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Description
I stumble into a decrepit butcher shop, ceiling caved in, walls collapsing, and the kind of damage years of neglect will do. A ghostly stream of light penetrates the haze of dust from a hole in the roof, periodically interrupted by a swinging carcass hanging from the ceiling. The only sounds are the creaks of meat hooks, swinging back and forth.

There is a numbness in my lower left abdomen so profound it almost hurts. I look down to see that there is a gaping wound- not bloody or gorey, but worn, as an aging and well used pair of jeans wears holes at the knees. The edges of the wound are frayed; the slightest graze of the hand rips threads of flesh from the edges. The sound produced makes me shudder. Inside is hollow, little more than skin draped over a bony skeleton.

The butcher merely looks on in silent contempt from behind the counter, covered in dried blood. He slips into the back, and I collapse onto a pile of rubble nearby. As I struggle to focus my fading vision, I see a gleam on the corner of a freshly cleaned cleaver looming overhead.

I wake up clutching my stomach so hard my nails draw blood.

Description
I stumble into a decrepit butcher shop, ceiling caved in, walls collapsing, and the kind of damage years of neglect will do. A ghostly stream of light penetrates the haze of dust from a hole in the roof, periodically interrupted by a swinging carcass hanging from the ceiling. The only sounds are the creaks of meat hooks, swinging back and forth.

There is a numbness in my lower left abdomen so profound it almost hurts. I look down to see that there is a gaping wound- not bloody or gorey, but worn, as an aging and well used pair of jeans wears holes at the knees. The edges of the wound are frayed; the slightest graze of the hand rips threads of flesh from the edges. The sound produced makes me shudder. Inside is hollow, little more than skin draped over a bony skeleton.

The butcher merely looks on in silent contempt from behind the counter, covered in dried blood. He slips into the back, and I collapse onto a pile of rubble nearby. As I struggle to focus my fading vision, I see a gleam on the corner of a freshly cleaned cleaver looming overhead.

I wake up clutching my stomach so hard my nails draw blood.