The men of my former tribe bound together to kill me. They convinced each other that they knew what was best for Little Girl. All Little Girl needed was love. Pure, unadulterated love. That is not the conclusion the men came to, sadly. She still has no love, even for herself. Little Rat stole her love for herself, grinding it up like herb in mortar and pestle until it was a fine dust, which he then ate to sustain himself.
Little Rat took all her love for himself. He took relished in eating it, like a great pie. Then he said, “The pie s gone, Little Girl. I need more pie.” And Little Girl replied, “That was everything that I was, Rat.”
Still, the Rat begged for more and more, until one day, Girl said, “Eat someone else’s pie.” Rat was greatly pleased, for Rat wanted all the pie in the realm. Rat never gave anyone anything else except refuse and rubbish, of course.
Rat went to each tribe’s member to say, “I want your pie!” The tribes people scoffed at him. If they didn’t scoff, they smiled, thinking his proclamation was in jest or merely misdirected. Rat felt appeased; no one admonished him. No one denied he could have pie, even if they didn’t serve him pie. Not a single one of them gave up their pie, protecting it fiercely for the families they already had.
Rat convinced the tribe that Girl never wanted her pie at all as he boasted of his theft in the same sentence. He would never share his own pie with anyone, of course. That was for Rat alone. It was too sacred to give to anyone at all, let alone Little Girl.
Little Bear and Momma Bear bought into this lie. They looked at Little Girl and told the girl she should take her pie back. It was her fault Rat ate the pie without gifting her his own pie. It was Little Girl’s fault for leaving her pie unprotected. As true as that might be, they forgot their own part in the theft of the pie. “I really like Little Rat,” Little Bear had told Little Girl one day. “You should bring him around more oft, Little Girl.”
The Two Crows bought into this lie themselves. They turned a blind eye to Little Girl while she cried and cried, lamenting the loss of her pie. They did nothing to support either Little Girl or Little Rat when the Rat tried to run away without paying his dues. Instead, they admonished Little Girl for staying too long with Little Rat, silently hoping he’d share his own pie.
The pie was her heart. It was a very big pie once upon a time, but now she had not one crumb left. Rat was completely thorough in his murder of Little Girl. He laughed the whole time he ate of her pie, supping and sustaining himself to the fullest as she dwindled away.
Little Girl cried and cried, feeling littler and littler as her pie disappeared. Having nothing to dine on herself, she wasted away in slow motion, one bite at a time. The tribe admonished Little Girl and instead praised the Rat. The Rat would never learn any lessons this way. Little Girl withered and died. This did not deter Not So Little Rat from coming back for more pie. Alas, there was none; he continued to eat it just as quickly as more was made.
The Girl decided she would not be a Girl anymore. Instead, she became a statue of stone. Since her pleas went unheard in perpetuity, especially when Not So Little Rat found another pie and flaunted in the faces of all the tribe, there was little else she kenned to do.
Perhaps some would say the Rat never flaunted it around to anyone but the Girl. It was slap after slap in the face, nonetheless, as the Rat continued to drag the Girl through the mud. Her name was poison on his lips. The Girl concedes that perhaps it was only when she became a statue that the obvious could become apparent: that Rat was a Rat when she discussed their “open marriage” with the rest of the tribe. The open marriage she resisted and denounced for years before telling Not So Little Rat to do as he pleaseth.
Once the Girl turned to stone, she ascertained — and rightly so — that the Rat would eventually show the tribe his extreme narcissism, one way or another. She never labelled him so, but the Wise Owl she took counsel with had given her the breadcrumbs, and, later, the authority to pronounce him for what he was: a psychopath.
To eat all of someone’s pie and never give even a slice of your own in return is treason to The Universe, you see. Rat murdered the Girl one fateful day while he fought for that “open marriage” that he desired from the very beginning. He had denied himself that, proclaiming he wanted the Girl, but he lied. He lied to himself, then to everyone else. Girl had told Rat to choose the open lifestyle or the girlfriend lifestyle years prior; Rat failed to choose. He wished for both, despite being told he could never have both. At least, not with Little Girl.
He lied in order to cheat and steal the pie, of course. Rat could never be satisfied; there is never enough pie. He convinced Little Girl that he was a bisexual man which was not difficult for her to accept after learning about his true essence. He begged and pleaded to open the relationship to another, to which she agreed extremely reluctantly. If he would find and date a man, that would be fine. It was seen by the Girl as a transition, a way to embrace his homosexuality. She continued to give him love even then, you see.
But the Rat lied. He convinced the Girl he was dating a man while he went on dates with a woman. His defense: the She-Goat was the only interesting person who showed interest in his dating profile. The Girl was not so naive she could not see the obvious reason for such a deception and she subsequently died the day the lie became uncovered. She gave her pie away in complete vanity to a monster who had no soul. A soul-eater.
Alas, Rat laid with the She-Goat, then gloated upon his return how he laid with a woman. That was the last straw to the Rat’s complete and total dishonor. That is when Girl transitioned to Statue. The Statue was cold and unfeeling, a hard void to reflect and repel the nasty Rat. To reflect all the tribe, actually. It was as good as an unfeeling mirror. She held that mirror in front of their faces so they could see themselves clearly.
Confused how stone could be mirror, each one of them pointed at Statue and cried, “Treason!” They failed to recognize themselves in her stony void, their faces contorted beyond recognition. They blamed Statue for what they had become. If anyone could lay blame with anyone, it would be Statue with tribe. However, Girl and Statue alike were not of the vindictive variety.
Statue became Void, disappearing from the entire tribe one day.
Angel-Sansara 