“It’s, um… It was a long time ago. That’s how I saw it, I think. You know how different times have a different . . . feel, or something? Well, everything was simpler, and quieter, and more spread out and free. Even the air was different.
“And I saw this little town, way high up between these pretty mountains. First it was just a few wooden buildings in a circle . . . y’know, some basic stores with rickety signs and things . . . carts and wagons, and animals . . . and then shacks around the edge where people lived.
“And since the town was so high up, it stayed cut off from the rest of the world. I mean, they did everything there for themselves. And yeah, travelers would pass through. But for sure no one from the town ever left. They’d all known each other since…
“Well, I think it’s because the town was cut off for so long . . . that…
“I don’t even know how to say it.
“Okay, I’ll just….
“I saw them . . . eating people.
“But there was no… I mean, honestly, I’d say they made it . . . the eating . . . look like this fun, like, peaceful activity . . . something they all just really enjoyed doing together. It was kind of like their town tradition. And even though they were filthy, and their faces and teeth were dirty and brown, everyone always had this happy gleam in their eyes when they ate. Even the little ones.
“Okay, sorry, none of this probably makes any sense, huh? I have no idea how you’d write this down.
“But say you’ve got only a few people and families who have done the same things for… I mean, the eating must have gone on for generations. It was like their heritage. And I started seeing this . . . picture . . . carved in the corners of all the walls and burned into beams in the middle of town. It definitely wasn’t obvious. But, somehow, I knew the picture was a symbol that perfectly matched that smile on everyone’s faces when they ate. And the symbol was their identity. It’s something they were proud of.
“So then, well, I saw that little town start to get a lot bigger.
“But . . . wait, I need to back up first… Sorry…
“So, the only pathway through those huge mountains crossed the cannibal town. And most travelers, especially in winter, decided to stay for a while. That’s what the town symbol really meant. I mean, that’s, like, the whole deal with the eating, y’know? The town’s culture was to only eat outsiders. You could say it was to only eat whoever didn’t share their symbol.
“And that’s how things were for a long, long time.
“But as more and more travelers decided to stay, I started seeing these smaller communities getting together on their own to eat whoever they’d collected. And they’d eat some from other communities in the town who obviously knew the symbol and culture. But none of it was a secret or anything. Everyone saw exactly what was going on. And I’m sure they all would have agreed . . . like, officially . . . that their town identity was still wrapped up in only eating outsiders. It’s just, basically, the rules for who to eat and why never got talked about or written down or anything.”
“Still, okay, here’s the thing: Wouldn’t you expect people to be . . . horrified, and fight not to be killed and eaten? That’s where this whole thing gets . . . almost . . . funny.
“I’m not sure how to tell you this part, but… It’s like this new business started springing up everywhere in the town where these really complicated-looking traps were made and sold to be used on whoever anyone decided was an outsider. And, so, deals started being made on every level . . . deals that really reached to everyone in the town. But you could trace it all back to owners of businesses paying each other to catch and sell whoever they could to anyone that would buy, all across every community. Somehow, everyone still got sold as ‘an outsider,’ but . . . but, yeah, it could be anyone from anywhere being bought to be eaten by anyone else.
“Anyway, the town kept growing and growing until first it became a city, and then a whole bunch of cities. But something changed before the cities fused back together to make one huge City. It looked to me like it happened all of a sudden. But right before it became The City, when it was still just clusters of little cities, I watched the rest of the world come together and join on every side, connecting all around.
“So, everyone knew things couldn’t stay the same anymore. But the symbol and culture in the cities never changed. The eating stopped, but not the . . . the cannibalism.
“Way before The City, I watched those powerful ones whose awful deals clotted all the communities and smaller cities together like blood, become, like, a whole new class of eaters. And in The City, the new eaters could still buy, and sell, and kill anyone . . . anyone at all. And everyone seemed just as happy . . . all just as smiley and…
“And I watched that same old symbol, once cut and burned into doors and walls, get raised up to shine in lights across The City sky. Everyone loved and celebrated their symbol, since it showed them who they were.
“Maybe the change only looked like it happened so fast to me. But, I mean, really, everyone was already used to the idea of lives being sacrificed for…
“So, they all kept grinning just the same and carried on as before in a world where there couldn’t be any outsiders anymore.”
I don't know anything 