need to keep moving on for our little baby.”

Grass stained and sweaty? The boy looked at his hands. They fit the description.

His heart thundered, and he knew what he had to do. Run through those doors like the man had wished for. They would be happy to see him wouldn’t they? He was so sure of it, and so he ran. Feet skidding over grass and pushing through the backdoor.

The woman froze upon seeing him, eyes widening in shock. The man turned around, jaw dropping at the sight of him. The boy grinned, arms spread wide as they looked at him.

“Is that..?” The woman gasped.

The man shook his head, “How is he so young?”

The woman fell to her knees sobbing, pulling the boy into her embrace. He felt his heart get filled suddenly. The warmth of her arms slowly seeping through his body and into his heart. 

Suddenly it was cut off, the man pulling the woman away as she yelped in protest.

“This can’t be our son!” He yelled, face twisting in horror, “How is he still a child when it’s been twenty years?”

The woman tried to push him away, “I don’t care! Our boy is back, let me hold him!”

“Mariah stop,” The man held onto her firmly, “Look at his hands, look at those talons.”

The boy looked at his hands. Large talons used to kill and eat stretching from his grass stained hands. He cocked his head in confusion. Didn’t the man want this? He said he wished for it.

The woman was crying, shaking her head as she stared at the boy with a sad expression.

“His skin Mariah,” The man whispered, “His skin is green.”

The boy looked at his hands again. Green? Wasn’t that the same thing as grass stained? Why should it matter so much what colour his skin was? The man had dark brown skin and the woman had pale skin. Their skin was different too.

“This isn’t our son,” The man pulled the woman behind him, “He’s the monster. The one lurking in the forest that’s been killing everyone. That’s you, isn’t it?”

The last question was directed at the boy. The boy nodded yes. He had been killing everyone. He needed to eat after all. He stepped forward, wanting to embrace the woman again and feel that warm sensation that felt like it could fill this hole inside him.

The man stepped back, pulling the woman with him, “Stay away from us.” His voice shook slightly.

The boy stopped, staring at the woman, trying to get words out, trying to say IT’S ME! I AM THE ONE YOU WERE TRYING TO FIND! I WANT THE REWARD! I WANT A HUG! But words couldn’t come out. Only babbling noises like a river. The boy frowned in frustration. Then remembered the song the woman sang to the baby.

He tried to hum it. Mouth closed as he let the melody play out. Eyes locked onto the woman who had given him such a short moment of warmth. Her eyes widened in recognition as the man gasped. He fell back, hands gripping the counter to steady himself.

The woman ran to the boy again, arms thrown around him as she embraced him.

“See!” She yelled at the man, “He remembers the lullaby you wrote for him so long ago! This is our boy. Our little Petey.”

The man fell to his knees, face wan, “What happened to him? How could this happen to our boy?” His shoulders shook as he sobbed, the sounds deep and guttural. “Just what did you have to endure out there for all these years?”

The boy didn’t understand why the man was crying, but it made his heart sad so he held out his hand towards the man. Asking him to join the embrace. The man choked on a sob, reaching for the boys green hand with the long talons and holding tight. Arms wrapping around the boy and the woman as they all sat there.

The boy felt warm. He felt filled. The hunger was gone for the first time ever. It didn’t scream at him. The hole inside him was gone.

He felt like everything was finally going to be okay.

And then the baby awoke. It’s cries tore through the house and the woman stood up, patting the boy on the head and telling him she’d be back soon. She left to go comfort the baby, taking all the warmth with her.

The hole inside the boy opened up again. Bigger this time. Uglier this time. So big and so ugly and so scary that his heart twisted and twisted in pain.

He realised it then. They had replaced him. All these years he had been gone and they had a shiny new baby that was bald and probably stolen. He felt angry. Angry that the baby was happy here with them while he had been lost and afraid in the forest.

It wasn’t fair.

He pushed out of the man’s embrace, face flushed as he turned and tried to run back outside, back to the forest and the comfort of his old tree. The man grabbed him, stopping him from leaving.

“Please, stay,” The man’s voice broke, “I don’t care if you’re a monster now. I just want my son back. Don’t leave us again.”

The words warmed the boy’s heart. He cocked his head at that. Words and hugs could both fill the hole? Did this mean he didn’t need to eat people anymore?

Honestly, he loved the taste of people. But it was really hard to kill. Especially now that everyone kept avoiding the forest for fear of the monster.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” The man was saying, voice desperate as he tried to convince the boy, “If you need to... eat. I’ll find them. People for you. You won’t ever have to leave here.”

The boy didn’t understand. He knew that people didn’t eat other people like he did. So why was this man offering to find people for the boy to eat? Did he really want him to stay so badly that he would do something like that?

The boy once again felt the hole inside him slowly getting filled. Again by words. How could words be so powerful? Does this mean that if he had heard kind words sooner he wouldn’t have had to kill so much to try and fill his hunger? 

The boy wondered why no one had ever spoken to him kindly before.

Why they had all immediately jumped to fear and horror and threats. Is it because his skin was green? Why did it matter so much?

Wasn’t he a person too?

The boy fell to his knees. Did they all hate and fear him because he wasn’t a person? 

Was he really a monster like they all said?

Can a monster stay here in this house on the hill with the woman with golden hair and eyes like the sky, the bald baby, and this tall man with dark brown skin and eyes that looked at him with desperation?

No, the boy shook his head. He didn’t belong.

They were all perfect and happy. And he was... not.

An oddity. Something that shouldn’t be.

He looked up at the man, who still held tightly onto his arm. He wanted to say all the words but he couldn’t. The large, razor sharp teeth in his mouth had long since damaged his tongue beyond repair. The boy knew he was too different to stay. 

But he really wanted to. 

The boy hummed the lullaby again, trying to let the man know his feelings. The man hugged him, arms so tight around the boy that all his doubts seemed to be squished away.

The boy would stay. He would learn. How to stop being a monster and how to be a person.

The woman returned, baby babbling happily in her arms.

“Look,” She told the boy, kneeling down in front of him and showing him the fat face of the bald baby, “This is your little sister! She has your eyes!”

The boy looked closer, and sure enough the bald baby had big, beautiful, green eyes. Like his. He reached out, and the woman carefully handed him the baby, eyes on them both the whole time.

Holding the baby was a feeling the boy couldn’t describe. It filled the hole in his heart in a way the hug hadn’t. No, it did more than that. It filled his soul.

He somehow felt more complete in that moment than ever before.

The boy then silently made a promise to himself. He would never kill again. Not ever, unless it was to protect this baby. Bald, with green eyes like his that shone so brightly. 

His sister. 

He would eat the whole world to protect her.