The Taste

Death is one of the most dominant factors in life. And every living creature struggles with it differently. A story not of redemption, but acceptence

They never talk about the taste.

They speak of the screams. They tell you about the smell. Horrible, in case you wondered. They praise the adrenalin rush that shuttles your body through physical feats your mind previously deemed impossible.

They will encumber you with tales of gore and shake you with grotesque visuals. They might frighten you with stories of acts taken in madness, leading to tearful 

cries. Elaborate on hounding images that will haunt you for the rest of your life. Amaze you with confessions of cowardice or true humanity in a place where it is almost never to be found.

But not a thing is ever uttered about the taste.

They will mention the sweat that will bathe your body in fear. They will recall limbs, refusing to answer their master's calling. They might even drop silent. Their gazes averted, be it due to shame or sadness. They might even pause, shield their mournful expressions with their shaking palm and weep.

They might not say a thing at all. Staring at you with blank eyes devoid of emotion and regret, cold as the mountain of corpses on which upon they stand.

But in all my time, in all the tales and accounts I've taken, not once did someone prepare me for what I deemed was the worst part of them all.

It sent trembles through the buds of my tongue. Sour and distinguished. 

It delivered a touch that felt almost metallic in my mouth. It overwhelmed me with both disgust and bewilderment. The mere concept of tasting it, accidental or not, shook me to my very core.

More than the gore, more than the screams, more than the spine chilling cries of men being deformed in front of me, of the sight of mankind losing its humanity on such a large scale before my very eyes"

Nothing could have ever prepared me for the taste of another human being's blood.

 

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is one of my more favorite among the writing of yours that I've read so far. In some of your writing, altho I like your pretty regular use of rhyme, it can sometimes feel a bit distracting to the message, as we try to figure out how to read it, to accentuate the rhyming. In this piece, there's nothing distracting from the strong & powerful point of view, drilling down thru the expected layers of observations about death, and finally blowing out the main idea of TASTE. And this is so symbolic in a number of ways. Then the last line delivers that final twist . . . aha! Now drawing this into a macabre realm, when I'd been reading it more in the realistic realm all along! Nice word crafting & very originally-stated.

[LastMonth]

Thank you kindly for the review.
I'm glad that you liked it, this is the first thing I ever posted here. Rather then stray from my 'Style', this came before the style even existed. This is an honest piece, one of the rare ones I write as myself and not as a character. And since you've read so much of my writing, you know how rare that is for me.

Once more, I really appreciate your review. On this piece specifically.

[Tristesse]

LastMonth,

Again, another piece of perfection. I was not quite prepared for the ending, I thought the story was going in another direction. Though that is the beauty of it, it leaves you guessing the entire time. You believe it's turning on a road one moment, but instead it turns left instead of right. That is the best type of stories. I enjoyed this one very much, you did a fantastic job.

Best regards,
Tristesse

[LastMonth]

Thanks for the Review.
Glad you liked it.
Yeah, I figure the ending is quite pivotal in most short stories.

[JayceeC]

This left me worth all sorts of other questions beyond those detailed. But in the end I'm not sure that they are important.
The last line has shock value because it goes beyond the fear, and is somewhat rabbi under normal circumstances, but then you leery your reader wonder what those circumstances are.
It's a great ending in a short prose piece.

[LastMonth]

Ah.
This is one I hold very dear.
The more I explain it, the less powerful it becomes, in my opinion. Some things are best left unsaid.
Thank you kindly for your review.

[Woody]

the last sentence was quite a surprise. never saw that coming. you hid it very well.
a dark piece for sure but though I don't write in this genre, I like reading horror stories. Stephen King and Koontz are but two of my favourite horror writers.

you certainly have the knack for this sort of writing, too, LastMonth. kudos to you.

[LastMonth]

Thank you woody.
I try to explore many fields and types of stories.
This one in particular is one of my first written pieces in English, I mostly wrote in my Ryhmic Style since, but I'll definetly revisit this section of my mind sometime soon.

Thank you for the review Woody.

[Gaia Octavia]

I find this piece to be deeply personal and very sad. Almost like a confession of someone who blames themselves for witnessing such scenes. It makes you want to hug someone. Your imagery here is wonderfully haunting and deeply affecting. It reads like it is someone's truth. Someone baring the horror that has marked their soul. Being truly vulnerable. I don't know how personal this is or if it's a work of fiction, but either way, I hope that getting this out on a page was healing and/or that it will be healing for a reader who, unfortunately, has tasted death's bitter indifference as well. Well done.

[LastMonth]

Yeah. I'm usually a very light writer. Most of my stories, as you'll find out if you go through them, are headlined by what at least on the outside appears to be 'Childish' characters. Animals, Items and such.

This is a vastly different approach to writing that I have taken in this. It wasn't very easy, but it was both necessery and helpful.

Thank you kindly for your review.

[Willis Walker]

A very chilling piece, but as I can see that is the purpose (and I am always a fan of the macabre!)

The first thing that struck me was the separation of parties in the piece; the 'They' and the 'I'. It really builds an underlying divide in the piece and creates a sense of the mystery about who 'they' are. To me it depicts a sense of a disconnected disconnected institution that subverts the truth from the individual.

The lexis and vocabulary used is also very haunting and vivid, and really gives the piece a lot of impact.
I would love to see you go down a supernatural / gothic approach with your writing, I feel it would suit you very well! I thoroughly enjoyed this. :)

-Willis

[LastMonth]

Hahaha, thanks man. I am glad you like it. If you'll see my other stories you will see that I am actually a rather childish writer. I usually use adult and mature themes in the form of children's tale. With as little gore as possible. I try to write in a way that is innocent and free of 'Grotesque' if you know what I mean.

This is definetly my 'Darkest' piece yet. It was somewhat hard for me to bring it out of my system, mostly because these are things I relate to as a person. But I do try to give a positive outlook on life, despite all this.

Thank you for the review mate.