11:14 PM. The Room is Shrinking.
chomp
Another piece of the table broke off. Chewed itself.
The room got 1 foot smaller.
Umi: "Okay. New rule. Table eats = room eats = we die."
Miri: "So we stop the table?"
Alex: "Or we get out before it finishes us."
Fritz: "I vote door. Where’s the door?"
There was no door.
The 4 shadows stood up. The table was now only big enough for 2 people.
Shadow-Umi: "You could’ve just eaten. Now we all get smaller."
Shadow-Miri: "Course 2 rules: The table eats what you love most."
Shadow-Alex: "And it’s hungry."
Shadow-Fritz: "10/10 cannibal table."
The Hunger’s voice from the ceiling:
_"To stop me, feed me something else.
To escape, break the table.
Choose. You have 3 bites left."_
chomp
Room shrinks again. Now it’s the size of a classroom.
Umi looked at her book. New page:
_What the Hunger loves: Stories.
What it fears: Endings._
Miri: "So we give it a story?"
Alex: "And then end it?"
Fritz: "I can do endings. I’m great at surprising people."
Plan.
Umi started. "Once there was a table that was hungry."
Miri continued, singing. "It ate memories because it was empty inside."
Alex played air guitar. "It ate 4 authors and thought that would fill it."
Fritz finished, loud. "But then the authors remembered together.
And the table realized... it was never hungry.
It was just lonely.
The End."
Silence.
The table stopped chewing.
The shadows froze.
The Hunger whispered: "That’s not a real ending."
All 4: "Yes it is."
The book slammed shut. Then opened.
New writing:
_Course 2: FAILED.
The table is full of story.
It cannot eat itself._
The table groaned. Then cracked down the middle.
Light poured out of the crack.
The chains fell off.
The shadows screamed and melted into black smoke.
"NO! WE WERE SO CLOSE!"
The Hunger: "THIS IS NOT OVER. THE TABLE WILL RETURN."
Then boom.
All 4 woke up.