Where's my Liver

        It was a cold fall morning, and all was still. Jenny was calm and content; her husband was still sleeping off his hangover. She sat on the old chair they placed beside the back door; no one could see the swollen pulp of a left eye that she received the night before. The breeze kissed it softly, and the air carried the coming of rain that would soon fall. The vibrations of her husband's pounding footsteps shook her through the home and to the outside. Jenny sighed and prepared herself for the coming tantrum.

              He thankfully left after eating breakfast and headed off to work. Jenny was alone in the house to be herself until he would return. Her stomach churned and wallowed. Her husband hated watching Jenny eat, so the breakfast was only for him. She wetted her lips and ringed her boney hands, she didn’t remember the last time she was allowed to eat. She opened the pantry to find nothing of use, her husband forgot to give her grocery money before he left. And so, there was nothing, she drank some leftover soda that was left out last night in a can by his recliner and went along with her lonely day.

              She walked to the store with some money she saved in her nickel jar; she bought a few vegetables and a liver for stew. He hated stew, but then again, he hated everything she made for him. So, she got it started trying to put her all into it, hoping it would make his day a little better considering how shit her husband must have felt from the night before. She tried not to care but her anxiety was crushing her insides, maybe a nibble would help calm her before he returned. She nibbled, and nibbled, and nibbled, until all the meat from the stew had gone.

                    “Oh shit.”

              Jenny turned off the stove and jumped away from it instinctively, hand covering her open mouth. She had no more money to replace it, and who knows how her husband would react. Her stomach pounded solid against her skin and her sweat turned cold against her goosebumps. She had to come up with something fast. She went from home to home, asking for anything she could use, but alas she turned up nothing. Where could she even find a liver so quickly?

              The house shook from the door slam, her husband had returned. Jenny spun around to him with a smile; dinner had just finished cooking. Her smile faded quickly, he wasn’t mad from the hangover, he was already drunk again. He saw the soup in the pot, rolled his eyes, and muttered something in her direction. Jenny didn’t hear him, so she assumed she didn’t need to have heard it, but she was wrong. He flicked his rough hand against her black eye hard while yelling. Of course she should have heard him, she should have known better. Her head vibrated and her eye watered into its closed crease, at least he went to eat his dinner after.

              Jenny watched him as he ate, watched the meat touch his lips, watched him swallow the pieces. She shivered harshly, popping a few of her bones. Her nerves were getting to her as the vomit coated her throat and her stomach twists returned with a vengeance. Should I tell him what he’s eating? Would he forgive me? Questions and no answers she could give herself, but there was no way she would ask him. Jenny knew how he felt about her, how much he hated her; there was no way he would ever need to find out what she did.

              “Please God, I know I’ve done wrong, know I did it in fear. Please forgive me.” She worded just above a whisper. She clenched her small hands together, clawing into her knuckles as she prayed silently in the kitchen. She stood there stiff as a corpse watching her husband eat. He finished his bowl, and she retrieved it, washed it, and put it away. Jenny was all function in her praying, her body moving of its own accord, just as it was when she collected her new liver.

              She hurried up the stairs making as little noise as possible, trying to not upset her husband. She was alone in bed before her husband joined her hours later. She couldn’t sleep. Knowing what she did, she refused to sleep, what if they weren’t dead? What if they wanted the liver back? Jenny sighed; you sound delusional she thought. I am crazy.

              Suddenly a loud bang echoed through the house. Jenny shot up wide awake, what was that? Were the cops here for her? It happened again; this time she could hear it clearer. It was from the front door downstairs. She could swear they were shouting but couldn’t make it out. Bang, bang, bang, the knocking pounded harder. Suddenly-

              ” Where’s my liver?”

              Jenny nearly pissed herself at that moment. It couldn’t be. She was just crazy- she heard it again, and again. It was louder than the pounding. She shook her husband as violently as a wolf thrashing prey until he awoke. He was ready to blow a fuse until he paused like a deer in the headlights, he heard it too. They looked at each other for a moment petrified; the pounding had stopped but the voice was getting louder, along with a consistent dragging sound.

              ” Where’s my liver?”” Where’s my liver?”

              They heard it stumble up the stairs. As they sat there thinking on what to do, a sick thought crossed Jenny’s mind, maybe she could rid herself of two monsters in one evening. It reached the bedroom door, it didn’t have a lock, after a second the door drifted open.

              ” Where’s my liver!?”

        Jenny shot up on the bed, pointing to her husband’s stomach,

              “He has it!” Her husband had no time to react as the creature rushed him and retrieved its missing token from him. The end.