Eat. Eat! You're hungry, right? Go on, EAT, voices of my corrupted thoughts whispered in the back of my mind. In the end that's all you're good for.

I clutched my head with trembling hands, shaking it to rid myself of their words. My arms pulled my knees close to my chest, as if they served as a shield from my inner demons.

"Are you okay?" Kyle, oblivious to this, asked with a layer of concern. His head tilted to the side again.

"Oh Kyle." I patted his head and forced a smile. Somehow, knowing he showed concern gave me a sense of tranquility. "Don't worry about me." After a few moments, I let go and exhaled. "I can tell you don't believe me, so I'll show you like I did Sophie and Abigail. If you get scared, I won't be offended." It was for the best, anyways.

He gave a weak smile while avoiding my gaze. "Sorry, I kinda thought you were joking." Still, he didn't let go. In fact, he moved closer. I could see his unoccupied fist tightening when he turned back to me. "But I won't be scared. I'm not that weak."

I only laughed in response before reaching for my bag. Once I dug out the notebook I used before, I flipped to a random blank page. I then took a pen out, handing it to him. "Write the first word you think of here."

"Okay...?" He brought the pen to his chin before writing 'pogo sticks'.

"That's two, but I guess it works." I took the pen from him and stabbed it onto the paper. "I'll explain while I write slowly. Pay close attention."

With that, I began. My cursive calligraphy captured the 'p' first. "Anything I write disappears. No one else can see it but me. I haven't figured out why, but I eat every word I write." By then, 'pogo' was finished. "You can't see them, right?"

His focus was on my porcelain-white hand as it wrote the next word when he uttered, "No, I...I can't."

I set the pen down, covering my mouth once the 'pogo-stick' lifted off the paper. "Figures. It's because I eat them. Well, normally."

He took the pen and wrote again, making sure to shake it just in case. After scribbling 'pogo-stick', he handed it back to me. "Why aren't you eating your...words now? Your stomach growled a while ago. You must be hungry."

My hand froze before I could repeat the action. Instead, I swatted away the word trying to slip in between my fingers. "No, I'm not."

"Obviously you are, otherwise your stomach wouldn't be growling." His scolding voice was laced with a hint of sarcasm.

The word flew back to the pile. A part of me wondered how they know where each other were. I glared at them, then slumped my shoulders. "I don't want to, okay?"

He pushed the notebook in front of me. "No, you need to eat."

A rush of frustration and disgust made me shiver when my stomach sank. I shut my eyes, snatching more grass from the ground. We both heard the plea emitting from my gut, but I refused to give in. "I can't."

"I don't know why you have this weird power, but if you're supposed to eat words then do it! What the hell are you starving yourself for?" his grip tightened as he yelled.

My hand pounded from the pressure. It started to tremble; whether it was from his hold or the fear of myself, I couldn't tell. "I don't want to starve. I don't want to die! But I have to, because..." I remembered Abigail's confused face and pulled my hand from his. "I stole your apples. I stole everyone's apples! Not only that, but I stole cosmos, chrysanthemums, math equations and a whole lot of other things. I don't want to do this anymore."

As I spoke, my chest tightened. It felt like my words―my heart's words―were choking me. They seeped into my mind until all I could think about was the inevitable. "I have to stop myself before I eat everything. The only way to solve this is to die."

He grasped my hands together, staring at me with a steady gaze. "I won't let that happen!"

It was my turn to ball up my fists. I slammed them onto the ground. "You don't understand. Everyone forgets everything I eat! You don't even know what an apple is because of me. This is what I need to do, for your sake. For everyone's." I had to repent.

Kyle wasn't happy. I could tell from the way he bit his lip. His folded legs were hitting the ground in an impatient manner. Then, he stopped. His face lit up like he'd just thought of another way out. "If that's the case then you can just eat my name."

I stared at him in disbelief. "What? Didn't you hear what I said? If I ate your name no one would know you. I don't want that to happen." I've caused enough trouble.

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "That's not true―you will. Besides, I haven't done much anyways. My family'd be better off without me."

I tried to break away from him, yet he wouldn't let go even after I stood. "No, I won't do it. You're crazy if you think I will."

He gritted his teeth before springing up as well. "You're so damn stubborn! Have you ever eaten a person's name before? It might have a different effect. Either way, I won't let you do something so stupid. There's gotta be another solution."

His words shook my resolve. I had to leave before it crumbled. I had to escape. So I pushed him and ran. "No, there isn't. Just let me die!"

Spots of green and purple covered my vision when I bolted. My ears rang; it sounded like a waterfall―or the blood rushing to my head. Kyle yelled something, but I couldn't tell what it was. My ears were ringing so loud. I'm so hungry...

My legs gave out before I could catch myself. The last thing I sensed was the smell of freshly cut grass before passing out.

When I woke up, I felt something on my hand. It was a pen, along with a hand wrapped around my own. "What...?" I mumbled, opening my eyes. A white ceiling was above me. My words were gone.

I almost sprang up, but was halted when the hand twitched. It belonged to Kyle, who sat by the bed I was once asleep on. He rubbed his face on his arm and sniffed. His hair clung to his sweaty, red forehead while tears rolled down his cheeks. "I...I didn't believe you, but I didn't want you to die either. So I..."

"What did you do, Kyle?" But my tongue gave me my answer; I could still taste the memories of his life, from the first time he opened his eyes to the moment he hurled me in his arms and ran me to the nurse's office.

I threw the pen across the room. It flew until it hit the floral curtain that concealed us from whoever else was here. Once it landed on the floor, I shot him a glare. "Why would you do that?!"

He flinched when I grabbed his shoulders. Then punched the thin mattress. "Because I had to! You would've died if you kept starving!"

"I had other words―you didn't need to write your name. You should've duck taped my mouth shut!" I let my hands fall from his shoulders in defeat. He acted unnecessarily again. But why did he know who he was?

"What's going on here?" A stern-toned voice cut through our conversation.

We both froze when the curtain opened. There appeared Mom with her arms crossed. Her lavender eyes narrowed at Kyle, then glanced at me. A white turtleneck clung to her body, covering a pair of her black pants. She took another step inside. "I got a call from the nurse and came right away." Mom dropped her white leather pocketbook in a nearby chair. "Your father's at work. Who's this?"

"He's..." At the memory of his kiss, I paused. What was he? What did I want him to be?

I scowled at him, thinking of what he forced me to do in my sleep. He didn't need to do that. After watching Kyle squirm under my gaze for a couple seconds, I turned to Mom with a sigh. "He's an idiot."

"Hey!" Kyle snapped, "I did it for you, y'know."

That wasn't the problem. I curled my fingers into a ball. "You could've fed me an insignificant word, like 'pebble' or something." Or let me starve.

"Well, I wanted you to know about me." He scratched his head as a blush tinted his cheeks. "That was the quickest way. Plus, I wanted to make up for what I did."

I huffed in frustration. "But you didn't need to―"

Mom cleared her throat to politely cut me off. "You told him, Ziv? How do we know you can trust him?"

I looked at Mom with a weak smile. "He made me eat his name after I passed out from hunger knowing the... consequences."

Her arms dropped to her sides. She looked up, scanning the ceiling for something. "We should talk about that later. Where are his parents?"

Kyle stiffened at the mention of them. I guess he was still on bad terms. He lowered his head, clenching his jaw. "They're at home, ma'am."

She must've noticed this action as well, because she walked to him and ruffled his brown hair. "All right, well you can come with us. I'll drop you off as thanks for taking care of my daughter."