The hunger was acute and intense in his belly, like a hard little knot
The hunger was acute and intense in his belly, like a hard little knot. They brought him food, tried to force him to eat it, but they weren't strong enough to get through his Red shield, most of them, and he was slippery as an eel, writhing away from those who did. He knew he was starving and it wasn't that he didn't care to save himself, was just that there was an emptiness so deep and so profound that he was certain he couldn't live with it.
So when they brought him food, he refused to eat it. Refused to touch it. Refused to even look at it. He turned his face to the wall and braced himself for death.
He could have taken anything they threw at him. He could have resisted any force, any brutality. But when he saw Manny weeping, when he heard her threaten to leave, she who was all he had left –
Something broke. He ate. He went through the motions numbly. More ghost than child. More wraith than ghost. Because with everything else he had lost, he couldn't let them take Manny and Jo, too. Could not.
He was almost glad to forget.
