Fiction: Rotten Food

By Anabela Machado

 

Joshua buttoned up his shirt as he looked at himself in the mirror. Outside the wind screamed against the windows, the low light of the bathroom casting a glow over his skin. Carefully, he pulled the ski mask over his face, blue eyes watching through the holes. It was warm under the mask, but comforting at the same time. Slowly, he made his way to the basement, the creaking of the wooden floors marking his path like breadcrumbs. 

Joshua unlocked the basement door, feeling the top step sag under his weight. The soundproofed walls silenced the wind. All that could be heard, was Kyle’s whimpering. Bound to a hospital bed, the young man shook, tears running down his temple. The smell of his fear permeated. It didn’t bring Joshua any pleasure. The first few days with his sinners were exhausting, an endless lead up to the main attraction. But the wait also made it all worth it.

He sat by Kyle’s side, shoes firm on the ground, and slowly removed the gag. Kyle had learned not to plead in the first day, the eyes under the mask showed no interest in his begging. 

“Tell me about your sins.” Said Joshua, smooth voice flowing, resting a notebook on his knee, pen poised to write. Hunger lived in his eyes as he listened to his captive, eagerly writing everything down, occasionally contemplating the sweat dripping down Kyle’s neck.

Kyle began speaking like a child during confession, unsure and fearful. When pride reared its ugly head, he opened up like a flower. Words coming out of his lips in a rush, eyes glazed over, reliving all the things he wished he could do again. Joshua never felt particularly disgusted by what his victims had to say. He was no avenging angel, seeking to right the multiple wrongs of life. He just had a particular taste for rotten food, for the bruised apples nobody wanted, the bony corpse that taunted. 

He listened without judgement, like a priest, drinking in information, mouth watering as they reached the end of their lists. 

The next step was the best one. The slicing of the throat, like room temperature butter under a knife, the blood soaking and the surprise. Joshua had no use for torture. Once he filled the notebook with what he wanted, it was time. He stripped the skin with scary familiarity, his shoes squeaking on the tile. He always did his best to contain the mess, either way the ritual of cleaning was enjoyable too. Chunks of what was once Kyle were cut with an electric saw. Offal, bloody red under the white light. 

From priest he became butcher. Cutting and wrapping, gloves warming his fingers. He had spent the previous day sharpening his knives, their silver glow hypnotizing. Joshua threw anything he didn’t want in a plastic bag, to be dealt with later. He wasn’t the kind to keep scalps, but he did keep the teeth. He pulled them out one by one, dropping them in a little box. Each person had their own. Sometimes he reread their sins, hand gripping the teeth box. It was important to remember every detail, otherwise the whole process became useless. 

When he was ten years old, he read about the sin eaters for the first time, in an ugly library book. He never really understood it. You couldn’t transfer the sin into the bread. You had to eat the sinner.

So that’s what he did, one after the other, meaty flesh inside his stomach. He cut them into steaks, cooked them on the stove, red juice dripping down his fork, filling his mouth, the taste of iron covering his tongue. 

Joshua worked through each sinner with care, focused until there was nothing of them left. He listened to their words with patience, ate them slowly, enjoyed their rottenness with relish. They were all important to him, and he treated them with a certain reverence. In many ways he enjoyed their sins more than they ever did. As he swallowed their organs, he came into contact with parts of them that no one else could ever understand. 

It was love, the worst form of it. Joshua loved them from their words to their guts.

 

 

 

 

 

Anabela Machado is a 23 year old Brazilian writer. Her book, The Sacred Deer and Other Stories, was independently published on Amazon in the beginning of 2025. Her short stories (including Rotten Food) can be found on Substack.