Nourishment

It all happened so fast.

A flash of light and a resounding explosion that rattled every bit of bone in your body.

The dreadful sensation of a fall.

Everything went silent for a moment.

You feel nothing.

It takes a while before your eyes are able to adjust to the vast expanse of darkness you now find yourself in.

Your eyes widen as you realize where you are.

“A room?”

Beyond the spot you’re standing on lies a single bed with a lamp by the side. There’s a desktop computer and a phone not far from there and a book shelf
next to it. A bunch of boxes clutter the room.

A mostly-normal bedroom, if not for the fact that everything seems to have been magnified a thousandfold.

You rub your eyes in an attempt to make sense of the situation.

“Am I dreaming?”

A silly question, of course you are. What else could it be? Humans can’t be shrunk like this, the laws of nature simply won’t allow it. What about objects
becoming much larger than their normal size? Nah.

“Where the fuck am I?!” you blurt out, not really expecting an answer.

“In my room,” says a booming voice.

You see a young boy standing right behind you, previously obscured by the darkness. A tidy, black hair and a plain-looking face with eyes fixed on you.
He’s wearing a black vest with a white shirt underneath and ordinary brown shorts. If you have to guess, his age would be anywhere from twelve to
sixteen, probably on the younger side.

“I can’t believe that actually worked.”

You cover your ears in pain. What worked? This dream is becoming too weird for your liking.

Maybe you should at least try asking for help.

“Uh, I don’t know who you are but maybe we can work something out,” you scream at the top of your lungs, wanting the ginormous boy to hear you clearly. The boy did not answer however.

“H-Hey, don’t you dare ignore me!”

You cover your mouth in horror seconds later, realizing that might’ve come off as rude. Getting into the giant kid’s bad side is just about the worse thing
you could do right now. Fortunately, the boy seems to be in deep thought, likely pondering what he’s going to do with the little man who showed up in
his room.

After what feels like forever, the boy finally speaks.

“But the spell said it’d make something edible appear.”

Spell? What’s he babbling about?

“Unless—”

A fierce growling sound, loud enough to send shivers down your spine. The boy places a hand over his stomach as if trying to contain a dangerous beast
from within.

“Do I really have to eat him?”

You don’t like where this is going.

“Uh, so can you help me get back home? Please?” you ask with a hint of desperation.

The boy remains quiet for some time.

“Sorry.”

He taps a foot on the ground. “I won’t be able to help you.”

You bite your lip in frustration as a single bead of sweat rolls down your face.

“W-what’s going to happen now?”

You have to ask. Might as well hear it straight from him even though you already have a good idea of what he has in store for you.

“Hmm,” hums the boy, one hand behind the back of his head. He seems to be contemplating carefully what he should do next.

His stomach growls again.

You gulp hard and nervously back away from the boy.

“You can’t be serious.”

You should’ve ran away when you had the chance.

The boy lowers his hand and snatches you right off the floor. You flail against his grip despite knowing full well it won’t do anything.

“H-hey, this isn’t funny!”

The colossal boy brings you right next to his face. You spot a bit of drool leaking from his mouth as his hot and humid breath washes over you. It smells
strangely like…steak? You cough hard. He holds you in that position for a long time, his expression a mixture of confusion and pity.

“I—I’m sorry,” mumbled the boy, audibly gulping. He opens his mouth wide and you see a trail of saliva hanging over the insides of his cavernous mouth.
It’s like a scene straight out of a fucking horror movie, only this time it’s real without doubt.

No, this can’t be happening. Damnit, you’re a person for crying out loud, not a morsel of food! You begin to sweat like crazy and your breathing rapidly
increases as he dangles you over his mouth. To think that your life would end as mere piece of nutrient for a growing boy, what a big joke. While you can’t
say you’re proud of yourself and the life you’ve led up to this point, you have enough dignity to not want a cruel death via being devoured by a giant
child; just about the last way you’d want to go. There’d be nothing left to pick after his system is done with you, save for some undigested bones. The very
idea fills you with dread.

The boy looks at you. There’s an unmistakably wistful expression on his face, almost as if he didn’t really want to do what he’s about to do but was left
with no other choice. His fingers tremble.

“Is there really no other way?” you ask him.

Not long after that, the boy’s stomach rumbles again.

“I—I can’t die. Not yet.”

Die? What’s he talking about?

“Yeah, there’s no other way,” he finally says after a long pause, his grip tightening on your diminutive form.

“What do you mean there’s no other way?!” you snap.

“I…”

“Well?”

The boy points to an ominous black tome on his bed. Your eyes can’t make out what the title is.

“What?”

“It belonged to—“, the boy cuts himself off and takes a deep breath. “It’s a big book containing magic spells and rituals. I—I tried using an important one
and but it ended up backfiring on me”

Magic spells and rituals?

“Since then, my body refuses to accept food and I throw up everything I eat.”

You let him continue.

“But I found another spell that supposedly makes food my body can take appear.”

The boy must’ve not eaten anything for days.

Well, at least you now have an idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, as ridiculous as it may seem.

You release a breath you’ve been holding in for long. The stress you felt just moments ago seem to have vanished. Is that part of the spell too? You’re
calm as you could be, or maybe that’s just your mind fooling yourself.

“Okay then. Seems like your mind’s made up. Just don’t…chew, okay?”

An odd last request. Either way, you know you’re going to suffer but the thought of dying a gruesome death being grinded to paste under his massive
teeth doesn’t seem palatable to you. Hopefully, you pass out soon before the digestive process begins.

The boy nods.

“I won’t.”

That’s a relief. Despite the fact that he’s about to consume you and end your very existence, the boy doesn’t strike you as malicious in any way, not at all.
He looks… miserable.

“Hey, kid?”

“Huh?”

“What’s your name?”

Why ask his name? Just a force of habit you guess. You always make it a point to know the name of everyone you meet and this boy’s going to be the last,
so why the hell not?

“Sunny,” he whispered.

Sunny.

Not the name you expected. You let out a chuckle.

“Well, I guess this is it huh?”

Sunny bows his head down.

“I’m so sorry, please forgive me.”

It sounds genuine. You manage to put out a smile for reasons even you don’t know about.

“Don’t be.”

It’s a weird thought, but you get the feeling that you and Sunny could’ve been good friends in another life. Sunny opens his mouth wide and gently lays
you on his tongue. Your legs immediately adhere to the wet and sticky surface and the rest of your body soon follows, making movement difficult. No
point in struggling so you just lie on your back and gaze at the outside world through the still-open mouth, feeling a comforting cold breeze of air touch
your face, the last bit of pleasure you get to experience before Sunny seals your fate.

“R-ready?” he asks, the sudden movement of his tongue jolting you backward, inches closer to the abyss. You fall on your face and accidentally get a
mouthful of spit so you tap on the bumpy surface rather than speak and torment yourself further.

Recognizing the signal, the mouth finally closes and his tongue retracts.

Darkness.

You expend what little bit of strength you have left to squint your eyes and spot the faint outline of his uvula beckoning you as you slide down. So hot and
sticky. Your entire body is enveloped by his spit and the faint taste of steak is back.

Is this really it?

Your legs are the first to enter his throat. Falling headfirst would’ve been more terrifying you suppose. Sunny begins to swallow and his throat constricts
around your lower half, all while his saliva begins to pool around you. You yelp as you feel his throat squeeze your legs hard and cut off the blood flow in
them, rendering them even more useless. Being reduced to a mere three inches isn’t enough to smoothly go down a narrow throat and it shows.

A deep breath and a grunt that resonates through every cell of your body.

Poor boy.

Sunny swallows again, this time with more force, determined not to choke to death. That brings the rest of your body with the exception of your head
sliding down, his uvula hanging directly above your head and further drenching you in spit (as if you haven’t had enough already). The terror you felt
when you first gazed into his ginormous maw is back as you desperately try to claw on the bumpy wet muscle to slow down your descent, but the mighty
pool of saliva around you makes sure that any attempt to do so would be futile. Too late to have second thoughts now.

The next swallow sends you down fully, his throat muscles and gravity doing the rest of the work.

You really are going to die.

Sunny’s stomach will be your grave.

You unceremoniously plop into his stomach not long after the thought occurs in your mind, the wall of flesh secreting gastric acid all around you.

You feel an itch.

An irritation.

A burn.

Like being devoured by legions of fire ants.

A death most undignified.

Your final waking moments are spent in complete agony as Sunny’s unforgiving stomach breaks you down.

Soon you will live on as a part of him.

Outside, Sunny belches and pats his belly, profoundly grateful of your sacrifice.

Perhaps you should’ve asked him to chew and give you a quick death instead.

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Pub: 21 Dec 2021 03:06 UTC
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